Readings: Into a New World of Librarianship and Away From Icebergs
In reading the OCLC newsletters about Web 2.0 and libraries, I'm struck by just how much my job has changed in the last few years. I've only been working in this field for ten years, and in the last two, things have shifted radically. Just a few things from these two pieces that I want to respond to - things that I have some concerns about. In Michael Stephens's piece, he discusses how libraries need to have a "living, breathing technology plan" and should make "good, fast decisions". Those sound great in theory, but in a school, they aren't always easy to put into practice. Decisions about technology aren't ones that I can make on my own - everything has to be sent up the food chain for approval after approval. A fast decision isn't always possible.
In Rick Anderson's piece about the "icebergs" that libraries face, he talks about the need for user education. This is SO critical! While I might be able to locate and use new technologies, there's only one of me in the building. The process of providing instruction to the members of my community, be they teachers or students, is going to be slower than I'd like it to be. Especially right now, when we have limited access to computers due to our temporary quarters. For example, I'm working with a few teachers on setting up online reading circles. It's daunting to try to find time to get the teachers trained, get the necessary site set up for them on Moodle, teach the kids how to use it (providing I can even get them computer time) and, oh yeah, do the rest of my job!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Week 6, Thing 14
Who knew there were so many blogs? And that so many of them deal with celebrities? Female celebrities in particular. Hm. I'm still trying to sort out the authority thing on Technorati- as best I can tell, the more blogs that link to your blog, the more authority you have.
Anyway, on to tagging. I tried doing a blog search, post search and tag search for "School Library Learning 2.0". I found 16 blogs, 47 posts and 9 tags. Seems like an odd assortment. I'm still trying to figure out how some of the posts came up under that search, as there doesn't seem to be any connection between the subject of the post and the search term (posts about China, Hunter S. Thompson, and the weather in Tacoma?) Guess it just shows that if I were going to actually blog for anyone other than myself, I would need to get better at tagging so people could find what they want.
Truthfully, I can't see myself ever using Technorati. Perhaps if I were an avid blog reader, it might be useful. I suppose I could direct students to it to find more info on a topic they were interested in, but it would probably be better for older students with more experience sorting fact from opinion.
Anyway, on to tagging. I tried doing a blog search, post search and tag search for "School Library Learning 2.0". I found 16 blogs, 47 posts and 9 tags. Seems like an odd assortment. I'm still trying to figure out how some of the posts came up under that search, as there doesn't seem to be any connection between the subject of the post and the search term (posts about China, Hunter S. Thompson, and the weather in Tacoma?) Guess it just shows that if I were going to actually blog for anyone other than myself, I would need to get better at tagging so people could find what they want.
Truthfully, I can't see myself ever using Technorati. Perhaps if I were an avid blog reader, it might be useful. I suppose I could direct students to it to find more info on a topic they were interested in, but it would probably be better for older students with more experience sorting fact from opinion.
Week 6, no thing, just a rant
Okay, I know I keep going on and on about our filters here, but I just have to relate this story so you can understand why I'm so frustrated that I'm ready to throw my computer across the room some days. Today while I was in the middle of editing a post, the web filter blocked me. From a site that I was working in at the time. A site that I had access to only minutes before. And then when I tried to go back to the PSLA blog, it did it again - blocked me from the PLSA site. I didn't just get a warning - I got totally blocked. So our filter is changing it's mind, from minute to minute, about what I have access to, based on criteria that I can't figure out. Why is it that I can see a page one second, and in the next, nope, sorry, you can't look at that any more? And then a few minutes later - hey, just kidding, here you go! And it's not just these sites, or just me. It's happening to teachers across the board, on all different kinds of sites. If it's going to be blocked, then BLOCK IT. ALL THE TIME.
Okay, I'm done now. End of rant. I promise.
Okay, I'm done now. End of rant. I promise.
Week 6, Thing something or other
I went ahead and created a delicious account for myself. What an ordeal. While I can access the main page of delicious at work, I couldn't set up an account due to some technical (read: filter) issues. However, I can't access my bookmarks at work from home even when I use our VPN. And I'm scatterbrained enough that remembering to export my favorites while at work so that I could set up the account from home took a while. However, it's all set up and pretty now. I'm loving that I have access to my bookmarks wherever I go, because it was seriously annoying when I'd go to work on something at home and forget that I couldn't remember that great site that I had . The ability to share them would be great for collaborative planning with teachers IF WE HAD THE ABILITY TO ACCESS THIS AT WORK. Providing students with the ability to work more effectively in research groups by sharing their bookmarks is intriguing, but again, it would have to be done AT HOME. Can you sense the frustration I'm feeling here?
Monday, November 17, 2008
Week 5, Thing 12
I'm definitely going to be using Rollyo with my students - making a search roll for specific topics and then having them search through them on their own is a cool idea. I had to run through this one fairly quickly, so the search roll I created isn't very interesting or detailed, but I plan to revisit this as soon as I have a free minute.
http://rollyo.com/notharrysmom/book_summary_info1/
http://rollyo.com/notharrysmom/book_summary_info1/
Week 5, Thing 11 Update
Still on a musical bent, so I went and tried Pandora. Excellent! All I have to do is type in my favorite band (or at least the favorite of the minute), and it will create a radio station for me based on similar bands. They need to make something this easy to use for books.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Week 5, Thing 11
Lately I've been dissatisfied with my exposure to new music. Even with a satellite radio, I never seem to find a lot of stuff that I really like. I've been reduced to emailing a friend who lives in range of a good radio station and asking him for suggestions. Rather than pester him constantly in a fit of college-radio nostalgia, I decided to hit the Web 2.0 winners in the music category. I'm thinking that Last.fm might be what I need! I can look up and add bands that I'm interested in, add them to my playlist, and have songs automatically downloaded (they call it scrobbling - I'm not even going to venture a guess at why). They offer up a sort of "if you like these guys, try this band" feature - like novelist, but for music. Once I create my library of artists, I can play it - a radio station of stuff that I love, without all of the filler I can't stand! Then I can share the station with others. Wooo hooo!
**And before anyone feels the need to point out the obvious (oh, right, someone would have to be reading this for that to happen...), I know this doesn't have anything to do with my professional life. I may not be using this for work (I haven't tried using this from work, but I'm willing to place a bet for a year's salary that it's blocked there anyway), but if it makes me happier in my non-professional life, that's got to be a good thing, right? The whole "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" thing. Good music=happy librarian=happy students. Viola!
**And before anyone feels the need to point out the obvious (oh, right, someone would have to be reading this for that to happen...), I know this doesn't have anything to do with my professional life. I may not be using this for work (I haven't tried using this from work, but I'm willing to place a bet for a year's salary that it's blocked there anyway), but if it makes me happier in my non-professional life, that's got to be a good thing, right? The whole "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" thing. Good music=happy librarian=happy students. Viola!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Week 4, Things 8 & 9
A little frustration this week trying to set up a bloglines account. I never received a confirmation email (despite repeatedly checking my email account and returning to bloglines to request that a new confirmation be sent), so I couldn't get the account up and running. I moved over to google reader, which is easy enough to set up (and which I'm sure means that the next time I check, the confirmation from bloglines will be sitting in my inbox). I now have feeds coming in from YALSA, AASL, and SLJ as well as some news and weather sites. I think the SLJ book news feed could be helpful - I might be able to stay more on top of all of the new books coming out if I don't have to wait to find the time to read through all of the issues of the magazine that pile up around my desk. However, part of me thinks that I just won't find the time to read the feed either. It will wind up sitting around waiting for me to find a spare moment just like the print version does.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Week 3, Thing 5, Round 3
I found wordle.net not too long ago, and got a little obsessed with wordles. In addition to using them as subject endcaps for my book carts, I also made up some wordles for books we have in the library and have them posted around. Some of our other teachers saw them and are using them for vocabulary lessons in Spanish and math.
Week 3, Thing 5, Round 2
My first attempt at posting pictures from Flickr to my blog. This is a picture of what happens when your school is undergoing renovation and you have to move to temporary quarters for a year or two. Had to pack 2/3 of our books and put them in storage. The rest are now what we're calling books a la cart - they are all on mobile carts. It's kind of like having my own litle bookmobile, minus the really cool Winnebago. It makes for a really flexible library space!
Week 3, Things 5 & 6
Had my first go with Flickr this weekend, and played with a bunch of the apps that are available. I can't wait to create a mock motivational poster (mainly because they remind me of the ones available online for The Office). The Experimental Colr Pickr reminds me of the hue search in AP Images, but it's so much easier to use. Beyond basic colors, I struggle to define the hue that I want in the AP database, but when I can see it on the color field, I know it immediately and using the color field gives you so many options in terms of shades. And the photos it finds are beautiful. Wish I had that kind of talent with a camera. I'm also going to give the Jigsaw Puzzle maker a try - it would be cool to do that with cover art from a book for displays in the library (note to self - must check copyright rules first...). I'm curious about why there's no PA School Libraries group on Flickr, especially since there are plenty of school librarians in this course.
I'm going to attempt a photo posting and the rest of the stuff for my assignments this week at home tonight (unless the rest of the Phillies game goes on as scheduled tonight). Too bad all of the fun stuff we get to try for this class is blocked from school. I should have called the blog 'Behind the Firewall'.
I'm going to attempt a photo posting and the rest of the stuff for my assignments this week at home tonight (unless the rest of the Phillies game goes on as scheduled tonight). Too bad all of the fun stuff we get to try for this class is blocked from school. I should have called the blog 'Behind the Firewall'.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Week 2, Thing 3
Lifelong Learning
I think that by being a teacher, you are by nature a lifelong learner. I learn things from my students constantly, even when it's inadvertent. Especially when it comes to technology - I probably wouldn't even know about half of the new stuff out there if I hadn't heard about it or been shown it by a student. Sure, it makes me feel really old sometimes when a 12 year old looks at me like I'm an idiot for not knowing something, but then when you show it to someone else you get to look like a tech wizard (which, while being about the furthest thing from the truth, isn't necessarily a bad thing for others to think...)
Anyway, totally off topic there. The habit I have the biggest problem with is definitely to view problems as challenges. When something challenging comes up, I want to deal with it and get it fixed RIGHT NOW. Savoring the learning experience it provides isn't something that fits nicely into my hectic little world, or with my personality, for that matter. I can ususally work stuff out for myself if I give it enough time and energy, but I tend to focus totally on the problem at hand to the exclusion of everything else. And stress myself out in the process. If my mom and my elementary school report cards are to be believed, I've been that way my whole life.
The rest of the habits come pretty naturally. Just looking at the massive list of bookmarks I've created indicates that I've got the whole "create a learning toolbox" thing down.
I think that by being a teacher, you are by nature a lifelong learner. I learn things from my students constantly, even when it's inadvertent. Especially when it comes to technology - I probably wouldn't even know about half of the new stuff out there if I hadn't heard about it or been shown it by a student. Sure, it makes me feel really old sometimes when a 12 year old looks at me like I'm an idiot for not knowing something, but then when you show it to someone else you get to look like a tech wizard (which, while being about the furthest thing from the truth, isn't necessarily a bad thing for others to think...)
Anyway, totally off topic there. The habit I have the biggest problem with is definitely to view problems as challenges. When something challenging comes up, I want to deal with it and get it fixed RIGHT NOW. Savoring the learning experience it provides isn't something that fits nicely into my hectic little world, or with my personality, for that matter. I can ususally work stuff out for myself if I give it enough time and energy, but I tend to focus totally on the problem at hand to the exclusion of everything else. And stress myself out in the process. If my mom and my elementary school report cards are to be believed, I've been that way my whole life.
The rest of the habits come pretty naturally. Just looking at the massive list of bookmarks I've created indicates that I've got the whole "create a learning toolbox" thing down.
Test Post
Just trying out this posting thing for the first time. I've never been a journal keeper or much for sharing my private thoughts and feelings, so keeping a blog is going to be a little bit painful for a while. Somehow I don't see my thoughts and sarcastic sense of humor translating well to the written word. We'll see!
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