Me
Chilling words make a wall of sickening unreality,
Chilling words make a wall of sickening unreality,
Chilling words make a wall of sickening unreality,
You.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
A couple of sites worth remembering
DIY Book Scanner: wow very cool, but how much of a pain would it be to make?
Check out the possibility of whether or not a book is in the public domain. Just remember that it is not legal advice.
Check out the possibility of whether or not a book is in the public domain. Just remember that it is not legal advice.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Latest Study on Information Consumption
Here is the link to Roger Bohn and James Short's information consumption study.
"Information Mavens" are needed more than ever.
"Information Mavens" are needed more than ever.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Experience & Education by John Dewey
It has been 79 years since Dewey wrote Experience & Education and yet if I simply put into practice the ideas he describes in this very short book; I'd be considered a radical teacher, a maverick outside the usual educational bounds.
"The educator is responsible for a knowledge of individuals and for a knowledge of subject-matter that will enable activities to be selected which lend themselves to social organization, an organization in which all individuals have an opportunity to contribute something,and in which the activities in which all participate are the chief carrier of control." pg. 56
“[O]nce more, it is part of the educator’s responsibility to see equally to two things: First, that the problem grows out of the conditions of the experience being had in the present, and that it is within the range of the capacity of students; and, secondly, that it is such that it arouses in the learner an active quest for information and for production of new ideas.” Pg. 79
“What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul: loses his appreciation of things worth while, of the values to which these things are relative; if he loses desire to apply what he has learned and, above all, loses the ability to extract meaning from his future experiences as they occur?” pg. 49
"The educator is responsible for a knowledge of individuals and for a knowledge of subject-matter that will enable activities to be selected which lend themselves to social organization, an organization in which all individuals have an opportunity to contribute something,and in which the activities in which all participate are the chief carrier of control." pg. 56
“[O]nce more, it is part of the educator’s responsibility to see equally to two things: First, that the problem grows out of the conditions of the experience being had in the present, and that it is within the range of the capacity of students; and, secondly, that it is such that it arouses in the learner an active quest for information and for production of new ideas.” Pg. 79
“What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul: loses his appreciation of things worth while, of the values to which these things are relative; if he loses desire to apply what he has learned and, above all, loses the ability to extract meaning from his future experiences as they occur?” pg. 49
Saturday, October 3, 2009
I want an invite "super-bad", but this guy deserves one more
Several people have been asking me what Google Wave is; this video is a good "in-plain-English" explanation. I'll say it again, if anyone gets an invite, please invite me. . .please. (yes I know I'm playing right into Google's marketing strategy)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Reading Plan for LIBR 250
I'm taking Design and Implementation of Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals, and one of our continuing assignments is to do broad reading in educational theory. I'm going to blog my reading notes here.
Taking Wiggins & McTighe’s Understanding by Design as my focal point (This is a text I have read and that we are using where I work so it seemed a logical focal point) I set out to read various supporting texts from its bibliography. In the first phase of my reading I wanted to get as close to the foundation of their thought as I could, so I limited myself to works in the bibliography published before 1970. The assumption being that this would be the work of their predecessors upon which their own work would rely and/or respond to.
The first work that I randomly selected was Beyond the Information Given: Studies in the Psychology of Knowing by Jerome S Bruner.
“On Perceptual Readiness” pg. 7-14
This very dense and deeply psychological work begins with a review of scientific and psychological studies of perception. He maintains and defends two theories of perception:
1. Perception involves an act of categorization
2. Perception is somehow a representation of the world and therefore predictive
in varying degrees
While these theories may seem obvious to some, Bruner makes it clear that neither of these two claims can easily be assumed.
I was especially interested in Bruner’s discussion of categorization given its prominence in Library and Information Science. He takes us back to the level of primitive or autochthonous categories such as: motion, causation, intention, identity, equivalence, time and space (very close to Kant’s a priori categories). Though even here there is some question given the phenomenon of synesthesia (one remembers Nabokov’s colors being associated with letters)
Taking Wiggins & McTighe’s Understanding by Design as my focal point (This is a text I have read and that we are using where I work so it seemed a logical focal point) I set out to read various supporting texts from its bibliography. In the first phase of my reading I wanted to get as close to the foundation of their thought as I could, so I limited myself to works in the bibliography published before 1970. The assumption being that this would be the work of their predecessors upon which their own work would rely and/or respond to.
The first work that I randomly selected was Beyond the Information Given: Studies in the Psychology of Knowing by Jerome S Bruner.
“On Perceptual Readiness” pg. 7-14
This very dense and deeply psychological work begins with a review of scientific and psychological studies of perception. He maintains and defends two theories of perception:
1. Perception involves an act of categorization
2. Perception is somehow a representation of the world and therefore predictive
in varying degrees
While these theories may seem obvious to some, Bruner makes it clear that neither of these two claims can easily be assumed.
I was especially interested in Bruner’s discussion of categorization given its prominence in Library and Information Science. He takes us back to the level of primitive or autochthonous categories such as: motion, causation, intention, identity, equivalence, time and space (very close to Kant’s a priori categories). Though even here there is some question given the phenomenon of synesthesia (one remembers Nabokov’s colors being associated with letters)
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Older me vs. younger me
I just had an experience that made me reflect on growing older. I was in my car about to walk up to my apartment door when I was faced with a problem. I had picked up 10 rolls of quarters from the bank (for laundry) and I had my laptop and a long power chord to take up as well. The younger me would have tried to hold all of the quarter rolls in one hand while trying to hold the laptop and the tangled power chord in the other hand and walk up. But older me calmly looked around, found a pair of shorts that I had left in the car, put the quarter rolls into the pocket of the shorts, rolled up the tangled chord and took them all up easily. Now I'm not saying that younger me would have necessarily dropped the quarter rolls, scattering quarters all over the place or drop an expensive laptop, but it would have been a riskier enterprise than what a little calm thought avoided altogether.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Dublin Core Metadata for this blog
I just found DC-dot which generates the Dublin Core Metadata for any website. This is the list of keywords that the site generated for my blog:
Atom; Bibliography; Delft; Chicago; Debating; October; view; power; Testing; Monitoring; sooo; Subscribe; Setting; private; Class; Sh; follow; comparison; Random; catharsis; 3:27; February; ounce; Twitter; Daddy; Evaluating; electronic; BAISL; Cybriarian; Blog; Pete; AM; cells; progress; obligatory; Friday; tips; charge; checker; Books; reading; Browsing; 8:04; Wave; spell; review; post; comments; Library; Media; Service; War; December; seen; 4:54; 9:37; future; red; user; links; Viewpoints; definitely; Librarian; Fair; data; Librar; Learning; Hard; burrow; ready; Giving; List; otherwise; Musings; Anderson; 0 comments; doing; free; Mary; personal; intermediary; Personal; Sites; tax; phone; Archivist; 10:11; September; Cooley; Teacher; worth; View; Sunday; Ebsco; Se; Hosting; hands-on; list; Pixelpipe; Review; School; video; Commons; Information; Reference; Extremem; Links; Alice; Ch; negative; January; 3:09; Alpha; August; April; Google; watermole; Subj; Learners; Im; libraries; curse; web; Practices; Saying; Seamless; school; students; Opposing; Holy; movement; David; faculty; running; using; Posts; 6:46; Code; Dream; iGoogle; March; Platypus; Integrated; G1; search; page; ton; November; Blogs; patterns; 9:43; aeonity.com; Archive; algo; translator; Koha; interface; 11:32; nympholepsy; sites; Finding; wikis; questions; Investigations; Mashable; Pro; Sorry; Antitrust; Martha; 6:15; Time; Tuesday; Taxonomies; Makeover; library; Morphing; drive; July; Followers; reference; Moonlighting; June; dead; article; Loertsche; Wolfram; Thursday; Sean; Notes; databases; information; PM; teens; Updates; blood; iPhone; Saturday; Systems; Eugene; book
Interestingly enough, when I tried to embed the metadata into this post I got this error:
Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is not allowed: link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
This is the html sans tags:
link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
link rel="schema.DCTERMS" href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
meta name="DC.title" lang="English" content="wat3rm0le's burrow">
meta name="DC.creator" content="Brian Luke Thomas">
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meta name="DC.description" lang="English" content="A blog on many topics, but tends to center on librarianship and the internet.">
meta name="DC.date" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" content="2009-06-26">
meta name="DC.type" scheme="DCTERMS.DCMIType" content="Text">
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Atom; Bibliography; Delft; Chicago; Debating; October; view; power; Testing; Monitoring; sooo; Subscribe; Setting; private; Class; Sh; follow; comparison; Random; catharsis; 3:27; February; ounce; Twitter; Daddy; Evaluating; electronic; BAISL; Cybriarian; Blog; Pete; AM; cells; progress; obligatory; Friday; tips; charge; checker; Books; reading; Browsing; 8:04; Wave; spell; review; post; comments; Library; Media; Service; War; December; seen; 4:54; 9:37; future; red; user; links; Viewpoints; definitely; Librarian; Fair; data; Librar; Learning; Hard; burrow; ready; Giving; List; otherwise; Musings; Anderson; 0 comments; doing; free; Mary; personal; intermediary; Personal; Sites; tax; phone; Archivist; 10:11; September; Cooley; Teacher; worth; View; Sunday; Ebsco; Se; Hosting; hands-on; list; Pixelpipe; Review; School; video; Commons; Information; Reference; Extremem; Links; Alice; Ch; negative; January; 3:09; Alpha; August; April; Google; watermole; Subj; Learners; Im; libraries; curse; web; Practices; Saying; Seamless; school; students; Opposing; Holy; movement; David; faculty; running; using; Posts; 6:46; Code; Dream; iGoogle; March; Platypus; Integrated; G1; search; page; ton; November; Blogs; patterns; 9:43; aeonity.com; Archive; algo; translator; Koha; interface; 11:32; nympholepsy; sites; Finding; wikis; questions; Investigations; Mashable; Pro; Sorry; Antitrust; Martha; 6:15; Time; Tuesday; Taxonomies; Makeover; library; Morphing; drive; July; Followers; reference; Moonlighting; June; dead; article; Loertsche; Wolfram; Thursday; Sean; Notes; databases; information; PM; teens; Updates; blood; iPhone; Saturday; Systems; Eugene; book
Interestingly enough, when I tried to embed the metadata into this post I got this error:
Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is not allowed: link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
This is the html sans tags:
link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
link rel="schema.DCTERMS" href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
meta name="DC.title" lang="English" content="wat3rm0le's burrow">
meta name="DC.creator" content="Brian Luke Thomas">
meta name="DC.subject" lang="English" content="Atom; Bibliography; Delft; Chicago; Debating; October; view; power; Testing; Monitoring; sooo; Subscribe; Setting; private; Class; Sh; follow; comparison; Random; catharsis; 3:27; February; ounce; Twitter; Daddy; Evaluating; electronic; BAISL; Cybriarian; Blog; Pete; AM; cells; progress; obligatory; Friday; tips; charge; checker; Books; reading; Browsing; 8:04; Wave; spell; review; post; comments; Library; Media; Service; War; December; seen; 4:54; 9:37; future; red; user; links; Viewpoints; definitely; Librarian; Fair; data; Librar; Learning; Hard; burrow; ready; Giving; List; otherwise; Musings; Anderson; 0 comments; doing; free; Mary; personal; intermediary; Personal; Sites; tax; phone; Archivist; 10:11; September; Cooley; Teacher; worth; View; Sunday; Ebsco; Se; Hosting; hands-on; list; Pixelpipe; Review; School; video; Commons; Information; Reference; Extremem; Links; Alice; Ch; negative; January; 3:09; Alpha; August; April; Google; watermole; Subj; Learners; Im; libraries; curse; web; Practices; Saying; Seamless; school; students; Opposing; Holy; movement; David; faculty; running; using; Posts; 6:46; Code; Dream; iGoogle; March; Platypus; Integrated; G1; search; page; ton; November; Blogs; patterns; 9:43; aeonity.com; Archive; algo; translator; Koha; interface; 11:32; nympholepsy; sites; Finding; wikis; questions; Investigations; Mashable; Pro; Sorry; Antitrust; Martha; 6:15; Time; Tuesday; Taxonomies; Makeover; library; Morphing; drive; July; Followers; reference; Moonlighting; June; dead; article; Loertsche; Wolfram; Thursday; Sean; Notes; databases; information; PM; teens; Updates; blood; iPhone; Saturday; Systems; Eugene; book">
meta name="DC.description" lang="English" content="A blog on many topics, but tends to center on librarianship and the internet.">
meta name="DC.date" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" content="2009-06-26">
meta name="DC.type" scheme="DCTERMS.DCMIType" content="Text">
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Sunday, June 14, 2009
Evaluating Integrated Library Systems
I've been looking at various job openings for librarians and noting the different ILS's of which I would like to get at least a passing familiarity. I'll record my impression of them and compare them to Koha here.
In the mean time, I need to explore Integrated Library Systems Report (http://www.ilsr.com/vendors/search2.cfm). It's old, but looks like a good place to start.
In the mean time, I need to explore Integrated Library Systems Report (http://www.ilsr.com/vendors/search2.cfm). It's old, but looks like a good place to start.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
List of Free Blog Hosting Sites
A Working List of Free Blog Hosting Sites (last revised 6.25.09):
Aeonity.com
Atom5
Blog.com
Blogabond.com
BlogCheese.com
Blogetery.com
Blogger.com
Blogr.com
Blogsome.com
Blogster.com
Bravenet.com
BusyThumbs.com
ClearBlogs.com
ExperienceProject.com
Freeblogit.com
Freevlog
InsaneJournal.com
LiveJournal.com
Multiply.com
Netcipia.com
Open Diary.com
ShoutPost.com
SoulCast.com
Tblog.com
Terapad.com
Thoughts.com
Trippert.com
Tumblr.com
Vox.com
Weebly.com
Windows Live Spaces
Word Count Journal.com
WordPress.com
Xanga.com
Zoomshare.com
Most of this list comes from Sean P. Aune's Mashable article.
Aeonity.com
Atom5
Blog.com
Blogabond.com
BlogCheese.com
Blogetery.com
Blogger.com
Blogr.com
Blogsome.com
Blogster.com
Bravenet.com
BusyThumbs.com
ClearBlogs.com
ExperienceProject.com
Freeblogit.com
Freevlog
InsaneJournal.com
LiveJournal.com
Multiply.com
Netcipia.com
Open Diary.com
ShoutPost.com
SoulCast.com
Tblog.com
Terapad.com
Thoughts.com
Trippert.com
Tumblr.com
Vox.com
Weebly.com
Windows Live Spaces
Word Count Journal.com
WordPress.com
Xanga.com
Zoomshare.com
Most of this list comes from Sean P. Aune's Mashable article.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Wolfram Alpha
Believe it or not, I've already read "dangers of Wolfram Alpha" articles but if you haven't been introduced to this new tool watch this video
Friday, May 22, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Eugene The Librarian
Listen to Sarah Thomas, librarian of the Bodleian and head of Oxford Library Services & Robert Darnton, director of Harvard University Library discuss the future of libraries and Google here.
Some cool new features for searching on Google:
Keeping in mind my users: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/16/how-kids-use-the-net.html
Not as inspiring as Susan Boyle but fun none-the-less:
Some cool new features for searching on Google:
Keeping in mind my users: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/16/how-kids-use-the-net.html
Not as inspiring as Susan Boyle but fun none-the-less:
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
For the catharsis . . .
This is the only one I could embed so see the original here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Why does Ebsco charge school libraries more than they charge banks?
So I was looking for a way to renew our magazine subscriptions online through our magazine jobber-- Ebsco and found ebscomags.com
I was outraged to find that businesses like banks, corporate centers, and advertising agencies get a greater discount on magazines than school libraries!
After taking the selection of magazines that we offer in our library and finding out how much the same magazines would cost for "Corporate Centers/Building Lobbies" I found they would only have to pay $404.61 whereas we will have to pay $1004.52.
Here is the raw data of the prices charged to "Corporate Centers/Building Lobbies" compared to prices charged to our school library:
What Building Lobbies pay........What a school library pays
Black Enterprise $17.95............................$22.00
Business Week $46.00............................$60.00
Car and Driver $11.00............................$21.94
Consumer Reports $29.00............................$29.00
Discover $19.95............................$29.95
Entertainment Weekly $24.95............................$59.95
ESPN Magazine $29.97............................$29.97
Esquire $8.00.............................$15.94
Essence $12.00............................$22.00
Harper's $12.97............................$21.00
Hispanic $15.00............................$18.00
Latina $11.97............................$17.97
Mad $16.00............................$29.99
Money $14.95............................$41.95
National Geographic $34.00............................$34.00
New Yorker $49.95............................$52.00
People $52.47............................$116.07
Popular Science $19.97............................$19.97
Rolling Stone $14.95............................$25.74
Sports Illustrated $39.00............................$88.95
Time $29.95............................$76.13
Vanity Fair $24.00............................$24.00
Vogue $29.95............................$29.95
Wired $12.00............................$24.00
Who qualifies for these special rates? The most needy of course:
"Businesses that qualify for discounted rates:
To qualify for reception room discount magazine subscriptions, all you have to do is include your business name or professional title with the order. Here is a short list of types of businesses we currently service:
Doctor Offices
Dentist Offices
Orthodontic Offices
Chiropractic Offices
Medical Clinic Lobbies
Physical Therapist Offices
Hospital Lobbies
Salons/Barber Shops
Spas/Massage Therapists
Photographers
Engineers
Attorney Offices
Accountant Offices
Hotel Lobbies
Bank Offices
Realtor Offices
Auto Dealerships
Insurance Offices
Health Clubs
Corporate Centers/Building Lobbies
Interior Designers
Advertising Agencies"
I was outraged to find that businesses like banks, corporate centers, and advertising agencies get a greater discount on magazines than school libraries!
After taking the selection of magazines that we offer in our library and finding out how much the same magazines would cost for "Corporate Centers/Building Lobbies" I found they would only have to pay $404.61 whereas we will have to pay $1004.52.
Here is the raw data of the prices charged to "Corporate Centers/Building Lobbies" compared to prices charged to our school library:
What Building Lobbies pay........What a school library pays
Black Enterprise $17.95............................$22.00
Business Week $46.00............................$60.00
Car and Driver $11.00............................$21.94
Consumer Reports $29.00............................$29.00
Discover $19.95............................$29.95
Entertainment Weekly $24.95............................$59.95
ESPN Magazine $29.97............................$29.97
Esquire $8.00.............................$15.94
Essence $12.00............................$22.00
Harper's $12.97............................$21.00
Hispanic $15.00............................$18.00
Latina $11.97............................$17.97
Mad $16.00............................$29.99
Money $14.95............................$41.95
National Geographic $34.00............................$34.00
New Yorker $49.95............................$52.00
People $52.47............................$116.07
Popular Science $19.97............................$19.97
Rolling Stone $14.95............................$25.74
Sports Illustrated $39.00............................$88.95
Time $29.95............................$76.13
Vanity Fair $24.00............................$24.00
Vogue $29.95............................$29.95
Wired $12.00............................$24.00
Who qualifies for these special rates? The most needy of course:
"Businesses that qualify for discounted rates:
To qualify for reception room discount magazine subscriptions, all you have to do is include your business name or professional title with the order. Here is a short list of types of businesses we currently service:
Doctor Offices
Dentist Offices
Orthodontic Offices
Chiropractic Offices
Medical Clinic Lobbies
Physical Therapist Offices
Hospital Lobbies
Salons/Barber Shops
Spas/Massage Therapists
Photographers
Engineers
Attorney Offices
Accountant Offices
Hotel Lobbies
Bank Offices
Realtor Offices
Auto Dealerships
Insurance Offices
Health Clubs
Corporate Centers/Building Lobbies
Interior Designers
Advertising Agencies"
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
My comparison of free wikis (work in progress)
I've worked with wikis for almost every class in the MLIS program and they have all been hosted at PBwiki, but I was curious whether or not it was the best choice (for my purposes) or just the popular choice in the program and amongst the Library Learning 2.0 crowd. I started with Wikipedia's entry on wiki farms. I immediately ruled out subscription hosting sites which left:
BluWiki
ClearWiki
EditThis.info
GROU.PS SuperWiki
Hive Wiki
Intodit
MyFreeWiki
Netcipia
Uwiki.com seems to still be a work in progress the wiki is here.
Wikia
Wikihost.org
Wiki-site.com
Wiki Spot
Wikkii
WikyBlog.com
This is a good reference to using the engine that most of these wikifarms use.
Still reviewing these sites. . .
This is a great article that deflates some of the hype around wikis.
BluWiki
ClearWiki
EditThis.info
GROU.PS SuperWiki
Hive Wiki
Intodit
MyFreeWiki
Netcipia
Uwiki.com seems to still be a work in progress the wiki is here.
Wikia
Wikihost.org
Wiki-site.com
Wiki Spot
Wikkii
WikyBlog.com
This is a good reference to using the engine that most of these wikifarms use.
Still reviewing these sites. . .
This is a great article that deflates some of the hype around wikis.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Testing Pixelpipe
So I should be able to update my status and write blog posts to multiple sites from my phone with this app.
So I should be able to update my status and write blog posts to multiple sites from my phone with this app.
Tiger Girl
Sky@Catherine's birthday
Tiger Girl
Sky@Catherine's birthday
Posted via Pixelpipe.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Notes on Ch. 12-15 Taxonomies of the School Library Media Program 2nd Ed. by David Loertscher
"Like other levels of the model, however, it is easy to spend an inordinate amount of time on direct services and ignore the information infrastructure and the four central program elements." So true.
I'd like to get students to do reading advisory through our catalog. I imagine a catalog that is Amazon like in that it will list reviews by students of the books that are held in the library.
I'd also like to work on business and national partnerships.
If my number one problem is lack of support staff, I need to create job descriptions of each of the things that could be delegated.
Six principles of collection development:
1. The collection of the library media center must be appropriate for the community a school draws from.
2. A plan to build a curricular-oriented collection with the accompanying policies, staff expertise, and realistic budgeting practices is in place.
3. An acquisition system that matches curricular priorities is in place.
a. How do you select your materials? Mostly I try to get feedback from others, then I try to see gaps in our collection that need to be filled, finally I try to get books that have received awards.
b. How do you prioritize your purchases? Text books first - then texts found in the bibliographies of text books, then faculty requests, then student requests.
c. How do you keep track of spending in terms of curricular support? I don't. This is an area for growth.
4. Each type of media included in the library media center is considered a system consisting of the materials, the accompanying equipment, the support staff, and facilities, among other concerns.
5. Collections in single schools are constantly changing to meet current needs.
6. Collections reflect democratic ideas, intellectual freedom, and cultural diversity.
I need to review the collection policy made in the past and develop a collection mapping plan using the model on pg. 210.
I'd like to create the Experimental Learning Commons and one of the first steps will be creating the Teacher Respite area-- both physically and virtually.
We covered a lot of evaluation in the management class and I have been to a Balanced Scorecard seminar, so much of the last chapter was a review.
I'd like to get students to do reading advisory through our catalog. I imagine a catalog that is Amazon like in that it will list reviews by students of the books that are held in the library.
I'd also like to work on business and national partnerships.
If my number one problem is lack of support staff, I need to create job descriptions of each of the things that could be delegated.
Six principles of collection development:
1. The collection of the library media center must be appropriate for the community a school draws from.
2. A plan to build a curricular-oriented collection with the accompanying policies, staff expertise, and realistic budgeting practices is in place.
3. An acquisition system that matches curricular priorities is in place.
a. How do you select your materials? Mostly I try to get feedback from others, then I try to see gaps in our collection that need to be filled, finally I try to get books that have received awards.
b. How do you prioritize your purchases? Text books first - then texts found in the bibliographies of text books, then faculty requests, then student requests.
c. How do you keep track of spending in terms of curricular support? I don't. This is an area for growth.
4. Each type of media included in the library media center is considered a system consisting of the materials, the accompanying equipment, the support staff, and facilities, among other concerns.
5. Collections in single schools are constantly changing to meet current needs.
6. Collections reflect democratic ideas, intellectual freedom, and cultural diversity.
I need to review the collection policy made in the past and develop a collection mapping plan using the model on pg. 210.
I'd like to create the Experimental Learning Commons and one of the first steps will be creating the Teacher Respite area-- both physically and virtually.
We covered a lot of evaluation in the management class and I have been to a Balanced Scorecard seminar, so much of the last chapter was a review.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Notes on Ch. 7-11 Taxonomies of the School Library Media Program 2nd Ed. by David Loertscher
1. How often does collaborative planning take place in a normal school day? Well I know it isn't 50%, that is for sure! "Many groups may come to the LMC to work on projects of which the library media specialist has only cursory knowledge and in which there is very little planning invested" This is the case the majority of time right now.
2. What is the spread of collaborative planning throughout the faculty? Wow, I already did one of the suggestions before I reached this question. I do plan on talking with administration about patterns I see. One of the most obvious patterns was that most of the teachers who have not collaborated at all are math and science teachers. A surprising pattern was that many of the teachers who have not collaborated with me are the senior teachers on the staff. This makes me wonder if they have had bad experiences in the past, or their perceptions of the LMC are just more entrenched. It could also mean that these are the teachers who don't need to bring their class into the library as way to take a break from the class room.
3. What type of teachers plan with the library media specialist? Two of the teachers who collaborate the most with me are very far on the constructivist side of the continuum. The other two are closer to the behaviorist side but are close to center I would think. While subject matter may be an indicator for teachers who are less likely to collaborate, it doesn't seem to be an indicator of those who collaborate the most- Religion, English, History, and Science are all represented by high collaboration.
4. What subject areas seem to be affected the most and the least by collaborative efforts? Math is clearly the least collaborative subject and History closely followed by English and Religion is the most collaborative subject. I like the idea of having P.E. and Math collaborate in the library using spreadsheets.
5. What organizational factors seem to encourage/discourage collaborative planning? One of our English teachers habitually comes to the library to do his grading--I could also use this time to create a collaboration with him. It is very difficult to get out of the library if no one is available to take my place since the library always has students in it. Not having a support staff means that if I leave, the library closes-- this is just not an option, so most of the time I am bound to the library.
"Collaborative planning with teachers and students (during a constructivist project) is the most powerful link between the library media program and raising academic achievement."-- I'll be making this my mantra.
I'm starting to see why I was balking at the idea of an LMC that was open to students at any time without class appointments. "For example, Mr. Smith's students were disruptive, lost, and confused. The library media specialist and teacher plan to spend 10 minutes before the next LMC time to make sure that students understand their project before they are turned loose in the LMC." It was this disruptive, lost, and confused behavior that I was trying to avoid. One class like this is difficult enough. Now imagine three classes in the library at the same time and none of the teachers had planned with the librarian ahead of time. This happened to me multiple times during my 1st year, before I complained enough to stop that practice from happening. I'm completely happy to have students from multiple classes droping in when they have time, when they (and I) know what they are working on!
"Both teachers and administrators must realize and support the notion that preplanned learning activities deserve the best treatment in the learning laboratory."-- I need to make this planning my first priority.
A list of all the things tha might build avid and capable readers in the school:
1. One community, one book (I need to start planning it for next year and make the proposal to the curriculum committee.)
2. Find out the status of our SSR program in C-blocks--coordinate visits to C-blocks to do book-talks (perhaps I could even get students from the book club to do book talks)
3. Video tape book comercials for new books that could be played during homeroom.
4. Check with the English teachers about independent reading projects-- do more planning with them on this
5. Corporate-sponsored reading motivational activities
Chapter 10 was basically expanded in the New Learning Commons and In Command-
It would be interesting to have students study the topic of "research", log their own Anomalous States of Knowledge (ASK) during a typical week and how they found the information that they needed. Then talk about the research process. The idea is that students should see the research process separate from class assignments first.
2. What is the spread of collaborative planning throughout the faculty? Wow, I already did one of the suggestions before I reached this question. I do plan on talking with administration about patterns I see. One of the most obvious patterns was that most of the teachers who have not collaborated at all are math and science teachers. A surprising pattern was that many of the teachers who have not collaborated with me are the senior teachers on the staff. This makes me wonder if they have had bad experiences in the past, or their perceptions of the LMC are just more entrenched. It could also mean that these are the teachers who don't need to bring their class into the library as way to take a break from the class room.
3. What type of teachers plan with the library media specialist? Two of the teachers who collaborate the most with me are very far on the constructivist side of the continuum. The other two are closer to the behaviorist side but are close to center I would think. While subject matter may be an indicator for teachers who are less likely to collaborate, it doesn't seem to be an indicator of those who collaborate the most- Religion, English, History, and Science are all represented by high collaboration.
4. What subject areas seem to be affected the most and the least by collaborative efforts? Math is clearly the least collaborative subject and History closely followed by English and Religion is the most collaborative subject. I like the idea of having P.E. and Math collaborate in the library using spreadsheets.
5. What organizational factors seem to encourage/discourage collaborative planning? One of our English teachers habitually comes to the library to do his grading--I could also use this time to create a collaboration with him. It is very difficult to get out of the library if no one is available to take my place since the library always has students in it. Not having a support staff means that if I leave, the library closes-- this is just not an option, so most of the time I am bound to the library.
"Collaborative planning with teachers and students (during a constructivist project) is the most powerful link between the library media program and raising academic achievement."-- I'll be making this my mantra.
I'm starting to see why I was balking at the idea of an LMC that was open to students at any time without class appointments. "For example, Mr. Smith's students were disruptive, lost, and confused. The library media specialist and teacher plan to spend 10 minutes before the next LMC time to make sure that students understand their project before they are turned loose in the LMC." It was this disruptive, lost, and confused behavior that I was trying to avoid. One class like this is difficult enough. Now imagine three classes in the library at the same time and none of the teachers had planned with the librarian ahead of time. This happened to me multiple times during my 1st year, before I complained enough to stop that practice from happening. I'm completely happy to have students from multiple classes droping in when they have time, when they (and I) know what they are working on!
"Both teachers and administrators must realize and support the notion that preplanned learning activities deserve the best treatment in the learning laboratory."-- I need to make this planning my first priority.
A list of all the things tha might build avid and capable readers in the school:
1. One community, one book (I need to start planning it for next year and make the proposal to the curriculum committee.)
2. Find out the status of our SSR program in C-blocks--coordinate visits to C-blocks to do book-talks (perhaps I could even get students from the book club to do book talks)
3. Video tape book comercials for new books that could be played during homeroom.
4. Check with the English teachers about independent reading projects-- do more planning with them on this
5. Corporate-sponsored reading motivational activities
Chapter 10 was basically expanded in the New Learning Commons and In Command-
It would be interesting to have students study the topic of "research", log their own Anomalous States of Knowledge (ASK) during a typical week and how they found the information that they needed. Then talk about the research process. The idea is that students should see the research process separate from class assignments first.
Notes on Ch. 1-6 Taxonomies of the School Library Media Program 2nd Ed. by David Loertscher
Library Media Specialist Taxonomy
I want to note where I have done work on the levels in this taxonomy. I'm going to take levels 1-3 as given.
"Level 4- Spontaneous interaction and gathering: Networks respond 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to patron requests and the LMC facilities can be used by individuals and small groups with no advanced notice. . . . Spontaneous services, however, might become an excuse for a lack of planning by teachers or turn into babysitting." This is one of the things that I had to get a handle on my first year-- it is very easy for the library to turn into a room for child-care. I'm still working on our catalog being accessible 24-7. We'll be subscribing to OCLC express and I'm hoping that Koha will work better than Follett CircPlus--we'll see.
Level 5-Cursory planning. I have sent out emails suggesting ideas and websites and to get feedback. I hope I'm not percieved as a pest!
Level 6-Planned Gathering. I've created pathfinders, handouts, bloglines, and saved Google searches for teachers "A clear idea of exactly what is needed is essential if success is to be achieved." As I found out in my reference class, this is much, much more difficult than you would think. The greatest obstacle to communication is the illusion that it has occured. I've found this to be true on many occasions.
Level 7-Evangelistic outreach/advocacy. There are degrees of advocacy- Advocating to just administration, to administration and faculty, to administration, faculty and students, to parents, and to the public at large. There can be some resistence when you seek to advocate to parents and the public at large. I was surprised to find this when I was trying to promote the fact that we had received the Picturing America posters from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Level 8-Implementation of the four major programmatic elements of the LMC program. I created a strategic plan for the library in my management class, but I'm not completely satisfied with it. I know I need to expand my articulation of reading programs like SSR, Reading Motivational programs, Book Club, etc. I also want to include students in this process.
Level 9-The mature LMC program. We're not there yet, but we are getting close. This is my 2nd year as school librarian and in many ways it is like my 2nd year teaching-- I still haven't quite found my footing but it is certainly not as chaotic as the 1st year!
Level 10-Curriculum development. "Curriculum development is more than just an invitation to attend curriculum meetings; it means that the library media specialist is recognized as a colleague and contributes meaningfully to planning." Yep this is the golden ring. I'm going for it. Having worked on the curriculum committee as English Department Chair will make this easier.
Teacher Taxonomy
A rough estimate of the % of teachers working with me at each level
Level 1: 42%
Level 2: 25%
Level 3: 7%
Level 4: 10%
Level 5: 5%
Level 6: 10%
Level 7: 1%
Looking at it like this, it is very disappointing. Part of this is being a one person librarian gives me little to no time to collaborate with teachers. Part of this may also be me rating too harshly-- I'd like to give the Teacher Taxonomy to each of the instructors and have them rate the level at which they feel we are collaborating to get a better picture of this. This was a very interesting way of looking at my work with teachers. One other thing to note, when looking at the level 1 teachers, the majority are math and science teachers-- I'll know I have arrived when I get a math class into the library!
Student Taxonomy
I've had students evaluate their information literacy skills on TRAILS, but I need to develop a more generalized survey that could be given school wide. This may be a challenge when there are so many competing agendas.
Administrator Taxonomy
I'm very interested to see where my principal sees himself on this taxonomy. I'm hoping it will inspire a constructive dialog about the library media program.
Notes on The New Learning Commons: Where Learners Win! Ch. 6-10
"Such projects build knowledge bases tagged by many, searchable by everyone." A quick thought about tagging- I love the idea of folksonomies, but I wish that the people who design these sites would give just a little more subtlety to tagging. Instead of just tags, imagine if you could also tag an item as a Broader item, a Narrower item, or a Related item. This to me is an example of a best practice that librarians have had forever that could be incorporated into web design. (Del.icio.us webdesigners if you're reading this, take note--great feature to add!)
Our school is using Ubd, so many of the ideas presented were familiar. Reading the material only adds weight to my conviction that I must get coverage for the library so that I can attend curriculum and planning meetings. Too much of my current work is clerical and could be done by support staff. "This includes the teacher librarian whose first responsibility is to the improvement of instruction rather than tending and managing the Open Commons. For the most part, the Open Commons is the province of support personnel under the direction of the teacher librarian."
I'm going to propose the On the Right Foot idea to our principal. I would also like to do action research based on using blogs and bloglines for a class. It makes me wonder about the idea of a paperless class-- is it possible?
Action Research in the Expermental Learning Commons sounds like a dream come true! "It takes the best theories of education and research results and applies them to a local situation." This sounds challenging, interesting, and damn fun!
"In the context of the Learning Commons we recommend that the Experimental Learning Center be the center of such research activity that informs the faculty as a whole. There is an atmosphere of collaboration in the achievement of excellence because everyone expects that this is a place in the school where experimentation is the central focus. It follows that a positive attitude toward continuous school improvement is likely to develop and be sustained across years and across faculty turnover or student demographic evolution. . . . Such a focus would go a long way in promoting the idea that everyone has a stake in school improvement rather than just isolated teachers in closed classrooms."
Some links to look at more closely:
webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html
novemberlearning.com
www.criticalthinking.org/index.cfm
http://davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage
OfCultivatingYourPersonalLearningNetwork
weblogged.wikispaces.com/New+Internet+Literacies
cissl.scils.rutgers.edu/guided_inquiry/introduction.html
www.projectnml.org/files/working/NMLWhitePaper.pdf
Our school is using Ubd, so many of the ideas presented were familiar. Reading the material only adds weight to my conviction that I must get coverage for the library so that I can attend curriculum and planning meetings. Too much of my current work is clerical and could be done by support staff. "This includes the teacher librarian whose first responsibility is to the improvement of instruction rather than tending and managing the Open Commons. For the most part, the Open Commons is the province of support personnel under the direction of the teacher librarian."
I'm going to propose the On the Right Foot idea to our principal. I would also like to do action research based on using blogs and bloglines for a class. It makes me wonder about the idea of a paperless class-- is it possible?
Action Research in the Expermental Learning Commons sounds like a dream come true! "It takes the best theories of education and research results and applies them to a local situation." This sounds challenging, interesting, and damn fun!
"In the context of the Learning Commons we recommend that the Experimental Learning Center be the center of such research activity that informs the faculty as a whole. There is an atmosphere of collaboration in the achievement of excellence because everyone expects that this is a place in the school where experimentation is the central focus. It follows that a positive attitude toward continuous school improvement is likely to develop and be sustained across years and across faculty turnover or student demographic evolution. . . . Such a focus would go a long way in promoting the idea that everyone has a stake in school improvement rather than just isolated teachers in closed classrooms."
Some links to look at more closely:
webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html
novemberlearning.com
www.criticalthinking.org/index.cfm
http://davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage
OfCultivatingYourPersonalLearningNetwork
weblogged.wikispaces.com/New+Internet+Literacies
cissl.scils.rutgers.edu/guided_inquiry/introduction.html
www.projectnml.org/files/working/NMLWhitePaper.pdf
Notes on The New Learning Commons: Where Learners Win! Ch. 4-5
"The fantasy book club having a brown bag lunch in simultaneous discussion with the same club in a different school across the city." This is a great idea, and should be fairly easy to achieve with other high school library programs.
Imagine a group of students selecting books for the library to buy based on selection criteria that they have developed. I love this idea. I can imagine giving a student group a budget to do this so that they learn how to manage a budget as well.
"A comment made by the police officer clicked with the teacher librarian and technology teacher. The office [sic] said that on the social networking sites that young people frequent, there is often misbehavior and inappropriate mimicking because they only have each other as role models. Adults do not tread in these spaces. The specialists had failed in their efforts to encourage teachers to use blogging with students in spite of all the evidence they had gathered that showed how engaged students are on the read/write web." This is probably the best evidence I have seen that libraries and even teachers should have a myspace page. If we really want our students to act responsible in the spaces, then we need to be in these spaces. (I can hear teenagers everywhere screaming NOOOOOOOOOO!)
"It is important to make a distinction between administrative computing in the school and instructional computing. Administrative computing is a tightly controlled space for budgets, schedules, student records, grades, and anything else related to administration. Security for this system is essential . . . . The instructional system is constructed cooperatively. It is a virtual learning community consisting of many different commercial tools, open sources, Web 2.0, and perhaps Web 3.0 virtual worlds."
Brilliant. This is part of the perception problem that I mentioned in the last post. Getting people to make a split in their conception of the computing system at the school-- one administrative and one instructive is exactly what needs to be done. This has to be a talking point that is repeated over and over again so that it sinks into the public consciousness.
Stop. Think. Click. OMG (yes I went there OMG) why haven't I seen this site before, it will be on our website and I'll be using it in lessons-- thanks! For review, here are the seven practices:
1. Protect Your Personal Information
2. Know Who You're Dealing With
3. Use Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, & a Firewall
4. Update Operating Systems and Browsers Regularly
5. Protect Your Passwords
6. Back Up Important Files
7. Know Who to Contact if Somehting Goes Wrong Online
Imagine a group of students selecting books for the library to buy based on selection criteria that they have developed. I love this idea. I can imagine giving a student group a budget to do this so that they learn how to manage a budget as well.
"A comment made by the police officer clicked with the teacher librarian and technology teacher. The office [sic] said that on the social networking sites that young people frequent, there is often misbehavior and inappropriate mimicking because they only have each other as role models. Adults do not tread in these spaces. The specialists had failed in their efforts to encourage teachers to use blogging with students in spite of all the evidence they had gathered that showed how engaged students are on the read/write web." This is probably the best evidence I have seen that libraries and even teachers should have a myspace page. If we really want our students to act responsible in the spaces, then we need to be in these spaces. (I can hear teenagers everywhere screaming NOOOOOOOOOO!)
"It is important to make a distinction between administrative computing in the school and instructional computing. Administrative computing is a tightly controlled space for budgets, schedules, student records, grades, and anything else related to administration. Security for this system is essential . . . . The instructional system is constructed cooperatively. It is a virtual learning community consisting of many different commercial tools, open sources, Web 2.0, and perhaps Web 3.0 virtual worlds."
Brilliant. This is part of the perception problem that I mentioned in the last post. Getting people to make a split in their conception of the computing system at the school-- one administrative and one instructive is exactly what needs to be done. This has to be a talking point that is repeated over and over again so that it sinks into the public consciousness.
Stop. Think. Click. OMG (yes I went there OMG) why haven't I seen this site before, it will be on our website and I'll be using it in lessons-- thanks! For review, here are the seven practices:
1. Protect Your Personal Information
2. Know Who You're Dealing With
3. Use Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, & a Firewall
4. Update Operating Systems and Browsers Regularly
5. Protect Your Passwords
6. Back Up Important Files
7. Know Who to Contact if Somehting Goes Wrong Online
Notes on The New Learning Commons: Where Learners Win! Ch. 1-3
The New Learning Commons: Where Learners Win! by David V. Loertscher, Carol Koechlin, and Sandi Zwaan. Chapters 1-3.
"A move to client-side information systems is often stalled because of a great deal of fear and suspicion about users: 'If you let them on the Internet, they will instantly stray away from their purpose and possibly encounter predators.' Thus, systems are filtered heavily in response not only to those fears, but also because of federal laws and the threat of lawsuits."
This is exactly where many schools seem to be today. Too often fear and ignorance are causing decision makers to cut off access which leads to student confusion (if the goal is education why can't we get information ourselves) and resentment (our school allows me to leave classes early for games but I can't play a game after school on a computer in the library?!)
"We posit that both adults and young people need to learn to build their own information spaces and to learn to be responsible for their actions in those spaces."
I think this is an important statement as information technology changes so quickly. I see decision makers spending time on hardware and even the selection of software but virtually no time on how to teach people to use these tools. We have spent too much money and too little time on our information spaces.
I am beginning to understand this new vision for school libraries. The idea of a learning commons (both real and virtual) and the experimental learning center are definitely radical changes to the common understanding of the school library. This means no longer paying lip service to "The library is the heart and center of the school" but actually making that a reality. I love and admire the idea. I also believe that to realize this vision will take a sea-change in the perception most people have about school libraries. Perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is how can we school librarians most quickly and effectively change the stereotypical thinking of not only administrators, but of parents and students.
"The space [learning commons] runs on its own calendar to avoid chaos and overcrowding."
I'm not sure I understand how running on its own calendar will avoid overcrowding and chaos. I get the idea that if you don't have scheduled times that you avoid classes needing to use the library resources at the same time, but I already have a problem with overcrowding after school and having a calendar or not doesn't seem like a solution to me. . .
The experimental learning center idea is also exciting and insightful. Faculty have often voiced a feeling of isolation in classrooms and feeling like they wanted to know what was working for other teachers. Loertscher, Koechlin, and Zwaan describe a workable solution. But when I think about making these changes, I again run into the perception problem. How does the teacher-librarian go from being treated as "support personnel or slaves" to leaders that make "collaboration and school improvement work." And more importantly how does the teacher librarian do this without stepping on any one's toes since this is very clearly a shift in the dynamics of power at a school?
I was thinking about the scenarios that the learning leadership team could take on:
A Major Decision: The process described could be applied to our "Enrichment Week" a special program in which teachers and students take a week out of their normal studies to try a more diverse range of learning opportunities. Students could take a more active role in the creation of these courses.
A Big, Big Think: I would love to see everyone in our school community thinking together to solve the problem of making our school environmentally sustainable and responsible.
Action: I don't have an immediate application for this but the problem of competing agendas is very familiar and I was impressed by how this particular situation was handled! I will be sharing this example with our administration.
"A move to client-side information systems is often stalled because of a great deal of fear and suspicion about users: 'If you let them on the Internet, they will instantly stray away from their purpose and possibly encounter predators.' Thus, systems are filtered heavily in response not only to those fears, but also because of federal laws and the threat of lawsuits."
This is exactly where many schools seem to be today. Too often fear and ignorance are causing decision makers to cut off access which leads to student confusion (if the goal is education why can't we get information ourselves) and resentment (our school allows me to leave classes early for games but I can't play a game after school on a computer in the library?!)
"We posit that both adults and young people need to learn to build their own information spaces and to learn to be responsible for their actions in those spaces."
I think this is an important statement as information technology changes so quickly. I see decision makers spending time on hardware and even the selection of software but virtually no time on how to teach people to use these tools. We have spent too much money and too little time on our information spaces.
I am beginning to understand this new vision for school libraries. The idea of a learning commons (both real and virtual) and the experimental learning center are definitely radical changes to the common understanding of the school library. This means no longer paying lip service to "The library is the heart and center of the school" but actually making that a reality. I love and admire the idea. I also believe that to realize this vision will take a sea-change in the perception most people have about school libraries. Perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is how can we school librarians most quickly and effectively change the stereotypical thinking of not only administrators, but of parents and students.
"The space [learning commons] runs on its own calendar to avoid chaos and overcrowding."
I'm not sure I understand how running on its own calendar will avoid overcrowding and chaos. I get the idea that if you don't have scheduled times that you avoid classes needing to use the library resources at the same time, but I already have a problem with overcrowding after school and having a calendar or not doesn't seem like a solution to me. . .
The experimental learning center idea is also exciting and insightful. Faculty have often voiced a feeling of isolation in classrooms and feeling like they wanted to know what was working for other teachers. Loertscher, Koechlin, and Zwaan describe a workable solution. But when I think about making these changes, I again run into the perception problem. How does the teacher-librarian go from being treated as "support personnel or slaves" to leaders that make "collaboration and school improvement work." And more importantly how does the teacher librarian do this without stepping on any one's toes since this is very clearly a shift in the dynamics of power at a school?
I was thinking about the scenarios that the learning leadership team could take on:
A Major Decision: The process described could be applied to our "Enrichment Week" a special program in which teachers and students take a week out of their normal studies to try a more diverse range of learning opportunities. Students could take a more active role in the creation of these courses.
A Big, Big Think: I would love to see everyone in our school community thinking together to solve the problem of making our school environmentally sustainable and responsible.
Action: I don't have an immediate application for this but the problem of competing agendas is very familiar and I was impressed by how this particular situation was handled! I will be sharing this example with our administration.
Notes on "Extremem Makeover" by David V. Loertscher
"Librarians have become pigeonholed as a result of managing library facilities and technology infrastructures. More often than not, they're treated as support personnel or slaves rather than as valued teaching partners. During Henne and Gaver's heyday, the introduction of audiovisual materials into schools created a struggle for survival between two educators with contiguous roles -- the AV guy and the library lady. Today, education technology threatens the coexistence of the media specialist and the technology coordinator in much the same way. Which one will survive?"
I'm of the mind, that librarians need to learn:
1. how to run a small 5-10 computer network
2. the basics of internet access
3. the basics of internet publishing
4. the basics of the digitization of text, sound, and images
I don't think that they should only learn these skills, and I believe that cataloging, research and patron relationship skills are the most important, but I list these because I'm surprised that they aren't among the skills that are required in many library programs.
I know that some people feel like they are fighting against the barbarian hordes of the internet and that they want to take their last stand amongst the great books and wisdom of the ages in the safe and cozy library, but I find it hypocritical that many of the same people who feel this way will learn the difficult and technical skills of book repair and preservation but are offended
if you tell them that they should also be learning the technical aspects of internet access.
As a reality check, I'll mention that I do not know the technical skills of book repair or internet access, but I am trying to learn them both because I believe that both of these skills are important skills of librarianship.
I'm of the mind, that librarians need to learn:
1. how to run a small 5-10 computer network
2. the basics of internet access
3. the basics of internet publishing
4. the basics of the digitization of text, sound, and images
I don't think that they should only learn these skills, and I believe that cataloging, research and patron relationship skills are the most important, but I list these because I'm surprised that they aren't among the skills that are required in many library programs.
I know that some people feel like they are fighting against the barbarian hordes of the internet and that they want to take their last stand amongst the great books and wisdom of the ages in the safe and cozy library, but I find it hypocritical that many of the same people who feel this way will learn the difficult and technical skills of book repair and preservation but are offended
if you tell them that they should also be learning the technical aspects of internet access.
As a reality check, I'll mention that I do not know the technical skills of book repair or internet access, but I am trying to learn them both because I believe that both of these skills are important skills of librarianship.
Notes on "Finding Time" by Mary Alice Anderson
Reading this, I was reminded of different time management works that I have read. My current favorite is Getting Things Done by David Allen. I started looking at my own routines in light of Minnesota Department of Education's check list:
* Does this task really make a difference to the learner?
* Has the curriculum changed so the task has become obsolete?
* Is the task more of a time-consumer than a time saver?
* If this is a time-consuming task, will the end product be worth the time spent?
* Is the task a fad that won't have lasting value?
* Is it a routine task that can be done by someone else (clerical work?)?
* Is it a task that can be automated?
I do many things that could be done by someone else: putting newspapers on sticks; opening windows; getting simple office supplies for students; helping students with the copier and unjamming the copier; helping students when their documents won't print. These are all tasks that absolutely make a difference to the learner (in very practical terms), but at the same time distract me from work that would be using my skills better.
I want to spend more time reading and reviewing new books, thinking of interesting questions for our book club, creating new and interesting displays, creating new pathfinders for teachers and students.
I also believe that there is a part (and I want to stress "part" here) of web 2.0 that is a fad and won't have lasting value, but there is much that will absolutely be with us in the future, and even some of the temporary skills that we are learning will be steps for learning future skills.
Should students use automation tools for creating their bibliographies? I see people who aren't open to new learning-media and hold an almost fetishistic adherence to print obsess over the minutia of print bibliography work and wail about the "death of the book." On the other extreme I see kids who can use these new tools grabbing digital text, images, sound, and video and slapping them together like a sloppy collage then publishing it to potential millions with no regard for where this digital material came from and little critical thought about the ideas represented. In order to navigate a safe course between this desperate print-Charybdis and this mad digital-Scylla I'm moved to think deeply about the fundamentals of learning-- of searching for the source and the best way to share sources with others . . .
* Does this task really make a difference to the learner?
* Has the curriculum changed so the task has become obsolete?
* Is the task more of a time-consumer than a time saver?
* If this is a time-consuming task, will the end product be worth the time spent?
* Is the task a fad that won't have lasting value?
* Is it a routine task that can be done by someone else (clerical work?)?
* Is it a task that can be automated?
I do many things that could be done by someone else: putting newspapers on sticks; opening windows; getting simple office supplies for students; helping students with the copier and unjamming the copier; helping students when their documents won't print. These are all tasks that absolutely make a difference to the learner (in very practical terms), but at the same time distract me from work that would be using my skills better.
I want to spend more time reading and reviewing new books, thinking of interesting questions for our book club, creating new and interesting displays, creating new pathfinders for teachers and students.
I also believe that there is a part (and I want to stress "part" here) of web 2.0 that is a fad and won't have lasting value, but there is much that will absolutely be with us in the future, and even some of the temporary skills that we are learning will be steps for learning future skills.
Should students use automation tools for creating their bibliographies? I see people who aren't open to new learning-media and hold an almost fetishistic adherence to print obsess over the minutia of print bibliography work and wail about the "death of the book." On the other extreme I see kids who can use these new tools grabbing digital text, images, sound, and video and slapping them together like a sloppy collage then publishing it to potential millions with no regard for where this digital material came from and little critical thought about the ideas represented. In order to navigate a safe course between this desperate print-Charybdis and this mad digital-Scylla I'm moved to think deeply about the fundamentals of learning-- of searching for the source and the best way to share sources with others . . .
Monday, February 23, 2009
Notes on "Morphing from Teacher to Cybriarian" by Ted Nellen
It was funny reading about Nellen's day since some of it is very familiar. "Upon reaching the fourth floor, I'm greeted by students sitting on the floor outside the class. 'You're late, Mr. Nellen,' they chime and tease. 'Yeah, I decided to have a chat with my family this morning; sorry,' I quip." I can imagine Nellen's chaotic class room environment fairly easily; it sounds like a lot of fun, but I think it requires a very subtle balance to be successful. Reading this, I was thrilled at the idea of students doing virtually all of their work on computer and online. The use of "telementors" sounds like a tremendous opportunity, but it only takes one cynical, paranoid perspective to worry about exposing young students to potentially harmful strangers. Suddenly the hope and excitement of the World As Your Classroom turns to fear and suspicion. If you have students who surf safely, and an administration who understands and embraces technology and parents who are not paranoid then I think Nellen's class reaches the ideal, but ultimately I think harnessing that kind of chaos is a tricky endeavor
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Setting students up with an iGoogle page
http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=ddrtch8j_0cdd2j6fc
Ironically, I've had trouble putting this presentation up to help students learn 21st century web skills because our school has blocked YouTube and "Gaming Sights" due to bandwidth issues.
Ironically, I've had trouble putting this presentation up to help students learn 21st century web skills because our school has blocked YouTube and "Gaming Sights" due to bandwidth issues.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Saying the book is dead is like sooo last page . . .
Who's afraid of Kindle 2? Saying the Kindle will kill the book is like saying the vacuum cleaner killed the broom. We should know better-- at this point saying the book is dead is just flamebate. And yet I have heard more than one librarian share this fear and even worse that it spells the end of libraries.
I'll make it clear for you.
The library is not just a book warehouse, and librarians are not just book-pimps. Find a bigger vision.
I'll make it clear for you.
The library is not just a book warehouse, and librarians are not just book-pimps. Find a bigger vision.
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