Technological Advances Affecting School Instructional Materials Centers

C H N O I ~O G Y ~resently available is grossly inadequate to support the kind of school inedia program invisioned by the new Standards For School Media Programs.lVery little of the currently available instructional technology is designed to support individual use of the vastly expanded collection of educational medis.Specialists in the field have been forced to adapt existing devices for use in the media center with the resultant technological over-kill.The dearth of well-designed, quiet, inexpensive student-media interface devices for use in carrels in individual or small-group inquiry is one of the chief factors affecting more comprehensive use of media designed for this purpose.An examination of the current issue of The Audio-Visual Equipment Directory "upports the general thesis of "more of the same."Manufacturers of educational equipment have not kept pace with the current developments in curric~~lum and educational methodology.To be sure, the self-contained classroom with its typically undersize screen, a 16m.m. projector, record player, and possibly an overhead projector along with the ever present chalkboard is the overwhelming reality, but increasingly, schools are building and equipping facilities to support individual student use of media.The available equipment for this individual and sniall group use of media is what is lacking.Equipment designed for the thirty student classroo~n just does not fit well in a 2' X 3' carrel and is much too heavy for an elementary LLBRARY TRENDS