My Library Lady

the digital divide and common sense librarianship

2011-03-03T06:46:00.000-08:00

I wrote this post to the TLC list serv today in light of a "debate" of sorts taking place on the listserv. Some users are posting cool and fun new ideas and uses for QR codes-- the little sqaure computer-readable blocks that can take users to a webpage with information. Some school librarians are using them to link books to booktrailers or other info.

Other librarins are wondering if they should be worried about keeping up with that tecnology, since most of the kids don't have smart phones, anyway. Still others are lamenting that THEY do not have smartphones themselves, so how can they keep up? And, maybe even mosre importantly to them, SHOULD the keep up, or even WANT to keep up.

My post:

How do you serve your patrons and be mindful of the digital divide?

It seems like the quintessential dilemma of being damned if I do, and damned if I don’t. But it doesn’t have to be.

If I try to use the cool new tools and show them to my kids—who probably ”have not,” am I letting them see and use new technology or adding to the list of the latest new thing they can’t afford? If I don’t try the new cool tools that are available to me, am I falling behind by each small step that I don’t take? And worse, am I taking my patrons with me?

Perhaps this is your conundrum today.

This blog post by David Rothman at davidrothman.net was brought to my attention today—read it and see if you agree.

Find it at http://davidrothman.net/2011/03/02/common-sense-librarianship-an-ordered-list-manifesto/

Common Sense Librarianship: An Ordered List Manifesto

Common Sense Librarianship
1. The world of information has always been in a constant state of flux. As technology continues to changes the world of information, it is preferable for information professionals and the institutions they serve to adapt rather than perish.

This is not a new idea.

2. The most important qualities an information professional can posses are adaptability, resourcefulness, a habit of looking for better/easier/more efficient ways to do things, creativity, and a love for solving problems.

This is not a new idea.

3. Organizations providing information services should pay as close attention as possible to the needs of those whose information needs they serve. Where these needs can be measured, they should be measured. If you can find something that your library is regarding as more important than user needs, something is very wrong.

This is not a new idea.

4. Whenever possible, obstacles between users and the information they seek should be removed. Among these barriers are academic jargon and expecting users to care about cataloging minutia (it is minutia to them, get over it). Information professionals should be champions of clarity and concision who find accessible ways to describe complex topics.

This is not a new idea.

Much of the above comes from conversations with really smart and insightful people like Amy Buckland, Kathryn Greenhill, Jenica Rogers, and Maurice Coleman.

Any good stuff above should be credited to them. Any stupid stuff should be blamed on me.

Gutman on Censorship

2010-06-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

I just read an article by author Dan Gutman in SLJ on Censorship and the role of the author, the parents, the librarian, and the teacher. And it made me wonder-- what about the role of the administrator?

I have been blessed to have a supportive administrators who understand that kids explore life through books--reading about things does not mean they want to do them-- the reader lives vicariously through the book-- and sees the consequences of that character's choices. Of course he thinks about what would happen to him if he was in the same situation. Don't we all?

We can't keep kids from growing up by censoring what they read. We are the safe haven--the school library--where they go to find information and trust that we are at least trying to understand them and the world they live in.

Since one of our many goals in the library is to help kids find their way in the world, offering them a choice in what they read--and for some that means cutting edge fiction that drives them to read--or entices them to read--or makes reading cool; for others humor, or graphic novels, or fantasy--is of the utmost importance. If the library becomes obsolete to teens, we lose the opportunity to guide a new generation of leaders.

Let's guide them now, while we have them, and trust them to make choices in their own reading.

Umbrella Summer Booktrailer

2010-05-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

Umbrella Summer--Book Review

2010-03-15T23:59:00.000-07:00

Annie hates getting the "dead brother" look, but she seldom escapes it during the first year after her older brother Jared’s death. Now Annie is ultra careful to make sure she does don’t contract any diseases (like Ebola) or take chances that may cause her to be injured (like running an obstacle course,) since no one knew her brother Jared was sick until it was too late. As Jared’s birthday approaches, each of the people who knew and loved him struggle to deal with the fact that he is gone.

Each character in Umbrella Summer plays an important part in helping Annie discover how best to celebrate her brother’s life. Lisa Graff paints a humorous and poignant picture of the lives of Annie, her parents, her best friend, and the community that surrounds them.

Reading Professional Books

2010-02-20T10:22:00.001-08:00

I love reading professional books, but rarely have time! For the next six moths I am going to read them and post reviews here. First up, Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do about It by Kelly Gallagher. It looks to be a book about how turning everything nto a lesson that teaches how to analyze every book and reading assignment to death as if it were a passge on a test is killing to joy of reading and creating a generation of kids who do not read for pleasure, since they take no pleasure in reading.

I'm looking forward to the "What I can do about it" part. Uh-oh. Looks like I'm missing graduate school again! Somebody remind me that I can't go back for another degree till Jack is much older!

Can't wait! What are you reading?

PowerPoint for Shack Stars

2009-08-23T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone.

I'll probably start a new blog for Shack-- or maybe a wiki-- it's easier to deal with as a colloaborative group; but for now, I will post the Shack Stars: What Does Star Formation Look Like PPT here for you in case you cannot access it on shared folders.

Have a great first day!

It was too big to email-- I'll attach it when I get to Shack on Monday morning!

Thing 23 Reflection

2009-07-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, if I am being totally honest, I must admit that I did not always love this project. When I had to explore and comment about things that I did not really care for or about things that I was pretty sure I would not use, I did not have the best attitude about it, but I did it anyways because I am a compulsive rule follower! LOL!

As I reflect on my own experience and hope to make a 23 Things for my staff and/or all the teachers in my district, I need to make sure that I address this issue with my people. I'm sure some of the things that I think are just fab, they will think are boring or not necessary to study. If I recall that going in, hopefully I will make good decisions in that realm or provide instruction that reminds them that if they pursue things they don’t care for initially, they may find that in the end, they will see the value of each thing.

I will use many of these technologies in my building. I am coming from a very technology-rich district into a district that is not quite as advanced, so I must be sure to be not only a technology cheerleader, but also a teacher, and supporter of the use of technology.

Thing 22 Developing your own 23 Things for your library

2009-07-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

I have really enjoyed the 23Things project, and I think it would be a great way to introduce some new and underused technologies in my new schools. Just as doing each of the things made me think about how to use them in my new job(s), I think when the teachers do them they will have similar thoughts. It would be a fun and painless way to teach so much technology through these free web apps!

The five librarians in my distrcit did the 23 things on a different site, and I plan to go check them out as well. Since doing this together puts us all on basically the same page, I bet they will be intersteteed in getting our own 23things going as well!

Here we go!

Thing 21 Podcasts

2009-07-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

Podcasts would be very useful to my patrons if they had internet access, which I am not sure about (new job!) In the library they could be used for the same things YouTube could be used for--library promotion, booktalks, lessons, instructions, children's work, etc.

Some of the podcasts I listened to that covered technology may be useful to my teachers, but in general I have found that they prefer hands on instrction in technology. I have had success recording kids' poetry and spoken word before--it was a fun way to publish their work on the Internet and share their performances.

In general, I think that the ease of publishing video has made podcasts less popular, even though podcasts are so much easier to create and publish.

Thing 20 YouTube

2009-07-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

I have definitely enjoyed YouTube over the years for everything from fun/entertainment viewing, to staff develpment viewing, to posting my own school library related videos.

I searched using the terms suggested and a few others and found some library-related videos. Most were instructional and relatively B_O_R_I_N_G! Others were fun and some were funny--funny on purpose in order to entertain, and some were people being funny IN a library.

There were a number of school library entries--children's work that was very nice. After a while I decided to search TeacherTube instead of YouTube and I found much more library related work.

I think I'd like to use YouTube to do a tour of the library and to do videos on how to care for a book etc for hte children to see when I am not there. Since I will be in two libraries, I think that will be a great way to keep my "presence" in the building even when I am not htere physically.

Thing 19 Google Docs

2009-07-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

What fun! I had used Google docs a little with my former library collegaues and we liked being able to each edit the docs. We used it for creating and adding to bibliographies and other special things like our author visit.

When I went into the spread sheet function in GOogle docs, I built a spreadsheet for my new job which is elementary librarian to two schools. I built a spreadshet to record book requests for teachers from each school. I saw the video explaining how to make a form for the spreadsheet and made that too! Now the teachers can just fill out a form with info on their name, date books needed, types of books, room number and school. I can monitor the spreadsheet from whichever campus I am currently stastioned and keep up with book requessts no matter where I am!

Thing 18 Wikis

2009-07-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

My Wiki exercise is at http://dfw23things.wetpaint.com/page/MyLibraryLady

Wikis are very easy to set up and to maintain, and I have used them before. This particular site was very easy to manage and very clean looking. It is a very nice example of the wiki application and it is free! Very cool! I have not found an instance in my professional work so far where this option is better than a blog or the use of shared documents like Google Docs.

One great application I can think of is for book recomendations and reviews-- assuming people don't write over others' work accidentally like many studetns here in the 23 things blog did at first. I think that is why I have used blogs and tools like Shelfari instead. I look forward to reading other's posts and ideas about using Wikis in the library world. I
m sure my colleagues have some great ideas that will blow me away!

Thing 17 LibWorm

2009-07-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

From the description on the 23 Things blog, this site sounds like one I would really enjoy-- sort of a goolge-of-LM_Net kinda thing....too bad it won't work.

I cannot get it to pull up even after I cleared my temp files and cookies. I will keep trying and hoping not to get "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage."

Thing 16 LibraryThing

2009-07-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

Library Thing is HUGE. It's cool, but it is too big for my taste. I prefer Shelfari for it's ease of use and more graphic interface, and I use it on my school sites.

The very cool things on LibraryThing that are better than Shelfari are the cloud tags, the recommendations, and the direct links to discussions about a given book. I also like that you can check your collection form your cell phone. Very, very cool.

A theme I keep finding as I do the exercises in this NT23 set are how much time these time saving sires take to use/enjoy. It seems the more time we are able to save with service like these, the more we find ways to spend that saved time. I am not compelled to spend/waste time on Librarything because the format of it is so uninviting to me, but many other sites we have explored do compel me to spend my time and evergy there. So far the only thing I think would be a great use of time and a time saver for me is the Google reader. I look forward to exploring the rest of the activities.

Thing 15 Digg

2009-07-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Digg is dangerous.

Dangerous like Target-- you go in for a few things and come out with a basketful. I went into Digg a few times for this blog and both times I stayed too long looking at a bunch of distracting, meaningless, yet interesting-enough-to-get-me-to-click-on-it stuff.

I do not see myself going back to Digg, but I do like the concept for what it is and think it is interesting. I just don;t have the time or inclination to become a fan or user in any way.

It's use of user ratings and number of views is interesting and reminds me of the fantasy future world Westerfeld creates in his YA book Extras--where popularity is the currency of the community.

Thing 14: Delicious

2009-06-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

LOVE Delicious.

Love it love it love it.

I had an account back when you had to find it by gong to www.del.ici.ous-- or something like that! Anyways, I lost the user id and password and started over! My current one is http://delicious.com/ajensen08

Although I love having my bookmarks available anywhere I go and I like using it for sharing with others, the newest way I have used Delicious is to show it my husband who is in IT and business. I showed him how we can search the bookmarked sites for info. For example, I searched Visual Studio 2008 and it came up with LOTS of great sites and blogs for him to check out while he looks for info on Visual Studio.

Thing 13: Tagging

2009-06-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

I think tagging is wonderful in the library. Since many middle school and high school kids (and adults too) already understand tagging, using it is helpful to them. It can also be used as a bridge to teach them about subject headings, which are really just controlled-vocabulary tags, anyways. Tagging applications on library OPACs are just another way to help patrons find what they are looking for in the library. I think an investment in tagging is worth the time it takes! I thnk we can even trust patrons to tag for us in some cases--although we may have to have editing rights in case someone tags something in a negative manner like "Mrs. Cope's stupid novel circle book.") :-)

I use tagging now on Delicious and in my blogs mostly to help me find something (by searching) if I have to go back and find it.

Thing 12: Twitter

2009-06-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

Twitter is fun to follow, but can certainly become TMI (too much information) quickly. I am really not interested in where my friends are having lunch, for example, or that they are working out and have just spent 20 minutes on the elliptical machine. When I see those tweets it makes me nuts because I think people spend so much time in the media already-- can’t you just stay in the moment throughout your workout or your lunch? Do you have to be connected to your electronic devices through every stage of your day? Really?

On the other hand, I do like to see photos of their kids, or cool stuff they encountered, of pics of relatives, etc. Like on FB many pastors use twitter to keep their peeps up to date with their tweets.

I joined twitter a while ago actually, to follow a pastor who was doing an activity that caused him to be in a place that might have been dangerous. I wanted to make sure he was okay, so signed up to follow him. I followed him by logging in to Twitter-- not on my phone. Because I have a twitter account, random people have also tried to follow me, but since I didn’t know, them, I blocked them. I think it's creepy to follow people you do not know. I also think it’s creepy to follow celebrities (although to others that may be the same as following a pastor!) Since I do not receive email or tweets on my phone (too much involvement for me--email and FB are enough social networking for me...if someone needs me badly enough they already have my cell phone number). I have seen many people mash up FB and twitter, and I have enjoyed that. But is gets me wondering: are we spreading ourselves too thin? How much info is too much? How many platforms are too many? How much do we really need to know through twitter? What about face to face meetings?

In fact, I saw an advertisement in a magazine (a tech magazine called Wired, actually) for American Airlines. It talked about doing business in person and how more business can get done that way. The power of face to face meetings and conversations cannot be discounted. Although all this electronic media and networking is helpful and useful, at what point will it become ANTI-SOCIAL networking because it removes the human touch, the human voice, and the human reaction?

p.s. the last time I saw Twitter referred to what in my email inbox when a friend decided to follow me, even though I do not tweet!

Thing 11: IMing

2009-06-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

IMing is a lot of fun. I have IM contacts already and use IMing to "talk" to family and friends while watching tv or sitting quietly listening to the computer keys clcking. My user name is Amy Jensen amy_jensen08@yahoo.com and NT23 folks can IM me at yahoo.

The very best thing I can think of for my new library job is for the five of use to be able to IM each other during the day-- faster than email since it is in real time. The only problem is that we cannot chat with all 5 of us at the same time, but we could all email each other (using reply to all) and keep in the loop. Of course IM is used to chat with librarians for reference questions and could also be used for reader's advisory-- really anything that a phone could used for. Not being able to see body language or facial expressions may hamper the conversation, but as an electronic alternative, I think it's good. IMing is also more private than district email, although I think Big Brother can get a copy if he wants one since if you are chatting on company time--even to another company employee about company topics--you have no expectation of privacy. (So keep your personal business and personal IMing for later!)

Thing 10: Ning

2009-06-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

Ning is not a place I will return to often--okay...possibly never. It was a waste of time for me. I looked around at library sites, yoga sites, gardening sites, religious sites, and cooking sites. I saw nothing that I could not have seen elsewhere with less time and searching.

I think this may be more of a reflection of my personal style. I am not a big "discussion board" person. Although my graduate school used them a lot for assignments, and I understand how they work and I do participate; however, I do not have the time or inclination to search through or follow a group on Ning. Zero interest here for me.

I see the draw for those who do have the time or inclination, however, as there is a plethora of information and people willing to talk bout their experiences. It is way to much personal info and personal opinion for me. I'll be just fine with the blogs and Rss feeds I have already.

Thing 9: Facebook 2

2009-06-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

I like FB for keeping up with family and friends. I have had great success n finding family and frineds and have many "friends" who are close relatives or close friends or co-workiers wiht whom I wna to remain close. I found the greatest majority of them by looking at other relatives/friends/coworker's frinds lists and adding those people.

I do not want to mix my personal life with my business life, so I will not join work relates things on my personal FB. It is possible to have more than one FB account, and I may consider joining one for professional business, but not at this time. There re many ohter ways to network professionally. I do not think using FB for it is a good choice for me right now.

However, my pastor and several other pastors I know or am acquainted with are using FB and Twitter and blogging to keep in touch with their congregations. Because they do this for their congregations, they cannot also use it for family and friends (who are outside their congregations) much. I think the networking aspect of keeping close to your congregation and keeping them informed is great--but it is business. I can see how politicians and other causes (One of my fav's is I Am Second) use FB to keep themselves in the mid of their "fans." When I join these people/businesses as a friend, I am not vulnerable because I have my settings set to "only friends" so 0others cannot see my personal info.

Allowing too many people access to you or your friend's personal info is not a good idea. We must be careful to balance fun and prudence with our info.

Thing 8: Facebook 1

2009-06-29T20:05:00.001-07:00

I have just recently created a FB account after mercilessly teasing everyone I knew who already had one. What finally made me capitulate was my DAD saying he posted a wedding picture of him with me on HIS FB! Turns out all my cousins-- over 30 people-- and my aunts and uncles are on FB and have posted pics of the kids etc. That was it for me...we moved away a long time ago and I never felt like I could keep up with my whole big happy family.

When i started FB I stayed on for 3 hours!!! And I found my best friend from HS whom I have not spoken with in 25 years. And of course all the family. I have been enjoying all of that.

The biggest thing that is annoying me about FB right now is that they are about to change the privacy settings for all posts (that's ALL posts) so that they are automatically public unless you purposefully set each one to private. Prior to this change you could set your settings one time and it was done. Form more info on this go to http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2009/06/24/24readwriteweb-the-day-facebook-changed-messages-to-become-18772.html

In addition, as a victim of identity theft, I fear people place too much info on FB-- especially if it becomes even more public than it is. For example, when you post that you are out of town, propel know you are gone and may break into your house, etc---paranoid? Maybe. But the more we get into social networking, the more I feel Big Brother looking over us all, and I don;t think that is a good thing.

Thing 7: RSS feeds

2009-06-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Nine (9)-- the number of RSS feeds I have added to my reader, not counting the folks I am following for fun on 23 Things....and not counting 23 Things (the blog) either. And I'm not finished.

I guess I can look at this one of two ways. Way #1 which is not at all helpful, but true to the way I feeling right this very minute (and isn't that the purpose of blogging/tweeting/self discovery writing...) is that there is more info out there that I am interested in than I will EVER, ever, ever be able to read. Even if I read every walking moment, I would never be able to read it all.

There. I said it. It's impossible.

That being said, it is cool that I can go to one place and find lots of cool stuff that I have chosen to keep up with. I am such a library geek-- I love the cataloging stuff, I love the LOC stuff, the international stuff, the teaching stuff, the school library stuff, the YA stuff....my tastes and interests are so varied that is is a very good thing that I like to read! Otherwise, my intellectual curiosity may never be satisfied!

So, the reader is a good thing for me, even though the enormity of the things I would like to read can be overwhelming, at least it's all in one place!

Thing 6: Reader

2009-06-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

Readers are a great way to save time and keep me updated on the blogs I love but have forgotten about! I had no trouble following the directions on the NT23 Blog, and when I opened Google Reader, it was already set up showing the blogs I was following within my NT23 things blog. I added some others I could remember liking, and I plan to add more as time goes by.

I used the file folders "Library Profession" for Doug Johnson's blog and for a school library blog conglomeration called SuprGlu. In addition I added one of my YA librarian favs-- Naomi Bates under YA reading.

I can see how I may add too many and spend way more time reading blogs than doing other productuve things, so I think I will keep the number of feeds I follow to a minimum. Or maybe I'll keep all the ones I like and just read them when I have time.

2009-06-29T14:19:00.001-07:00

Thing 5: Image Generators

2009-06-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

Working with the image generators is a lot of fun. I have to watch out because I can spend a lot of time playing around with them and look up to find it's an hour later and I haven't finished yet!

I made a little person with the blue words "read". I may use it as an avatar on future library projects, or as a symbol in my library for kids to find things0-- I don’t know what things yet---maybe I'll just turn it into a bookmark!

Regardless of what I do with it, I had fun exploring the tools available in the image generator section. I have even seen webpages that use these image generators on webpages. One library page that does is Mesquite School Libraries Policies and Procedures page at http://www.mesquiteisd.org/library/

Thing 4 --Mashups #2

2009-06-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

This mashup was easy and fun to use. I can see fun applications for school webpages, class projects, storybording, sequencing...the possibilities are endless!

Plan to post more mashups and reflection on same later.

Thing 4 --Mashups #1

2009-06-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

This looks cooler stretched out :-)

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Thing 3--Flickr

2009-06-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

F un way to search lovely, high quality images
L aws keep you from using them, though, so be careful & respectful
I chose a lovely picture of dawn behind trees
C hose not to make my own account because I have other services to store & share my work
K now I can use this site in teaching and sharing with my new staff
R ecklessly spent lots of time searching and feeling like I had a littel art show on my lap!

Link to great pic of dawn and trees http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim-ar/3212037541/

Thing 2 --or Web 2.0 is Like Cereal

2009-06-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

Five ways Web 2.0 is like cereal.

1. When it's time to buy cereal, it is possible to walk down the cereal aisle, never look left or right, choose what you have always chosen and leave the store with your purchase. No boat-rocking, no risk, and you get your cereal. When it's time to serve the patrons, you can do what you have always done and try nothing new and their is no boat-rocking, no risk, and you are still serving your patrons (or are you? more on that later.)

2. When you want to try a new cereal and you begin to pay attention to all the choices you have on the cereal aisle... it can be a little overwhelming. Web 2.0 has so many options and so many places to begin, it can feel a little overwhelming.

3. There are puffy, non-substantial sugar cereals, and there are fiber-rich, vitamin-enhanced, uber-cereals, just like there are quick and easy Web 2.0 applications and more complicated applications. You get what you give, and striking a balance is good. You do not want to eat fiber cereal everyday--bleeech. Have a little fun too!

4. Trying new cereal is fun, and can be addicting: you may eat the whole box in record time and have to go out and buy more. Trying new Web applications is fun and addicting too-- you may find yourself up till dawn fiddling with your new blog, or barraging your friends with your wiki, or tweets, or Facebook postings.

5. Cereal is just one part of a balanced breakfast, and Web 2.0 is just one part of your outreach.

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I have just left an environment very rich with technology and technology applications in the school and library. I am entering one a position with a district that wants very much to embrace technology even more than they are now. In a way, I'll be finding my way to do more with less, and I get to be the guide to many who are new to Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is such a valuable tool in the library because it is a way to reach patrons where they “live” and to show those who don’t “live” there yet what is available to them. Web 2.0 tools are great marketing tools, wonderful interest grabbers, and practical applications in the library world—can’t wait to start anew!

Thing 1

2009-06-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

No-- not a Dr. Suess reference....I have completed Thing 1 for the North Texas 23 things. This was easy for me because I have several blogs--a few using this hosting site. I started a new one for this project and look forward to getting these 22 remaining things started--lots to learn this summer!