What Makes a Library a Library? Teens Share Their Musings

Yesterday, I was moved by Sarah Houghton-Jan’s post in which she asked, “What makes a library a library?”  I am in the process of collecting responses from librarians near and far, but I also felt it was important to throw this question out to my teens and hear their thoughts.  In this first volume of responses, I found it fascinating these eleven students primarily focused on relationships, experiences, atmosphere, and library as place.  I will be collecting additional responses tomorrow and sharing those via video as well.

I’m also working on pulling together the responses from my adults peers near and far; I’m looking forward to seeing how their responses may either mirror and/or differ from the teens’ responses!

Filed under: Advocacy, Celebrations, Library 2.0, reflections , libraries, library, teens, video, YouTube

Imagine: The End of Multiple Citation Styles

William Gunn posed one of the most intriguing questions I have seen in some time:

Twitter / mrgunn: @buffyjhamilton Thanks. Th … via kwout

I readily admit to feeling a sense of elation and relief at the thought of one uniform citation style instead of the current maze of style manuals we are often forced to negotiate.  What do you think?  What would be the pros and cons of such a simple yet bold move?  How might the simplification of citation style impact student research?   I invite you to contribute to the conversation at FriendFeed and/or here on my blog.

Filed under: Information Literacy/Research Skills, Issues, reflections, research 2.0 , citation styles, what if, wonderings

Within Reason?

Seth’s Blog: Within reason via kwout

I have not been able to get Seth Godin’s post, “Within Reason”, out of mind since reading it yesterday.  When I think about this post might apply to libraries and schools, I can’t help but think of statements, explicit and implicit,  like these that many of us hear (and maybe utter ourselves) on a regular basis:

• “That would be great for students to have access to social media websites…within reason.”
• “Sure, you can check out and read whatever books you want…within reason.”
• “You can use these information sources in your research project…within reason.”
• “Yes, it would be great for students to post their work online and share information about their learning processes…within reason.”
• “Students may have access to the Internet…within reason.”
• “Of course we want teachers to integrate technology and use cutting edge resources…within reason.”
• “We encourage and ask our teachers to think for themselves and use their professional judgement…within reason.”
• “We will give teachers the right to override blocked websites and to submit filter removal requests…within reason.”
• “We will examine open source and cloud computing solutions for our schools and libraries…within reason.”
• “We promote and encourage intellectual freedom…within reason.”
• “Of course teachers can still implement inquiry based projects and units of learning in a testing driven school culture…within reason.”
• “Students can use school and library computers for learning…within reason.”
• “Yes, you may use your cell phone or MP3 player here in the library/classroom...within reason.”
• “Of course you can develop whatever research questions you want for your project…within reason.”
• “We support your efforts to expand the concept of what a library can be in the 21st century…within reason.”

Can we really create successful, vibrant, meaningful libraries and schools as long as stay within reason?  Do current educational and/or library  practices and policies undermine the mission statements and vision we claim to have?  Is it reasonable to stay within reason?

Filed under: reflections , conditons, reasons, seth godin, wonderings

School Library Journal Summit 2009 Reflections

On October 1-2, 2009, I had the opportunity to participate in what was by far the most exciting and profound professional event in my career—the School Library Journal Summit in Washington, D.C.  This event was incredibly meaningful to me in two ways.  First, I had the opportunity to finally meet in person so many people with whom I have networked via social networks for some time, people whose work I respect and admire.  I don’t want to exclude anyone, but these people include leaders in our field like Joyce Valenza, Cathy Nelson, Chris Harris, Diane Chen, Sara Kelly Johns,  Dr. Ross J. Todd, Ernie Cox, Alice Yucht, Sophie Brookover, David Loertscher, Brenda Anderson, and Melissa Techman.  Each of these individuals has had a major influence on my practice in some way, and discovering they were even more delightful in person makes the connection I have with each of these people even more special.  Secondly, meeting Brian Kenney, Rocco Staino, and Kathy Ishizuka of School Library Journal was also a thrill—they were the perfect hosts, and I am deeply indebted to their gracious hospitality.  I also met many new people in our field and enjoyed the opportunity to share ideas and have conversations about issues in our profession.    Nearly a month later, I cannot the find the words to express the energy and inspiration I gained from “communing” with these kindred spirits.

It was also an honor to serve as a “tech maven” with my colleague and friend Cathy J. Nelson at the summit.  We used CoverItLive to co-liveblog keynote speeches and sessions; in addition, we incorporated Tweets with the #sljsummit09 hashtag and photos we were taking into the livestream.  Working with Cathy was a real pleasure—we put forth a true team effort, and I feel our backchanneling efforts contributed to the richness of the conversations that were occurring both at the summit as well as in virtual spaces.  I am also grateful to Cathy for letting me ride with her to and from Washington D.C. and for being my “guide” to the summit as this was my first time attending—I am proud to be the colleague and friend of someone who is so progressive and generous with her knowledge.

Image from Kathy Ishizuka

I gained a host of terrific ideas at the summit, but the two major themes that stood out for me were advocacy and leadership.  Speakers like Lisa Layera Brunkan and Sara Kelly Johns urged us to find ways to document what we are doing and how it impacts our students and teachers.  This conference also helped me to envision myself more clearly as an advocate and a leader in my school and in my profession—that idea sounds very simple, but for me, it has been empowering .  For me, this means stepping up my assessment efforts and taking my efforts to be transparent about what we are doing here in the library to the next level by providing more specific documentation of the standards being taught as well as the means for showing that data.

I will soon be blogging a  major new initiative for assessment and advocacy that has been inspired by my experiences at the SLJ Summit, so please stay tuned to my blog.  In the meantime, here are some great resources to help you explore the SLJ Summit 09 experience:

• The SLJ Summit Ning
• The SLJ Summit Flickr Photo Pool
• The Official SLJ Summit Website
• My Notes from the SLJ Summit

As soon as information becomes available about the 2010 SLJ Summit, I will post it here on my blog.  I heartily recommend it to anyone who is interested in growing as a library professional and who wants an experience that will truly have an impact on your thinking and practice!

Filed under: Advocacy, Conference News, Issues, Professional Development, SLJ Summit 2009, inspiration, librarianship, reflections , Advocacy, leadership, reflections, School Library Journal Summit, SLJ SLJ Summit, sljsummit09

“Small Steps, Small Steps”

cc licensed flickr photo by Radhika Bhagwat: http://flickr.com/photos/radhika_bhagwat/2128188342/

“Small steps, Ellie, small steps….”

Ted Arroway, Contact

During my week off, I have been trying to reflect on the Media 21 project implementation.    Throughout the course of this project, I’m trying to follow the wisdom of Henry David Thoreau:  “I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”  However, my confidence wavered earlier this week as I looked back at the last six weeks.  I have been questioning if I have taken the best route in approaching my learning goals and learning activities with the students; this is natural for any teacher, but it tends to happen more when you are piloting a new unit for the first time.   I can already think of some things I will do differently next time, but I’m also trying to glean wisdom from these reflections as we enter the next phase of the project (which I will blog about more later today), which will have the students actually applying a good bit of what we have explored so far to literature circles study and an accompanying research projects.   While I’m incredibly excited about lies ahead, I worry if my plan and design is working and think about tweaks I want to make to create truly memorable and meaningful learning experiences for my Media 21 students.

Last night, I spent time reading student reflections and reflecting on what their feedback meant for them as well as us, their teachers.   I felt much  more encouraged after reading their feedback that they ARE getting something out of the unit, but I am even more determined that the upcoming literature circle/research project (which I can’t wait to tell you about later today) be a positive experience that will truly make a difference for them as students.

In checking my work email this morning, I was a little astonished to find an email sent last night from Lindy, one of my M21 students; after all, it IS our week of vacation!  While most students would be enjoying the time off, Lindy has been thinking a lot about the floods at Clarkdale Elementary, her alma mater.  Lindy, whose grandparents’ basement was flooded, has been helping her family clean up and has seen the flood damage firsthand.  In her email, she wrote to tell me she is keeping an eye out for any blogathons that may be happening to help the school.   Tears came to my eyes as she recalled how our class participated in the blogathon for the flooded Louisville Free Public Library back on August 31 as part of our exploration of “Social Media for Social Good”.  She could have been thinking about a million other things, but Lindy was thinking of how people could help the students and teachers of Clarkdale—and she recalled the blogathon experience.

Many groups around Atlanta are organizing collections for donations and supplies for the students and teachers who are now being displaced to two other schools since the school will not be rebuilt anytime soon (it is too damaged to reopen), but if the students are interested, I am going to help them organize a possible blogathon if officials with the Cobb County School District still see a need for supplies; if not, perhaps a blogathon for the new Clarkdale Elementary library might be in order.

I am a person who likes to dream big and take bold steps; consequently, I sometimes feel change is not happening as fast as I’d like to see.  I constantly have to work on patience, which may be surprising to those of you who know me.    However, Lindy’s email has shown me that the Media 21 project IS making a positive impression and that small steps will get us to the end goal of creating students who not only are information literate and connected learners, but also students who can see how to take what they are learning in school and apply it to the “real world”.   THIS is why school libraries matter—we DO organize, design, and create learning experiences that make a difference in the lives of our students, and hopefully, beyond our community.

I don’t think they have a standardized test that can measure that.

Filed under: Media 21, reflections , Media 21, progress, reflection, social media for social good, students