Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way: Library 2.0, The Concept of Authority, and Social Scholarship

There is an old cliche that says, “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.”

Over the last year, I have been focused on trees.  Those trees have consisted of web 2.0 tools and how to incorporate those web 2.0 tools into my library program and information literacy instruction.  Those trees have included things like social bookmarking (del.icio.us), RSS, wikis, Google Scholar, Google Books, Pageflakes, podcasts, vodcasts, and blogging (of course!) to name just a few.  The buzzword “Library 2.0″ seems to be on the radar of many school library media specialists these days thanks to pioneers like Joyce Valenza.  As Joyce pointed out in her September 27 blog post, “Shift [has] happened.  Our response is not optional.“   She points out the urgency of librarians recognizing the shifting landscape of our profession,  observing:

I am seeing a huge librarian divide between the 2.0-type library folks and those who are barely 1.0.  I am worried.I am worried about many of the librarians across the state, and in programs like ours in other states.  What happens when the tech coach comes in new to the school?  What happens when the librarian finds him/herself far less trained for integration than the newly trained, newly empowered tech coach?  What happens when a librarian and a library program cannot even demonstrate awareness of the shifts in the information landscape? 

Joyce also included comments from participants in the Classrooms for the Future “Boot Camp”:

My librarian doesn’t get it.  She is only interested in quiet and books.  She doesn’t let the kids work together. She could never create an online pathfinder.  She never told me about Creative Commons or open source. Does she even know about that stuff? My librarian won’t event let the kids use Wikipedia.  Help teachers with 2.0 applications? Are you kidding?  My librarian is afraid of blogs and podcasts and wikis. 

As many of you know, Joyce’s concept of “Web 2.0 Meets Information Fluency” is truly visionary—if you haven’t read it, put this article on your “must read” list right NOW.

In two weeks, I am teaching a class about valid or authoritative resources (which is slated to look at traditional sources, web 2.0 tools, and of course, Wikipedia).  We all know that we want our students and patrons to use authoritative sources.  Heavens knows that I have done my share of hand wringing and worrying (quietly and vocally!) as we have tried to convince our students there is another world of information outside the Googlesphere.   Many of us have expressed concern about students perceiving Wikipedia as an authoritative source and their underdeveloped website evaluation skills.

Lately, though, I have been thinking long and hard about what exactly constitutes an authoritative source in our web 2.0 world.  We all know from experience as researchers and school library students about traditional and long revered authoritative sources:  reference books, scholarly journals, research databases.  We know the power of those resources from firsthand experience. Yet I also know from personal experience in the last year that I have found incredible sources of information and a wealth of knowledge through web 2.0 tools like blogs and del.icio.us. 

As I was rereading Joyce’s article on “Web 2.0 Meets Information Fluency” last week in preparation for the course I’m teaching, I could not help but start thinking again about how web 2.0 intersects with authoritative sources of information and how they are shaping that concept of “authority.” Other events that have prompted me to revisit my concept of what falls under the umbrella of authoritative sources include: 

• Various blog entries I have read by other librarians and scholars
• E-conversations with colleagues
• Podcasts and vodcasts by other librarians and information literacy gurus
• My own experiences in designing pathfinders for research with our students ( as well as pathfinders I’ve designed for my 11th grades students I teach at our district evening school).

While doing some research on library 2.0 this weekend, I happened upon a blog by newly retired academic librarian Laura Cohen and her entries about social scholarship. What started as a research effort about library 2.0 and additional resources I could share in my class turned into a whole new research endeavor about social scholarship, digital scholarship, and the concept of Authority 3.0. 

In the first blog post I read by Ms. Cohen, this quote from Leigh Dodds, Chief Technology Officer of the scholarly publisher Ingenta, jumped off the screen: 

Web 2.0 makes it easier for anyone to publish information online, and search engines make content more easily findable. But how do users know what information is authoritative? Do they even understand what “authoritative” means? And who defines that something is “authoritative” in the first place?

In scholarly publishing, the peer review process is an indicator of quality. But as content is increasingly mashed-up, syndicated and blogged in many different locations, how do users differentiate between peer reviewed content, and “user generated content”? And is there a natural progression from the creative chaos of Wikipedia, through the “gentle expert oversight” of Citizendium to, ultimately, the closed rigorous approach of double-blind peer review?

You can see Ms. Cohen’s excellent presentation here at Slideshare.

So what does social scholarship have to do with “Library 2.0″? 

In a word, everything.

Scholar Michael Jensen outlines what he sees as Authority 3.0 that he feels will come to pass in 10-15 years:  a whole new matrix or set of matrices that will influence scholarly authority.  You can read his June 2007 full article here at The Chronicle  of Higher Education, but in short, he feels resources like blogs, wikis, and other web 2.0 tools will change the landscape of authoritative sources.  

Why should we care about these concepts?  What do they have to do with us as school librarians?

First, we have to be able to see this “forest”.  I have been focused on the web 2.0 trees, but it is just in the last few months that I’ve started to see the “forest”—the implications of how these web 2.0 tools ARE shaping the information world and what counts as an authoritative source.  I haven’t even jumped into GALILEO yet to research these ideas, and look at how much knowledge I have already gleaned from blogs of respected scholars and librarians!  Can we not assume the same will be, if not already to some extent, true for our students? 

As Laura Cohen observes in her blog post, “Information Literacy in the Age of Social Scholarship”,

Blogs are also used to discuss matters that never make it into the journal or monographic literature, or even into magazine columns - and therefore their great value. In any case, you’re among the critical mass of individuals who read blogs as an important part of your professional engagement.

What do these web 2.0 tools really mean for our students?  My primary focus has been using these tools to help facilitate information to our students, but now I see my focus must shift to thinking about how these tools will be actual information sources for my students and teaching them how to evaluate them.  Does this mean I abandon my beloved databases and other reliable sources of information, such as books?  No, but I would be putting my head in the sand to ignore the fact that web 2.0 is changing the landscape of scholarship even as I write this blog post. 

In her blog post, “Resistance is Futile“, Laura Cohen discusses an article from Information Week that goes to the very heart of why being Librarian 2.0 is a necessity, not an option:

The article in question is titled “Resistance is Futile Fatal.” Yes, you read that right, strikeout and all. You can read it online. The article states, plainly enough, that “Today’s social networking and digital content sites are shaping IT users’ expectations and experiences for years to come….Businesses must take a longer-term view of these emerging applications and recognize that they’re being driven by forces that are more likely to gain momentum than die out. Rather than fight the inevitable, business technology managers must start exploring ways to leverage the new digital content ecosystem to meet their companies’ objectives.“

Substitute “libraries” for “businesses” and this statement sounds familiar to those of us advocating for changes in the information culture of libraries. And did I see the word “must”? Dare to suggest in the library world that these changes are imperative and you need to duck for cover.

She concludes with this observation:

Our profession, as a whole, still hasn’t taken much of this seriously. How routinely do we use social networking to practice our profession? …I’m bringing all this up to make a point: as the information culture changes around us, the pressures for us to make wise use of this culture in our own practice will grow. Is resistance futile, or truly fatal? You tell me.

I have always felt “Library 2.0″ and “Librarian 2.0″ are not passing fads, but instead, concepts that describe how our profession should be and is changing to reflect the world around us and the needs of our users.  While we may struggle with the challenge of keeping up with these dizzying changes, we have to make the effort to do so. 

My research this weekend has truly been a revelation.  While I have heard and read all kinds of articles about web 2.0 and “Library 2.0″, this is the first I’ve really heard of “social scholarship”, “digital scholarship”, and “Authority 3.0″.  Yes, I have been blogging, and yes, I have been using del.icio.us with our students as a pathfinder tool.  Yes, I have experimented with wikis with our students.  I truly thought I was on my way to being a “Librarian 2.0″!

However,  I see now that what I have been doing is not enough.  I share my findings with you to help us all rethink and reenvision the concepts of “authority” and “authoritative research.”  Is it messy?  Yes.  Does the shifting landscape of web 2.0 require us to be open to redefining what we always held to be true?  Yes. 

If you think that perhaps the concept of social scholarship is mere rhetoric, I challenge you to “Google” terms like social scholarship or Authority 3.0.  Once I started digging this weekend, I was astonished at what I found.  As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t even yet had the chance to research these concepts through GALILEO, but stay tuned…I will bookmark anything I find there to http://del.icio.us/theunquietlibrary/social.scholarship.  My  mind is still reeling even as I write this post, and I know I have barely scratched the surface.   Take a look at this person’s “Dissertation 2.0″—a Pageflakes mashup of digital scholarship! Be sure to visit the actual link as my “Kwuot” capture didn’t quite get the “live” version of the screencast).

Pageflakes - Lisa Spiro’s Digital Humanities Research Portal via kwout

Laura Cohen goes on to warn us that, “Authoritative bias is messy. It’s not as clear-cut as peer review vs. popular publishing. Its metrics have yet to be figured out. But the neat little world of beware-of-bias is fast disappearing. Information literacy needs to acknowledge this, and train students to watch for the train coming around the bend.”

Cohen also warns us that we must be open to change and to rethink how we define authority:

Library 2.0: An Academic’s Perspective: Information Literacy in the Age of Social Scholarship via kwout

How do we do this?  Cohen cites these strategies and action steps:

• Make students aware of the emergence of social scholarship.
• Teach students about Authority 3.0 - or whatever you want to call it. Alert them to the expanding world of scholarly communication.
• In conjunction with this, abandon of the notion that there is a clear distinction between traditional peer-reviewed authority and authority derived from social scholarship. To put this another way, introduce the notion that there are emerging metrics of authority that can be derived from social scholarship.
• Use social tools (blogs, wikis, forums, social bookmarking, etc.) as part of the research process in their courses.
• Assign readings from authoritative blogs in the research areas students are asked to explore.
• Practice social scholarship, and show these activities as examples of what’s on the horizon.
• Incorporate this new material in tutorials on their library’s Web site.

I am not advocating we abandon our traditional sources and ideas about authority and authoritative resources.  Instead, I am asking us all to think about if we as individuals and as  a group are being responsive to the needs of our patrons, needs that are rooted in the world around all of us.  We are already fighting to show our legislators that we make a difference;  in some communities, the challenge to show the validity and importance of today’s librarian spills even into the classrooms as we try to bring our teachers, students, and administrators into the world of Learning 2.0 and Library 2.0.   Here is a golden opportunity to seize the moment to lead and become an even more integral part of learning in our schools.

We cannot wait for change to envelop us.  Now is the time for us to be more proactive than ever and to be part of the change, not a mere spectator.

Buffy Hamilton, Ed.S.
Media Specialist, Creekview High School
http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com
http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com  

My Letter to Representative Coleman

Dear Representative Coleman: 

I would like to respectfully request that you include media specialists in the proposed HB 157 legislation that would allow certain groups of educators to return to full time employment and collect full retirement benefits under certain conditions. 

Quite frankly, I am shocked we would be excluded from this legislation.  Information literacy is no longer an “optional” aspect of a child’s education; it is imperative that today’s students acquire and hone these skills in order to be prepared for post-secondary education and today’s workforce.   More importantly, one must have information literacy in order to effectively participate in our democratic society. 

What do media specialists do?  I assure you we do more than “check out books”!  I arrive before most teachers do, and I am usually one of the last to leave.  I do not get a planning period or a fixed lunch; most days I am lucky to eat while I work at my computer at the circulation desk or between classes that we are teaching.   Whether I am teaching a group of ninth graders how to access information through a research database, helping an individual child master a technology skill, or collaborating with our teachers to develop lessons that we will deliver together to our students, I *TEACH* all day long, every day.  In fact, I was voted “Teacher of the Month” in September of 2006 at my school and was a finalist for Teacher of the Year this year.  I tied for 2nd place for the 2006 Golden Apple Teacher Award  in my school, an award voted on by teachers.  Many media specialists in our state have been recognized as “Teacher of the Year” in their schools and their districts!

This legislation implies that we are not “worthy” of the same benefits as classroom teachers.  I can assure you that I work just as hard, if not harder, as a high school media specialist than I did as a classroom secondary English teacher (and that was pretty darn hard!).  We as media specialists teach just as classroom teachers do and work with many learners day in and day out in our libraries.  I might also add that you have to have at least a master’s degree to even *BE* a media specialist—this is not a requirement for classroom teachers!  In fact, I have a M.Ed. and Ed.S. that I earned in person from the University of Georgia, the only School Library Media program in Georgia to earn AASL accreditation.  

Qualified and talented media specialists are more important than ever in this age where information literacy is a requirement, not an option!  We are at the heart of learning in Georgia’s schools.   There are numerous research studies that show media specialists and effective school library media programs are correlated to increased student achievement.  Here are some resources that have just a sampling of the evidence of how we impact achievement:

• http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/resourceguides/studentachievement.cfm 
• http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin178.shtml
• http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/tltoolkit/what_works/works_v31_1.html
• http://www.ala.org/ala/aaslbucket/AASLNCLBbrochureweb.pdf

I believe my fellow faculty and administration would attest to how vital I am to my school as the media specialist.  If you want to see what I do, I invite you to visit:

• The website I maintain for our media program:  http://webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us/creekview-hs/mediacenter
• Our library blog:  http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com
• My Media 21 blog at http://buffyhamiltonmedia21.wordpress.com  —our district provides specialized technology training for us just as they do classroom teachers in Teach 21.  In fact, I am actually an instructor of technology classes for classroom teachers in our district!

I will only be 51 when I am eligible to retire—this legislation would be an incentive for me to extend my career as a K-12 educator and would enable me to afford to work in a rural district where qualified school library media specialists are always in demand.   

I am a leader, a shaker, and a mover in my school who is passionate about teaching and learning as a media specialist.    We as media specialists are always on the leading edge of new innovations in education and teaching strategies. I urge you to please include school library media specialists in this legislation so that children in Georgia can not only have access to highly qualified classroom teachers who may come out of retirement, but also to highly qualified school library media specialists as well. 

Thank you for listening to my concerns and considering my request.

Respectfully,

Buffy J. Hamilton, Ed.S.
Creekview High School
1550 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA  30115
770-720-7600, x. 253

buffy.hamilton@cherokee.k12.ga.us
http://webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us/creekview-hs/mediacenter
http://webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us/creekview-hs/buffyhamilton 

HB 157: Retirement Legislation That EXCLUDES Media Specialists!

I was quite disturbed to learn of proposed legislation that would exclude media specialists from proposed retirement legislation.  According to Betsy Razza, our GLMA Legislative “liaison” and “advocate”, HB 157  would allow:

… a retired teacher to return to full-time employment and continue to collect his or her full retirement benefit.  A certified teacher is defined in this bill as teaching pre-kindergarten through grade 12 employed by the public schools who has as his or her primary sole responsibility the academic instruction of students in a classroom.

An update we received this evening stated that counselors and media specialists (I guess because we are “S” or service personnel and not perceived as vital as classroom teachers?) were excluded to “save money.”  Sources with PAGE and GLMA believe that counselors will be included, but media specialists are still excluded.  

To view the proposed legislation:    
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2007_08/fulltext/hb157.htm

To even consider excluding us is shocking, insulting, and infuriating to me.  I arrive before most teachers do, and I am usually one of the last to leave.  I do not get a planning period or a fixed lunch; most days I am lucky to eat while I work at my computer at the circulation desk or between classes that we are teaching.  I might also add that you have to have at least a master’s degree to even *BE* a media specialist—this is not a requirement for classroom teachers!

This legislation implies that we are not “worthy” of the same benefits as teachers.  I can assure you that I work just as hard, if not harder, as a high school media specialist than I did as a classroom teacher (and that was pretty darn hard!).  We as media specialists teach just as classroom teachers do and work with many learners day in and day out in our libraries.  Qualified and talented media specialists are more important than ever in this age where information literacy is a requirement, not an option!

If you believe media specialists should be entitled to the same privileges as other educators, then please contact these legislators and voice your concerns.  Rep. Brooks Coleman is the author of this well-intended but misguided legislation.  Please contact him with your concerns and objections at:

brooks.coleman@house.ga.gov

At the Capitol:   404-656-9210

At his home:    770-476-4471

Remember these key points:

• Georgia needs qualified school library media specialists to run our libraries.
• There is already a shortage of fully certified school library media specialists  in rural areas that would affect staffing.
• School library media specialists are certified educators by the Professional Standards Commission; our work impacts all areas of the curriculum.  We work collaboratively with classroom teachers to co-teach across the curriculum in all areas.

We are more instrumental than ever to public education, yet many legislators do not understand our value or importance.  Let us vocalize our concerns to our legislators so that they may have a better understanding of how vital we are to the education of children of all ages in Georgia.

Must Read Blogging: Doug Johnson and Lifelong Abilities, Behaviors, and Attitudes

Whether you are a librarian or a regular classroom teacher, check out this post, “Lifelong Abilities, Behaviors, and Attitudes” by Doug Johnson.  It is a great column and really struck me as it dovetails with some of my comments in my previous post today on my Media 21 blog.

 Take time to read Doug’s post—it is brilliantly thought-provoking.

New Study Reveals The Well Wired and Generation Y Are Library Users!

The latest study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, “Online Activities and Pursuits:  Information Searches That Solve Problems”, revealed some surprising findings that challenge traditional beliefs about who uses libraries; the report also seems to allay fears that libraries may be losing their relevance in the digital age.   The report highlights these key findings: 

• Libraries drew visits by more than half of Americans (53%) in the past year for all kinds of purposes, not just the problems mentioned in the survey.
• Young adults in the tech-loving Generation Y (age 18-30)  led the pack. Compared to their elders, Gen Y members were the most likely to use libraries for problem-solving information and in general patronage for any purpose.
• Young adults are the ones who are the most likely to say they will use libraries in the future when they encounter problems: 40% of Gen Y said they would do that, compared with 20% of those above age 30 who say they would go to a library.

“These findings turn our thinking about libraries upside down. Librarians have been asked whether the Internet makes libraries less relevant. It has not. Internet use seems to create an information hunger and it is information-savvy young people who are the most likely to visit libraries,” noted Leigh Estabrook, Dean and Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois, co-author of a report on the results.  She added that Internet users with broadband were much more likely to patronize libraries than those without broadband access to the Internet (61% vs. 28%).

The survey did seem to indicate the problem of the digital divide and traditional issues of equity of literacy (as demonstrated in Deborah’s Brandt’s ground-breaking researching in Literacy in American Lives).  The report summary states:

A major focus of this survey was on those with no access to the Internet (23% of the population) and those with only dial-up access (13% of the population). This “low-access” population is poorer, older, and less well-educated than the cohort with broadband access at home or at work. They are less likely to visit government offices or libraries under any circumstances. And they are more likely to rely on television and radio for help than are high-access users.  

What do you think are the implications of this study for us as media specialists and educators?  How can librarians (school and public) better reach those who are not using the library for information?  How can we bridge the gaps highlighted in this report?
 

Sticks and Stones: The Growing Concern of Cyberbullying

While we as educators are all sadly familiar with “traditional” means of bullying, you may not be aware of a new flavor of this distasteful reality of YA life:  “cyberbullying.”  According to eSchoolNews, as many as one in three children have been bullied, threatened, harassed, or taunted through some means of computer or electronic communications, such as text messages, social networking site postings, or chat rooms.   While many of us may be more familiar with the more extreme cases of cyberbullying, such as the teen suicide related to bullying from a MySpace hoax last month in Missouri, research indicates more subtle forms of cyberbullying occur on a daily basis.  The issue is of such great concern that the  December 2007 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health includes a supplement devoted to “youth violence and electronic media.”

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) even has a web page that outlines the problems associated with technology and youth violence.  The CDC says: 

Youth can use electronic media to embarrass, harass or threaten their peers. Increasing numbers of adolescents are becoming victims of this new form of violence. Although many different terms-such as cyberbullying, Internet harassment, and Internet bullying-have been used to describe this type of violence, electronic aggression is the term that most accurately captures all types of violence that occur electronically. Like traditional forms of youth violence, electronic aggression is associated with emotional distress and conduct problems at school.

How can we as adults stop cyberbullying?  Stop Bullying Now has these tips for educators:

• Educate your students, teachers, and other staff members about cyber bullying, its dangers, and what to do if someone is cyberbullied.
• Be sure that your school’s anti-bullying rules and policies address cyber bullying.
• Closely monitor students’ use of computers at school.
• Use filtering and tracking software on all computers, but don’t rely solely on this software to screen out cyber bullying and other problematic on-line behavior.
• Investigate reports of cyber bullying immediately. If cyber bullying occurs through the school district’s Internet system, you are obligated to take action. If the cyber bullying occurs off-campus, consider what actions you might take to help address the bullying:
  • Notify parents of victims and parents of cyberbullies of known or suspected cyber bullying.
  • Notify the police if the known or suspected cyber bullying involves a threat.
  • Closely monitor the behavior of the affected students at school for possible bullying.
  • Talk with all students about the harms caused by cyber bullying. Remember — cyber bullying that occurs off-campus can travel like wildfire among your students and can affect how they behave and relate to each other at school.
  • Investigate to see if the victim(s) of cyber bullying could use some support from a school counselor or school-based mental health professional.
• Contact the police immediately if known or suspected cyber bullying involves acts such as:
  • Threats of violence
  • Extortion
  • Obscene or harassing phone calls or text messages
  • Harassment, stalking, or hate crimes
  • Child pornography

Educators may also want to check out this great PDF file:  Educators’ Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats from The Center for Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet.  If you are a parent, check out their tips for moms and dad at http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/adult/indexAdult.asp?Area=cyberbullying .

Other resources for identifying, preventing, and stopping cyberbullying:

• http://www.ncpc.org/newsroom/current-campaigns/cyberbullying
• eSchoolNews tips
• Cyberbully 411:  Stop Cyberbullying
• CDC Podcast on Cyberbullying/Youth and Electronic Aggression
• Search SIRS Researcher for current articles on cyberbullying
• PARADE magazine article on cyberbullying
• WiredSafety.org resources for adults and teens on cyberbullying
• Information on cyberbullying for students and parents at http://csriu.org/cyberbully/