SCHOOL LIBRARIES OFFER `GOOD READ'

"Nancy Drew" and the "Hardy Boys" are still well-read. But increasingly elementary school students are finding computers a "good read." So are high school students.

Computers have become as indispensable to school libraries as the dictionary.

At Scott City elementary school, computers have shared space with books in the library for 11 years.

"We do all of our check-in and check-out with computers," librarian Loretta Templeton said.

Seven years ago, the school library went to a computerized card catalog.

"We start actually teaching them how to use the computer card catalog in the second grade," she said.

The library recently upgraded its system. With CD-ROMs, students will be able to access encyclopedias on computer, learn math and spelling, and even tie into the wealth of information offered on the Internet system worldwide.

Four computers line one wall of the library. The library is the size of two classrooms. Half of the space is filled with short bookcases that hold some 12,000 to 13,000 books. Tables and chairs take up much of the rest of the room.

The school has had a library for 23 years. Templeton said Scott City was one of the first elementary schools in the state to have a library.

"When we started out, we had hardly anything," she recalled.

Elementary schools used to have classroom collections of maybe 30 books. Schools relied on bookmobiles.

Templeton views the library as essential to schooling. With today's knowledge explosion, it is impossible to teach students everything in class, she said.

"Our job is to teach them how to access knowledge. I really feel that is our job as educators now."

Worn book covers don't bother Templeton. For her, the books are there to be read, not just to fill shelf space.

Elementary schoolchildren love books, Templeton said. "I'll have 5,000 books a month checked out."

In contrast, the library at the adjacent Scott City High School has relatively few books checked out each month.

"We might have 200 to 300 checked out a month," high school librarian Jeanette Mastin said. High school students don't want to sit and read a book.

Second-grader Brittany LeDure, 8, is a frequent visitor to the elementary school library.

"Libraries are my favorite thing," she said. "I like all the books."

Sixth-grader David Carter, 12, helps out in the library. "I like working here," he said. "I get to find out where all the books are."

Like LeDure, Carter loves to read. "I've done 19 book reports this year," he said.

Working in the library, he not only deals with the books. He also many times gets to turn on the computers.

Cape Girardeau Central High School's Ann Bartlett is in her 19th year as school librarian. She said computers have been a welcome addition to school libraries.

The high school library has a computerized card catalog and has plans to upgrade its computer system within the next several few weeks.

The upgraded system will provide computer users with direct access to the Internet and an almost endless stream of information, including that offered through the Library of Congress.

Bartlett is familiar with Internet, having logged onto it on her home computer. "It is just fantastic," she said.

"It adds another dimension," she said. "It is going to be a lot easier for students to get information that they will want."

Bartlett said that in the future Cape Central students may be able to communicate with students in other countries through electronic mail.

Even with all these electronic marvels, both Bartlett and Templeton believe that books will never be replaced entirely.

"You can't sit down and read a computer on the bus," Bartlett said.

Templeton agreed. "I don't think anything will ever totally replace books."