My last blog. Week 13

Class

Our last class we discussed our experiences with Twitter—what we liked and what we did not.  I feel more people disliked than liked, however, most of us are still on Twitter.  I personally found it more useful for professional reasons than social, but still not a huge fan.

We also discussed tips on our upcoming webinar, which we presented in the last week or so.  I think my group did well and had lots of different ways of teaching our material (video, polls, chat, lecture, and a screencast).  I have to admit, we became a little nervous once we were live and rushed through our presentation a bit, but other than that we did well.  It’s a different way of reaching out to people.  I attended four other webinars and overall found them interesting.  I participated in:

“Reconnecting with the Forgotten: Reaching out to older teens and young professionals in public libraries”

“Challenges and Opportunities: Institutional Repositories”

“Three Blind Mice”

“One small step for libraries, one giant LEPP for mankind: Catering to Limited English Proficiency Patrons”

 Way to go everyone! I am so sad that tomorrow is our last class.  L

Readings

"Planning an Online Professional Development Model" by Kristin Fontichiaro

Fontichiaro developed an online projected that allowed K-12 professional to tinker and “play” with teacher-friendly Web 2.0 in order to learn them.  Since not everyone has the time or the need to attend formal training, this project offered an alternative solution.  Through the project teachers were required to blog their experiences so Fontichiaro could identify what tools worked well and applied to their field and what tools they struggled with.  Fontichiaro based her idea off of another Helene Blower’s Learning 2.0 project for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.  Overall, Fontichiaro’s project was a success.

 

"The C's of Our Sea Change: Plans for Training Staff, from Core Competencies to Learning 2.0" by Helene Blowers and Lori Reed

This article discusses how one library (the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County) developed technology training for Web 2.0 tools for its staff through four Core Competencies tiers; however, it was the tools were taught in the usual way.  Blowers implemented her own strategy she named “Learning 2.0.”  Blowers describes Learning 2.0 as “an online self-discovery program that encourages library professionals and other employees to dive right in to new technologies specifically Web 2.0 tools…on their own” (13).  This successful program allows library professionals to keep on with technology and learn tools through their own way and on their own time.

 

"When Teachers Drive Their Learning" by Joseph Semadeni

A school district in Wyoming has developed their own program called “Fusion” that allows teacher to master best teaching practices and strategies during their contract hours.  This program encourages teachers to improve their teaching skills and effectiveness in the classroom.  Through individual and group study, peer evaluations and observations can become experts in the areas of specialization that they want to.

Overall, these articles point to different methods and projects that lead to life-long learning.  To be effective one must remember that learning and improvement does not stop once a professional leaves their classroom and complete their education.  The library world is constantly changing and if one does not adapt to these changes they will be left behind in the dust.  I find this advice relevant in any professional, and once not all people adhered to.

Week 11

Class
Paul Courant came in and discussed a Digital Public Library of America along with academic and public libraries and a few other topics.  I am so sad that I cannot remember all of the details to this discussion we had.  I had taken notes in class, but did save them right away and my computer restarted on me.  Since I only have Microsoft Word Starter instead of the full version, it did not save.  I am looking forward to reading other people’s blog so I can complete my notes again.

After our guest lecturer we split into our cohorts and discussed embedded librarianship.  For the most part, our group decided that it did not have to be a “lonely” position.  We also concluded that while embedded librarianship can be in public libraries it seem more common or practical in an academic library.

 

Twitter

Ok, I have joined everyone else and signed up for Twitter.  It frustrated me so much I think I will inactive my account after we are done with it.  It kept on freezing on me, the site was down a couple of times, and it was extremely slow at loading my searches.  I thought it might have been my computer or connection, but other sites worked and loaded fine.

I followed a variety of people and institutions in the field of archives and libraries such as ALA, archivesnext, AADL, and a few of the bloggers that I have been following.  The archive tweeters seemed to actually provide more “important” information than library tweeters did.  For instance, libraries tweeted about upcoming events or books, while archive tweets contained more news updates such as budget cuts.  Some of the issues that did come up were the HarperCollins policy and using social media in libraries.  While I can see how social media can benefit libraries because it helps people connect to them, I’m still not a fan of it for real communications.  The statuses are just too short to be informative. 

Something else I found interesting, ALA seemed to post more on Facebook than they did on Twitter. On my Facebook, ALA updated info about webinars, conferences, voting, etc.  I also found Facebook provided more in-depth information since it’s not limited to just 140 characters.  I’m sorry all of you tweeters, but I’m going to stick to Facebook.

week 10

Class

The one-shot workshops were great and I learned so much from copyright to social media!  I must admit seven groups seemed a bit overwhelming because most groups felt rushed, but we finished by the end of the class period.  In general, groups had to really to watch their time to make sure everyone had a chance to present.  Because some of us felt rushed I thought that we were not able to absorb and reflect on all of the information we had just learned.  One group did bring yummy cupcakes, but one can never have enough treats…

How People Learn, Chap. 7

This chapter describes how to become an effective teacher because it is not all about the knowledge one possesses on the subject.  It is about the having both subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge (how to incorporate activities that best teach students the material).  The emphasis is getting students in disciplines such as math, history and sciences to understand the material, not just memorize it.

This concept makes sense to me.  I feel like my AP or honors teachers used these ideas, which facilitated more understanding of the material.  In less challenging courses the teacher only wanted you to get the right answer on a test or quiz.  Is that why so many people who did well on standardized tests did not always do well in college?  They could memorize the material they needed, but in college you also needed to understand what you were reading, not just regurgitate it back.

“Online Webinars! Interactive Learning Where Our Users Are: The Future of Embedded librarianship” by Susan E. Montgomery

Montgomery talks about how embedded librarianship should include online resources such as webinars in order to help and connect with students.  Less and less students are using face-to-face interactions and look towards the web for answers, therefore, librarians should move towards an online environment to keep up with the changing times.  Unlike screencast and tutorials, webinars provide interactions and two-way communication.  Webinars can be used an instructional tool to connect students and faculty outside the traditional library setting.

The Embedded Librarian Online or Face-to-Face: American University's Experiences

By Michael A. Matosa; Nobue Matsuoka-Motleya; William Mayer

This article also talks about the role of embedded librarianship in the academic librarian profession.  Embedded librarianship is separated into two categories, traditional and hybrid.  The traditional role is what most of us are accustom to because the librarian is in a specific library serving the students and faculty in that department.  A hybrid librarian spends lots of time in the university library but leaves often to perform instruction and events in the department they support.  To keep this short since most of you read it I will just say that technology such as web-based tools allows librarians to perform their tasks more successfully.  In the end their ultimate mission: helping the users.

I personally have never heard of the term embedded librarianship before this week’s readings and I must say it seems a little daunting.  In addition to providing information to students and faculty, librarians must come up with and execute different methods to reach the patrons.  If execution was not enough, the librarians must do it well and have all of these technology skills.  Whatever happened to the days of sitting at your desk waiting for patrons with questions and getting first dibs on new books before they’re released to the public?  I use to think librarians had it made, but now I see that they have to be Superwoman (or man).  We’ll see how I compare with my webinar.

Week 9--We Are Getting Close!

This is going to be a shorter post since there isn't any additional reading for this week.  We are all working on our one-shot workshops.

I am going to give you guys a little preview to what you can expect from my group (Emily and Elise) on Monday.  Our topic is the need for librarians in public schools. With the current economic crisis around the nation, many school libraries are reducing their library staff to part-time or are eliminating them all together.  Because of this students are not receiving the instruction they need to become successful in college nor learning necessary skills.  We will be presenting our workshop to administrators in charge of the budget, and try to convince them that the need for school librarians. (I know you all our excited!)

Class

We had a lot going on in class that night.  We went over our assignment for next week, the one-shot workshop.  I think that this is interesting approach to convincing a specific group your view or benefit for whatever issue you are presenting.  At first, I thought these workshops would be similar to our screencast where we demonstrated how to use a tool.  I never considered using a workshop to advocate certain concerns.  I am excited to see what ethical issues everyone presents and if I would be convinced or agree with them afterwards.

 We also discussed HCOD and had a guest speaker, Bobbi Newman, through a webinar.  She was extremely level headed about the whole HCOD debate.  Most librarians seem to just rant and state how mad they are in their blogs (though they do have good reason to).  I am continuing to follow this issue and am curious how libraries will continue to deal with this issues—not just HCOD, but the problems with ebooks in general. Will other companies follow HarperCollins examples? How many libraries does this really affect right now? So many questions!   I do not like being left hanging!

Week 8

So Daylight Savings put be a little behind today, however, there is still a little sunshine outside!

Class

Last week was book club week and I enjoyed it as much as I thought I would.  All of our stories had a mystery/creepy/death theme to them.  I wish I could say that I walked away with more answers than questions; however, I think I had more questions at the end.  That’s the problem with mysteries.  Sometimes you just don’t have an answer.  Two of our works were by Poe so we were able to refer back to him and his stories throughout our meeting.

While our book club was a success in general, I think providing more background information (if available) would be beneficial to this type of book club.  Since we picked different stories and some of us weren’t familiar with the author or work, I think more information would have helped us all understand the material better.  Overall, we had a great time and ate cake!

Readings

HC's official statement on Library Love Fest blog 3/1/2011

I read this blog to get a sense of HarperCollins’ side of the story.  Their official statement tries to justify their reasons for only allowing 26 uses for an e-book seems absurd.  What I don’t understand is why libraries must rebuy e-books when they don’t have to buy the print version again.  I believe HC is being greedy and are complaining how cheap they are selling e-books for—“20% lower than the print version.” It should be! They do not have the printing cost for e-books.

ALA Washington Office, 3/8/11

The ALA responds tastefully and respectively to HarperCollins' new conditions.  If you read between the lines, I think they are saying they disagree with HarperCollins new guidelines. There have created two groups, the Equitable Access to Electronic Content (EQUACC) and the E-book Task Force, to combat and hopefully persuade publishers to change their new positions on e-books.  While ALA must approach issues professionally, I am not sure how much effect these groups will have.

Northeast Kansas Library System

I chose this blog because it’s from my hometown and was curious to read about the reactions there. I actually have never used the Overdrive service because I prefer to read my books in the physical form and just haven’t gotten around to using their music section.  I thought it was interesting that NEKLS advised libraries to temporary boycott Overdrive purchases and place HarperCollins’ works in a separate Overdrive category.  I wonder who else is advising their libraries to do the same.

It’s looking like a lot of people disagree with HC new guidelines and I am one of them.

ALA Code of Ethics

I was surprised how short the ALA Code of Ethics was, however, it seems thorough.  None of the guidelines stuck out more than another because it seems similar to SAA’s Code of Ethics.  I guess each profession needs its own.  Since the MLA’s Code of Ethics isn’t assigned anymore, I may have to read it on my own just to see how it comes to ALA’s.

“Creating a Library Assignment Workshop for University Faculty” by Mosley

This article examines problems with the lack of communication between teachers and librarians in dealing with assignments and describes how to go about fixing these issues with a workshop. The author goes into detail the planning, activities, and executions to make this workshop successful.  All I can say is wow. I could not believe how much work and planning went into this workshop. There are just so many details I didn’t even think about and will be useful when planning my one-shot workshop.

Week 7--The Halfway Point

Class

As usual I enjoyed class especially our guess speaker, Vicki Brown from the Ann Arbor District Library.  She discussed book clubs, tips, and various trends occurring.  In addition, she informed the class that the AADL assembles bags called “Book Clubs to Go.”  These bags contain the basic essentials required to hold a book club—multiple copies of the book, discussion question/notes, and the movie version of the book if available.  I did not know about this resource and am so excited to try it out that I am currently picking out a few options for my personal book club.  It’s hard because there are so many choices!

In addition to our guest speaker, we discussed the return of our blogger issue assignment, our upcoming book club assignment, and Socratic seminars.  Socratic seminars require deep critical thinking that help people (students in particular) to truly understand a document/writing/artwork, etc.  While leaders head up the discussion, they do not share their opinion.  They let the group come to their own conclusions.

At the end of class, a few “lucky” classmates (not me!) demonstrated the process of how the Socratic seminar worked.  Kristin asked each member of the seminar a question based on the Darnton’s article we read and they formulated their opinion.  While I am a fan of the Socratic seminar in academic settings, I am not for book club purposes.  I feel that the direct questions make people feel uncomfortable and can be intimidating, which is not the atmosphere I wish to conduct a book club discussion in.  I believe it should be relaxed and inviting not inquisitive.

Readings

My book club chose a short narrative by Edgar Allan Poe called " The Cask of Amontillado." After reading other selections for this week it fits in well for our book club.

 

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find”

I must admit this story did not turn out the way I anticipated it to. It starts off as a regular short story about a talkative grandmother and her family taking a short vacation to Florida; however, this narrative turns deadly. I am interested in hearing other group members’’ take and perhaps meaning behind the plot.

“The Imp of the Perverse”

It looks like another group also chose a work by Edgar Allen Poe.  Being familiar with Poe’s work and genre, I am expecting grimness and death to occur throughout the story.  I am not disappointed.  Though having read several of Poe’s works, I have not read this one in particular before.  I did find it more complex than some of Poe’s other stories.  I wonder if others felt the same way?

“Roosts”

The picture that appeared with the story was creepy enough even without ever reading the story!  I must admit I am slightly confused at the ending of the story.  Why weren’t things “the same again after that?”  Why were these birds going there to die? So many questions!

This book club should be interesting since all of these stories seem to share similar themes, which should provide stimulating discussions.  While I find thrilling stories, well, thrilling, I dislike how they end without explanations.  I always wish for more information and understanding—not left to ponder my own conclusions.  I am curious to the insights of others and their comprehension of these readings.  Maybe they can provide answers to my questions.

Week 6

Readings

Hoffert “Book Clubs”

Book clubs have evolved over the years. Thematic approach allows readers to read books that possess the same themes instead of everyone reading the same book.  This appeals to people who normally do not attend book clubs, but might enjoy the topic.  Another aspect that’s different is linking books with other media such as plays, movies and videoconference.  These new clubs attract not only the avid reader as before, but also new people.  They build a community.

It’s funny, one of my not-for-schools book I reading mentions how cool it is to be in a book club now a days.  I thought this was interesting because we are talking about it in class now and the book was written less than a year ago.  I’m in a book club now and I think they are fun even if we’re pretty traditional.  I’m always looking for an excuse to read more. J

Metzger, Margaret. "Teaching reading: beyond the plot."

In this article high school students were have a difficult time understanding complex text; therefore, Margaret Metzger, a high school teacher, modified the Socratic Seminar to help.  A Socratic Seminar is a focused discussion made up of a group of students that revolve around a specific text.  Student takes turns voicing their opinions, ideas, and questions based on their interpretation of the material with little or no interference from the teacher.  It took a few tries and alteration of executions, but in the end Margaret Metzger found that the students were able to understand the material better.  Being engaged allows for more absorption and comprehension in learning settings.

I mentioned this is my last blog, but I had a teacher who used the Socratic Seminar and it really facilitated the learning processes.  I’m not much of a debater but they were always interesting discussions.  I wish more teachers implemented this method.

Lynda Tredway “Socratic Seminars: Engaging Students in Intellectual Discourse”

With the Socratic Seminar students develop their critical thinking skills and bounce their ideas and questions off of one and another.  As the article states students participate in active learning, therefore, should retain more information.  Students also develop their vocabulary, text analysis, and interpretative and comparative reading (27).  In addition to the educational benefits, students gain self-worth and esteem.

Teachers have slightly different roles as a seminar leader.  They are not just pushing the information out to students in hopes that it gets absorbed.  Instead they guide students to

1.       A deeper and clarified consideration  of the ideas of the text

2.       A respect for varying points of view

3.       Adherence to and respect of the seminar process (28)

My favorite part of this article is the end.  It says that the schools primary purpose is to prepare “thoughtful citizens for active involvement in a democratic society” (29).  The Socratic Seminar is supposed to facilitate that.  I think it just might…

Class

I have to admit I was kind of drained during class since I had lots of homework due this week; however, the cheesy, old Valentine’s Day cards perked me up.  Normally, I think I recap well, but this week I may be lacking.

                                                                                                                                                    

We discussed transfer and how it has tied into our semester readings so far and how it applies to not only K-12 librarians, but all librarians.  After all, aren’t libraries environments where transfer is supposed to occur?  Before I only thought the idea really applied to K-12 librarians, and now I am beginning to rethink that.

We also talked about “hook questions” and Kristin used the example of how a person would do research to obtain information about cars.  Lots of good answers…

Finally, we picked partners for our book club assignment and discussed what type of material we could use.  I think we may be leaning towards a children’s book.  Yeah, I love children’s books.  I still have most of mine.