Marshall Allen
LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE -- Lindsay Ward is in charge of a library so
grand, it's not being called a library. It's the Information Resource
Center at La Canada High School. "A library is no longer a stuffy place
with the librarian in her granny glasses," Ward said. "It's a place of
dynamic student interaction."
The new library is a joint-use project of the La Canada Unified School
District and the city of La Canada Flintridge. The city contributed funds
to running the facility -- $35,000 this year according to Jinny Dalbeck.
The joint use agreement means that the facility will be open to all La
Canada Flintridge residents, as soon as Spring Break, or maybe this fall,
Dalbeck said.
Ward, who has her master's degree in education technology, was like a
proud mother when showing off the $3.5-million facility Monday. The
building features 24-foot floor to ceiling windows on its expansive
outside wall that fill the open room with natural light.
The 36 computer terminals are empty now, but within two weeks they'll
be filled with three dozen 999 MHz machines, networked together for
instruction. Each computer will boast a T1 Internet connection and has a
program to allow staff to monitor surfing and freeze web sites if
students get off task. In total, the Information Resource Center will
have 50 computers, Ward said.
Upstairs on the mezzanine, the facility has two large multimedia
meeting rooms, where Ward said she can see students presenting in a
corporate-like setting.
"In a very formal way they'll learn how to do oral presentations that
are required not only in academia, but in work," she said.
It's the space that Principal Mike Leininger said makes the new
facility stand out from the old library.
"We didn't even have a full set of computers before," Leininger said.
"Now, a full class can sit at the computers, we can have one or two in
the stacks and one to two upstairs."
While most research is done with computers, of course the Information
Resource Center still has lots of the old library standby's -- books.
Right now, the library has 21,100 books, about 10 per student. But the
national average is about 20 books per student, Ward said. With
California Library Act monies, she's improving the collection, she said.
