My name is Margot Pop, school librarian in The Netherlands. I have studied Social Geography, Spanish (translation) and Information Services (Informatie-Dienstverlening – IDM). I devour all works of literature.  

I have worked at the school librarian for ten years now. In those 10 years digital information started replacing printed information. When I first came here, informative books were of great importance, but now only very specific works of information are being borrowed by students. All the other information students can find on the Internet! These days, students get all of their information from there.

Yet, because of the large amounts of information, students sometimes feel they drown in information. And… how reliable is the information they find? “Fake news” is like a ghost nowadays. And, if the information is not fake, how do we know we can trust the source or whether the information is biased? Who wrote it, and why? And… when they digest all of this information, do students need more support in structuring the information? Don’t they miss a logical order and a structure? A traditional book did all of this for us. The authors of the informational books curated the information for us.  Who does this curating now?

When students are searching for information, whether it is fiction or non-fiction – it really helps when there is somebody there to assist them in finding the information. Somebody to spark their interest by offering not-originally-searched-for-but-interesting information. The librarian is such a person. He or she can also come into the classroom to explain to students where to find interesting and good quality information, and how to use a catalogue and a search engine. That way, the school librarian can assist the teacher.

As a librarian I have been working with a teacher of English, Marleen Spierings, on the following topics: 

  • Searching Information: what tools or knowledge do students need to search for sources effectively when doing research? 
  • Evaluating Information: how to educate students in evaluating the quality of the digital sources?

Interesting book in Dutch: “Digitale intelligentie : wat je moet weten, leren en doen in een digitaal verbonden samenleving” / Hans Hoornstra en Wijnand van Lieshout, ©2019 

The authors present the Columbusmodel 21st century skills. 

Terms: 

  • digital intelligence – p.20, 41, 128 
  • connected digitalisation – p.35 
  • Deep learning, artficial intelligence – p.49 
  • Robotic Process Automation – p.50 
  • Columbusmodel van 21-eeuwse vaardigheden, p. 71-75