Sunday 23 October 2011

Visionary Leaders for Information - Chapter 4

Winzenried (2010) acknowledged that the last 30 years of the previous century were unlike any other era in history. He proposed that if library staff can be flexible and if they keep their focus on the needs of the clients, the libraries they serve will remain relevant.
The author used research which was published by Lonsdale and cited by Hughes in 2003. The research presented stark facts relating to the massive fall in the number of school libraries that are staffed by qualified library staff. Over 18 years, from 1983 to 2001, the number of qualified library staff dropped from 55 per cent to a tiny 13 per cent. It was stated strongly by Hughes that qualified staff enable and empower students to achieve, ‘regardless of the socio-economic or educational levels of the adults in the community’ (p. 197).
Winzenried stressed that communication and collaboration are the strategies for sharing the amount of information that is readily available in society today. The author concluded the chapter by encouraging the reader to imagine change and to be visionaries for the future.

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