Method #12 Reflection and Evaluation

Surprisingly, some of the earlier methods were things that I had put off learning about and practicing on my own such as blogs, clouding, and RSS. The Two-Step program provided the impetus to get busy and learn about these methods and become more familiar with those that I already utilized. For example, I was a big Delicious devotee, but now I understand tagging and folksonomies so much better.

Although I am getting closer to retirement in four or five years, I never want to stop learning, and this program has made it possible. My high school is in a rural area, but our staff attempts to stay on the cutting edge of new technologies. In the past, we did not always suceed because of the distance when we wanted to attend some sort of training, but the State Library's offerings have made this a fantastic opportunity for lifelong learning.

I think what surprised me the most is that once you get started, these methods are not nearly as difficult as we have been led to believe by super techies.

The only improvement that I can think of is that some of my colleagues could not find Methods 1 and 2 on http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/12things/?m=200908. Those two methods are not listed separately. Instead they are located under Archives for August 2009. I know it is a minor thing, but it was all I could think of.

Thank you for providing this service. I look forward to participating in any future training.

Method #11 Podcasting

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the different podcasts. One of my favorite radio shows is This American Life, which is adult storytelling at its best. I have intended to either subscribe via RSS or download some to my Ipod, and this assignment has created the impetus to do that.

I chose a series of four different true stories about books. The week's theme was "The Book that Changed Your Life." A young playwright, Alexia Young, grew up reading her grandfather's books about techniques for writing plays. She only read the books in which he wrote comments. Alexia's grandfather thought that Moss Hart's autobiography, Act One, provided important clues on how to change your life and served as a blueprint for life.

Alexia was able to meet Moss Hart's widow, Kitty Carlisle, and tell her how much she admired Hart although Hart died before Alexia was born. This book served as a comfort and support through Alexia's adolesence and college life.

The other podcast was about a construction worker who started collecting plates related to the Lewis and Clark expedition. Once his collection was complete, he began collecting books about the expedition although he was not a reader. Fourteen years later he had the largest collection in the U.S. mortgaging his home and living on a meager income. After completing his collection, the man began reading his books and eventually became a Lewis and Clark scholar. He sold his collection to the Lewis and Clark College in Portland, retired from his construction job, and began to study full time. He visits his books and relishes in learning more.

I thought that I would share these stories with the creative writing teacher so that the students would have a prompt to write about meaningful books they encountered as children or adolescents. Then they could create a podcast and read their story for the creative writing archive.

Speech classes could also create podcasts, and, of course, students could always provide book reviews about the library's books. There are numerous possibilities, and I am looking forward to eperimenting with this medium.

Method #10 This Wiki World

I visited the wikis as suggested. About two years ago, I created a library wiki in Wikispaces in order to post student book reviews. A few students volunteered to do so, but then our online catalog, Destiny, provided this option, and we switched to using it.

When I redo my library Web page, I plan to use my Wikispaces account to created Pathfinders. I think that Wikis lend themselves to these types of endeavors.

I reviewed wiki examples of procedures and staff manuals, minutes of organizations, lists of events, bibliographies, and training opportunities and instruction. After looking at these examples, I realized that I had placed wikis in the background of Libray 2.0 and that they still have a lot of good uses.

Method #9: Chat and Instant Messaging

I have utilized Chat and Instant Messaging for quite awhile on a personal basis. It would really be helpful if I could use it at our high school, but we cannot, and of course, neither can our students.

I have used Skype for several years. I knew nothing about it when I downloaded it and talked to high school students in our sister city in Poland. Our students were really surprised that we were able to contact someone that far away.

I read all of the suggested articles, and I have to agree with the person discussing how the Iphone and similar products will overtake the computer based chat and IM.

Method #8 Social Networking

I really like the idea of social networking, but have hit some snags due to the fact that when I try to access Facebook (after my workday is over), I am blocked from using it. At home, because of our location, we are still in the dark ages, and I become very frustated trying to access the site. Therefore, I was unable to access part of the suggestions under activities.

I did read the articles about social networking being the end of privacy and the guide to online privacy. I do understand how vital it is to keep your personal and professional sides separate. Also, I would not have Facebook interactions with high school students from our library because I think that can get complicated.

Twittering would be ideal for our high school library because it would be an great PR tool, and I think the students would enjoy it. I am considering twittering on the library's Web page, but the students would have to access it away from school because it is blocked in my district. This is a shame because I could promote events as they happen and hopefully get the students more involved. Twittering would also indicate to our users that we are attempting to remain relevant and user friendly.

Perhaps in the next few years as we face so many changes, the powers that be will change their minds about Web 2.0

Method # 7: Tagging, Folksonomies, and Social Bookmarking in Delicious

I am not sure how long I have been a delicious user, but it seems like several years. It has been an extremely useful tool as far as having access to my bookmarks from any computer and also being able to tag from any machine.

I think it is an excellent tool for different subject areas in school libraries. For many years I have used MyBookmarks, which has been beneficial for creating teacher folders for students to access. With delicious, I can see what others are doing and discover sites that I was not aware existed. That is what is so impressive about all facets of social networking.

It allows me greater opportunity to collaborate with teachers who are scheduled for library research. The teachers also feel more comfortable because with tagging they don't have to worry about proper subject headings although I do urge some comformity just for organizational purposes.

Method #6 You too can Youtube

I liked TeacherTube because it has some great ideas that anyone can share. I chose to view the Dewey Decimal Rap, which lasted 4.14 minutes. It think it could have been edited to last no more than 3 minutes. Although the student did a great job, the introduction was just too long. It also would have been helpful to have another student or the librarian to show the student the signage on the end of the stacks so that the viewers could actually see how to locate a nonfiction book. I could envision a middle school librarian using this video as an review of Dewey.

Using either YouTube or TeacherTube would be a great way to publicize special events at the library and to celebrate special library dates such as Teen Read Week, National Library Week, or Banned Books Week. It is also a natural for book talks, story time and instruction.

Method #5 Photos and Images

TSLAC2.0
Originally uploaded by pdsmall

I have had a Flickr account for about a year. I mainly use it for personal pictures although I did upload pictures for an introduction to copyright that I presented to the high school staff.

The attached picture is of the Bandera High School Library sans students so that I did not have to worry about the privacy issue. Our library has a beautiful view of the Texas Hill Country, but unfortunately does not have much storage room. Sorry, I digress.

I think that online photo sharing has a lot of potential in the library world. When librarians compare notes about what they are doing in their libraries, a graphic illustration such as a picture is always beneficial.

Librarians are always gracious about sharing information and saving their colleagues time by not having to "reinvent the wheel." For example, I knew nothing about Animoto, but I saw a demo and realized that the program could take my pictures from Flickr and make those into a short video. I chose the music (no more than 30 second) and was able to make an interesting introduction to my copyright presentation.

I am more than willing to share the pictures to save others time. I think that the is one of the biggest advantages -- saving busy librarians time -- by sharing our resources. Those resources coupled with pictures of "how my library works" could also assist librarians who are new to the field. And it never hurst for us older ones to learn a few tricks. That is what is great great about 12 Things.

Test for #5 Photo & Images.

IMG_0738
Originally uploaded by pdsmall

I am testing this to see if it will work. I already had a Flickr account with some personal pictures in it. I am attempting to use Flickr's blogging tooI to upload one of the six shots that I took today.

*4 Make Life "Really Simple" with RSS and Newsreaders

RSS readers are real time savers. I did not try any of the client software because I access so many different computers at work in addition to the one at home that I knew the Web-based reader was the best choice for me. I used Google Reader as instructed and found it straight forward and user friendly.

Below are three links that I read occasionally and have established a subscription to their blogs:

http://freerangelibrarian.com
http://nancypearlbooks.wordpress.com
http://theshiftedlibrarian.com

Karen Schneider writes about libraries, writing, and her travels in her blog, Free Range Librarian. Nancy Pearl, the librarian's librarian, keeps me informed about great reads in Book Lust. Jenny Levine helps me stay current about Library 2.0 and other library news. I am much more likely to access these blogs through Google Reader rather than access each site individually. I can easily skim the material to see if the information is relevant to me and will be more likely to keep up with the sites.

Method 3 Computing in the Cloud

I am writing this blog in Zoho Writer because I am unfamiliar with this suite of productivity tools. It is also very useful because I can transfer this information to my blog. I have been reading the articles associated with computing in the cloud, and I see both pros and cons to this concept, albeit mostly pros.

I have found Zoho to be user friendly, and I think that I could become adept at the programs if I devoted some time to them. The concept of clouding has some great advantages as far as storing information on the Web instead of the home and work computers in addition to the laptop. To be able to access information wherever the user is located has so many advantages. Countless times I have assisted my high school library users when they have prepared a paper at home in MS Works and then are attempting to open it at school in MS Word. Zoho Writer or Google Docs could eliminate these headaches.

Currently I store my photos on Flickr, and it is convenient if I am creating a book trailer in Animoto to have Animoto access my Flickr account and move my photos to the book trailer automatically. I do not know if all of these tools operate so seamlessly, but ilf they do, it really reduces the frustration level. Nevertheless, I sometimes have a twinge of concern over whether my creations will be safe if I do not have any kind of backup.

Jenny of The Shifted Librarian fame has some concerns that make sense. She states that we teach our users about these services, but we also have a responsibility to inform them about the consequences. She uses the example of a patron saving a resume to an online site and the data is lost. She listed other concerns that people are too enamored of Google Docs and don't consider other choices. Privacy is also an issue.

I find that there is also a problem when working in a high school environment that we are very limited in our access on the Web. The filter that the technology department uses does not allow student access to blogs. Of course Facebook and MySpace are off limits as are other social networking tools such as Wikis. Until that mindset changes, the cloud will not become a viable part of the high school curriculum.

Methods 1 and 2

23 Things -- Library 2.0

After viewing Stephen Abram's video about Murdoch University's 23 things, I totally agree that as librarians we must immerse ourselves in the new technologies to meet the needs of our users and community of learners. As he pointed out, we can only understand a blog by creating one and using it. We are experience-based learners who must set our priorities by taking the time to learn and use these tools.

Professor Michael Wesch's video is a thought-provoking production that addresses how the web has evolved. We have moved from html, describing the content of the text to xml, describing the meaning. Web 2.0/Library 2.0 has freed users of formatting constraints and is linking people who are sharing, trading, and collaborating. It also raises many questions about copyright, authorship, governance, and privacy. Librarians must be comfortable with all aspects of Web 2.0 in order to serve their users and facilitate learning.

The term Library 2.0 means that I must be willing to devote my time and energy to learing and to utilizing all of the technologies such as RSS, blogs, wikis, etc., in order to guide my patrons on their use and facilitate easy access. In setting such as a high school library, it is difficult to achieve these goals. Faced with filtering software, acceptable use policies, and other constraints, students are not always allowed to participate and to learn about these technologies.

Nevertheless, the technologies are being used at home, and I believe eventually will be part of the curriculum. My biggest concern is whether some school librarians will be up to the task. Many librarians, especially elementary-level ones, are faced with fixed schedules and barely have time to breath much less learn and master so many new and changing technologies at the end of an exhausting day. With that said, being part of one of the most unrecognized and under appreciated careers, if we don't accept the challenge, we may find ourselves out of a job. As Stephen Abrams states in his article, "Social Libraries: The Librarian 2.0 Phenomenon," -- "We had better be ready."

HS Librarian's Lament

The reason I named this blog HS Librian's Lament is that I want to serve my patrons to the best of my ability and still wear all the "hats" that my job requires. I think any librarian would agree with me, and we often lament the fact that we have so many different job descriptions that it is difficult to keep up -- especially with all the new library 2.0 technologies.

At the high school level, I am constantly reminding our students about accessing our online subscription databases to find authentic, reliable information. I am not anti-Google, but I want information that is curriculum-based and reliable.

I am also trying to stay one step ahead of the students as I work with Animoto or Moviemaker. The next minute I am on the phone with tech support about getting our library managment system to "talk" to our student management system. Then I find myself in the attached computer lab trying to figure out why a student can't access the Internet as I explain to another student how to move a picture to the background in MS Word. Then it is on to collection development, reader's advisory, and so on.

Although it may not sound like it, I really enjoy my work, especially assisting the students and staff. Fortunately our staff and students appreciate my help. All too often I hear about many hardworking, well-educated librarians who are under appreciated. The most dreaded comment we hear is "You have to have a master's degree to do this?"