Librarians' Changing Roles Can Inspire School Communities I'm in a new job this fall, moving from K-5 to the library at Western Albemarle High School in Crozet, Virginia. It's a great chance to look back at what I've learned and what I've tried during a time of transformation in school libraries. Libraries have always been focused on users and communities, but recent support for makerspaces and experimentation, coupled with the benefits of system-wide support from Albemarle County Public Schools, has allowed librarians to spearhead inspiring changes. As I change schools, I plan to build on some of the new approaches that I've tried. For a high school, the context is different -- and the curriculum is very different -- but the user-focused approach and the willingness to tinker and try is sure to carry over in the following four practices. 1. Librarians model much-needed differentiation in professional development with teachers, and in user-focused tech and literacy approaches with students. 2. 3. We have reluctant writers in every grade. 4.
A Free Web & Mobile App for Reading Comfortably — Readability The 8 Digital Literacy Practices Required for 21st Century Learners January 4, 2015 Theoretically speaking, digital literacy is a concept that is in constant flux. It is perpetually shifting and expanding to include new practices and skills afforded by new emerging technologies. In their excellent book "Understanding Digital Literacies: A Practical Introduction", authors Jones and Hafner provide a detailed analysis of what it means to be a digitally literate in the light of the social media revolution and the widespread of web 2.0 technologies. As I was perusing it today, I came across this section in chapter one where the authors talk about the different digital literacy practices that are required to thrive in this digitally-focused era. Here is a quick overview of these practices: The ability to quickly search though and evaluate great masses of information.
Don't call trans people 'brave' – we're just trying to live in a prejudiced society | Rebecca Kling I was walking in through the main doors to work when someone else, one of those people you know because you see them around the building where you work but have never actually met, came up from behind me to hold the door. “You’re so brave,” she said. “Excuse me?” “I noticed you look a little different lately, and I wanted to tell you how brave you are.” We were now walking side by side through the building’s main hallway, and I wanted nothing more than to reach a fork where we might part ways. “Thanks,” I said, unsure how else to respond. Every transgender person has heard some variant of “you’re so brave”. Lumping all trans people together under the label of “brave” is easier than speaking the truth: being trans is dangerous and difficult, and cis people often don’t support us through that danger and difficulty. Being called brave seems like a compliment. First and foremost, calling all trans people brave results in distancing the person saying it from the experience of being trans.
Five Challenges Every Librarian Must Face The dramatic changes in society, exponential advances in technology and globalization of ‘everything’ are easily recognizable one decade into the 21st Century. The United States is no longer world leader in a global society – not even in education (we are now ‘average’, and rank 25th of 34 in math). Smartphones with 4G wireless data transfer, touch screen and digital video recorder, have made the Jetson’s video phone a reality – and more dramatically – mobile. Nowhere is change more evident than in the librarian profession. There are at least five major challenges that every librarian will face, sooner or later. 1. 2. The role of librarian as expert researcher handing information to a waiting patron is the antithesis to the collaborative, participative mindset of the emerging Millennial customer. 3. In June, 2010 the New York Times published an article about IBM’s new super “answering” computer called Watson. Will the reference librarian become obsolete? 4. 5. Like this: Like Loading...
Is there a library-sized hole in the internet? 23 February 2015 inShare123 David Weinberger is senior researcher at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and has been instrumental in the development of ideas about the impact of the web. Shortly before his recent keynote presentation at OCLC’s EMEA Regional Council Meeting in Florence, he spoke with Sarah Bartlett about the library-sized hole in the Internet and how a ‘library graph’ might help librarians to fill it. You rose to prominence as an internet thought leader, with pioneering texts such as The Cluetrain Manifesto and Everything is Miscellaneous. What led you into the world of libraries? In Everything is Miscellaneous I explored the way the Internet is redefining our ideas about how we organise things and ideas, and the move from physical to digital and networked library resources is a prime example of that. Besides format changes, what is the most significant impact of the web on libraries today? Could libraries have done anything differently? Yes. OCLCSarah Bartlett
8 Design Steps for an Academic Makerspace -- THE Journal Hands-on Learning 8 Design Steps for an Academic Makerspace If you build it, will they come? The just-released 6th annual New Media Consortium Horizon Report K-12 Edition listed makerspaces as an emerging technology in the year-or-less adoption timeframe. That sounds great, but what is the definition of a makerspace, and how do you launch one? Before enthusiastic school technology leaders start drawing up blueprints for their makerspaces, there's lots of planning that needs to take place, said Russ Jarowski, director of technology at Miss Hall's School, a private school for girls in Pittsfield, MA, who has been involved in the development of several makerspaces over the last 10 years, including at University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Speaking at the annual ISTE Conference in Philadelphia June 29, Jarowski detailed eight steps to work through in the creation of a successful child-centered academic makerspace. 1. You must make decisions about its scope. 2. 3.
Every Monday Matters: "Are You Really Going to Read Them Again?" | Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza Facts: 61% of low-income families have no books in their homes. 43% of adults with the lowest level of literacy proficiency live in poverty. Only 4% of adults with strong literacy skills live in poverty. 55% of children have an increased interest in reading when given books at an early age. Children with a greater variety of reading material in the home are more creative, imaginative, and proficient in reading. There is only 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children in low-income neighborhoods compared to 13 books per child in middle-income neighborhoods. Take Action Today 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The majority of children in low-income neighborhoods often lack libraries and bookstores. You Matter Robbie Miller of Charlotte, North Carolina, read something that shocked him. "Not only was I surprised, but it made me sad," shared Robbie. This realization started Robbie on a mission. "I decided to start a book drive at my school," explained Robbie. Robbie created a campaign.
4 Future Trends You Are Bound to See in K-12 School Libraries Modern K-12 public libraries will offer intensely engaging learning environments to all students. How they will go about doing this is less certain, but the principal trends are readily identified in various research efforts. This post will paint a picture of what the libraries of the future will look like and how they will support students, teachers, administrators, and even parents. Here are four trends you will soon see in K-12 school libraries. More resources. Modern library resources include a whole range of elements, from ebooks, to academic databases, to innovative programs that allow students to explore their creative inclinations, learn new skills, and apply their learning in innovative ways. Better classroom support. Anyone particularly following library trends and looking to remain up to date must also allow that there will be some further changes and shifts to come.
7 surprises about libraries in our surveys The Pew Research Center’s studies about libraries and where they fit in the lives of their communities and patrons have uncovered some surprising facts about what Americans think of libraries and the way they use them. As librarians around the world are gathered in Las Vegas for the American Library Association’s annual conference, here are findings that stand out from our research, our typology of public library engagement and the quiz we just released that people can take to see where they compare with our national survey findings: What kind of library user are you? Each time we ask about library use, we find that those ages 65 and older are less likely to have visited a library in the past 12 months than those under that age. Equally as interesting is the fact that younger Americans (those ages 16-29) are just as likely to be library users as those who are older. 2Although 10% of Americans have never used a library, they think libraries are good for their communities.
Perceptions 2016: An International Survey of Library Automation This tenth edition of the International Survey of Library Automation aims to provide a candid glimpse into the effectiveness of strategic library technology systems from the perspective of the libraries which use them for their daily operations and to fulfill the expectations of their patrons. It focuses primarily on integrated library systems and library services platforms as the applications libraries use to acquire, describe, manage, and provide access to their collections. 4042 libraries completed this year’s survey, providing sufficient data to focus the analysis more on each category of library type and size rather than aggregating across all responses. The functional requirements of public, academic, school, and other types of libraries overlap to a certain extent, but in other areas have distinctive if not contradictory functionality. Some of the products represented in the survey have been designed for specific sectors. Table of Contents Introduction top Caveats Survey Results Alma
Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek | Season 2 | In the WILD! | America ReFramed | World Channel Descendants of emancipated slaves who settled on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the residents of Turkey Creek have been stewards of the creek's rich wetland habitat for generations. Today, the town is surrounded by an airport, big-box stores, highways and an industrial canal which threatens both the community and its wetlands. When the graves of Derrick Evans's ancestors are bulldozed for the sprawling city of Gulfport, the Boston teacher returns home to stand up to powerful corporate interests and politicians alongside his neighbors over the course of a decade. Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek follows Derrick's painful but inspiring journey. In 2001, Derrick travels to Mississippi with filmmaker Leah Mahan to record oral history but a visit to the community cemetery changes the course of his life. Derrick takes the fight to Congress and across the country, advocating for a sustainable future for the Gulf Coast.
The Human Network | The Digital Shift Excerpted from BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google by John Palfrey. Available from Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2015. This excerpt from the “Networks” chapter focuses on the crucial role of the librarian in keeping libraries strong in the digital age and what support they need to do this critical work. Palfrey will deliver the opening keynote at LJ’s The Digital Shift free virtual event on October 14. Photo ©2015 Shawn G. The librarians who are thriving most consistently in the digital era are those who have found a way to operate as a node in a network of libraries and librarians. Don’t go it alone The view of oneself as operating in a network, not in an independent silo, is essential to success for librarians. Houghton’s library has recast itself for the digital era. The aptly named Melissa Techman, a teacher and librarian in Albemarle County, VA, is another dynamic woman who is blazing the trail for librarianship.