{"id":256,"date":"2026-08-30T14:36:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T14:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mercyamwell.com\/?p=256"},"modified":"2026-08-31T08:03:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T08:03:23","slug":"ai-in-school-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mercyamwell.com\/?p=256","title":{"rendered":"AI in School Libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction: In this Post we view School Library in Three Time-Compartments – with the second, Digitized and in a third time-bound compartment – AI in Libraries, (explorative)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Draft is meant to initiate discussions \/ trigger possibilities<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I. School Library – The Old View<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Generally, School Libraries have been viewed as secondary, as source for supplementary Learning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the old view, Libraries were Windows to the World!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘School libraries as engines of workforce and economic development’<\/em> – seems like the jingoisms some have acquired to promote facilities however good the intent. Here is another one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘The Workers of Tomorrow are sitting in the Classrooms of Today’ <\/em>– well meaning perhaps but still a narrowed view of what schools are or meant to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we, as all along believed that Libraries are not silos of knowledge but ‘window to the world’ and perhaps over time; to reflect on; then let us plough on. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Readers are welcome to recall their experiences from their first visit to the Library (school’s or otherwise)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Value Learning’ from a Good Book in the Library<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not the size or the Quantity of Books but the Quality and Ease of Access:<\/strong> (Anecdotal, from 1970s) It was in Class IX that we visited the Library – the room was annexed to the Principal’s Office There was hardly any time to familiarize with the books – many in glass fronted cupboards. A wide paged book on Physics caught my attention. It was expensive and unlikely that I may be allowed to borrow. I browsed through the initial pages and can recall the first chapter with a large diagram showing spherical balls of molecules – scaled up to size of ping pong balls – bouncing off the walls of the container. The chapter was ‘Kinetic Theory of Gasses’. There followed chapters including one on ‘jet engine plumes’. Much to my regret, I dared not to ask to borrow and returned it to the shelf.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, during working years when I came across problems such as annealing of weld joints for pressure vessels that became economical when instead of each joint, the entire vessel was heat treated and soaked uniformly at around 400 deg C with gas burners inside – that I wished I had asked for and borrowed that book.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Horton’s company soaks spherical vessels with a single internal gas burner<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Picture Source: https:\/\/www.atlasobscura.com\/places\/norwich-horton-sphere<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old View<\/strong> – There’s nothing like a good book to read at one’s pace and leisure<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Textbooks on Sciences are not meant to bulk with large font size, illustrations and analogies that increase the print cost.<\/strong> They are meant to cover Definitions, Laws, Important Facts as well as Theories evidenced by experimental results with the Topics and Sections set in an Order of Learning. The problems at end-of-chapters are where ‘learning is acquired’ and may require adult assistance as they advance from worked out examples laying out procedures to real world applications as well as Corollaries, implicit in the Laws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is up to Teachers to improvise with Analogies appropriate to the their Class. In practise, not all are able to do justice except may be in the key topics. The reason commonly given is they have a vast syllabi to cover within the time available; and this is quite true.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Recommended Books:<\/strong> (For Middle and Higher Classes – we have developed a List – available on Request)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Library Walls<\/strong> may discretely present ‘Art walking hand-in-hand with Science’<\/em><\/strong> or other inspirational posters. Here’s an example of Art without background clutter (Focussed)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Call Art Drawing – Youtube<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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