AASL 2009 National Conference Reflections

For a week, I have started and stumbled with this blog post—words just don’t seem sufficient to express the ultimate conference experience of my life and the pinnacle of flow. Every now and then, you are lucky enough to be in a time and place where amazing people, energy, camaraderie, and ideas converge.  For me, AASL 2009 was four days of learning and play as espoused by Helene Blowers. I can’t quite yet articulate how transformative this experience is for me, but I want to share these reflections with you.

What Worked

• Bloggers’ Cafe/Unconference/Geek Squad: although we faced obstacles such as spotty Internet connectivity, a location that was not easily visible, and limited access to promoting our resources via the official conference channel, “B There”,  I think the inaugural effort of promoting and implementing an “unconference” was a major success.  Thanks to Twitter and word of mouth, we were able to generate excitement and buzz as people took time to participate in the bloggers’ cafe and enjoy rich, meaningful, and memorable conversations about technology tools as well as philosophical questions/issues in our profession.   A spirit of teamwork permeated the learning space, physical and virtual, as people engaged in networking and problem solving.  I believe that many of us, whether we attended in person or through virtual means, now expect that that this  “learning commons” experience will be an integral and expected element of future AASL conferences, not optional.  If you have not checked out our resource wiki, I invite you to visit and utilize the resources contributed by so many.  Kudos to the Geek Squad team—you are so talented, and I’m honored to have worked with you!
• Keynote Speeches by danah boyd and Marco Torres:  these two speeches were incredibly inspiring and thought provoking.   While I was already a fan of boyd, I was not familiar with Torres—I wish every educator could hear this incredible talent speak!  You can read my notes from the boyd keynote by clicking here; many of my favorite excerpts of the Torres keynote may be accessed by clicking here. I encourage you to also check out the interview with Torres by Joyce Valenza and Ernie Cox as well as their interview with boyd.
• Diversity in Concurrent Sessions: there was truly something for everyone!  Kudos to the committee for providing a menu full of concurrent sessions to meet a broad range of interests.
• Backchanneling: I *loved* the Twitterfest of this conference!  Whether people were using their smartphones or laptops, there was a steady stream of thoughtful and helpful Tweets at any given time when you searched for the conference hashtag, #aasl2009.
• The closing event at ImaginOn: what a joyous way to end the event!
• Badge Swag and Ribbons: need I say more?
• Camaraderie:  a special thanks to Diane Cordell, Laura Pearle, Fran Bullington, Heather Loy, Gwyneth Jones, Alice Yucht, Francey Harris, and others who so graciously helped facilitate my presentation;  I’m especially grateful to Diane and Laura for their calm and comforting presence.  Heartfelt thanks to my fellow Georgia colleagues who came to the session and supported me, especially my mentor from UGA, Dr. Mary Ann Fitzgerald as well as friends from near and far.   A sincere thank you to every person who attended my first ever national presentation—I am honored you chose to spend time with me, especially those of you who endured standing or sitting on the floor.  A special shout out to the Geek Squad team, particularly Joyce Valenza, Diane Cordell, Robin Williams, Sara Kelly Johns,  and Wendy Stephens for helping revive my dead iPhone Thursday morning, thus saving me from having a minor stroke!
• Brainstorming and Dreaming: Susan Grigsby, Diane Cordell, Francey Harris, Wendy Stephens, Laura Pearle, Alice Yucht, Dr. Ross J. Todd, Elisabeth Abarbanel, Chris Harris, Anne Zarinnia, Ernie Cox, Deb Logan, Brenda Anderson, Joyce Valenza, Doug Johnson, Michelle Fromme, Heather Hershey, Gwyneth Jones,,  Kristin Fontichiaro, and other fellow dreamers (and I apologize because I know I am inadvertently leaving names out)—what a delight to soar with you eagles!
• Social Gatherings/Networking/Bonding: the most valuable part of this conference was the informal learning and brainstorming that happened at this conference.  Getting to sit elbow to elbow with the brightest minds in our profession and with so many people whom I greatly respect and admire—the idea sharing over dinner, lunch, an evening cocktail, at the bloggers’ cafe, or on breaks between sessions was incredibly energizing, refreshing, and inspiring.

For me, this conference was truly about the people and the wisdom they brought to the conference that they so generously shared with others.   I felt like a kid playing on an All-Star team of library professionals who are dedicated to furthering this profession and helping the people that we serve.   No words can express the gratitude and humility I feel in my heart to each person with whom I was most fortunate to meet and converse, especially those whom I met for the very first time.  I will always treasure and cherish the memories I have with each of you and how much it has strengthened me professionally.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine how immensely gratifying this conference experience would be for me—it truly was a dream come true for me, and I realize with such clarity that I am indeed “livin’ the dream” every day because I get to do something I love so much and am so fortunate to be connected to people who help “fight the machine” and who “make a dent in the universe.”

Takeaways/Big Ideas That Are Simmering

• How do I help create “unconference” learning experiences for my students and for my faculty?
• A greater sense of urgency in helping create learning experiences for my students (and scaffolding teachers in this effort) that shift the focus from information gathering to the production of knowledge.
• Focusing on questions, not answers
• Helping students and teachers to embrace risk taking and to know that failure too is a learning experience
• A greater commitment to collecting student data and library program data in multiple formats and more emphasis on reflecting on the data and what it means to my practice in the field—I was inspired by both formal presentations as well as those in the bloggers’ cafe to dwell more deeply in data.
• A renewed commitment to a focus on inquiry, which foregrounded much of my teaching practice after 2002.  I want to do a better job of creating inquiry-driven units of study and research experiences for my students and teachers.  I also want to start examining transliteracy through an inquiry driven lens.
• Thinking about ways to share my practice with those not in our profession via written publications and conferences.
• Confirmation of my belief that research and theory influence practice; in turn, practice influences research and theory.

What Needs to Happen in Minneapolis in 2011?

• I personally would like to see more sessions that are research based, similar to those of the Treasure Mountain event.
• I would like for the audiocasts/screencasts as well as the keynote speeches to be available for free via uStream TV or some comparable media.
• Scrap the “B There” site and go with something simple and free, such as a wiki and/or a Ning to make it easier for people to participate and contribute.
• Consistent and fast wireless Internet access.
• As a presenter, I would like a room that is more conducive to hands on activities and conversations.  When I originally previewed the room, I was thrilled by the round tables and large screen–the room seemed friendly to some of the activities I had planned.    However, on the day I presented, I nearly fainted when I saw the room was long and narrow with “rows”—the antithesis of a “classroom” environment!  People were seated so far back that it was difficult for them to see and hear.  I think there needs to be better information for presenters when you are making a room selection—I honestly had difficulty conceptualizing the descriptions of the rooms provided.

I am already making plans to attend AASL 2011 in Minneapolis; if you have never been or if you have not been to AASL in some time, I would like to encourage you to attend.   I can’t wait to see how “conference” looks in 2011!

Filed under: AASL 2009 , aasl2009, conference, reflections

Refuting Inertness or My Response to “Where Are the Others?”

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

The October 2009 issue of School Library Journal features the article, “Things That Keep Us Up at Night” by Doug Johnson and Joyce Valenza, two library professionals who are considered by many to be among our profession’s most thoughtful and forward thinking leaders. Some readers interpreted this article as a call to action and for us as school library professionals to step up our efforts to be cognizant of the shifts in the information landscape occurring in our profession.  Johnson and Valenza feel these approaches would create a proactive approach for providing students the information literacy skills they need to fully participate in today’s world.

However, others took offense to the article, particularly the sections, “The Challenge of Keeping Ahead” and “Failing to Embrace Networked Media.” For the last two weeks,  several librarians, including me, engaged in two lengthy conversations about this question with Beth Friese, a colleague,  via Twitter over Friese’s question and subsequent discussion, “Where Are the Others?” in her response to this article over at Johnson’s Blue Skunk blog.

These ideas and concerns shared in the SLJ article are not new—they were voiced as early as  September 2007 by Valenza and by Johnson in February 2008. Both Valenza and Johnson have blogged diligently to provide strategies and solutions to these challenges, yet it seems those efforts have fallen on many a deaf ear.  It is frankly a bit stunning and disturbing to me that so many in our profession are in a real state of denial the perilous state of school librarianship in the United States.

While I feel Friese presents an articulate response, I disagree with her and some of the individuals who responded on Doug’s blog  as well as Joyce’s blog on several points, so I would like to summarize Friese’s concerns and then share my responses to those statements.

Criticism: Finger Pointing and Exclusion

Beth addresses the authors, stating, “You point your finger right at them in this piece and tell them they are dragging us down. However, they never seem to enter the conversation. Many of us think we know some of these librarians. But they are absent from the debate.” Beth also shared she felt library leaders should be encouraging those who are “behind” rather than admonishing them.

I did not read the article as reflecting a “finger wagging” attitude, but instead, as an honest and constructive assessment of the state of our profession. If you asked any school librarian if he/she knows a colleague who is stagnant and taking no initiative to be a lifelong learner, they could identify not just one, but probably several, which I find disturbing.  For every principal who may not be savvy as to what he/she should expect from his/her school library media specialist, there is one who yearns for a school library media specialist who will be a catalyst for learning and change in the building.

In addition, leaders like Johnson, Valenza, and many others have done nothing but provide ongoing encouragement and idea sharing through both social media and print journal articles to the library community.  For those who are not in school districts that are adequately resourced, a personal learning network can accomplish the same goal, and in many ways, more effectively.   There are ample opportunities for school librarians to access and apply information about the latest tools, trends, and questions for debate, but they must be sought out.

Friese also takes issue over the statement that those who are failing to change are “dragging our profession down.”  In the section, “Failure to Embrace Networked Media”, Johnson and Valenza write:

“Librarians who don’t have PLNs, don’t attend conferences, don’t read cutting-edge professional literature—from both the library and the education worlds—are dragging our profession down. And good people are going with them. Professionals who lack an understanding of the power of professional networking disturb our slumbers.”

However, Chip R.  Bell and John R. Patterson remind us in The Hazards of Culture Change that “…without needed change the organization risks losing its competitive advantage. Losing its edge makes it harder to attract and retain the best talent and resources, and in today’s economy, the death knell begins.”  In his keynote speech, “Future Proofing Your Library” at the Georgia Council of Media Organizations (COMO) on October 8, 2009 , Steven J. Bell reminded us that our accomplishments of the past will not carry us into the future.  Look at the world we live in—I do not think it is possible or feasible to try and make a convincing argument that a school librarian should not be making an effort to be technologically savvy.

Before the advent of the read/write web, most educators engaged in professional growth through college coursework, local staff development, traditional conferences, or print professional publications; as email became more commonplace, many engaged with others through list servs. While those means still exist, there are now many exciting, dynamic, and FREE means for extending your professional learning and networking with others. While many may choose to enter these conversations about school librarianship through traditional mediums, more options than ever exist to do so at a time that is just right for you and your schedule: social media/networks such as Twitter or Facebook, blogs freely available to anyone for reading at a time that works for your schedule, print publications now available through your state/public virtual library or better yet, for free on the web, Google groups, virtual conferences (many of which are archived for viewing at a time that works for you), the social bookmarking networks of others as well as groups in social bookmarking services like Diigo and free webinars that are open to anyone who chooses to participate. No where did it state in the article you have to participate in all forms of communication; instead, find an entry point and grow your means of connecting with others at a pace and with the tools that are comfortable for you.

Friese feels those in disagreement with the ideas of the Johnson and Valenza’s article are absent from the debate, but I don’t see exclusion as a reason as to why the others aren’t “here.”  Unfortunately, many have adopted the mindset that learning stops once we complete graduate school and feel they do not need additional professional growth after graduation.   Beth calls for a “culture of curiosity”, but should that culture not already been well established in school librarianship?  We must leave behind the thinking that one’s MLS or SLM program can prepare you for everything you may encounter.   While it certainly should provide a solid foundation, graduate preparation is only the beginning of your journey as a library professional.   I see ongoing growth and learning as fun and challenging, not as a dreary chore that evokes a sense of being overwhelmed or overworked.

We also cannot limit our exploration of ideas to our comfort areas of interest—we must be willing to learn more about emerging trends and ideas that may not be our first love but may be the very thing that draws in our students. I cannot stress how much my PLN has influenced my practice; for nearly two years now, I have cultivated and continue to grow my personal learning network to include experts and knowledgeable others both within the field as well as those outside of it who have so many insights to offer that help me improve my practice .  If you aren’t willing to be organic, you exclude yourself from having a place at the table of school librarianship. How can you be effective if you are not making some effort to hone your talents and knowledge?

Can we really justify inaction and a failure to model lifelong learning, particularly when we know we have a significant perception problem about what we do and how we impact a school environment? Is there really any reason for not making an effort to keep your finger on the pulse of your profession and being proactive in your practice? Is there honestly any legitimate reason for any school librarian to NOT engage in ongoing reflection through some means?

I now ask you to look at our AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learners. The sampling of skills, dispositions, and responsibilities below reflect an emphasis on networked learning and social media:

• 2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information.
• 2.1.5 Collaborate with others to exchange ideas, develop new understandings, make decisions, and solve problems.
• 3.1.2: Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
• 3.1.4: Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.
• 3.1.5 Connect learning to community issues.
• 3.3.1 Solicit and respect diverse perspectives while searching for information, collaborating with others, and participating as a member of the community.
• 3.3.3 Use knowledge and information skills and dispositions to engage in public conversation and debate around issues of common concern.
• 3.3.4 Create products that apply to authentic, real-world contexts.
• 3.3.5 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within and beyond the learning community.
• 4.1.2: Read widely and fluently to make connections with self, the world, and previous reading.
• 4.1.4: Seek information for personal learning in a variety of formats and genres.
• 4.1.6: Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily.
• 4.1.7: Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information.
• 4.2.1: Display curiosity by pursuing interests through multiple resources.
• 4.3.1: Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.
• 4.3.3: Seek opportunities for pursuing personal and aesthetic growth.

Look at the ideas and concepts in these standards related to networked and connected learning.   It sounds an awful lot like inquiry and using social media to accomplish these tasks to me.  How can you teach what you do not practice?

Last but not least, numerous groups continue to sound the warning bell for the importance of positing transliteracy as an essential literacy. You can read more about my thoughts and reactions to the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy at my blog post here, but in a nutshell, transliteracy is becoming the new cultural capital. While no one is saying to throw out the practices that work, the report does concur with Johnson and Valenza’s assertion that we must put the needs of today’s learners first. Recommendation 6 warns:

“It may be tempting for teachers and administrators who are themselves uncomfortable with new media to view digital and media competencies as “add-ons” to basic learning in “reading, writing and, arithmetic.” These competencies are, however, new forms of foundational learning. The consequences of neglecting this challenge can be dire. Students who are deeply immersed in the world of online communication outside of school may find classrooms [and hence, school libraries] that marginalize new technologies both tedious and irrelevant.”

Too many school librarians dismiss these kinds of literacies as fleeting and see them as irrelevant. They scoff at the conversations we attempt to have about networked learning, the emergence of social scholarship, and the need to teach our students ways to harness the power of social media. Are our schools providing our students the advantage through well-rounded information literacy instruction and learning activities that value digital and media literacy? Or do we privilege traditional literacies at the expense of this cultural capital our students need? As leaders in our school communities, a role we should be embracing, let us blaze the trail to create a culture of inquiry that encourages students to use these literacies as a lens for understanding more deeply how multiple kinds of texts function within our society. Who better to wave the banner for transliteracy than school librarians?

Criticism: Barriers

Beth identifies what she perceives to be a list of obstacles and roadblocks to change that she feels may explain why school librarians may not cultivate a personal learning network.

• basic internet access

• aging collections

• fixed scheduling

• no paraprofessional support

• outrageous student to library staff ratio

• test scores dictate instruction

• money to travel to conferences no longer exists

• filtering reigns

• they may face administrators who don’t support them

• teachers with no time to collaborate

• few obvious opportunities to develop whatever a PLN is

Some feel that these concerns are not shared by what Jim Randolph (Teacher Ninja) identifies as “first wave adopters”.   Are more progressive librarians immune from these challenges?  It is naïve to think that librarians who are considered ahead of the curve don’t worry about these challenges and/or face them in their library environment; the difference is that some of us choosing to not let these circumstances or barriers define who are or what we do as librarians.   We instead try to see these challenging situations and times as an opportunity to innovate,  not to dwell on the things we cannot do.

These are topics that should be of concern to every school library media specialist in the test driven culture and economically challenged times we work in.  They are not reasons, though, to fail to innovate and keep up.  I try to be very transparent about the challenges I face through my blog (many of which are on this list above); however, I also endeavor to demonstrate that there are obstacles and may also get discouraged at times, If I throw up my hands and give up, how can I hope to achieve the goals and vision I have for the library program if I don’t chip away at the problem?  I do believe that with continued and consistent efforts to educate and nurture decision and policy makers, I can slowly but surely eliminate barriers to change.  I also must be willing to challenge my thinking, seek out others who can help me analyze the obstacles from multiple perspectives, and also be willing to take risks to try and effect authentic change.  Our times call for “true grit” and our willingness to keep getting up even if we get knocked down more than once.

These concerns lead to the ideas of advocacy and leadership, which are addressed by Johnson and Valenza in the article. We have to remember that our efforts to tear down these barriers are about what is best for our students. At the end of the day, it’s really not about you, the school librarian.  Instead, we must keep our focus on what is best for students.  We cannot sit around and indulge in self-pity and endless complaining about the challenges we face.  Instead, we can choose to identify the problems and campaign for effective solutions that will provide the best possible learning environment for our students. We cannot sit and wait for someone to save us; we must save ourselves through grass-roots advocacy and effective marketing of our library programs.

School library advocate and “Washington Mom” Lisa Layera Brunkan reminded us at the School Library Journal Summit in October 2009 that our advocacy efforts should be focused on how these obstacles and cuts affect students; if we do not collect the appropriate data, demonstrate how we make a difference through transparent means (i.e. social media), cultivate our presence as one that is “indispensable” in our building, then we will continue to see the erosion and marginalization of our roles. Sara Kelley Johns, former AASL president and 2010 ALA presidential candidate outlined our roles as leaders at the SLJ Summit, asserting that “We have to be the leaders in the building whether they acknowledge us or not!”

Rather than seeing ourselves as victims who are helpless, we must work together to find creative solutions to the obstacles Beth has identified in her response. For those who feel powerless, engaging in creating a personal learning network can connect them others around the world who have faced similar challenges and found ways to overcome these seemingly insurmountable odds. Johns also reminds us that,

“Advocacy rests on solid programs—we may have good programs now, but we have to be learners ourselves. All of us need to be learners—whatever we can do to foster the most effective learning to students among our fellow librarians is one librarian’s mantra.”

The marvelous and brutally honest blog post, “Embracing Obstacles” from the Brand Builder Blog, offers many pearls of wisdom for dealing with barriers. I encourage you to read the blog post in its entirety, but Oliver Blanchard offers this perspective on how we should view and deal with obstacles:

Great project managers aren’t just natural multi-taskers. They’re also natural strategic masterminds. Improvisation kings (and queens). Crisis jugglers. Fearless creative acrobats. Their job (their nature) is to constantly find and implement solutions to problems, foreseen and not. Their job is to embrace hurdles and obstacles, because each one brings them one step closer to their goal. They thrive on making things happen. The more untraveled the road, the better. The more complex the gameboard, the better.
It takes a special kind of person to be able to a) do that kind of work well, and b) love every minute of it.  It isn’t for everybody. Excuses and blame don’t exist in this little world. There’s only what you did and what you didn’t do.  Sometimes, even the best laid plans just go awry.  For most people, that’s not a good thing…and for some of us, that’s when the real fun begins.

Are we not project managers? The AASL Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs has added leader to our list of roles we play in our learning communities. How can you lead if you are not making an active effort to keep up with what is happening in the field and taking proactive measures to adapt? I am a firm believer in leading by example, and we cannot lead for our students, teachers, administrators, or parents if we are allowing perceived obstacles to impede us from our mission. Are you that special kind of person who leads and advocates for your library program in the face of these challenges? Are you what Stephen Walker defines as an “A” librarian who innovates in spite of adversity?  Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson remind us in The Hazards of Leading Culture Change that “Planned change takes courage and tenacity.”

Criticism:  2.0 Is Not Our Brand

Friese writes, “ Our brand really can’t be social media. It can’t be databases. It can’t be 2.0. Not only will these things fade away, they exclude large parts of our profession from participation. I’d rather adopt our brand as “cultivating curiosity.” That will stand the test of time. And it’s something we can all gather around the table and talk about pushing toward.”

Based on our AASL Standards for 21st Century Learners, it seems to me that we should have already adopted and been cultivating a brand of inquiry and curiosity.   Are our library school programs instilling this value and mindset in students? Are there any legitimate reasons as to why every librarian would not already have this stance to some degree?

Secondly, I don’t think Joyce identifies any one of these “things” as our brand although I feel there is really no argument that they are indeed elements of our brand for now.   Go look at the manifesto linked in the article (and please note that every reader was invited to contribute) —does it look as though it is focused on single item to you? To me, that answer is no. Instead, the manifesto identifies critical issues that we must address and include as part of our library programs. And if you don’t agree with the brand, what would you add? Again, the invitation to engage and contribute is there, but if you aren’t participating, can you really complain?

You can be excluded only if you allow yourself to be by choice. If you choose to not join the conversations that are taking place in many spaces, then yes, you will be excluded.

Final Thoughts

Many of us interact with media specialists who are just in the process of cultivating their personal learning networks. I think we all make an effort to welcome the new voices and provide encouragement to those who want and ask for help—I won’t identify names for fear of omitting anyone, but I can identify several school librarians that I have helped through f2f interaction, Twitter, Gmail chat, and emails. The encouragement Beth prefers has been in place and continues to be there, but school librarians have to be willing to take those first steps to get started on the journey.  You cannot be helped if you are not willing to help yourself.

Jim Randolph mentioned my visit to his class (my alma mater, I might add, the University of Georgia) and stated that while he enjoyed the visit, some were overwhelmed by the information I was asked to deliver. While some may have reacted to the presentation in that manner, I can attest there were those who listened to my advice to start with one piece of the puzzle at the time and who have started sowing seeds of advocacy and leadership in their practice; never did I say that my practice was ideal or something that happened overnight. I can assure you any good I have done in my school is the result of hard work, persistence, and an unwavering belief that my library program does have relevance.   No one else is going to believe you and your work are relevant if you don’t believe yourself.

I don’t consider myself an exceptional librarian by any stretch of the imagination, but I do consider myself a learning and information professional who tries to embody the qualities of Librarian 2.0. I also try to convey I have miles to go in my growth and practice, but through ongoing reflection and assessment, I can feel confident that I am taking the right steps to be a lifelong learner. I think if we approach our “work” as play and joyful learning, then perhaps we might be better able to follow Seth Godin’s directive to “Stop trying to be perfect and start being remarkable!”

Doug Johnson concludes the blog post by asking these questions, “Do we owe an apology to those who struggle in silence? How can we give a voice to those who choose not to network?”

If you believe that constructive criticism is part of ongoing self-assessment and a key to growth, then the answer is no. If anyone is owed an apology, it is the students who are not getting the instruction and library program they deserve because they happen to be in a school in which their school librarian who chooses, for whatever reasons, to not at least make the effort to implement a library program that is responsive and proactive.  No one disagrees that each person will adopt these practices in different ways—we can celebrate that, but there is nothing to celebrate about those who won’t even make the effort to move forward.

As for the question about giving a voice to those who choose not to network, only they can give themselves a voice by choosing to participate in the community discussion rather than standing on the sidelines.  In conclusion, it is my firm belief that no one can “give” you your voice. You must find it yourself and then be willing to share it with others so that we may all learn and work toward moving our profession forward.

“Where Are the Others” is not really a question I think is most important.   Instead, I think this question is what we each need to ask ourselves as school librarians:

What will you do with your voice?

Filed under: Issues, Library 2.0, SLM Issues, librarianship, social media, social networking , Library 2.0, librarianship, Doug Johnson, change, leadership, personal learning networks, librarian 2.0, school librarianship, Joyce Valenza, Advocacy, debate, technology, professional growth, Beth Friese, obstacles

GALILEO Gold 2009 Reflections

On Friday, I attended the GALILEO Gold Conference held on the beautiful campus of my alma mater, The University of Georgia.  In addition to being inspired and informed by the sessions I attended, I enjoyed hanging out with friend and new fellow media specialist Roxanne Johnson as well as another cherished friend and colleague, Dr. Bob Fernekes from Georgia Southern University.  I also enjoyed seeing other librarian friends as well as making new ones at the conference—I love the personal interaction with people at conferences.

While there were many highlights of the day for me, the brightest was getting to hear and meet Helene Blowers, one of my library heroes.  I have followed her work for about a year now, and her ability to “think outside the box” and to look at libraries and librarianship through her unique lens never ceases to amaze or inspire me.  Getting to talk to her was truly a “Hallmark” moment in my life as a librarian!

If you have not had the privilege of seeing her in person, I hope you do because she is a dynamic speaker who knows how to communicate and connect with an audience.  In addition, she creates beautiful slidedecks that build upon the principal of minimal text with a key visual image.

Ideas that stood out to me from Helene’s keynote speech:

• “A lot of what we offer is for knowledge consumption.     Libraries can start to shift; shift from knowledge consumption to knowledge production.   How are we encouraging the production and sharing of new knowledge in our communities?   That is where we can start to make the shift.”—I am really thinking hard right now about knowledge production and sharing in my library program.  In school libraries, we are focused on knowledge consumption and disseminating knowledge, but how do we bring the element of knowledge building into the program?  I think one way is to put more focus in incorporating the end products created by students in our collaborative research projects into our library wikis and research pathfinders.  I know that Joyce Valenza has done this with a ning for student video productions; I am envisioning a tangent wiki for my library in which students will upload their end products, and I can organize them by teacher, research project, and date.   I also want to use http://www.lulu.com/ and Blurb to help our students self-publish their work—imagine adding original student work to the library catalog!
• Mobile services: Helene reinforced my belief that we as school librarians need to start exploring ways to tap into the power of cell phones and other mobile devices.  Helene believes this is where the future is and presented a compelling argument as to why libraries need to look at mobile devices as our “distribution center” for content.

You can see my notes from the keynote speech as well as the first session that I attended, “A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste–Reinventing Your Library When the Chips are Down”, at http://theunquietlibrarian.wikispaces.com/galileogold.  I took my notes using CoverItLive and embedded the liveblogging code into wikispaces (since it does not work in WordPress.com, sniff!).

While I enjoyed my other sessions, the afternoon highlight was Courtney McGough’s session on the amazing new GALILEO Toolbar!  Please see my post on the GALILEO toolbar for more info.

Overall, I enjoyed my first GALILEO Gold Conference!  In addition to providing a world class speaker and informative sessions, the conference  was affordable ($30) and participants were treated to a delicious lunch as well as numerous snacks.  I recommend that any librarian in Georgia attend next year’s GALILEO Gold!

Filed under: Conference News , GALILEO, GALILEO Gold, GALILEO Gold 2009, GALILEO toolbar, Helene Blowers

The Unquiet Library: make the connection—learning to play, playing to learn

This past Wednesday, I was given the opportunity by my principal, Dr. Bob Eddy, to speak to our faculty about my vision, philosophy, and goals for my library program for 2009-10.  While I am proud of the progress and growth of my library program since its birth three years ago, I feel we are on the verge of a breakout year in terms of making some significant and innovative strides in instruction and program initiatives.

During my setup of my laptop, the teachers picked up their goody bags, some GALILEO flyers, the databases/subscription service handout, and a vial of bubbles with a wand.

I began the presentation with a few housekeeping tasks—a quick discussion of new databases, magazines, and other purchases.  Most importantly, I had the honor of introducing my new media specialist, Roxanne Johnson.  Roxanne and I first met about ten years ago when she was the librarian at Sixes Elementary in our district, and I was her technology specialist.  She is one of the individuals who inspired me to become a school librarian, so it is truly an honor to now have the opportunity to work with someone of her experience and her knowledge!

I then talked briefly about the challenges we face as libraries and educational institutions.  Inspired by a May post from Helene Blowers, I then showed this video while asking our staff to substitute the word “libraries” or “teachers” for “entrepreneurs.”

I then shared an article from the newest issue of Fast Company about Jeff Bezos and discussed how he is stealing pages from the playbook of Apple; I stated that is what we should be doing as librarians and educators—borrowing pages from the playbooks of successful businesses who innovate and break the mold.   In the article, Bezos is quoted as saying that failure to evolve is dangerous; so goes it with with schools and school libraries.  With that, I then launched into my presentation and bubble talk.

I used my slides as talking points referencing different events and examples to support those talking points.

I also referenced my mindmap of my library vision and program during the presentation (although I wish there had been more time!).

After Slide 16 in my presentation, I took up a bottle of bubble solution and blew a single bubble with an ordinary wand.  After slides 17-18, I took my handheld bubble machine  with four nodes and created about 500 bubbles in 60 seconds to represent how student learning can take off with access to multiple sources of information (traditional and emerging social media) with the help of the librarian and well constructed research pathfinders.

After slide 19, I instructed the teachers to take their vials and blow bubbles!  Faculty were smiling, laughing, pointing, conversing—I then stated that this represented how learning can look if all faculty in all departments are supporting information literacy/fluency (which is no longer an optional literacy) by using research as a learning tool and collaborating with the library.

As everyone laughed and engaged in conversation, I pointed out that people were enjoying blowing the bubbles so much that they didn’t want to stop.  I stated that through collaboration with the library and the use of a wide range of information sources and learning tools, together we could create this kind of learning experience via research in which students would not want to stop and would want to learn.

After the final slides, we then had the moment everyone awaited—door prizes!  Teachers had to look beneath their theater seats for the winning sticky notes!  I awarded three prizes:  a $25 gift card good at several restaurants, a $25 Books a Million gift card (we just got one about 10 miles from the school), and a $10 iTunes gift card.  These seemed to be a big hit, naturally!

Overall, I feel the talk was well received—as soon as I finished, one teacher immediately came up and said he wanted to utilize the library more this year.   Several others sent emails or came by to say how much they loved the presentation even if they didn’t understand all of the ideas just yet and wanted to know/do/learn more.

With Dr. Eddy’s express vocal support at the meeting and this presentation, I feel I have the right tone to help move our library program forward in becoming a more effective change agent and learning commons in our school.  I feel that we will be doing more risk-taking in using more web 2.0 tools for learning and putting connectivism front and center as our foundation for creating the information fluent student (and teacher, too!).

My own continued professional growth as a librarian fuels my desire to create meaningful learning experiences that ignite people’s passions  and to open new doors of learning.  I feel that my ever-expanding concept of today’s school library and my Media 21 project (which embodies all the concept of the presentation and the mindmap) are going to be the cornerstones of taking The Unquiet Library to new heights of learning and making the library a player with a deeper impact in our school.

I must once more thank the amazing Helene Blowers for giving me permission to use her idea of bubbles and play and to adapt it for my purposes of the presentation to the faculty.   I am looking forward to hearing this personal library hero tomorrow at my alma mater, The University of Georgia, as she is the keynote speaker for our annual GALILEO Gold Conference!

I also want to thank my friends in my PLN for your words of encouragement and support as I have stuffed goody bags, contemplated surprises, and then experienced the normal pre-presentation angst of, “Will they like it?  Will they get what I’m trying to say?”  You all know you are the best!!!

Coming up in the blog:  book lurking at Target and a Media 21 update!

Filed under: Advocacy, Library 2.0, librarianship , Advocacy, bubbles, connectivism, information literacy, learning, Media 21, mindmap, play, presentation, Unquiet Library

Research to Challenge Our Assumptions About Teens, Media, Social Media, and Digital Divides

If you work with teens (or tweens) on a daily basis as I do, then you will want to read two important documents that came my way via Google Reader and my personal learning network.

The first resource, courtesy of Helen Blowers’ blog, has just been released from Nielsen and is entitled “How Teens Use Media”.  While there are many surprising findings in this study, the study also includes data that has implications for us as librarians who work with young adults:

• Social networks play an increasingly important role (about half of
  U.S. teens use Facebook) and now many teens access the Web over their phones (37% in the U.S).  How are we using social networks and which social networks are we using to reach out to teens?  How can we work with our school/district administrators and our vendors to develop applications that will help push our library resources to teens via their mobile phones?
• YouTube is their most popular source for online videos, yet it is still blocked in the majority of school districts.  What if we had freedom to allow our students to experience the educational and engaging videos available through YouTube during the school day?  I become frustrated when students can’t access that great news video from the Associated Press because the YouTube channel is blocked.  As we have a growing body of terrific resources, including Library of Congress, Smithsonian, and federal government agencies as well as educational materials via YouTube.edu and CitizenTube, we need to be able to provide our students access to these videos without having to get special passwords or permission.  In addition, unlimited access to YouTube would bolster our efforts to create library YouTube channels for book videos, tutorials, and screencasts.
• According to this study, “Sixty-seven percent of teen social
  networkers say they update their page at least once a week. And teens look to their social networks for much more than gossip and photo-sharing: to teens, social networks are a key source of information
  and advice in a critical developmental period: 57% of teen social networkers said they looked to their online social network for advice, making them 63% more likely to do this than the typical social networker.”  This finding has significant implications for the importance of teaching students how to use social networks responsibly and ethically.  Teens need instruction on the concept of digital footprints and information evaluation, skills that are even more important in light of this finding.
• 83% of the teens in the survey use their mobile phones for text messaging.  I need to be able to use my OPAC to send overdue notices or library announcements via a text message.   Right now, privacy policies adopted by many school districts impede our ability to do just this, or student information management systems are not designed to provide timely yet secure email/mobile phone information about our patrons.  The study notes, “As teens around the world continue to
  adopt mobile phones, mobile media and messaging, marketers will be paying attention.”  Does this  include library service vendors and those who make acceptable use policy decisions?

The second reading I encourage you to ponder is “The Not-So-Hidden-Politics of Class Online” by noted researcher danah boyd.   I follow danah boyd on Twitter and via her blog; I  have been fascinated by her work since discovering her about six months ago; this particular document came to my attention thanks to fabulous librarian Jessamyn West.  This document, her  notes/talking points  for an actual talk she just gave on June 30, explores the socioeconomic divide of users in social networks; in this talk, she focuses specifically on Facebook and MySpace.

Like Ms. West, I was struck by these statements from danah boyd:

For decades, we’ve assumed that inequality in relation to technology has everything to do with “access” and that if we fix the access problem, all will be fine. This is the grand narrative of concepts like the “digital divide.” Yet, increasingly, we’re seeing people with similar levels of access engage in fundamentally different ways. And we’re seeing a social media landscape where participation “choice” leads to a digital reproduction of social divisions. This is most salient in the States which is intentionally the focus of my talk here today.

There is nothing I can say here that will substitute for your taking 10-15 minutes or so to read this significant work.    As our nation grapples with the divide that still exists between ethnic and socioecnomic groups and the ramifications of that divide, so too does it play out in social worlds.   boyd obeserves:

In many ways, the Internet is providing a next generation public sphere. Unfortunately, it’s also bringing with it next generation divides. The public sphere was never accessible to everyone. There’s a reason than the scholar Habermas talked about it as the bourgeois public sphere. The public sphere was historically the domain of educated, wealthy, white, straight men. The digital public sphere may make certain aspects of public life more accessible to some, but this is not a given. And if the ways in which we construct the digital public sphere reinforce the divisions that we’ve been trying to break down, we’ve got a problem.

What does this mean to use as librarians?  Obviously, we want to teach students digital ethics as they use social networks and to use information to make decisions based on facts, not stereotypes or misinformation.  On a larger scale, though, boyd is urging us to look at social media (and I think to help our students as well) to examine the use of social media with a critical eye.

Her findings also have implications for the way we use social media to reach out to our students and parents.

So as we think about creating public spaces, what’s the meeting point for our conversations? Is it MySpace or Facebook? Twitter or IRC? What you choose matters. Where you and your colleagues hang out matters. The “voices” of the Internet that you get are biased by the people who are in the places that you hang out. But do you know this? Do you account for it? Are you working to represent all people or just the people that you can see and hear? When you’re trying to reach out to people, are you trying to reach out to all people or just the people in the environments that you understand? Are you embracing difference or are you only taking into account that with which you are comfortable?

These two readings are reminders that we need to think critically about how we are using social media and to be more aware of whom we may be including or excluding with the use of that social media.  This is the digital divide you may not realize exists, but it is just as important as the divide of equitable access.

I urge all of you who are educators or school librarians to take some time to read these two reports ; I would love to hear your thoughts and reflections on these readings!

Filed under: Challenges, Issues, SLM Issues, Web 2.0, social networking , class, danah boyd, digital divide, librarians, nielsen, research, social media, teens