Librarians and Civic Duty

Did you know that there were 17 new political parties/groups created since 2000? Some are more serious than others (US Pirate Party). Even so, this is one piece of evidence that there are many new political viewpoints out there, each with a devoted following.

American Third Position Party 2010
American Populist Party 2009
Modern Whig Party 2008
Objectivist Party 2008
America's Independent Party 2008
Independence Party of America 2007
Boston Tea Party 2006
Jefferson Republican Party 2006
United States Pirate Party 2006
Unity Party of America 2004
Citizens Party of the US 2004
Socialism & Liberation 2004
Workers Party 2003
United States Marijuana Party 2002
Populist Party of America 2002
America First Party 2002
Green Party of the US 2001
*Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_States

With this changing landscape of political opinions, how do we educate our students to navigate the information put out by each of these organizations? One answer is Civic Classes. Civics teaches students how to become active participants of society. Utilizing a real world learning environment is the most effective way to get students engaged.

I have read that some school districts are cutting civics from the curriculum. Librarians have the perfect opportunity to infuse civics related lessons into library lesson plans.

What better way to teach information analysis skills than have students find the facts behind a political campaign ads?

How about teaching responsible reporting by having students report on local election candidates and issues?

IEP: Transitional Plan

Part of the IEP includes a Transitional plan. This plan is a road-map to guide the transition from k-12 schooling to the 'real world' for students. I recently started researching this part of the IEP process and have found many opportunities for the School Librarian to assist in the transitional planning.

My initial thoughts are that the School Librarian can be an invaluable resource to IEP coordinators writing these plans. Librarians are also wonderful resources for integrating programming that supports students ability to thrive after school. Here are several examples.

• Provide access to databases that list local company profiles that a student might be interested in working at. 
• Create a list of local/state/national resources for job training and job placement. 
• Utilize connections to local businesses and/or universities to host a career & college fair and take students on tours of these places. 
• Provide IEP coordinator with information on student strengths as they relate to skills learned and practiced in the library. 
• Provide students with a volunteer and/or work opportunity in the library. 
• Take students on tours of local public libraries and other public service offices. 

This concept certainly deserves more attention. All School Librarians should consider assisting teachers in developing transitional programming. What resources do you use in helping students prepare for the future?

NY Special Education Transition Requirements and Guidelines: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/transition/randg.htm

School Librarians and Special Education: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/kqwebarchives/v36/364/364joneszambone.cfm

A summer filled with YA

I've been spending the summer catching up on my YA reading. Man, why wasn't I a reader back in my middle school days? Almost every book I've read this summer has characters that are shockingly similar to my 13 year old self. Here is a short list of my favorite summer reads so far.

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan

I fell in love with the characters of this book. Sam and is brother Riddle represent the good in the world. Do you ever meet people and just know you can trust them with anything? I am lucky enough to know several people like this.

Despite loving the characters,  I felt the writing scratched the surface of the characters lives. My biggest issue with the book was the amount of pages wasted describing Bobby...on man, talk about a lame character. I guess, along with good people in the world, there are also those you want to keep at arms length.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick


I've always enjoyed historical fiction, but this book brought it to a whole new level. I can't believe I waited so long to 'view' this book! I am very curious to see how it translates to the big screen.

I know there are several historical fiction comics (Maus and Persepolis), but this books seems to fit into a whole new category.  








OK I've got to get back outside and enjoy the warm weather!

Communicating your worth

Everyday this week I have come home to news of teacher and librarian cuts. Librarian-ship is one of those careers that requires constant justification. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It challenges even the best of us to always look for ways to improve our craft.

Even though I am not currently working in a library, I would like to keep adding to the conversation that will keep libraries funded and sustainable.

I am a visual person, and believe that a picture can speak louder than words. I hope to put together some graphics to tell the story of the librarian.

Here is the essence of what I believe. Information Science and Technology Literacy lie at the center of education. Mapping out the art of how this works is the next step.

Search Engines with clout.

The Rochester Regional Library Council (RRLC) hosts a weekly Monday night professional development event. This week I went to a presentation on alternate web searches and found a few I really liked. Some are old, but worth a look! 


-http://www.findthebest.com/ - This website isn't a search engine per se, it is a 'comparison engine'. According to their About page, they were inspired by Kayak like comparison sites. What makes this website 'wicked' (channeling my Maine-iac heritage) is that they use primarily government data and information compiled by hired researchers. 


-http://www.qwiki.com/ - Multimedia informational storytelling. You really have to try this one out. Type in your query and the results present as an on demand multimedia presentation with a soothing female voice narrating the informational story. Try looking up your hometown and listen to its history. 


-http://www.wolframalpha.com/ - Computational Knowledge Engine. Sounds fancy, right? It is! It is almost like there are tiny librarians hiding in the internets supplying the results. What is really amazing is that wolfram mimics reference interviews. If you type in 'rock' the system will ask you what kind of rock you meant: 


'Assuming "rock" is a surname | Use as a financial entity or a word or a given name or earth science instead'


Reference 101, right? 


Then there is the results. As you can see, the results are very visual and easy to digest. 

Can't wait to see what these sites bring when they move from Alpha to Beta to the 'real thing' 

Online Communities - Visualized - AMAZING

Credit: http://xkcd.com/802/

My Computer Tells Me What To Read

Humans are biased. No changing that. So maybe you want a book suggestion, but don't want human bias. The magic of technology now allows users an alternate method of finding new reading material.

I started following the googlecanyouhearme.com project pre-library school. It is the project of Aaron Stanton. He had the crazy idea that readers advisory could be reduced to an algorithm. I haven't had time to really research the effectiveness of the project recently, but I think the trend is worth watching. With some quick internet searching I found a few other sites that offer algorithmic book suggestions.

Anyone know of any others?

http://www.whichbook.net/
http://beta.booklamp.org/reader/
http://www.librarything.com/suggest

What Makes worthwhile YA?

 From LibraryThing

I just read this great book called The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

I’ll leave the traditional book reviewing to the professionals and experienced. I have just a few words to say about one narrow aspect of the book.

I really liked the concept of 'neglected positives' presented in this book. It is (as far as I know) not a real grammatical rule. I’ll have to use my librarian powers to dig past my initial Google search of the term. I have always struggled with grammar; I especially find it difficult to be interested in. Past participles, gerunds, passive voice, etc., it just doesn’t click with me.  But after reading about Frankie’s ‘gruntled-ness’, I felt inspired. I remember hearing about a podcast called Grammar Girl. I think that I just might load it up and become my own grammar girl.

This is the type of young adult book that I look for. I want an intriguing story that connects its readers with a worthwhile concept…it could be a connection to a classic book, like in Finding Alaska or exploring mortality like in Going Bovine, or dealing with difficult life situations like in Speak and Tyrell.

As I gain experience with ‘RA for YA’ I hope to continue to develop my ability to connect books with interests, personalities, and life situations of my students. 

BTW, I just found this great blog called Forever Young Adult: http://www.foreveryoungadult.com/. 

RRLC Annual Meeting

Image from RRLC Annual Meeting 2010

Earlier this summer I attended the RRLC Annual Meeting. It was a great opportunity to get to know some other librarians in the area. I was really inspired by the winners of the Library of the Year award. I was especially inspired by the energetic personality of the Barclay Elementary librarian, Suzanne Shearman. She has a wonderful program that truly engages the students.

Sign Language for Librarians

My Sign Language for Librarians workshop lives! The RRLC will be hosting my workshop this November. I am working to improve the format. I received a few great ideas from a local librarian. I will be adding more interactive components and more general signs. Can't wait to get started! I am excited to see this workshop continue to grow. 

Sign up here: http://www.rrlc.org/Calendar/RRLCEvents/tabid/406/ctl/ViewEvent/Mid/781/scheduleId/11211/Default.aspx

School Librarians!

ALA | AASL votes to adopt the professional title school librarian

Yay! I am beyond happy about this.

Dr Renee. Franklyn did a survey last year with some interesting results. http://www.sosspotlight.com/site_creator/view/425

Announcing...Free Freedom to Read Foundation Membership!

I view intellectual freedom as the most important role of librarians today. Take a look at this great offer from FTRF!

Freedom to Read Foundation offers free memberships to new library school graduates

CHICAGO - The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) is offering free one-year memberships to students graduating from ALA-accredited MLS and MLIS programs and from school library media programs recognized by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), an educational unit accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

Students whose graduation date was Aug. 1, 2009 or later can, upon their graduation, download a membership form at www.ftrf.org/graduates and mail, fax or e-mail it to the Freedom to Read Foundation.

See original Press Release for full details: http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/october2009/freememberships_ftrf.cfm

Question? Contact Jonathan Kelley at jokelley@ala.org or (800) 545-2433 x4226.

Discounts for ALA NMRT Members!

I received this notification a few months ago. Thought I would share.

NMRT members receive a 50% discount to Library Journal, the oldest
independent journal covering the library field. Or School Library
Journal the most widely read magazine for librarians serving youth -
whether in schools or public libraries.

Here are the links to order:

Library Journal -
https://w1.buysub.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=LJL&cds_page_id=65542&cds_response_key=I97ALNMRT

School Library Journal -
https://w1.buysub.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=SLJ&cds_page_id=65548&cds_response_key=I97ALNMRT

School Media Specialists?

http://www.sosspotlight.com/site_creator/view/425

Dr. Renee E. Franklin did a small study on what School Librarians like to be called. I was unhappy to see that School Media Specialist received high scores. What's with this title? Why do people like it so much?

Are school librarians trained in media? Nope. I have an undergraduate degree in New Media Publishing, and there is a lot about media that the MLS program does not even begin to cover. Now, there are exceptions, but why give this profession the name of something it's not. I agree that we work with various media and its important for us to know about various media, but it's not our focus, information is our focus.

We are librarians who work in a school, why not call us that?

Although, I am open to debate...

Ending and starting anew...all at the same time!

This time of overlap, this time between graduating and starting a career is exciting. I am moving to Rochester this summer and so far, there seem to be a variety of opportunities available that interest me.

I was hoping that library school would help me narrow my interests, but I think it had the opposite effect. I realize that the librarian degree, really prepares people for a variety of jobs out there, anything from working in a traditional library to working at a for a business coordinating communication and information.

Resources from EDTP-600

Librarian Resources: http://www.canteach.ca/links/linklibrarian.html

Teaching Writing skills: http://fvwp.uwosh.edu/writings/professional/secondary/Kristina%20Klein.pdf

Rubric Creation: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=NewRubric&module=Rubistar

Technology in the classroom: Resources

Resources to stay on top of technology and its integration into the classroom.

Videos collections

• Maryland Teacher Technology Standards:http://www.mttsonline.org/standards/videos.php
  

Podcasts

• TWIT Podcast:A weekly podcast put together by a group of industry tech guys. Not educationally based, but provides information on technology in the news. Can be found on itunes
  
• NPR Technology Podcast: NPRs weekly update on technology news. Can be found on itunes
  

Websites

• Daily Tech: DailyTech is a leading online magazine for a well-educated, tech audience. Our readers enjoy hard-hitting and up to the minute tech news.
• Education World Tech Channel: Technology news compiled by teachers URL: http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/
  

Web 2.0 Sites

• 21st Century Learning: Wiki created by teachers to share information about technology in the classroom: http://21stcenturylearning.wetpaint.com/
  

booklamp part 2

So I have been trying to keep up with the booklamp project forums. I posed a few notes, the most prominent one was to ask if they consulted any librarians during their initial research. Turned out they didn't! But I did inspire them to go seek out a librarians brain to pick. More to come.

Finally! We find out!

www.googlecanyouhearme.com finally released their project idea: www.booklamp.org.

I couldn't be more excited. Something relatively new in the online book world, and I get to be part of the conversation. They have some great forums up where people are discussing their thoughts and feelings about their project.

Basically, the project takes books and mathematically rates each book on certain types of content and writing styles. I admit, it's a racy idea, but just the same...I would like to see where it evolves. I hope to ask a few of my future professors what they think of the idea. (Just have to decide where I am going!)

The Literate NW

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09book.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Found this article the other day. What luck that I would move to a city with two great literate cities, one to the North and one to the South.

Infospeak.org

I found this great podcast done by the University of Washington: http://www.infospeak.org/index.htm. It's called Infospeak.

I love the audio, it's echoy quality resembles the old Sherlock Holmes recordings I used to listen to growing up. I also love the content. I had to put my MLIS plans on hold last year and even though there are not too many casts on the site, it's been a wonderful part of my MLIS self preparation.

The first one I listened to was the interview with Michael Gorman. Wow, what a great introduction to one of the major debates in the librarian/information world. I certainly see Gorman's concerns, but as I continue to learn, one truth always seems to be prevalent: success comes from a balance of two opposites.

A few notes from the interview:
Literacy is engaging with complex text
Librarians teach
Books are meant to be read sequenceally and accumulatively: I agree, one source is one point of view
Is a library part of information or is information part of a library? Chicken or the egg??ha
Claiming that by labeling everything 'information' (ex. David) we are dehumanizing
Mental laziness: Modern undergraduate students avoid printed resources: true.
Why do people fall for advertising? Because they aren't intellectually there
Google v the librarian

Christmas

A long time ago I heard an NPR podcast (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5673332) about Edward Tufte's book Beautiful Evidence. I got the book this Christmas and have yet to read it, but am excited about what it has to offer. Hopefully will be posting my review and ponderings soon now that the holiday season is wrapping up!

Librarything

I keep meaning to write about this service that I have been playing around with for a while. I can't remember where I heard about it. Basically it's a way to keep your books you own or want to own organized. It has always bothered me, ever since I learned to read, that a few weeks after I finish a book, I end up forgetting the details of the book. I even stopped reading for a while because I felt it was pointless to keep reading if I was just going to forget everything. A few years ago, after deciding to pursue my Masters in Library Science I brushed those feelings aside and just READ. This site provides a place for me to write down my thoughts as I read and essentially lets my brain off the hook.

I can't wait to be able to focus my entire day on exploring these different aspects of information, literacy and education.

Ramblings from Wordstock

This weekend I volunteered at Wordstock, Portland's book festival. It was a great time. Most of the time when I tell people that I want to become a librarian they say, "No, what do you really want to be?". It was very nice to be surrounded by people who are on the same wavelength.

I spent most of my time waiting for authors to check in prior to their talks. I got to meet a few very nice authors, none of whom I have heard of. I will have to make a point to get their books from the library.

The festival reminded me of the ALA conference I went to in Seattle but with a focus on printing, publishing and authors. I didn't get as much insight into the publishing world as I wanted, but I did find a really cool website called book crossing (www.bookcrossing.com). Basically it is a loosely organized 'library' (and I use the term library loosely). People read a book, leave it in a public place and log it's location on the website. The website allows for searching by title, author or location. It's basically a literary Geocashing adventure. It may not be well organized, but it fills the randomness void that everyone has in this overly structured world.

Don't get me wrong, structure is a wonderful thing, but so is randomness. That's how I seem to live my life, highly structured, but full of randomness. I really need to explore this whole idea of opposites working in tandem (ying and yang-esqueness).

LSSI

http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=7281603

I am not sure how I feel about for-profit businesses jumping in to run a library. The whole notion of the "bottom line" puts me on edge. I know not all businesses are 'evil' but, from watching THE CORPORATION and working where I work, I have a skewed view of greedy SOBs.

From looking at their site I can see how mixing NPO with FPO can result in positive improvements. There was a quote from the ALA on the site:

"….the evidence supports the conclusion that outsourcing has been an effective managerial tool, and when used carefully and judiciously it has resulted in enhanced library services and improved library management."

Like any plan, outsourcing has the potential to be both positive or negative...it is all in how it is managed and implemented.

Intellectual Freedom

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Last week attended a talk about Intellectual Freedom given by the ALA's top authority on the subject. I routinely joke about not being proud to be an American, but after being reminded of our basic freedoms, I have a renewed pride in our political system (despite the current political majority).

I wanted to summarize my notes from the meeting.

• Intellectual freedom is more than a library value it is an American value.
  
• Intellectual freedom applies to ALL "US-Persons"
• There are two ways to limit freedom
  
• TyrannicalGovernment
• Tyrannical Majority
• The greatest threat to freedom is ignorance
• Marketplace of ideas: The basic theory that ALL ideas have the right to be heard. The theory depends on the assumption that bad ideas will fizzle out and good ideas will rise to the top. The marketplace of ideas also is a place for people to go to learn and defend themselves against the bad ideas that have occurred throughout history. The library provides access to the 'Marketplace of ideas'
  
• What is protected in the following senareo: a. research a bomb, make a bomb, or set off a bomb?
• I've been told that James Madison said something to the effect of: The greatest threat to Democracy is an uninformed populace.
  
• Individual Rights and individual responsibilities: Individuals are responsible for their behavior or actions NOT the institution that provided the information about the behavior or action.
• State laws cannot restrict freedoms more than the constitution, but they CAN give more freedoms.
• Never assume: A patron slammed down a book and started complaining about it's trashyness. The librarian was gearing up to give their intellectual freedom speech, took a second to ask, "What do you want me to do?" The patron said, "Find me a better book!!" It ended up that the patron wasn't concerned about the books presence in the library.
  
• Some professors want to ban books that contradict popular theories because they don't believe students can intelligently deal with conflicting ideas. For example, the book Black Athena deals with alternate views of Greek origins. This is a glaring example of how we are losing the ability to discuss opposite points of view.
  
• Example of how the 'Marketplace of ideas' helps people defend their ideas: A while ago a white supremacy group
  

I am sitting in the library at PCC trying to come up with various ideas to keep this space interesting.

• Reactions to various listserves
• Book reviews
• Questions about future class syllabuses

Library Closings in Toronto

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/254809

I hope this kind of story shows other communities how necessary libraries are. I was thinking of going to school in Toronto, to study library science, now I am not so sure. I am sure the city government doesn't completely affect the university but I want to be able to be in a supportive community.

It's too bad that the really important things in life aren't quantifiable. It's also too bad that all things in life need to be quantifiable to be considered important. I mean, how important is it that the company I work for sell five million dollars worth of widgets? Who cares? Economists might, but I ask; what's more critical, a country that has buying power or a country that has mental power?

To me it's common sense.