Thing 2~Continued

I read through the articles on Perspectives and I have really mixed feelings. I fear that students will not know how to research information from a book. They spend some much time going through sources on the Internet and neglecting the books. In turn, I have done a lot of weeding to get rid of some of the materials that are outdated and will continue to get rid of these materials. I have started buying less nonfiction materials because of the amount of use is way down. I look at the "just in case" collection and wonder am I doing the students justice by keeping it or tossing it? Am I helping support the crazy of the Internet by getting rid of the materials? How will I be able to keep up with new information? Do I have enough funds to buy worthy databases that are useful to students? Am I helping students by throwing out the books? How do I better educate students on worth while Internet sources?
Since I started working in the high school in 2001, we have purchased more computers, decreased the amount of nonfiction materials purchased, and tried to teach each incoming class how to research the library, as well as the Internet. I think it is important to keep up with the technology changes that continually come our way but I still feel old school with teaching students the importance of books. I wish more teachers would have students use books as a source for research.
As I weed the materials, I look at the shelves and wonder if at the same time they were not too full and therefore not user friendly. How can I make the shelves more user friendly? Should I be labeling the shelves according to book content, like health issues, or leave them with the standard call numbering?
Teachers struggle with helping students. Some of them, give them the websites to use that have the best information. Is that spoon feeding them? I pull books for classes and put them on shelves and some students will utilize them and others will run for the computer and use whatever they can find on Google.
The education system as I knew it has changed so much since I went to school. There are more computers available. If we don't change with the times are we going to be left behind or do an injustice to our students? All things that need to be continually thought about and dealt with.