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The Teaching Librarian 19.2 13 of advertising), in Digital Media, Youth, and credibility. eastin confirms what we have probably thought for a while: cognitive development, including limitations (the age and level of maturity) will determine the student's ability to judge the credibility of the wide variety of online information. "Younger children may simply lack the capacity and skill necessary to make good sense of such cognitively 'noisy' environments." This once again highlights the librarian's key role in the teaching of Information Literacy Skills. Further information about the Macarthur Foundation, grants, and Digital Media and Learning is available at the foundation's website (www.macfound.org). The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry) Siva Vaidhyanathan 2011 978-0-520-25882-2 Designed for students of all grades, parents, teachers at all levels, especially media literacy teachers currently on bookstore shelves, Vaidhyanathan's well- researched book touches on a number of issues educators have been discussing. he starts with a brief history of google, with "how google came to rule the web," confirming perhaps what we know already: "because we focus so much on the miracles of google, we are too often blind to the ways in which google exerts control over its domain." well-indexed, the book is critical of google, but at the same time, the author places responsibility on us in the chapter entitled, "The googlization of us": "we must constantly monitor fast- changing 'privacy policies.' we must be able to walk away from a valuable service if its practices cause us concern. The amount of work we must do to protect our dignity online is daunting." The good news for us is found in the conclusion, where he emphasizes the role of public, and by extension, school libraries: "I foresee public libraries as the nodes of the human knowledge Project. because libraries are increasingly the places where poor people seek knowledge and opportunity via the Internet, we should take advantage of them to connect people with knowledge in the richest and most effective ways possible." Maybe we should all purchase a copy for our school libraries, our administrators, and Toronto's current mayor. Siva Vaidhyanathan is a cultural historian, media advisor, robertson Professor in Media Studies, chair, Department of Media Studies, university of Virginia. Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities Martha C. Nussbaum 2010 978-0-691-14064-3 Designed for parents, students at both elementary and secondary levels, educators, general public at first glance, nussbaum's book might seem to apply only to post-secondary pursuits, but at closer scrutiny, the reader can see that it actually applies to all levels of a person's education and intellectual development. well-researched constructive criticism and points of view (some based on comparisons between u.S. schools and those in India) are voiced. In particular she targets inquiry: "another aspect of the u.S. educational tradition that stubbornly refuses assimilation into the growth-directed model is its characteristic emphasis on the active participation of the child in inquiry and questioning." here, the only words missing are "teacher-librarian" to complete the picture. when describing the learning process for children in kindergarten, nussbaum refers to earlier leaders in education such as Friedrich Froebel and Socrates, with emphasis placed on inquiry once again: "his {Froebel's] idea that each child deserves respect, and that each [regardless of class or gender] should be an inquirer, is also thoroughly Socratic." The book provides no real statistical data to support nussbaum's claim that a democratic citizenship is suffering in today's world, but in the book's endnotes, many references are given. In the final chapter, "Democratic education on the ropes," the author makes a call to action: "we should redouble our commitment to the parts of education that keep democracy vital. even if it should turn out that they are not as profoundly threatened as I believe them to be, they are clearly vulnerable and under great pressure in an era of economic globalization." The idea that the humanities are no longer needed and can be cut or downsized might come as a result of worldwide economic crises, but at this point in time, it is hard to understand why at one university, a leading religious studies department "was informed that philosophy is part of the 'core' but religious studies is not." In this current trend towards Multiple Literacies, religious thought, according to some, should be somehow, and strangely, excluded. are the alarm bells ringing yet? Martha nussbaum has authored many books and is the ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and ethics in the Philosophy Department, Law School, and Divinity School at the university of chicago. z