One hundred years of school library and educational technology development: A case study of the New Trier Township High School district (Illinois)

The historical development of school library and educational technology programs has not been well documented. Previous research on the historical development of public schooling has generally ignored these areas. Further hindering research in these areas was the fact that foundational studies in library history and educational technology have generally ignored or only briefly addressed the development of programs at the level of secondary education.; This study traced the evolution of the school library and technology programs at New Trier High School from the school's inception in 1899 until 1997. The study answered what were the key issues surrounding the development of these programs throughout the twentieth century and the events, which either hindered or supported further program development. The study articulates the key national initiatives, standards or other developments upon which the progress of the New Trier programs can be evaluated. The technology program includes educational museums, audiovisual programs, instructional radio, instructional television and computer-aided instruction in addition to administrative computing issues.; The recommendation for practicing educators from this study is to be aware of the inherent value of their own institution's heritage and develop policies and practices to preserve that history for the future. Suggestions for further research include: additional case study histories of individual schools or districts for comparison; deeper research into the specific programs outlines including the educational museum movement, the impact of the ITFS program on instruction, and the early use of computer technology at the elementary and secondary level; work regarding the development of elementary school library programs, specifically prior to 1966; a survey of archival materials available to researcher of secondary education issues and the indexing large or significant collections of twentieth century secondary school newspapers.