Pioneers, settlers, and sticks-in-the-mud

The author said when she thinks of creativity and innovation, she thinks of libraries. Libraries are storehouses of knowledge, and they are the places people go to learn, to explore, to dream, and to implement their dreams. Over the years, decades, and centuries, libraries have evolved as learning institutions, incorporating and implementing new technologies. Libraries are storehouses, but they are not museums. The trails that librarians have blazed are littered with discarded technology, weeded books and formats, and piles of an ancient procedures. Truth be told, they need all of the school librarians they can get. As a profession, they need pioneers for their courage and example; they need settlers for their implementation; and they need traditionalists for their ability to slow down the headlong rush to the future. If more traditionalists had slowed the adoption of the Common Core State Standards long enough for thoughtful review, they would not have as much backlash as they have now.