Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You spend less money on books to pay for a second scanner.
This option would make library service faster, and give the school full
value for its investment. Scanners also tend to break down, and if you only
have one, you run the risk of upsetting students and teachers. If that happens,
you would have to manually enter the barcode into the computer.
This would rob you and your clients of a lot of time, time that could be
spent much more productively.
However, librarians tend to focus on the resources -- whether its books
or technology -- that most directly benefit the students. The non-fiction
books would probably benefit the students more than the scanning technology.
"I think the question would come down to student learning and the idea
of what best supports student learning," says Michael Nailor, an education
professor and former high school librarian.
"If you're talking circulation technology in terms of scanning books more
easily, ...I would set that aside. But if you're talking student use of technology
and making sure there are things [such as computers] in the library for students
to use, then it becomes a whole lot more difficult."