Serendipitous librarian

Tactile, physical, real and beautiful

2012-01-11T09:58:00.000-05:00

Can you really imagine our world without books?

Check out this amazing video, made by booklovers at a bookstore in Toronto. It explains what the books do at night . . . . .

"After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago (http://youtu.be/zhRT-PM7vpA), my wife and I decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto (883 Queen Street West, (416) 366-8973).

"Grayson Matthews (http://www.graysonmatthews.com/) generously composed the beautiful, custom music."

Interesting AND accurate . . .

2012-01-09T21:31:00.000-05:00

Halloween Collaboration

2011-10-31T15:19:00.003-04:00

Love Prezi almost as much as Google Docs. Groups can collaborate in real time to create presentations that pack a punch! Check it out. (Quick text version available here.)

Check out collaboration in action -- Google Style. Not sure what the true spirit of Halloween is but these folks sure look like they had fun and demonstrate a collaborative spirit we can all aspire to.

Hacking hinders human happiness

2011-10-07T11:42:00.006-04:00

Dateline: Washington Post; October 6, 2011

An Associated Press-MTV poll finds 3 in 10 teens and young adults have had people get into their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or other Internet accounts and either impersonate or spy on them. That’s nearly double the level seen in 2009.

The poll found solid majorities saying they knew who was behind it . . . . . . [Often] It’s meant to be funny . . . . . . . . . But sometimes the hacking can be malicious. (Link to full article)

I went to YouTube to find a video clip to make light of this situation and was inundated with hundreds of videos promising to show me how to hack my friends email, Facebook and other accounts.

According to the article much of the "hacking" reported was done by friends who take over a computer that has been left unattended or who have "stolen" an obvious or previously shared password. Even the "funny" intrusions can often be interpreted as bullying “It’s supposed to be obvious that this is something I would never say,” and these are often things that embarrass or bother the owner of the hijacked account.

Professional hacking of social networks appears, based upon this study, to be the least of our worries. It is our "friends" who are out to get us!

With tools and techniques available to teach interested "friends" how to hack our accounts, it is these "friends" we need to guard against. I have not taken the time to research these tools but assume the best guard is, as the professionals warn us, changing passwords frequently and using combinations of letters, numbers and even characters.

What about the "friends" who take over the computer we left logged in or who borrow our laptops or smart phones that save passwords to automatically log in to all of our favorite sites? What about these loyal friends who look over our shoulders (figuratively speaking) to read our most private correspondence or who, "being funny," send email or post to Facebook things that we wouldn't ever do or if we did would never share?

I love technology! I love what it can do for us, and I love sharing the best it has to offer with students, teachers and friends. I offer and suggest. I do not preach (or at least try not to). Those of us who live in glass houses have no right to preach. On this point though, I see an urgent need to caution all around me to be cautious about passwords and about open accounts.

We cannot count upon our friends to have our backs on this one! It is up to each individual to protect their online privacy as much, perhaps more, than we work to protect our real, physical privacy.

This will not prevent purposeful, malicious bullying, but it will prevent us from feeling the barbs of a "friend's," supposedly "funny" jabs. As we encourage our students to develop an ever increasing online presence with blogs, discussion boards and an increasing volume of Web based application and those same students develop their own social and in some cases professional and financial networks outside of school, it is imperative that we encourage the safest possible behaviors.

Check this article about Google Apps for Education and community fears. What the Internet hath giveth, thy community (or district) can take away if fears outweigh perceived benefit.

Explicit instruction limits learning . . .

2011-09-17T21:30:00.000-04:00

I often teach technology to students quickly. I often start with the comment, "I know many of you already know how to do this but if you'll give me a few minutes I might remind you of something you've forgotten." Once started, I try to keep things interesting and fast paced and will say as I skim rapidly over very important tips or techniques, "If you need help figuring out how to [get here / do this / take the next step] let me know and I will be glad to help you."

I have found that this method causes students to try harder to figure out how to do things they may have struggled with if I taught in greater detail. I think we (all) tend to rely on as much assistance or guidance as we can get and only when pushed to extend ourselves does our creativity and motivation to learn by doing engage. This seems to me like the basis of constructivist learning and the model we should all pursue as educators.

I watch teachers repeat basic instructions again and again until, "everyone in the class gets it," but notice that it sometimes takes forever and in following lessons students need the explanations again and again. With my method, after the first time, when I tell the students, "This is easy and I know nobody will have a problem with it," if I have to revisit later it is done individually or very quickly to the group with a preface like the one above.

A recent MIT study seems to confirm my rationale and support my opinion that sometimes to promote learning, when it comes to teaching, explicit instruction, less is more.

Suppose someone showed you a novel gadget and told you, “Here’s how it works,” while demonstrating a single function, such as pushing a button. What would you do when they handed it to you?

You’d probably push the button. But what if the gadget had other functions? Would it occur to you to search for them, if your teacher hadn’t alluded to their existence?

Maybe, maybe not. It turns out that there is a “double-edged sword” to pedagogy: Explicit instruction makes children less likely to engage in spontaneous exploration and discovery. A study by MIT researchers and colleagues compared the behavior of children given a novel toy under four different conditions, finding that children expressly taught one of its functions played with the toy for less time and discovered fewer things to do with it than children in the other three scenarios.

According to Laura Schulz, . . . Associate Professor of Cognitive Science at MIT, this is rational behavior, as teaching is meant to impart skills quickly and efficiently. The danger is leading children to believe that they’ve learned all there is to know, thereby discouraging independent discovery.

The rest of the article is available at MIT News.

Scare tactics aren't working

2011-09-11T22:37:00.005-04:00

Great refresher for teachers, librarians and parents on how to teach cyber-safety. Time to pull back from the scare tactics and focus on the facts. Scaring kids from drugs and sex hasn't worked since the '50s and scaring them about cyber-bullying isn't working today. It's time to treat kids like adults, give them the facts and the concerns, and assist them in finding safe and honorable choices.

Do fear and exaggeration increase risk?

Does this mean I have to loosen the reins on my own children's digital lives? Jury will remain out on this one . . .

Larry Magid, co-director of Connect Safely.org created another slide show a while back that is more detailed and explanatory and perhaps suitable for middle school students.

Digital Citizenship & Media Literacy: A presentation for students

School Days . . .

2011-09-11T22:17:00.005-04:00

Wow! Has it been that long since my last post . . .

New school year underway and lots going on. Teachers are excited about Google Docs, specialized searches, Web reference evaluation and focused database research. I am busy making new and affirming old contacts to grow my collaborative network.

I made it to final round of interviews for several librarian positions over the summer only to be edged out in the end by laid off librarians also in the interview pool. While this is financially crippling, I am holding head high and am confident I will find and accept a perfect position.

Between scrolls & tablets came the book

2011-05-11T23:16:00.000-04:00

Librarians do what search engines can't

2011-05-08T08:15:00.002-04:00

Jenny Campbell - http://comics.com/flo&friends/2011-04-13/

As frustrated as I get with library budget cuts all around us, we are seeing a more and more vocal core of support in communities across the country. The following excerpt appeared in an editorial in the Houston Chronicle on March 31. If only the decision makers and majority of population of communities and schools realized what this editor defines.

The infoverse has exploded. Data still comes in book form - and in a bazillion other forms as well: among them, databases, online journals, architectural plans, maps, photos, microprints, CDs, DVDs, podcasts, posters, manuscripts, Tweets, [blogs,] musical scores, scripts, magazines, software and web sites.
Librarians make it possible to navigate the wilderness.
Handed a difficult question, a good librarian happily hacks through the data jungle, sorting the good info from the bad, and procuring exactly the answer you wanted.
But great librarians do something even better: They help you ask a sharper question, then find the answer you didn't know you needed.
Maybe printed books will largely disappear in the next decade. Even so, we'll still need libraries - because we'll need librarians.

Thu 03/31/2011 Houston Chronicle, Section B, Page 8, 3 STAR Edition

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2011_4958826

The amazing power of the reference interview! Define a question to improve the outcome. What a concept.

Google's most recent Webinar, May 4, 2011 "Writing successful search queries," describes "predictive searching" and describes, the "number one rule of search engines [is to] search for you answer, not your question." This is good start, and as a HUGE supporter of all that is Google, will benefit users who stumble upon and understand this concept, but for now, and judging by the interactions I have at work and throughout my daily life and the media I interact with, the vast majority of our population can still benefit from the expertise that librarians can provide.

I just got back from SLMS conference in Buffalo, NY. I hope to post more here on that later but suffice it to say, conferences are sooo motivational and empowering. This one offered so much info, it did not help my focus on one aspect or another but filled my brain with ideas for teaching, learning, improving and advocating.

And another one gone, and another one gone

2011-04-01T01:16:00.001-04:00

In a sign of the times, Newport Beach is considering closing the city's original library and replacing it with a community center that would offer all the same features — except for the books.

Instead of a reference librarian, patrons would be greeted by a kiosk equipped with video-calling software that would allow them to speak with employees elsewhere. And books — when ordered — would be dropped off at a locker for pickup.

Tomes' time might be up at Newport Beach library

Are we numb to these stories? Locally the town of Greece, NY has announced the perceived necessity to eliminate half of its budget for libraries going into next year. The superintendent of Rochester city schools announced yesterday that his proposed budget eliminates 900 teaching positions.

Aside from the fact that I am in search of a job as a school librarian and enjoy my occasional service as a substitute at the public library, and aside from my role as the son and grandson of teachers and father of students, and aside from the fact that I now work as a technology assistant in a school library and visit our public library regularly with my children, aside from these facts, I am trying to figure out how I really feel about library closures and school program elimination.

In other words, how do these cuts affect citizens and students who may not have the love of books, knowledge, technology, collaboration and academic discussion, that I have? How do these cuts affect my neighbors who do not realize the opportunity they are passing up to read books and magazines and use computers for free?

Will it matter to them that there are 30 students or more in a class instead of 25. Will it matter that elementary students do not have stand-alone art or music lessons or a chance to enjoy reading without pressure in the library? Will it matter to them that elective classes at the secondary level are shaved to the bare minimum or eliminated. Will the lack of sports and club activities and related activity buses cause them frustration?

I believe in America and the ideals our country was founded upon. I believe that American pride, ingenuity, influence and strength to affect change still exists. I believe, however, that it can only be disturbed as we feel great pain as a national (or at least regional or local) community. I believe that we have within us the power to reverse this economic and social landslide but not unless the pain becomes unbearable and the urge to ease the pain unavoidable.

So, have we become numb to stories of cuts and eliminations of programs and facilities? I guess I am not sure. Are we sheep who will follow our leaders wherever they take us and agree to whatever cuts they impose? Are we, as a population, comfortable with our leaders and in agreement with most of the decisions they make? Or do we have the fortitude to cause our leaders to alter decisions to our will and to choose leaders who support our will?

The article quoted above ends:

Past attempts to change the traditional library model have not always worked out.

In 2008, Long Beach considered turning its main library into a depot of sorts that would fill book orders for neighborhood branch libraries. But residents rallied to save the stacks and the proposal was shelved.

In 2008 these citizens noticed, disagreed, and prevailed. What happens now?

What happens in Long Beach California? What happens in Greece, NY? What happens in the city of Rochester? What happens in cities and communities coast to coast to our schools and our libraries, and tangentially speaking, our healthcare and our infrastructure and our economy and society as a whole?

In a special, off-season, election to choose a new mayor for the city of Rochester, 26% of eligible voters showed up at the polls yesterday. This was up from 20% in 2009 but down from almost 40% in a hotly contested 2005 election. Fifty six percent of eligible voters participated in our last national election, the highest in any election since 1968. As the country has simmered during this presidency, 40.9% of voters turned out to shake up our legislative branches (highest off-year turn-out since 1970).

Do these statistics matter? I guess I can only answer, "I hope so."

Will the voters focus on the cuts to education and to library services? What is the future of education and of library service in our country in the near and long-term future? Sadly it is not the teachers or the librarians who will answer that question. It is our neighbors, our students, parents and patrons, and the large unknown masses who have forgotten or who never understood the value of programs, services and education that we offer.

The time to save your school or your library, your teacher or your librarian, or your job if you are in the profession is NOT after cuts have been announced or are being discussed. The time is NOW! Usage statistics, evidence of success, patron and student growth and satisfaction with services and teaching, and community support in advance of budget discussions are critical to continued funding. Converting a non-library user every day and developing strategies to remain relevant in our communities and schools into the 21st century should be among our many goals.

I apologize for blending the lines between school and library budgets in this discussion and know the answers and even the questions are not the same for each and yet they do share many commonalities. I know of no consolidated resource that identifies cuts to education, but want to share and ask all lovers of libraries to help keep your town off of these maps.

A Nation without School Librarians

View A Nation without School Librarians in a larger map

Losing Libraries

E-readers -- Yes, but do questions remain?

2011-03-29T17:08:00.010-04:00

On some topics I claim some expertise and on others just interest. I have not delved into the Nook, Kindle, iPad e-reader technologies, nor have I monitored popularity trends toward these technologies. It is as an uniformed outsider that I pose the question, "What happens if the technology you buy into does not survive?"

Does anybody remember the VHS / Beta wars? VHS was declared the winner but few of them still survive today. How about the game system wars? Which did you choose: Atari, Sega, or Nintendo? How is that holding up today?

If content and format are unique to the device and the device is replaced, what do you have? I only offer questions on this topic but am intrigued by this video about technologies I have never heard of before: Nelson, Coupland and Alice. They sound like people's names but they appear to offer another alternative to traditional e-readers.

I do not doubt for a moment that the future is in digital formats. I am fairly confident that after the Christmas rush this year a large percentage of human readers in our country will own some form of digital reader. Scanning library forums, it is apparent that many libraries are buying into current technologies. I am not questioning this direction, but the path.

The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

Meet Nelson, Coupland, and Alice — the faces of tomorrow’s book. Watch global design and innovation consultancy IDEO’s vision for the future of the book. What new experiences might be created by linking diverse discussions, what additional value could be created by connected readers to one another, and what innovative ways we might use to tell our favorite stories and build community around books?

Perhaps my questions are the irrelevant ramblings of the ignorant and if I better understood the technology they would not pass my lips. I wish this were so and beg any who read this post to correct me if my thought process is wrong. I also welcome comments of agreement and clarification if I am correct.

I promise to pay more attention and to pursue this technology in the near future. I look forward to the experience of reading my first digital book on a reader. For today though, I ask, please educate me.

Fact is stranger than fiction

2011-03-29T16:26:00.005-04:00

Orwell's 1984 was considered science fiction in it's time. People laughed at Wilbur and Orville Wright and Glenn Curtiss until they proved flight was possible. Any of us born before 1970 knows at least someone who or whose parents thought computers were a gimmick or fad that would wane in time. And yet, look at where we are today . . .

Is it ridiculous to think that this video from Corning Glass is a realistic view into the future? (I honestly don't think so.) Whether you believe technology will seep into every aspect of our lives or not, this video proves it is possible in ways most of us could not even imagine. Even The Jetsons didn't have these technologies that are possible today!

This is must watch video for anyone responsible for teaching today's youth. It sheds new light on the phrase, "preparing students for jobs that haven't even been invented yet."

If anyone is shopping for my birthday, the technologies in this video would be a great place to start . . . .

Copyright is more than a concept

2011-03-10T23:13:00.003-05:00

Reading from the Travelin' Librarian's Blog, came across a post reiterating our trite disclaimer about using copyrighted material but with an added twist. He quoted, as I also do below, from an Associated Press article posted on the KTVN Channel 2 Website:

Associated Press - February 15, 2011 7:05 PM ET

DENVER (AP) - A law firm that targets the unauthorized use of news content on the Internet has filed 32 lawsuits in federal court in Colorado seeking to stop the use of a Denver Post photograph showing an airport pat-down. . . .

Righthaven has been criticized by some for suing first, rather than asking bloggers or operators of websites to remove copyrighted content. . . . CEO Steve Gibson defended the strategy Tuesday, saying many people wrongfully assume that if something is posted on the Internet, it's in the public domain and can be used for free. . . .

In a notice to readers published Nov. 14, the Post said it would use all legal remedies to address copyright infringement. . . .
1 [sic] of those sued by Righthaven is Brian Hill, 20, of Mayodan, N.C. Hill said he found the Post picture on Google Images and posted it on his news and politics website, not knowing it was copyrighted.
Hill said an attorney from Righthaven called him Feb. 10 and said he could be liable for up to $150,000 in damages . . . . [apparently a settlement offer for $6000 is a possibility]

This, my friends, is why I try to teach our students about copyright law when we create multimedia content. Perhaps, as students they will not become the target of a lawsuit like the one described above but how many of our students might build their own businesses or work in small companies where they find themselves as Webmasters, public relations or news providers, marketing agents or social media liasons.

In education, with liberal interpretations of fair use, we feel protected but as we send our students out into a digital world, unless or until our national copyright laws are re-written, they will be held accountable by firms like Righthaven. Could you afford to pay $6000 (settlement offer) for every copyrighted image you ever used without permission? (I am sure I could not but do my best to use Creative Commons images and give credit whenever possible.)

Travelin' Librarian also identified an image search engine I had not seen before. Compfight searches Flickr and with one click on the primary search page, can limit search to Creative Commons images. In a couple quick tests, I did find images through Compfight that Google did not provide and so will definitely add it to my toolbox, but using Google's "advanced image search" and choosing "labeled for re-use" still seems to provide a broader selection of images.

NOTE: Remind students that searching creative commons does NOT assure that images are available without limitation. A copyrighted photo saved by another user to a Creative Commons license is still copyrighted. Multiple wrongs do not make a right.

Google in the kitchen

2011-03-06T15:51:00.001-05:00

Sunday afternoon, sitting at home and looking for recipes and what did I find? Google has made it easier than ever before to find exactly the recipe you are looking for. Search recipes by ingredients, cooking time & calories.

Not only did this help me find exactly the recipe I was looking for more quickly than I ever could have on any of the recipe database sites, but now I have a new tool to share with our cooking classes. Bon appetite . . .

Check out the Google Blog introduction to this new tool "Slice and dice your recipe search results," posted on February 24."

"The Last Text"

2011-03-02T15:44:00.013-05:00

Just for a moment, on my soapbox . . .

Not sure where this fits into the library curriculum but as a parent, uncle, teacher, friend, driver, human being, and as a citizen of the world with a voice and a platform, I cannot keep this to myself.

From the AT&T page where this video originally appeared:

Watch AT&T's new 10-minute documentary titled "The Last Text," featuring stories of real individuals whose lives have been adversely affected by texting behind the wheel.
AT&T created this documentary as part of its "It Can Wait" campaign because we want consumers be safe while using our technology. We are grateful and humbled by the bravery of the people who agreed to be on camera for the documentary. We would have no story to tell without them.

Learning you can see!

2011-03-02T12:03:00.009-05:00

Check out this great new tool! Create a video trip across a map complete with music and captions in minutes on TripLine.

In conjunction with our focus on Black History Month, check out this demo of King's march from Selma to Montgomery. Click "Full Screen" for best effect and press the play icon to start video. Click on the caption summary boxes to pause video and read an elongated caption.

It literally only takes minutes to create a project like this! Available tools allow you to select points through search or by dropping directly on map. Text and pictures are easily added as captions. Uploaded pics can create trip automatically using time stamp and geotags! A diverse selection of music is available on the site and adding is as simple as a click!

Great tool with potential uses in any subject from mapping civilizations to wars to political campaign trips. Highlight a biography, an event, a mission or even a period in history; Where were the hotbeds and turning points of the Industrial Revolution? Maps can be made with connecting lines or without for projects like this.

Would love to see a map of Homer's travels, the Iditarod sled race, and my next vacation (or my last). Maps can be made public or private with a simple click.

Registering to create your own maps on TripLine is is simple and easy but many maps are available for viewing without registering or logging in. I give this site an A++ rating!!

Hey Doc, Can I help you ?

2011-02-28T23:21:00.003-05:00

Working with one of our computer techs today, we were approached by a student who asked advice about her personal computer. I thought nothing of it until the tech related to me that he is often approached at parties and by virtual strangers with tech questions. He compared the approaches to those endured by doctors, lawyers, mechanics and other professionals with advanced knowledge in specific areas desired by less knowledgeable acquaintances.

Are librarians approached in this same manner? Not at the reference desk of the public library or by students or teachers against a tight deadline, but by friends, neighbors and acquaintances on the street or at the gym?

I realized as he made his comment, without malice or realization of what I was hearing, that this is the problem we are facing today as librarians fighting for our jobs and the right to continue serving the public. Trying to get legislatures and executives at local, state and national levels to see us as professionals is almost futile without the support of our friends and neighbors and strangers on the street.

Is it too late? I pray not but but wonder, how can we shift the paradigm? What can we do to elevate the perception regarding our ability to improve people's lives? Our ability to discover and organize information is irrelevant if others do not covet that ability and see us as the avenue to enlightenment.

We see ourselves as professionals and believe the lessons and the tools we can share with our students or patrons are both beneficial and can improve quality of life. Unless we can convey this opinion to others in a way that motivates them to aggressively seek and promote our services, the end may be nigh.

I have spent much of this year building my skills as a librarian through actions and through reading. I have not focused my attention on self-promotion or promotion of our field but it is becoming increasingly obvious that our only ray of hope is in tooting our own horns and trying to be heard.

Merely logging usage statistics is a path to eventual extinction. We must promote our services and ourselves to a far larger group than that which may be interested in usage statistics. It is not this narrow group who will decide the fate of the last librarian, but the users themselves who rise in our support.

Google improvements

2010-10-07T10:12:00.003-04:00

I logged on to write that Google is now advertising "real-time collaboration" in Google Docs! WooHoo! I was disappointed to see the Google Wave experiment disbanded,, not because I liked the Wave, but because it did allow real-time collaboration that Docs did not. And now! Google to the rescue. They poured the Wave technology back into Docs to make it better than before!

So my next dilemma, why can't I get teachers or our computer services department as excited about these tools for students and especially for group projects? Well check out the white horse that rode into town on my Google Reader yesterday.

Google Apps Now In A New York State Of Mind

Washington Post - Oct 5, 2010
This deal will give 3.1 million students access to Google Apps for Education?including Gmail, Docs, Sites and Calendar.

Google Apps Now Available in New York Schools

PC Magazine - Leslie Horn - Oct 5, 2010
... to providing schools the deployment and professional development resources they need to make Google Apps for Education - including Gmail, Docs, Sites, ...

New York schools go Google with Apps announcement

Fortune (blog) - Seth Weintraub - Oct 5, 2010
... they need to make Google Apps for Education—including Gmail, Docs, Sites and Calendar—a powerful tool for teachers and students across the state. ...

OK, so these are talking about state level decisions. Not sure how they actually affect our district, but certainly should begin to give some credence to my mantra, "like it or don't, Google is real world and offers tools our students need to learn and use."

Is Google taking over the world? Should we be scared? Well these are questions for a different day, but for now, I see it as important that we teach users how to harness the power of the available tools as a step toward continued advancement and understanding of the digital world and how we can use it to learn and improve ourselves and our real world situation.

YouTube in a PowerPoint show!

2010-09-30T15:46:00.004-04:00

Ok, All revved up to start posting regularly and my wheels are spinning off. Great start to the school year but have jumped in full speed ahead. Focus is on planning for the year and trying to get teacher's attention. Lucky for me I have a few who are keeping me busy!

Have spent today trying to get ahead of the curve and figure out the best way to teach MLA formatting with newly installed Word 2007. (What the heck is up with Google and the Calibri font?) I will post on this topic very soon. I've come up with some great questions regarding the level of teaching to do on this topic and some great solutions with various levels of student input.

Serendipitously, today I came across the answer to a question that I have been asked a bizzilion times (almost). Can I put a YouTube video on my PowerPoint? Well, yes Virginia, as of MS 2007 you can do exactly that! And it is easy and fun! Check out the video below for step by step details of what to do and how to do it. (Might look a little scary for non-techies but very simple when following this recipe.)

This video assumes an active and unfiltered access to the Internet. For districts that still block YouTube and other video sites other options do exist. The same author who produced this video offers a second video describing a rather complicated method. I prefer the much easier method of using Zamzar.com or other similar file conversion site to rip the video into a format that can be saved on the hard drive and played locally.

When streaming video directly from YouTube, there are no copyright implications (see previous posts in this blog). In any case where the video is removed from its source (converted and saved on your computer) it is important to remember to give credit to creators!

Have a great day!

Explosion of Expression

2010-09-15T15:26:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Grand Illusion . . . Not exactly sure why but these Styx lyrics popped into my head when I finally realized I was going to give myself permission to write again. My fingers are twitching I am so excited!

Yes, gave myself permission. I am behind on some projects that I really need to get done and I have stopped myself every time I tried to express my thoughts here with the admonition that I should be using my time wisely to get my projects done. Months have gone by and that strategy has not worked and so today I am giving in and will look for new motivation on those other fronts.

I have had a great summer with the family. We enjoyed several weeks at the lake and a couple other roadtrips to add a little spice. I worked a little and played Mr. Mom as my wife embarked on a new career. Perhaps most enjoyable, we actually made time to do a few projects around our own house this summer.

I had one great interview for a secondary position. It would have been a great job for me and, though it meant cutting lake time short I was very excited. Turns out over 60 people applied including five with professional library experience. Of the 60, eight were interviewed and three called back to teach a lesson. It sounds as if I was a strong second choice but was edged out by one of the more experienced candidates.

My strengths, according to the interviewer who notified me of the results were my knowledge of technology but more importantly, my understanding that technology is not the answer without a strong curricular link. He said my answers that focused on a scaffolded approach to teaching 21st Century Skills and preparation of students for life beyond high school with regards to research and presentation were very impressive.

Alas, summer is over and the job did not come my way but I am blessed that I have such a fantastic venue to continue to learn and grow as an educator and librarian. Our team, two librarians, two clerks, and myself returned intact to greet a new year in a freshly painted and exciting library. The computers are warmed up and the books dusted and we are ready to go!

Perhaps it is a line later in the song, "deep inside we're all the same," that made this song relevant to me today. Though I am technically still a Teaching Assistant, in my mind this year I am a librarian and plan to conduct myself as one at every opportunity.

Student learning is our priority

2010-04-10T06:25:00.001-04:00

Alison Zmuda opened her day-long conference, Librarians as Learning Specialists, with the statement, "Without a curriculum and a robust assessment system school librarians cease to exist." I was invigorated to hear the repetition throughout the day that, "Student learning is our priority." She focused on ways to re-design our lessons and align our standards with content curriculum areas and standards.

Two weeks later I had the opportunity to attend a conference hosted by Dr. Ross Todd on the topic of Evidence Based Practice and School Libraries. He spent the early morning describing our "invisible evidence syndrome," and the afternoon focusing us on "learning outcomes" verified by "evidence based practices." His message and Alison's mirrored and complemented each other. They both agree, and write and speak about ways to alter the image and, in fact, the reality of what school librarians do and how we do it.

Alison offered more suggestions for effective teaching opportunities, while Dr. Todd filled in the blanks with more concrete examples of learning-focused, lesson-based feedback and assessment collectibles. Talking with other conference attendees I discovered that my comfort level with this dialogue of true curricular collaboration and measurement of outcome extends from my business background. Two other librarians at my table, responding throughout the day with nods and smiles, also came from previous business experience. The two career librarians at the table generally agreed with what they heard, but did so with trepidation.

Four years ago in the first paper I ever wrote about school librarians, a literature review based upon current school and library journals including quotes from Dr. Todd, I lamented the need for librarians to map their curriculum to blend with content areas, to find ways to assure progressive information literacy development from year to year and to find ways to document progress and achievement. I am not sure what topics my classmates chose but even as an outsider I saw the need for this change in focus. My advocacy has continued in verbal and written reflections for LIS classes and in my job as a high school library teaching assistant.

Working in a school population nearing 1500 students, this knowledge has been a painful load to carry as I have had difficulty figuring out any consistent ways to measure student achievement or growth across the information literacy continuum. Collaborative opportunities are frequent, but convincing all teachers in a given content area / grade level to approach a project in the same way to allow us to give similar lessons and collect uniform data has proven virtually impossible. As if a symbol of the failure, much to frequently, we are asked to do a "quick, basic database intro," or worse, teachers with low expectations assign information-driven projects without library support.

Coinciding with the conferences I attended, however, I had the opportunity, as part of a required practicum, to work for five weeks each in two different smaller schools, a middle school and an elementary school, both with populations of closer to 500. Suddenly the lights are coming on. When all teachers for a subject / grade level can be counted on one hand (sometimes one or two fingers) the needs and opportunities are easier to identify. As both Zmuda and Todd and other authors I have read admit, the process is still not easy or quick but I am beginning to see light in the woods that may indicate a path.

The beginning of the path lies in continued movement away from "the database lesson" and toward true collaboration with teachers to design lessons, deliverable products, and grading criteria. As teacher-librarians, even as "information specialists," we need to step away from the role of information, material, space and student managers and aggressively into the role of information literacy teaching specialists. It goes without saying that we must be comfortable with the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner, but to achieve success we must think simultaneously about core content area standards and how to blend the curricula to achieve success.

I still find humor in the sign in the back office of one school library I visited that says, "If it's not barcoded, it doesn't exist," but as I see our budgets crunching and librarians losing clerks or losing their jobs to clerks, and as I see librarians taking over book-rooms and managing study halls, I am increasingly concerned that we must pursue education over management if we are to survive. I certainly do not have all of the answers; in fact I believe I still have more questions than answers but I am agressively seeking ways to make an impact, even one student or one teacher at a time.

What is technology?

2009-10-01T02:06:00.000-04:00

One of our teachers poised the question last week, "What will our classrooms look like five years from now?" He declared that teacher laptops and ceiling mount projectors are not viewed as "new technology" but are embedded and required components for today's teachers. His question was primarily rhetorical; despite some suggestions, he offered no answers but it certainly got me thinking.

We work in a well-funded district that has pursued technology including the tools described above, wireless laptop labs, Elmo visualizers, PolyCom distance learning equipment, and a variety of other hardware and software solutions. Our teachers use the available technology throughout the curriculum in a variety of ways. I've argued repeatedly and usually with the majority, that technology is only beneficial when it improves the learning experience or helps to prepare our students for college or professional experiences.

This argument tends to open far more windows of opportunity than it closes. The use of all types of hardware and software technology in business and in higher education is expanding exponentially. Teachers who create successful technology based lessons increasingly focus upon creating better and more encompassing future lessons. The question is more than valid and worthy of discussion; so, what will classrooms look like five years from now?

These were my thoughts when I read Ben Grey's recent post, "Excessive Inaccessibility", in the Tech & Learning Advisor Blog. Grey relates a conversation with a student, recently returned from

Zambia

where she saw, "children who lined up by the hundreds so that they might receive a single pencil. A pencil. Not an iPod, or laptop, or cell phone, or netbook. A single shaving of wood lined with graphite. And she spoke of kids without books. Kids who are trying to read without the words with which to accomplish the task. Kids who crave the learning yet lack access to the intellectual nourishment."

Quickly, I remembered that not all education is the same. Though a digital divide does exist in our district, I had not really focused on its impact on student education in quite a while. The wake up call that Grey delivered in this piece, though, is way more than a digital divide. It is a digital and educational chasm. And the reality is that we need not travel to

Zambia

to experience the stark differences between the have and the have-not districts. I have visited schools in my local area that own less than one class set of computers and rely upon 30-year-old (average age) library resources.

As I contemplate my future employment I admit that I would consider myself honored to teach and serve a student community regardless of the level of technology (or library) funding. I would, however, work within any community that I serve to foster and nourish any programs that will lead to the most complete and well-rounded education possible.

So, what will our classrooms look like five years from now? Obviously, this will depend greatly upon what they look like today and what funding can be generated in the coming years for upgrades and improvements. Our goal should be to work within our schools and as part of the greater education community to identify and refine our most pressing needs and to pursue them with passion.

The teacher that initiated my thoughts argued that projectors and teacher laptops are no longer technology. Grey countered that, "a pencil is technology." Upon reflection that has included memories of my grandmother's stories about teaching in a cold and drafty one room schoolhouse where all writing was done on a piece of slate because no one could afford paper, I agree that a pencil is technology.

I also agree with Grey and with the teachers in my school, and probably all over the world, that it is not enough. It was not enough for my grandmother who taught for almost 40 years and it is not enough for our students today, no matter where they live. I guess the greater frustration is that we may never feel we have enough regardless of our level of funding or support.

I must therefore conclude that while planning and goal setting for the integration of technology in the future is critical, it is more critical that we identify every way possible to draw the most benefit from the tools that we do have available to us. This is a topic for a whole series of posts that I will not be writing now but which we should all explore.

How can we make the most of what we have? How can we share and use the technology and resources that we have to their fullest extent to fortify our student's educational experience? These are questions to which we can respond and directly affect on a daily basis. We do not need additional financial investment or approval of any board to increase the efficiency of the tools that we have.

Marketing opportunities abound !!

2009-09-23T02:15:00.001-04:00

My son is running to replace himself as treasurer of his school student council - a job he thoroughly enjoyed last year. While assisting him to prepare his speech we addressed the age-old sales technique of putting the product in the buyer's hands. I suggested that he exchange, "if you vote for me," for a more powerful, "as your treasurer," to begin a paragraph.

As librarians, we need to constantly assert our facilities and services in many, many ways. Like a good salesperson, we need to constantly be "on" and ready to sell our product in a way that motivates our ever-changing audience. Our sales must be a blend of great service, great timing, and a measure of initiative toward self-promotion.

Today, I motivated several patrons to "love" the services I offered and the library I represent. I was motivated to post this entry, however, by another librarian's motivated and motivating self-promotion of the Rochester Public Library over the weekend on a local radio, call-in, talk show and the buzz it created on our list-serve.

Linda Cruttenden from the Rochester Regional Library Council explained and complemented another Linda, from RPL, "I was listening to the Jim Salmon Home Repair Clinic on WHAM1180 this weekend, when he suggested that a caller consult a particular reference book for his/her answer. The next caller was “Linda from RPL” who let the listeners know that RPL was ready to help, and that the reference book could be found at the downtown branch!!"

"After her call, Mr. Salmon mentioned that he 'never thought of the library any more' and that he appreciated Linda’s call. Congratulations to Linda for helping the listeners, and getting some good promotion done for RPL’s libraries!" Librarian responses on our listserve included Coleen Hopkins from SUNY Geneseo, "Great work Linda and shame on Jim Salmon, he is missing a major resource for himself and his listeners," and Wendy Stephany from Byron-Bergen Middle School, "That's a great example of taking the opportunity to remind people that the library is there and willing to do anything to help."

Certainly, we all thank Linda from RPL for being in the right place and doing the right thing to "sell" our facilities and services, but the real question is, do we step up and do the right thing when we have the opportunities? Perhaps we don't all have the gumption or the opportunity to garner FREE radio advertising, but what do we do to guarantee our jobs in the 21st century?

I miss many opportunities and many days, should probably be beaten senseless by my own words, but today I enjoyed some successes. Like Linda's success, I will share and celebrate these here and now, but the goal and focus needs to be to find a way to replicate library marketing success every day. Today I . . .

Helped a teacher convert an unreadable file to one she could use with the Zamzar file conversion Website. I "made [her] day!" I am confident she will come back the next time she has a problem.
I got unruly, beginning-of-school-year, not-yet-ready computers to work for vast majority of students in classes increasing teacher confidence in our available technology.
I offered suggestions that were accepted and appreciated to a group of teachers that are collaborating to develop a new research assignment. These suggestions will lead to increased research and synthesis by students completing this project.
I delivered a cart of books that another teacher and I had discussed to support a project her classes are completing.
And my favorite, when overhearing a student comment that she "found the perfect article but [she was] not going to pay for it," I asked if I could help. When the article happened to be from our local newspaper, available through a database purchased by our local library, I showed her how to log on using my library card number. When the article popped up she commented, "You can do that with a library card? I'm gonna have to get one of those."

Good luck to me, and good luck other librarians. We may not have successes every day but we can make service our focus, hope our timing is right, speak out when it seems appropriate, and do the best we can.

Google deep links -- You can too

2009-09-12T02:10:00.004-04:00

Almost a year ago I allayed fears of many librarians who have created lists of Web Links that bypassed Website main pages, in order to land directly on content desired for specific lessons or projects. I wrote in a post titled Linking is Legal that,

“deep linking,” linking to “a particular page within another site (i.e., other than its homepage)” has never been identified by a court as either copyright or trademark infringement.

This information was gathered from the article, "Linking to Copyrighted," 2008.

For those who missed this previous wave of relief, you can now be assured that before the copyright police come for you, they will make a stop at Google headquarters. In his article, Jump to the Relevant Section of a Google Search Result, Alex Chito describes a new "Jump to" feature released by Google and points out that,

Google's goal is to send you directly to the right answer for your question, even if that means bypassing the homepage of a site, ignoring Flash intros or finding information from the snippets.

How can you not love Google?

Check it out! I'm reading, learning, thinking, and commenting on others blogs! Congrats to me! Its also very late and I should be zzzzzzzzzzzz

Tech Integration -- Expanded definition of digital divide

2009-09-11T23:25:00.006-04:00

In a review of embedded curriculum and the potential for student success, Patrick Higgins at Chalkdust101 identifies the apparent failure of his (and many) schools with regards to technology integration.

"In our district, every teacher from grades six through twelve has a laptop . . . Our teachers are very wired, but our kids don’t have the same access. . ."

He gives credit to a job candidate in an interview for enlightening him,

"the next big hurdle for schools [is] to put the power to learn back into the hands of students."

In pursuit of this goal, he concludes his post,

"We have to start tipping the scales in favor of the question “what could they do if they had…” and go from there."

I am lucky to work in a district that has spent generously on computers, software and peripheral equipment. I get to work one-on-one and with large groups of students, collaborating with teachers to embed this technology into individual lessons and the curriculum. When I graduate (this spring) and accept a job in another district I will assuredly look back at this experience as, "the good old days."

As well equipped as we are, I cannot help thinking about the opportunities that we miss: lessons we could improve, social networking or blogging opportunities that are unavailable to us, and classes that can't (equipment not available) or won't (technophobe teacher) take advantage of the available technology. As a parent and citizen, it saddens me that there can be so much variation in the level of technology available from teacher to teacher, school to school and district to district.

I understand that funding varies and even understand that local environments are different but once they graduate, the vast majority of these young adults will be vying for the same opportunities without regard for background or level of technology integration in their high schools. Whose responsibility is it to prepare these students, if not ours? It may be a long and winding road but it is one that is definitely worth traveling.

Luckily, as time passes, lower cost hardware solutions are constantly being developed from the newly popular NetBooks to the SmartVine virtual monitors that allow up to 11 users to share a single computer. There are many, many very stable FREE software solutions available and constantly being developed (Audacity, GoogleEarth, Camtasia, and many more). While these solutions may not be acceptable in many districts, we should celebrate each success and improve upon each failure. Hopefully true technology integration will continue to grow across our country, continent, and world.

As we proceed, in addition to students, teachers, and administrators, we need to build relationships and with our network administrators. I have seen too many articles and blogs recently discussing the failed marriage of educational tech integration and the network administrators or IT departments. Among them, Higgins wrote on the subject in August drawing from a related article with a suggested solution by Jim Moulton in his Future of Education blog. Tech & Learning magazine published a brief article on the topic, focused primarily on the positive, in their September print and online issues.

I certainly don't have the answers but know that whether in a school with 20 computers or one with hundreds, until every student has access in all schools to computers, software, web based information and appropriate web utilities, our journey will not be complete. I'm so glad to be back at school! Sorry to take on such a loaded topic so early in the year . . . .

Summertime And the livin' is easy

2009-09-03T01:09:00.005-04:00

Wow! How do the days pass so quickly?

My kids had a great summer with play as a priority. We travelled many miles between Rochester and the Rideau Canal in Ontario trying to earn a living, enjoy life, and help our parents as much as we could. Though it is easy to feel as though we failed on all counts, there is no doubt we extended our best effort and enjoyed a personal best in the category of balance of our many responsibilities.

While we hope our parents appreciate the efforts we made on their behalf, and beat ourselves up when we feel we haven't done enough, we are proudest of the time we spent with our own kids camping, fishing, swimming, boating, skiing, kayaking, canoeing, bike riding, reading, playing the alphabet game in the car and board games at night and enjoying life along the way. (One of our highly recommended summer vacation destinations - Lloyd's Cottages -)

Though I took a break from classes, I am satisfied that I read some great books over the summer and am excited about the beginning of a new school year. I fell WAY Behind in reading of other blogs and advancement of my knowledge as a librarian but hope to catch up as the new year gets underway. I hope also to comment on this blog as I read, learn, and investigate new things.

Quality service = Priority one

2009-03-06T20:29:00.009-05:00

"Why can't librarians learn to serve?" OK, maybe I shouldn't try to re-write My Fair Lady, "Why can't the English learn to speak," and maybe I shouldn't judge librarians before I technically am one, but with budget cuts and the pressure to compete against book stores, the Internet, television, and more, I believe that as individuals and as a group, when we are faced with an opportunity we need to step up.

In the last several weeks I have observed some exceptional librarians: ones who can answer multiple requests simultaneously and who can often predict upcoming questions; who in many cases have prepared pathfinders and brochures to answer them before they are even asked. I have seen librarians doing three different things at once with ten successful results and am in awe of how they do what they do!

Sadly though, not all librarians are as talented or as committed. I have seen school librarians create atmospheres that cause teachers and students to stay away; whose strategy seems not to be to collaborate but to hibernate. I am frustrated each time I see a school where the library seems "off-limits" and the librarian unreachable, but I am just as frustrated each time I visit a community library where patrons are not offered the best service possible.

A couple interactions I witnessed at a larger, local public library recently are representative of the type of failure that I find most irritating. I was aware of complaints regarding the service at this library but was truly frustrated to witness the lack of motivation firsthand. I was trained in retail with a customer first mentality and I believe, as did my reference professor who works as the head of reference at a local university, that librarians should be pro-active, often in front of the desk, in their approach to library service.

Contrary to this approach is the lack of service I saw offered during a one hour visit last week. In one instance, a young adult patron asked where the Stephanie Meyer books were located. The YA librarian, as indicated by a badge she was wearing, who was building a rather pathetic display, answered, "They'd be under MEY in the next aisle, but they're all on waiting lists right now because they are so popular." With this she ended the conversation. She made no effort to offer this student the option to join the waiting list and, in my opinion, more importantly, she made no effort to conduct a readers advisory interview and suggest possible alternative books.

In another case, just a few minutes later, a patron approached the reference desk while I was seated nearby. This patron asked if the library could get copies of a rather obscure television program from the 1970's that he had already discovered was owned by another branch. The librarian checked and told him the tape was checked out and not available. Again she did not offer a hold or any other alternative and was in the process of turning the patron away.

In both cases I took it upon myself to help the patrons, the first one without the librarian's knowledge, and the second right in front of the librarian at the reference desk before she had time to dismiss him altogether. The first patron, a veteran of Harry Potter and Eldest series', left the library with the first two books in the series by Rick Riordan beginning with The Lightning Thief. (I have not read them but my son has and says they are very good.) I suggested to the librarian and the second patron as he was leaving the desk, that all 24 episodes of the TV series he was looking for were available on Hulu.com and showed him, on library computer I was using, how to access the site.

Both patrons, and a third that I assisted before leaving the library, thanked me. The reference librarian (working the desk) also thanked me, claiming she had never thought to search Hulu, but sadly, she never thought to search anywhere. She and the other librarians at this branch and, sadly, many others are willing to put forth minimal effort and the easy answer without regard for the true, often underlying needs of our patrons. If our patrons can't get more from us than they can from their own search online or poring through the stacks themselves, what good do we serve, and what right do we have to be employed in this "non-essential" service position?

Part of what we learn as librarians and what good salespeople and retailers and even doctors, lawyers, and therapists learn is that customers, patrons and patients do not always know how to ask for what they want or need. It is the job of the professional to discover and to satisfy the true want or need. If we do not step up, as individuals and as a group, to make this satisfaction a priority, we will, as individuals and as a group, be out of a job.

Putting our current economy aside for a moment but not putting aside the reality of our modern, techno-savvy environment and communities, it is my opinion that library services and hours are not usually cut because of lack of need, but because of lack of perceived value. It is our job as professionals to prove our worthiness every day through the benefits that we return to our patrons and community. If we do not offer these services and benefits, the perceived need for the library and the librarian plummets and it becomes our own fault that jobs are lost.

Woohoo! What a great job!

2009-02-04T14:14:00.006-05:00

Woohoo! What a great job! Every once in a while, after successfully assisting three or four (or maybe even only one) student in a row, I just have to smile! Topics today included finding resources about airline regulation, tests and treatments for ailing heart muscles, teen stress, self mutilation, biographical info on great American women, and sources for poetry criticism. I helped a small self-contained class of high-needs students create citations for a paper they are writing and felt the wash of relief when our network came back up (after being down) just as a class walked in the library door.

Sometimes things just go right! I am reading again (for YA resources & services class) and loving it. I have thoroughly enjoyed books in the last couple weeks by Joan Bauer, Melodie Bowsher, K.L. Going, and my favorite of the week, Orson Scott Card. I became so caught reading about 11 year old video gamers in Ender's Game, a science fiction novel, that I couldn't put the book down. I have always loved YA fiction and the opportunity to immerse myself in some of the best that is out there is very satisfying.

Trying to build LibraryThing account with books I have read recently (to help my failing memory, remember). As many things as are right with this application, and there are many, there are also quite a few that are wrong! I am a new user and may be missing something but in early use, I am amazed at some of the things that are missing:

No tag prompts or suggestions -- when user begins typing a tag description, it would be beneficial if the program prompted or suggested "most popular / similar" tags. For example should the tag be Young Adult, YA, YA fiction, ya fiction, young adult fiction, teen fiction, etc. (This is essentially what Google does when typing into the search bar.)
No tag pool to select from -- when tagging a book, it would be beneficial if user did not have to type every tag. Available pool to "quick pick" from could be tags previously used by the user, tags previously used by other users to describe the book, or a combination of the two. (Blogger does this if you are familiar with this host site.)
Tags can not be reorganized -- would be nice if tags for each book could be reorganized alphabetically or even by priority or relevance. They seem to remain, forever, in the order they came to mind and were typed into system. (Blogger automatically alphabetises.)
Unable to create different shelves -- I may be wrong, but have not found way to create separate shelves with, for example YA lit, children's lit, and career focused materials.

Ahh well, not to ruin a great day with complaints. Hopefully someone out there will write to correct, and explain to me, how each of these issues I describe can be corrected. I am sure the sun will be shining and the temperatures warm when I head for home. OK that went over the edge. Trying to limit my sarcasm. It truly has been a great day!

LibraryThing - a better post-it note

2009-01-28T22:33:00.000-05:00

Look for a LibraryThing widget here soon! I created an account some time ago but, like Facebook and several other 2.0 applications I signed-up for, left only a bare skeleton. The time has come to share my reading habits with myself!

What does that mean, you ask? LibraryThing is a social community of readers sharing their love of books with others. --- You are right. It also looks like a great way to remember what I have read, how I felt about it as I was reading it, and who I may want to recommend it to. My memory is not what it used to be and I am always looking for better post-it notes!

LibraryThing not only quickly pulls up author or title, bookcover, publication data, isbn, etc., it also allows users to "tag" for organizational purposes. Users are encouraged to "review" books and allowed to make private comments visual only through their own accounts. These will all help to spark my memory.

An added bonus is the social aspect. I look forward to using the tag-search process to locate similar books. It is also interesting to read other reader reviews and comments on books. This allows us to get inside the heads of non-professional (and many semi-pro) readers and reviewers.

I admit some concern about my ability in the area of readers advisory. I read voraciously as a teenager but that was many years ago. I really believe I can still think like a teen and understand feelings and needs of adolescence, but my knowledge about current juvenile and YA literature is limited. I read very little during my years in business and have forgotten much of what I read when I was younger. There are decades worth of new literature on the shelves and more being published each month than I could read in a year. I realize we don't have to read it all, but I know that this is a weak area that I need to address and improve.

I am reading when I can, and need a way to store, sort, organize, and remember what I have read (and maybe even some of what I need to read). LibraryThing is it! "The first step is to take the first step." I will enter some of the juvenile and YA books I have read recently into LibraryThing over the next couple weeks and will post my widget and user name to this blog soon. Please wish me luck!

YouTube - the new copyright cop!

2009-01-22T16:49:00.012-05:00

The copyright ©law cometh! The blogosphere is abuzz with news about the new YouTube policy of "muting" videos that contain copyrighted music. Very few videos have been affected by this policy so far but the potential is mindboggling!! Our students and other teachers may begin to see us as the copyright information specialists we are and no longer as the "copyright cops" they have perceived us to be. "There's a new Sheriff in town."

According to a Rolling Stone article, "YouTube Hits the Mute Button as Royalty Fight with Warner Bros. Continues" the policy currently only affects Warner Music Group releases. Videos being muted are tagged with the comment, “This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by all copyright holders. The audio has been disabled.” They further report, "YouTube said in a statement issued after the muting began, 'Now we’ve added an additional choice. Instead of automatically removing the video from YouTube, we give users the option to modify the video by removing the music subject to the copyright claim and post the new version, and many of them are taking that option.'"

Both those who post to and who watch and listen to YouTube will feel the pain. As a consumer of music and video, I empathize with these users and will miss the popular, high-quality audio, but as an educator I am in full support of this policy and hope that it extends to all protect all studio releases. I have agreed before that our copyright law is in need of massive revision but I have also advocated strongly that creators should be allowed to earn a profit from their creations! Adding popular music, purchased or "borrowed," to videos and publishing them for mass consumption without compensation to the creator of that music is, by any reasonable revision of the law, infringement.

As teachers and librarians teaching in "project based" environments, we allow some level of legal (within the confines of the classroom) copyright infringement. Our students do not understand, though, that using an audio clip on their class video project is legal but posting the same clip to YouTube is not. It has been our responsibility to try to explain this concept, but lacking any form of evidence of the illegality by peers or providers on the Web, the explanations have fallen on deaf ears. We have been the nagging, copyright cops. A solid and sincere effort by You Tube, and other video hosting sites, to mute illegal posting of copyrighted music will not only protect creators, but will lend credence to librarians, and others who have assumed a responsibility for informing the public about the laws and attempting to protect creators.

Will this be the end of YouTube and publicly shared videos as we know them? I think not. It will be an obstacle to be hurdled. Many current users will, initially look for other hosting sites or ways to get around the filters. Beware the abusive and pornographic comments being added to every unmoderated blog and discussion group covering this story! Eventually though, this, like many obstacles we face, could make the system stronger and better. I will not attempt to predict specifics of the future, but feel confident that amateur created streaming video will mature and grow as a medium of entertainment and education for years to come.

Ten days till Inauguration, Happy New Year, & blog thoughts

2009-01-11T10:19:00.012-05:00

Great Start, hunh . . . . I committed to keeping up with this blog one month ago to the day, and have made only one post since. Though I should apologize to myself and interested readers I must preface with the facts. Our holiday vacation was fantastic! We enjoyed family time, games, travel, reading, fun and relaxation! All this and we even got a few (small) things done around the house.

I learned lots during the break, on topics I may revisit later, but am not going to beat myself up about not recording every discovery. As discussed in earlier posts, my interests are random and I am going to let this blog grow out of my interests and my ever continuing education. Posts will vary in length, style, and value, and will, without remorse, be posted at irregular intervals. Unlike many bloggers who commit to their readers, my primary commitment will remain with myself and with my family.

Spring semester starts this week! I have already started reading for both classes and am prepared to jump in with both feet. I am taking two classes: Resources and Services for Young Adults, and Curriculum Roles of the Library Media Specialist. I haven't decided how to track books I am reading for YA -- will consider LibraryThing and blogging about them in the next few days; wondering if there are other, better options?

Check this four minute montage of 44 presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama. Each presidential portrait is video morphed into the next to the tune of Bolero. While Obama may be a look different from his predecessor, he is certainly not the first president who looked different than the one before him! This is a very interesting way to look at our presidential history and our changing preferences and ideals regarding our leaders through the decades.

Share the message

2008-12-11T16:00:00.009-05:00

In my first free moments I have pursued my newfound interest in shared creativity allowed through Creative Commons licensing of copyrighted works. According to current US law, as soon as we create it in a tangible form, it is © copyrighted. I don't "own" my ideas, but I do "own" the text on this page. As of today, however, I am sharing this text with you, any of you who read it and may find use for it (sorry it is not more useful ☺ )

Through Creative Commons, by answering four or five multiple choice questions and copying and pasting a small bit of HTML code, created specifically for me, what's mine is yours. You may use it as long as -- you give me credit for it, -- you do not use it to make a profit, and -- you share alike with others. Check out my new CC License:

This work by Greg Lloyd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

"Why can't we all just get along," (Rodney King) comes to mind. I fully support Ralph Clevenger's right to earn a living from his beautiful portrayal of the underwater portion of an iceberg. I support musicians and writers and perhaps even someday myself in pursuit of profit from publication. But for those of us who are not making a living from our work, why not allow others to enjoy the use of your efforts in exchange for the right to enjoy theirs when you need to?

It is simple and painless! You can go directly to the licensing page or check out the whole Website at CreativeCommons.org. Licensing is free and easy. Embedding license code into your website is as easy as embedding a video. Join the movement!!!!

This clip, also from Creative Commons, called "A Shared Culture," is very well produced and worth watching!

(And finally, where did I get copyright symbol and smiley face from? Two ways to get there! (1) Start Menu, (2) All Programs, (3) Accessories, (4) System Tools, (5) Character Map -- a chart of over 1200 characters that can be copied and pasted into any document pops up! Letters with accents, foreign language characters, fractions, arrows, hearts, and unimaginable creations - a very useful tool!! -- Much easier than searching throught all the different Webdings fonts). An alternate path for the geekier set is (1) Start menu, (2) Run, (3) type 'charmap'. Enjoy!)

New opportunities

2008-12-11T12:40:00.000-05:00

Hooray!! And yet, I am very sad. I finished up the work for the class that required that I create this blog. Wow, what a class! It challenged us in every way to inhabit the digital community and become natives. I will never be a teen-texter, but I have developed a strong understanding of how information is communicated in the Internet age.

We have communicated and shared in more ways than I can list, and we have learned along the way. Videos, podcasts, and high quality PowerPoints were fun; tedious classes about Internet safety and copyright were less so, but together, they have broadened my knowledge foundation and my ability to continue learning and teaching in the 21st century.

As for the blog, it is a tool for my continued learning. My goal is to allow this blog to challenge and showcase my learning and my life as an MLS student, library tech guy, and, hopefully soon, as a librarian / educator. Rather than consistent, and lengthy, weekly posts, I will attempt to post more frequently, with more readable posts. The actual outcome can be judged at a later date. My wife will almost certainly have other ideas - She's not too happy with some of the things I've done recently . . . . . . The Christmas lights are only the beginning . . . . . . .

(Picture borrowed from unsigned, viral e-mail - searched several sources to find original author with no success.)

Perspective on my preparation: My "lightbulb" class

2008-11-30T23:07:00.001-05:00

I am very excited to be nearing the beginning of my career as a librarian! I am equally saddened that I am nearing the end of the formal education process.

I have learned a tremendous amount in the last couple years in the program and am well prepared to continue learning on my own in the future. I have made great contacts and found (and learned how to find) great resources for continuing my education and research in the years to come.

The teacher who led me to start this blog for the class, Computer Applications in the School Library Media Center, has been the highlight of this education process! I’ve not asked her permission so I will not mention her name, but will complement her for teaching real world topics at the appropriate level for professionals entering a career defined by these topics.

Though incredibly satisfied with the totality of my education, I have, occasionally, suffered with ill prepared, unfocused, and antiquated adjunct professors and theory-heavy, practical-application-lacking tenured professors. Sadly I would estimate that half of my classes were not preparatory for the real world experience of school librarianship in the 21st century.

This class has force fed us many tools we will use in our libraries and will hopefully use to communicate with one-another and stay in touch with the library community. We have learned how to integrate technology into the curriculum, how to facilitate professional development, and how to teach Internet safety. We have debated real world copyright issues and, most recently, been shamed into updating our resumes.

The workload has been heavy; ridiculously so for those of us who strove to overachieve! Yet the takeaway has exceeded the effort!

I still have many weaknesses; some in areas that I feel should have been addressed in this program. To achieve my goals, I will need to continue the informal aspects of my education for years to come – as, I have learned, all high performing librarians do as a matter of habit and conscience. As we conclude this class, for the first time, I feel prepared to take on the role and responsibility of school library media specialist.

Readers please note that I am not bitter about any failings of this program but am in fact jubilant over its successes. If half of my classes were inadequate, then the other half, by definition, have been very good. I have long believed that the primary goal of the collegiate experience is to teach students how to learn and adapt so that they may succeed in their chosen profession. I know in my heart that this program has succeeded, because I now know how to learn and adapt in the arena of school librarianship in the 21st century.

I am prepared and excited and looking forward to the future!

Linking is legal !

2008-11-21T18:22:00.008-05:00

Researching and writing about e-books, haunted by the Clevenger iceberg (another story for another day), my mind is still on the topic of embedded video in blogs. While it appears from my research that this is still an easy debate to argue from both sides, legal precedent seems to allow for this “linking” of video to private blogs and other Websites including MySpace and Facebook pages. Given the research I have done, which I will share below, I feel comfortable, at least for now, “linking” (read: embedding) videos, slideshows, and podcasts into this blog. I admit, my sources are primarily other blogs, but they appear knowledgeable and certainly involved in the debate. I welcome any comments or thoughts in agreement or disagreement regarding the legal or ethical considerations of embedded content in our blogs.

The Citizen Law Media Project explains that “linking to another website does not infringe the copyrights of that site, nor does it give rise to a likelihood of confusion necessary for a federal trademark infringement claim” ("Linking to Copyrighted," 2008). The article continues to describe that “deep linking,” linking to “a particular page within another site (i.e., other than its homepage)” has never been identified by a court as either copyright or trademark infringement. (“Linking”) While off topic, this is comforting information as I create my own directories of favorite links.

Though admitting “there is some uncertainty on this point” the article describes that inline linking or embedding, “placing a line of HTML on your site that so that your webpage displays content directly from another site,” when tried in a recent case in “the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that inline linking does not directly infringe copyright because no copy is made on the site providing the link; the link is just HTML code pointing to the image or other material. See Perfect 10, Inc. v. Google, Inc. , 508 F.3d 1146 (2007). Other courts may or may not follow this reasoning. However, the Ninth Circuit's decision is consistent with the majority of copyright linking cases which have found that linking, whether simple, deep, or inline, does not give rise to liability for copyright infringement. For discussion of these cases, see The Internet Law Treatise” (“Linking”).

“The situation changes when you knowingly link to works that clearly infringe somebody's copyright, like pirated music files or video clips of commercially distributed movies and music videos. In this situation, you might be liable for what is known as "contributory copyright infringement." Contributory copyright infringement occurs by "intentionally inducing or encouraging direct infringement" of a copyrighted work” (“Linking”). Fred vonLohman from the Electronic Frontier Foundation agrees that common sense to avoid commercially distributed media and to respect any rights published or indicated should protect bloggers from potential copyright violation when embedding content (“Linking,” 2008; vonLohman, 2007). On his Website, Christopher Heng points out that YouTube and most media hosting services offer users posting content the choice whether to “enable or disable the EMBED code for their videos. . . In theory, if the owner enables the EMBED code for others to use, it means that they” are willing and even pleased to have others embed their video (2008).

References

Bailey, J. (2007, December 20). Why I embed my images. In Plagiarism Today [PT blog]. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/‌2007/‌12/‌20/‌why-i-embed-my-images/

Heng, C. (2008). Is it okay to post YouTube videos on my website? (copyright question). In The site wizard. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://www.thesitewizard.com/‌general/‌embed-youtube-video-copyright-matters.shtml

Howell, D. (2007, July 9). Embedding a headache. In Lawgarithms [blog]. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://blogs.zdnet.com/‌Howell/‌?p=146

Linking to copyrighted materials. (2008, June 3). Citizen Law Media Project. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://www.citmedialaw.org/‌legal-guide/‌linking-copyrighted-materials

Ross, P. (2008, November 12). Copyright in a free market. In Copyright Alliance [blog]. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://blog.copyrightalliance.org/‌2008/‌11/‌copyright-in-a-free-market/

VonLohman, F. (2007, July 9). YouTube embedding and copyright. In Electronic Frontier Foundation [EFF DeepLinks Blog]. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://www.eff.org/‌deeplinks/‌2007/‌07/‌youtube-embedding-and-copyright

Where the rubber meets the road

2008-11-16T22:07:00.002-05:00

In addition to, or partially in correlation with, my courseload, I am attempting to keep up with current library literature, including blogs of librarians in the trenches. In her blog, Wanderings, Jacquie Henry recently discussed difficulties with Website evaluation in cases when decisions are not clear-cut. She commented, "I am not working in a theoretical world. I am living right here in high school - where the rubber meets the road."

Her quote has stuck with me as I have dealt with issues in our library and as I discuss theoretical issues with other students and professors in my coursework. Our theories and ideals are great and worthy but is it fair to judge them without the temperance of real world application? More importantly, and with stronger motivation, how can we adapt our real world situations to meet the goals described by our theories and ideals?

This week we have discussed "Creativity - Copyright & Web 2.0" in class. Two particular issues come to mind from our discussions. In both, the theory makes complete and total sense and seems as though no other possible alternative could exist and yet, the reality is that students and teachers are not always receptive to our suggestions and teaching. It is this challenge that we must work to overcome.

Discussing creative uses and applications available on the Web including podcasting with Audacity, ability to create historic narrative videos through Primary Access, create photo or video, audio logs on VoiceThread, and more, the educational theories are easy to grasp. The reality, though, is the need to sell these technologies to our teachers in order for our students to realize the benefits. Much like a sporting event or theater ticket, the enjoyment is not accessed until the ticket is spent, or in this case, until the technology is used! To be successful we have to learn to market these technologies to teachers who may be receptive.

Coupled with our discussion about creativity was a discussion about copyright law and digital images. The legal alternative when creating content to be published is to use images in the public domain and to give credit to the creative individual or organization. We discussed the many ways to acquire images from government websites and through Creative Commons. In theory, this is a wonderful solution. In reality, the frustration is the difficulty of using multiple search databases to find government and Creative Commons images compared to the relative ease of image availability on the Web as a whole. To be successful, we have to teach students about the hazards of copyright law violation, how to use the tools available to find copyright free images, and how to avoid plagiarism through proper image citation.

It is important that we do our best, "where the rubber meets the road," to stay true to our ideals. It is just as important that we stay flexible and stay real regarding situations and the world around us. But, within that "real" framework, we must constantly strive to find ways to bridge the gap back to the theories and principles that guide us. These theories and principles tend to be not only legal and ethical, but also a solid foundation for the argument in favor of librarians in our schools - a critical issue as our governor threatens to cut school and library budgets yet again - a topic for another post . . .

To embed or not to embed . . .

2008-11-09T17:02:00.006-05:00

Last week I posted a video on this blog. I did so after reviewing many other blog sites, created by librarians and tech specialists, and seeing what I perceived to be many similar posts. Yet as I did so, involved in deep discussions and reflection about copyright law in my classes, I felt suddenly uncomfortable. Is posting media from other sources on your blog a violation of copyright (with or without appropriate source citation)?

A description of blogging in the book, Blogs Wikis, & Podcasts by Will Richardson suggests a distinct difference between blogging and journaling (simply creating a record of one's own experiences). Though he admits that blogs can be whatever you want them to be, he describes the best blogs as a conversation, a synthesis of information cultivated from many sources, yet only an ingredient in the larger scope. He strongly urges linking and reference to other blogs and websites in the development of a good blog. He does not discuss the posting of material from other blogs and websites in a blog but the inference seems to be that a blog should be a stepping-stone to other Web locations.

Looking at some of the media websites including YouTube, TeacherTube, SlideShare, and others, however, I discover that they all offer the address and coding information to embed specific media in other locations. Checking these sites and many of the other blogs I review, I note that almost all have links for RSS feed that can be displayed anywhere, on other websites or blogs. Embedding or feeding from these sites includes source information, giving appropriate credit but does not, of course, encourage the media to be viewed from its original source.

Continuing to review other blogs, I see lots of media referenced and displayed from one blog to another, borrowed from many different sources. I must admit, seeing media borrowed and displayed on blogs across the Web, and seeing blogs and various media feeds spread via RSS, I am somewhat desensitized to the issue of copyright on the Internet. It appears that media hosting sites encourage the spread of content into blogs and across the Web. I am concerned though, that "just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't make it right." Though I believe I am safe in sharing content on my blog, I am still not sure I know what the actual law is regarding this issue.

Questioned in class about school Acceptable Use Policies and copyright law this week, I am reminded that websites and blogs maintained by teachers (or even students) must obey copyright law. The statement within the AUP regarding this situation often is as simple as, users must obey all laws in use of school websites and technology or suffer the appropriate consequences.

At heart, a defender of copyright law, I understand the importance of respecting other's creations and property. Still confused about the law regarding media that seems to be available for public use, I do get frustrated by the masses of users who freely plagiarize and borrow media and other content with no effort to cite the original author. I find it mildly amusing that those of us who would be most likely to give others credit for the work they have done, are also the ones who will follow the law and not display the work out of context. Others, who often fail to give creative credit, will continue to cut and paste and use others work without remorse.

As an example, I encourage readers to check out the beautifully created representation of an iceberg on photographic artist Ralph A. Clevenger's site. The site has a copyright statement and may even be legally registered with the copyright office. The photo cannot be easily cut-&-pasted from this site. Confusingly, Brooks Institute, a photography school that Clevenger is affiliated with, displays the photo with a noticeable copyright by Clevenger printed right on the photo but also a claimed copyright by the institute on a mouseover.

Regardless of who owns the actual copyright or if, somehow, it has a dual copyright; this image is not in the public domain. Yet it very much is! Use your favorite image search engine to look for "iceberg" and page after page you will see his work displayed across the Web on blogs and Websites of all shapes and sizes. It is a beautiful and unique representation of the much larger, underwater mass, below the unassuming and picturesque, visible iceberg -- perhaps symbolic of the quantity of copyright violation hidden beneath the smaller body of properly authorized use of digital media.

Better powerpoints = Better presentations

2008-10-25T15:25:00.012-04:00

Juggling many classes and assignments, I have been bouncing between the K12 Online Conference 2008, with presentations on the uses of and thoughts about media in the classroom, and my own need to create a professional development piece for teachers using a "high quality" Powerpoint presentation. All this plus two other classes, a sick family, and a job that occasionally requires my attention . . .

The K12 Conference is fantastic, blending the thoughts and experiences of librarians and educators around the world through the use of many different media tools. It has been amazing to me to see all the different ways that librarians and other presenters have packaged their information. Presentations typically only last 20 minutes so it is not too large a commitment at one time. The sessions are all independent of each other and will be available online "forever".

Beginning with these k12 presentations, though, which I will not link to individually here, I serendipitously found myself on Slideshare and TeacherTube -- two more great resources. I discovered several insightful presentations discussing .ppt techniques that I found helpful in developing my own presentation.

This self-directed slide show discusses the failure of traditional "template design" .ppt presentations and offers simple creative suggestions for improvement.

Dodging Bullets in Presentations

Rowan Manahan from Dublin, Ireland is a talented speaker, consultant, and trainer. He offers more info and suggestions in other slideshare presentations he has developed and on his blog.

After too long, trying to re-create my search, I am posting only one .ppt hints presentation here because I seem to be unable to locate others that I used. I did just discover a presentation that I have not viewed yet (45 minutes) on How to create a great PowerPoint without breaking the law. Ok, as a new blogger this brings up a great question. What can I post to this site?

For my presentation, I found a great photo of an iceberg all over the internet, including on a number of different blogs. It even popped up a couple times in a creative commons search but something didn't feel right. I finally traced it back to a photographer named Ralph Clevenger who had his site locked to cut & paste and displayed a very clear copyright warning. The many reproductions I saw on blogs and websites were all copyright violations. Is it a violation to post someone elses video on my blog? I should probably already know this but alas, I'll have to get back to you on that . . .

Tech toys or tools (?) and their uses

2008-10-22T21:13:00.030-04:00

Wordle.com is described on its home page as a "toy". Using it to create a tag cloud of this blog, though, it is a tool to summarize and discover the primary informational focus or keywords being discussed. Is this cheating? Is using a calculator to do math cheating? The answer is a resounding "no". The answer is that we need to embrace technology and the new tools and methods available to us as a society and as teachers and learners.

A school librarian I met recently boasted how much fun she had doing her job - playing with kids and technology every day. Past generations maintained a strict division between technology toys and technology tools but the more I learn about the technology available and the pedagogy of learning, the more difficult it becomes to label tech toys as valueless. Tool or toy, matching the application to the curriculum, the need, and particular learning style is far more important than the preconceived perception of the application's value.

Presenters at the K-12 Online Conference (live this month and archived for perpetuity) with the theme “Amplifying Possibilities” are using many different communication technologies to share and teach us some of the Web 2.0 possibilities and challenge us to reach for the next level. In their presentation "How Can I Become Part of this ReadWriteWeb Revolution?" Alice Barr, Bob Sprankle, and Cheryl Oakes remind us that once we immerse ourselves and accept our roles as learners along with our students, they will develop and show us ways to use technology that we cannot even imagine.
Keynote speaker Stephen Heppell (designer of physical and virtual learning environments of the future) started the conference (link to his presentation moved. will add when I find.) by describing the crossroads in our educational environment today from the old "factory style" classrooms to the new community classrooms defined by "us-ness". He spoke of teachers provoking learning instead of providing learning and pushing students to take ownership of their learning. While I don't see the majority of our students accepting that role, I think he hit the nail on the head regarding the social nature of learning today and the value of "audience" as a tool in the equation. Perhaps the failure of students to take more ownership or at least be more interested and engaged may be a result of our failure to trust them with the tools of their generation.

Instead of prohibiting headphones, for instance, we should be providing them to all students along with books on tape, podcasts, vodcasts, and text message reminders of class assignments. Instead of disjointed and meaningless deliverable assignments during the course of a semester, perhaps each assignment should add toward a greater, high quality, publishable whole to be displayed on the web. Examples could include articles, tables, photos and even video or podcasts blended into a student created website, or perhaps a professionally designed magazine, well maintained blog, or carefully edited video news program. The key factor may not be the format, but the freedom to choose the format and the reality that, upon completion, it will be available for the full world to see (including important peers and family members).

Blogging & other 2.0 apps in the classroom

2008-10-19T23:16:00.008-04:00

I'm hooked! Serendipitous research this week has led me into the websites and blogs of school libraries, librarians, and teachers who are actively using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. These teachers are not using technology just for the sake of technology, but as an integral tool in curriculum development.

I've heard podcasts of poetry, political ads, personal experiences, book talks and more. I have seen student created websites about history, health, and science. Blogs have been adopted by teachers in virtually every subject area and, amazingly, in almost every grade level.

Included below are a couple videos borrowed from TeacherTube. The first describes blogs, bloggers, and our relationship to the world around us.

The second gives ten reasons students should be blogging.

I apologize for not including links of all the Web 2.0 applications referenced above. Will begin to share these details in future posts . . . )

My 'exemplary' school library website

2008-10-12T15:35:00.000-04:00

Library school is great! We have no concerns regarding a budget, technology integration issues, district standards, or administrators with differing viewpoints. All we have to do is describe a piece of our “imaginary” library and it becomes real – just as we described it! The pay is lousy though!!! If we could only improve that, I’d “work” here forever.

This week we designed an “exemplary” school library website. Sadly, in all of our research, we never found a school website that embodied all of our suggestions. Some have moved forward with inclusion of things like blogs, RSS feeds, attractive designs, recommended book suggestions and other Web 2.0 features. Very few have adopted search bars on the front page or any type of federated search functions.

In the real world, outside of library school, we still have a long way to go. Highlights of my exemplary library website include:

an easily memorable web address and links from all other school webpages with links back to all needed resources including classroom pages, schedule, and school e-mail
a prominently featured federated search bar on the front page that will simultaneously search the OPAC, databases and the web through Google
search guidance in the form of subject expansion or narrowing, through system generated keyword or subject heading suggestions
the use of color and white space to enhance site organization and scannability
links, tabs, databases, and other content organized according to typical user needs and designed to open appropriately in a new or existing window
easily discovered and readable descriptions and search instructions
search guidance in the form of subject expansion or narrowing, through system generated keyword or subject heading suggestions
literature appreciation promotion through book summaries, reviews and recommendations, weblinks, and a blog for discussion
online tips for research, planning, writing, and citing academic work
information on internet safety, plagiarism, and copyright law
library and computer lab schedules and librarian contact information
a clear summary of the purpose of the website, the library mission statement, and links to library policies and procedures
a non-academic, relevant reason for visiting the site regularly, perhaps a daily blog about events in the library and the school or RSS feed of school announcements

The final bullet may be the most important. We need to stimulate users to begin with the library instead of the commercial alternatives (Google).

I hope to get a website up soon where I will post academic responses and assignments that define my views and talents. I will post a more detailed description of my “exemplary school website” there when I do.

Better Pedagogy

2008-10-05T21:30:00.002-04:00

Did I mention that I am taking three classes this semester? Met my family a few days ago and needed introductions. Talked to my Dad on the phone and commented on the amount of content output we had to create in this program as compared to the graduate programs he used to take. Not sure if it is the fact that our focus is information literacy or if this is how graduate school is taught today.

Focus this week in another class was how to teach an information literacy lesson that connects with the students, fostering “creative, reflective, and critical habits.” After reading Heidi Jacobs article, “Information and Reflective Pedagogical Praxis” (2008), it is apparent that many of us revert to a forced or “banking model” of education instead of striving for a more constructionist or conversational method.

To interest students in information literacy, we must first forget the theoretical. Many students tend to be disinterested outside of preferred topics (e.g. sports) or ones they see as threats against their personal interests or liberties (e.g. dress code). To implement an effective lesson, we must first engage students. Perhaps a conversation about past searches for information would work as an icebreaker for a lesson on search strategies. This conversation would also act as an assessment tool regarding current levels of expertise and a starting point for the lesson.

Instead of preaching the benefits of database research, perhaps the lesson should begin with discussion about acceptable and unacceptable sources for various types of information from an assortment of print sources displayed in the class – various magazines, journals, newspapers, phone books, encyclopedias, non-fiction and fiction books, student term papers, yearbooks, etc. As the group analyzes these sources in the real world, they may develop a greater understanding of sources in the virtual world.

The lesson could continue with group development of search strategies to find information students had struggled with in the past. By involving the group, discovery of alternate keywords might grow almost like a game instead of an individual drudgery. Discussing and having students demonstrate databases that they use regularly may eliminate some of the confusion and frustration regarding leased databases. Students seem to be well aware of TVGuide, imdb, Amazon, imeem, NFL.com, ESPN.com, WhitePages, and others.

So many librarians focus on the mechanics – how to use a database. The majority of students will figure the mechanics out very quickly if we can convince them that the answers to the question can be found more easily here than on the web. This lesson needs to be the focus of our “instruction”.

Concluding with a game of stump-the-librarian may be helpful in reinforcing successful strategies. Rules could allow group or individual work by students, students and librarian choosing topics alternately, and winners based upon group evaluation of source quality.

Jacobs, H.L.M. (2008, May). Information and Reflective Pedagogical Praxis. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 34, 256-262.

The "Ideal" OPAC (Today's version)

2008-09-28T10:25:00.012-04:00

This week we collaborated to design the perfect OPAC, read articles about the Google Game (Watkins & Elder, 2006. SLJ.; Watkins, 2008. SLJ.), and researched use of databaes in some of our local schools. While it is obvious that the currently available OPAC's do not meet current user expectations or needs, it is similarly obvious that the "perfect" search engine may never exist any mre than the perfect house or automobile. Personal preference, user ability, information needs and other factors will lead designers and users in, similar perhaps, but different directions.

With an ever changing landscape, one can not predict the far future. The ideal library search engine today, in my opinion can be defined through four components: the appearance of search page, appearance of output pages, search characteristics and / or tools, and the scope of search output. The ideal search engine for high school and public libraries could be very similar.

The search page should be sparse and clean. Links should be limited; advanced search, FAQ answers, clear and concise Boolean search instructions, an explanation of keyword and tag searching and how the search process works, live reference and homework help, and a link to a more informational and colorful library splash page.

Output pages should also have clean lines and be easy to read. At top should be a synopsis of results from all available sources and links to these results. Results should also be available simply by scrolling. Results should be accompanied by image of book cover, journal article or Web page. Every result should include a brief summary, list of subject headings and tag cloud, and links to reviews if available from reputable sources. Multiple sort and limiting options should be available to refine search.

User tagging and tag searching should be employed by a "smart" system that suggests spelling, more popular tag choices, title and author names, and subject headings as user is entering search. Initial tagging may be suggested by publishers and librarians but users must be the focal point adding tags and building the system. In addition to this suggestion or funneling system, a list of expanded, related, and narrowed searches should be displayed as a sidebar on results page.

Most importantly to the success of the library search engine or OPAC and of literacy education will be the scope of the search. Searches should include the library book collection, WorldCat, or if preferred by schools, SchoolCat, archived journals or magazines, all leased or publicly available preferred databases, library selected websites, and Google. These returns with summaries should be displayed to any user on any computer anywhere. If certain database articles are available only with a password or from computers inside the library, this note should be made. The available summary, cover image, and tags will assist user in assessing value of the source.

By including Google results along with database and book results, users will have the opportunity to choose the level of information needed and may potentially access a wide variety of sources. If the Wikipedia article can be compared directly to Britannica and to the latest literature or government reports, users will begin to make informed decisions regarding quality of sources. If by narrowing and refining search (The Google Game) to get best possible results, they learn that databases often win, the users themselves will win.

At the public library users looking for a great fiction book will be delighted by the included summaries, subject headings, tag clouds, and reviews. They will be further delighted upon choosing a book that is not on the shelf that they can quickly identify if it is available at another nearby library (WorldCat) or if a used copy can be purchased inexpensively (Amazon) all in the same search.

(Note: Search libraries around the world by location or by OPAC platform used - http://www.libdex.com/ )

Information Literacy Education

2008-09-21T13:00:00.007-04:00

Week 4: I have read to the end of the Web! As a serendipitous librarian, I am used to scanning and surfing the Web in search of both topical information and serendipity. Following links from the Information Literacy Webquest this week and following links from those links and following links from those, etc. opened my eyes to the expanse of literature on the topics of IL and collaboration.

Someone in our discussion group noted that IL is “education for life!” Wow! Well put! Certainly much of the subject area content is valuable but if the sign of an educated person is one who is capable of learning, then IL is arguably one of the most important lessons a student can learn!

I see a teacher population divided: some, who want the librarian to give students basic database instruction, a very few who want information on source evaluation, and many who are willing to accept poor quality sources and citations. Very few are interested in true collaboration to teach information literacy.

The causes of this disconnect appear to be many, from the lack of a research or information literacy requirement for teacher certification to the lack of state mandated IL requirements for students and many, many more. This array of barriers needs to be the targets for our attacks.

Many of us have suggested that we need to win over teachers “one at a time” to teach IL. The problem with this is that only subsets of students have opportunities to learn strategies. Even within these subsets, it often appears that some students receive duplicated segments of instruction but never receive other valuable tools & instruction. Too often even teachers who appear cooperative do not want real collaboration to teach information literacy.

The question I posed to our discussion group was regarding the possibility of developing a curriculum, at the school or district level and hopefully one day at the state or even national level, whereby information literacy strategies would be taught in chewable chunks through the years and across the curricula. The strategies taught each year would build upon those already learned and would be tied directly to subject area instruction.

Things like this don’t just happen. They will not happen if motivated parties do not act. The lobby groups that will make this happen some day will involve librarians as leaders, motivated teachers who have seen the value of IL education, parents and students who have seen the benefits, and even business leaders defining the competencies required for employment.

While we may have to win teachers over one at a time, I believe it is imperative to set goals and make plans toward this greater goal. If we do not keep our sights on the goal of true information literacy education as described by the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner and do not focus our efforts toward reaching every student with progressive instruction toward IL competency, we will never achieve this goal.

By no means an exhaustive list, but listed below are a few starting points I discovered from the Webquest.

http://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu/ -- Great tutorial on information literacy
chs.smuhsd.org/community/information_literacy.htm -- a great list of links to sites discussing information literacy
www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/webeval/index.htm -- one of many starting places for website evaluation.
http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/consult/collab/ -- Fantastic tools / information for & about collaboration. Also check out sections on the “The Ethical Researcher” and “21st Century Literacies”.

Assistive Technologies for all

2008-09-18T23:15:00.001-04:00

I failed to post an entry last week on assistive technology (AT) and accessibility. Crisis of family and friends diverted my attention and time. Here are a few thoughts on the subject.

The lesson opened my eyes to two items that I would not have identified on my own. I am well aware of text reading, magnification, speech-to-text, and keyboard accessibility technologies. I have worked with many of them and have found varying degrees of quality and ease of use with these technologies.

One attribute identified throughout the lesson, and the topic of the newsletter that I created, was the usefulness of these assistive technologies to the general population as well as to the disabled. Discussion about uses of text reading technology to assist ESL students, slow readers, aural learners, and others beyond the visually handicapped opened my eyes to benefits I had not previously considered. The added benefit of using these technologies across the population and curriculum is the reduction and elimination of stigma attached to these technologies.

My other takeaway had nothing to do with AT but with the tool we used. So often, we provide communication about services available at the library in the form of an e-mail to teachers or a poster or bulletin board for students. Building a newsletter was a little time consuming, and perhaps my effortwas too wordy (who me?) but with a little effort and creativity could be a great medium for communication with faculty and even parents and students.

Role of the SLMC in response to Web 2.0

2008-09-07T23:34:00.009-04:00

Reviewing the syllabus for the class this blog was originated, I learn that the reflections included are often to be in response to certain questions. Thus, a reflection on the changes in the role of the SLMC in response to Web 2.0 innovations such as RSS, podcasting, Wikipedia, and Google's book scanning plans . . . .

While Web 2.0 offers information in many different forms over the Internet, it has not eliminated the need for libraries in or out of school. Certainly the advent of Web 2.0 and all of the tools associated with it has altered the role of the school library media specialist and, in many cases, the appearance of the library. There has been an obvious alteration in the number of computers available, the addition of high speed Internet service, and in some cases a shrinking of the reference section. The "role" of the Library Media Center itself, though, has changed only slightly.

Traditionally, the LMC has been the location where students are introduced to and encouraged to read for pleasure, relax outside the hustle of the rest of the school, and to learn and practice the using research tools available. In vibrant, successful SLMC's today the same things are happening.

Students, who learn how to access and use many of the Web 2.0 tools on their own, may believe that the library serves no useful purpose as a center for research. Though great skills, ability to access and use tools like the Google toolbar, Wikipedia, RSS feeds of favorite blogs, and to create one's own blog, wiki, or website are not proof of information literacy. Arguably the on-line aspects of information literacy could be taught outside the library though I would rebut that information literacy is not taught solely online and is best taught by the one-two combination of a good teacher and a qualified librarian.

The role of the SLMS and SLMC are evolving and, undoubtedly, will continue to evolve but, at the core, remain very much the same as they ever were.

Hard habit to start

2008-08-28T19:43:00.014-04:00

Ok, first post. . . . After spending several (more than I care to admit) hours viewing random blogs created by others, I am confident that the first post is far easier than the fifth or the tenth or the twentieth. I've been told that it takes thirty days to make a habit. There seem to be way more dead blogs out their than living ones. This must be a hard habit to develop.

I am working through first assignments for LIS 568 -- Computer Applications in School Library Media Centers. Creating a blog doesn't seem that difficult. I checked out several providers before choosing Blogger. While I recognized differences in some (and cost of others) I succumbed to the pull of the Google Force that is taking over the digital world. It appeared that this service had all I need for now (& probably more).

I am having trouble with del.icio.us. Created account without difficulty but cannot seem to save bookmarks into my account. Will keep working on this. Opened a Google Reader page without difficulty. First blog I uploaded was "The Official Google Blog" -- Read about a map-maker application that is available through Google. This is Way Cool!!! (My age doesn't show does it?) I can think of applications for this map-making program in school without even engaging brain!

More to do -- more thoughts later . . .

Comic by Drew, (2007, Mar 20). computer demands a blog in toothpaste for dinner. Retrieved Aug 28, 2008, from http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/032007/the-computer-demands-a-blog.gif