Anonymous wrote:Field parent here and we love the school. In response to your question...Hidden no! Gem...for sure

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:16:14 Field is a young school (it just celebrated its 40th) plus the facility is on the small side. For these two reasons along I think this makes sense not to devote space for books when everything is going digital. Further, students can use great libraries in the area if they need to do serious research, university, DC and LOC. It's not as though Field was in some isolated, library-free zone. My child read lots of great books at Field, did major research papers, etc.

My son, a college junior, just took a book out of the library for the first time. In his first 2 years at a very demanding university, he never had to use a physical book for research. (And, for the record I'm not a Field parent.)

When we looked at Field for our oldest some 7 years ago, we were already told then that they had made a decision not to spend much money on physical books in anticipation of the world going digital. That was a strategic/financial choice. While not my preferred cup of tea, it was perfectly understandable.

Beyond that, I would have to say that the experience of 17:15's child is not universal. My DC had to use the library at American University for research his senior year of high school and used old fashioned books from there. As a freshman in college, he has one only class where all resources are on line. I suspect a lot depends on what you are studying/researching.

Just because Field has a small (but beautiful) library doesn't mean that they don't read print books.

My DC is using computers much less for her classes than her peers in other schools (to the point where we felt safe NOT buying her a laptop to take to and from school), and all of her in-class reading (and a lot of her out of class research) is done in "real" books.

I suspect the library may have been sparse the past few years because of the move and subsequent construction, but the students are encouraged to apply (and use) for a DC Library card and there are now books in the library (which I did not see last year).

There is no librarian. But it is a high school...

Anonymous wrote:16:14 Field is a young school (it just celebrated its 40th) plus the facility is on the small side. For these two reasons along I think this makes sense not to devote space for books when everything is going digital. Further, students can use great libraries in the area if they need to do serious research, university, DC and LOC. It's not as though Field was in some isolated, library-free zone. My child read lots of great books at Field, did major research papers, etc.

Well, read about what going digital is doing to the way we read. Think about the difference when you read something in print and digitally. It isn't the same.