We are living in a world that is changing rapidly due to the technological revolution and, as such, both libraries and librarians seem to be struggling to maintain their traditional roles. It is essential to respond to and integrate this new technology into library services, while maintaining the traditional role of librarians. In an age where knowledge and information are delivered in a fast paced mode, it is essential to re-evaluate the core competencies for librarians serving children and young adults. This paper presents a literature review of the key skills required for librarians in a digital era; and the ALA competencies of librarians working with children and young adults. The paper also presents the feedback of nine librarians, working at the children and young adult libraries at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, on a survey that listed the essential skills required for them to serve their users in the best possible way. The skills were divided according to the age group and nine librarians responded to the survey by checking the skills they viewed as essential for a children or young adult librarian. Finally, it presents a list of skills and competencies essential to our roles in providing access to information in a fast-changing digital age.
Learning by interactive arts methods is a non-traditional approach to new creative teaching methods, in which young children are simultaneously engaged to feel and understand the original concept of core content areas in education, such as science, technology and math from a broad perspective. This article is an attempt to investigate the question of "how to keep young children's creativity alive". It focuses on the visual art and its inter-relation between interactivity and creativity, and how the exploration of arts shapes new ways for our children to improve their practice and interaction in an increasingly intelligent setting. The article explores different digital platforms, tools, art-tech/software, and web-based applications that support the benefits of innovative active learning, and which differentiate teaching methods in traditional classes. The author confers that recently, integrated digital aesthetic learning has shifted the focus from not only fulfilling the existing education system, but also developing new interactive environmentally-friendly education, where educators are encouraged to design and build a creative digital curriculum to engage their students in a constructive way, both formally and informally. Furthermore, it discusses how arts and humanities-based initiatives are taking a prominent place in our integrated learning systems in private elementary schools in Alexandria. The paper then concludes with an emphasis on the crucial and efficient use of digital technologies through primary education as a tool to create and conduct art activities in order to help improve children learning in a creative process.
Interactive art-based application is an informal approach to new creative learning methods, in which younger students are visually stimulated, and actively engaged to discover nature and grasp the original concept of core content areas in academic disciplines, such as science, mathematics and geometry from a broad perspective. This chapter tries to explore the means to further young children's creative thinking in today's techno-scientific world. But much of the analysis holds more generally for the intersection between visual art and interactive aesthetics, and how the exploration of visual art forms shapes new ways for primary school students to reform their creative practice to effectively interact in an increasingly smart setting. The chapter then concludes with a focus on the attribution of aesthetic value in integrating digital technologies with human ideas as an interactive tool to infuse immersive visual thinking into children's fun learning apps.
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