tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83257896148977230182024-03-05T08:43:57.999-08:00ArchipelagoIdeas, resources, book reviews, and discussions especially for independent School Librarians.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-37980066879287898322013-12-15T19:22:00.000-08:002013-12-15T19:22:06.839-08:00Diversity and Booklists<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0TTqj4s-4KV0Bf6oAbJJXAcAQ9dszu-71oMaPtwQrHZUecVX95k0MvxKnXuGeei2TDzCQeawrwTofqaWGhhrQ7raoIyYZ7bFt-ODuNjoTp31JdAZ8yxm2J_ICr8usw6-yiU8ByMRKFW8d/s1600/books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0TTqj4s-4KV0Bf6oAbJJXAcAQ9dszu-71oMaPtwQrHZUecVX95k0MvxKnXuGeei2TDzCQeawrwTofqaWGhhrQ7raoIyYZ7bFt-ODuNjoTp31JdAZ8yxm2J_ICr8usw6-yiU8ByMRKFW8d/s1600/books.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.rudecactus.com/archives/2005_01.html</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This fall as school started I was lucky to learn from an engaging speaker at a teacher inservice day. Alison Park (her company is called Blink Consulting) spoke with our k-12 faculty about diversity at independent schools and it was a valuable day. I remembered learning from Ms. Park at a CAIS workshop a couple of years ago and was excited to see her again. After her workshop, I subscribed to her blog, <a href="http://rethinkingdiversity.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Rethinking Diversity</a>. This is actually one of the few non-librarian blogs I read, and I wanted to share it with all of you, especially because her thoughtful latest post, <a href="http://rethinkingdiversity.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/books-for-middle-schoolers/" target="_blank">Books for Middle Schoolers</a>, and how relevant it is to our work.<br />
Her blog posts are always clear, short, and thought provoking. In this post, Ms. Park asks us to consider,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: trebuchet, 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">What’s wrong with using “diverse” as code for “minority”?</span></blockquote>
Read it, and let me know what you think. Will it change how you view, describe, or make booklists?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-17100529312561869572013-12-09T18:47:00.004-08:002013-12-10T08:50:57.796-08:00Rules.. Yes, Rules. Wow! This was an amazing start to year two as Head Librarian of a library where I have been for 17 years. I feel as though the high school curriculum I am going for is actually happening, the professional development I am giving is making a difference, and I am learning now what to improve.<br />
<br />
Last year, so much was new. Our 1:1 iPad initiative, our library apps, our middle school librarian, a new look to our beloved NoodleTools, and some new library privileges. This year started much more easily.<br />
<br />
Nothing was really new, except much to some faculty's dismay, I decided to allow eating in our library. Yes, eating. Last year I allowed drinks. The kids brought in their Gatorade, coffee, tea, and water, and nothing happened! The world was still OK. And the library was still tidy. So this year I allowed food. That's right! Bring in your hamburgers at lunch! Your sushi, chicken tenders, and granola bars. And still.. the world is fine, the kids are studying, the library is tidy enough, and the kids really appreciate it.<br />
<br />
<div about="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5494/10102090525_c4fb6b37ac.jpg">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/quatar/10102090525/" target="_blank"><img alt="Studying in Starbucks by quatar, on Flickr" border="0" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/StillImage" rel="dct:type" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5494/10102090525_c4fb6b37ac.jpg" title="Studying in Starbucks by quatar, on Flickr" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" /></a><br />
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="license" target="_blank"><img align="left" alt="Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License" border="0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/2.0/80x15.png" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License" /></a> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/quatar/" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/quatar/" property="cc:attributionName" rel="cc:attributionURL" target="_blank" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">quatar</a><a href="http://www.imagecodr.org/" target="_blank"> </a></div>
<br />
Some people are aghast, but I just could not figure out why food wasn't allowed in our library. I even had one faculty member say under her breath, "well I guess it it just isn't a library anymore!" I assured everyone it is still a library and I wondered if her classroom has all the same rules she has had for 20+ years! Does she still teach the same way? I don't think so!<br />
<br />
A very happy moment for me was last week when I watched 3 junior boys studying together at a table. Another boy walked in with bagels and cream cheese and drinks. They all quietly ate and studied and cleaned up without being asked. They do not take this new rule for granted, and they were able to get work done and eat quietly. And they are teenage boys!<br />
<br />
Another new rule is about library noise. Our library is mostly one big room, and although we have silent "areas" the majority of the library gets very loud at lunch (even before we allowed food!). This year, thanks to advice from a couple of librarians on the amazing <a href="http://aislnews.org/">Association of Independent School Librarians</a> listserv, we instituted Silent Tuesday Lunches, and after a survey of the students we added Thursdays. We allow very little whispering on those days, and so group study is difficult. But the kids who need to do independent work are thrilled, and just like the other days, the library is full of high schoolers at lunch. <br />
<br />
The survey was quite informative and we learned that a slight majority of kids need silent space sometimes to work and they weren't finding it anywhere at lunchtime when everyone on our campus is free. Very few kids wanted the library silent all the time, and some even smartly pointed out that the silence will disrupt the exchange of ideas. But so many kids were happy to have a silent place just a couple times per week, that we are happy to oblige. <br />
<br />
One new rule seems too permissive to some, and one new rule seems to strict for some. I believe that while working with small communities we should be concerned with caring for everyone and making rules that make sense. Our rules need to show we care. Our rules should matter. <br />
<br />
<br />
I visited another school library recently that had many rules posted: cell phone free zone, no eating, you must reserve this room, do not lock this room, etc. I wondered how those rules came to be and if my students would follow them. <br />
<br />
I believe I gained respect by listening to the students and pondering what they need from our library. It is their space, after all. My students may tease me about teaching too much NoodleTools (do you get that?) or about being geekily excited about books, but they do not tease me about the rules and comfort they have in our library. In fact, the library is the favorite place to be of many of our students when they have free time on campus. Friendly and understanding are words I like them to use to describe the librarians and our policies.<br />
<br />
Have you critically considered some of your rules recently? Do they have meaning? It is good practice to revisit them once in a while and see if they are all still needed.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-48782412726426917852013-09-23T10:18:00.001-07:002013-09-23T10:20:02.506-07:0023 Things: PinterestSome people love it, some don't, but here is how I feel about Pinterest. I'm conflicted, a wannabe, a lapsed user.<br />
I want to use it for non-librarian related things. I have librarians in my twitter, facebook, and feedly. So to avoid information overload and overlap, I'm saving Pinterest to be about activities to do with my kids, recipes, garden ideas (one board I hope to keep up is about recipes using food from my garden - I have to add Jon's habanero salsa to it - YUM), inexpensive but tasty wine, ideas for my home, etc. I am busy creating boards, but I am not really attached to anyone in particular to follow yet. I started following some cooking magazines that might give me good dinner ideas for my family.<br />
<br />
Pinterest was really helpful while I was planning my son's Bar Mitzvah, which was on Cinco de Mayo (2011), I made <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/eabarbanel/bar-mitzvah-fiesta/" target="_blank">a planning board for that</a>, and the visual page was excellent for me when organizing the color theme and a general look for the party. Other boards I haven't kept up well, but I am going to try to remember it.<br />
I had started using Evernote to keep track of some images and products for my home that I wanted to remember, but Pinterest is better for displaying images so I should be using it instead. Evernote is just so easy because I can take pictures from my devices within Evernote of things I like, and not have to find them online at all!<br />
<br />
So many tools overlap - I like to pick one or two and go for it, but then I feel like I am ignoring other tools that people love and I don't want to be out of the loop! I feel a bit out of the loop with Pinterest so I am glad to have a nudge to give it another try.<br />
<br />
<i>Note to Readers: I am exploring my 23 Things course on my blog. Some updates will be my learning and some will be my observing of other's approach to the course.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-42476698189456610162013-09-23T09:48:00.000-07:002013-09-23T10:20:18.763-07:0023 Things: Twitter<div class="tr_bq">
This is my post for Thing 3 in the class I am teaching with <a href="https://twitter.com/yapha" target="_blank">Yapha Mason</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/Jessicls" target="_blank">Jessica James</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/mrshtechtweet" target="_blank">Pam Horrocks </a>and 2 more fabulous ed tech people from our school. Yapha wrote a concise, humorous, and fabulous twitter introduction and assignment and this is our homework:</div>
<blockquote>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Write a post on your new blog about some of the people you choose to follow. What are their Twitter handles? Why did you choose to follow them? Please list some interesting things that you learned for them. If you have a themed blog, you can list ones that match your theme</span></blockquote>
<br />
Well, since I have been tweeting for over 5 years (!), I think I will keep participating. I am off and on with twitter, getting into it, then pulling back when I am really busy in other areas of my life or just need a break.<br />
<br />
I loved looking back on my information using <a href="http://twopcharts.com/" target="_blank">Twopcharts</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwXNQ22tcMxFG4Q9aJQ9fxNRDprcWxcPXeeGVCxc7AQoaW6jgZAstGFgY5jrfqv58didxR3B9rLQU68bfMQEKVgeO2u3DlmECpG96lsSZR3mIE8opqATOfaXknw-6pK11JEu1HWLvKr0d/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-09-22+at+7.36.33+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwXNQ22tcMxFG4Q9aJQ9fxNRDprcWxcPXeeGVCxc7AQoaW6jgZAstGFgY5jrfqv58didxR3B9rLQU68bfMQEKVgeO2u3DlmECpG96lsSZR3mIE8opqATOfaXknw-6pK11JEu1HWLvKr0d/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-09-22+at+7.36.33+PM.png" height="262" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
A few tweeters who have influenced me, taught me, and inspired me over the years stand out in my twitter journey.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/davidleeking" target="_blank">@DavidLeeKing</a> - introduced me to social media five years ago, and whether he knows it or not, he was a huge influence in my social media and library life. His public library work is community-building and it spoke to me.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/buffyjhamilton" target="_blank">@Buffyjhamilton</a> - Soon after finding David, I found Buffy and she quickly became my mentor and friend. Meeting her offline was like meeting a superstar, but as a leader in school libraries, she really articulated (and still does)where I wanted to go in the field of school librarianship. She blends the personal, political, and innovation, making her twitter stream a "must read." I found many of the people I now follow through her. And, she is a lot of fun!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/michellesfromme" target="_blank">@michellesfromme</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/DaveWee1" target="_blank">@Davewee1</a> , and <a href="https://twitter.com/annalynnmartino" target="_blank">@annalynnmartino</a> are independent school librarian friends in Southern California who have twitter conversations with me regularly. We share information and jokes and it has just been a fun part of twitter for me for the past few years! And they all have such great advice and ideas!!!<br />
<br />
Recently I have started following the #tlchat conversation in twitter. Sometimes I just check into that hashtag and see what people are talking about. Today they are talking a bit about weeding collections and banned books week, which starts today.<br />
<br />
Also, @bwslibrary has been on twitter since 2010, and I use hootsuite, a social media dashboard, to keep track of my accounts. If you have multiple accounts, what tool do you use to organize it all?<br />
<br />
<i>Note to Readers: I am exploring my 23 Things course on my blog. Some updates will be my learning and some will be my observing of other's approach to the course.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-9636394223049866022013-09-18T20:10:00.002-07:002013-09-18T20:10:33.314-07:00 Makerbreak UpdateThe #makerbreak is going well. These two weeks were all about Lego. I brought in my son's huge bin of old Lego, and the upper school boys were so happy. One 11th grader gave me a hug for bringing in Lego and requested other games like Risk (which I immediately bought along with some other games including Loteria, Quirkle, and more). Some girls are building, but the boys are much more interested. Some have taken pictures, but haven't posted them to Instagram @bwslibrary or our twitter. They may be having trouble getting used to that aspect of our low key maker space. Next week I am putting out 5 magnetic poetry kits and offering up some apps that simulate the same thing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYqPH_329cwk5-LUx9j9UC4MgBpbbTYqWnoRSGXoO6Bx8mYY2bkXr9bEL69T0ep4qUqN14X363BH4C5Z30lDMckA4-XjwQIQH-qOOezFk6jj3KqRPWa-io5hoeC4l18GKk6wWBDgdsZWM/s1600/IMG_1227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYqPH_329cwk5-LUx9j9UC4MgBpbbTYqWnoRSGXoO6Bx8mYY2bkXr9bEL69T0ep4qUqN14X363BH4C5Z30lDMckA4-XjwQIQH-qOOezFk6jj3KqRPWa-io5hoeC4l18GKk6wWBDgdsZWM/s1600/IMG_1227.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I think by next year, maybe sooner, we might be able to do some electronics or more typically "maker" activities. We are building the space as a zone for creativity and building, and if I can prove that kids would be interested, maybe I can get the right people involved and some small financial backing, and a maker space could evolve in the library. That is a goal of mine, but I think baby steps are just fine for my school and staff. I want to build up the idea with care and interest from the students.<br />
<br />
I am also planning our first Friday lunch expert class. We have a fabulous teacher who makes elaborate balloon creations, and he has agreed to teach a class on making balloon animals in the library one day at lunch. The kids will love it - and it might be the first in a series of faculty teaching a craft or skill to the kids in an informal setting in the library. As I am reflecting on it, I am reminded of activities I did as a public librarian, and i thing this would fit in there too.<br />
<br />
Do you have a makerspace? Have any ideas for mine?<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-83133042978497646722013-09-11T21:25:00.001-07:002013-09-11T21:35:40.482-07:0023 Things: So Far, So FunThis week is the kick off for our <a href="http://www.heleneblowers.info/2012/08/6-years-of-23-things.html" target="_blank">23 Things</a> program. 23 Things is an online professional development training course about web 2.0 tools. The 3 librarians and 3 educational technologists from our k-12 school teamed up to create a 10 week 23 Things course that we tailored to our community and the online resources we use at our school as well as other free resources worth playing with. So far we have 52 people signed up - teachers, administrators, staff, and maintenance workers. This week is dedicated to getting everyone into our <a href="http://www.schoology.com/" target="_blank">Schoology</a> (our classroom management system) course and introducing themselves. People are making friends and connections already by commenting on each others' short introductions which include our roles at the schools, a fun fact, and favorite cookie. I have learned a lot just by the favorite cookie answers, which was a surprise!<br />
Our school is on two campuses so sometimes we don't know many of our colleagues. I am hoping that this course, along with teaching new skills and giving time to play on line, will also bring our community closer together.<br />
<br />
The six leaders of the 23 Things course have been collaborating for several months while we decided what 23 Things to teach, who wanted to take which things and write those lessons, and now how to organize looking after, or mentoring, a surprising 52 participants. We have decided to randomly split up the list, each taking 8-9 participants to shepherd through the course. We will check in on them, make sure they are completing the courses, and give them comments on their blogs.<br />
<br />
One of the fun ideas that came up in a planning meeting in June was to style each short lesson as a dinner party. So, each lesson has a particular format:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>SET THE TABLE: This is where you get a background for a Thing.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>MAIN COURSE: Thing lesson.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i> SIDE DISHES : A few links and more information related to the Thing. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>BRING YOUR DISH TO THE TABLE: A detailed activity for you to do, so you get experience with the Thing (often involving creating an account or making a blog post).</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>KICK IT UP A NOTCH: This is like extra credit for go getters. If you want to do more with the Thing, do this optional activity. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>DESSERT: Reflection, usually a discussion in Schoology (this will be located in a discussion thread that is in the same week's folder as the Thing).</i></blockquote>
<br />
Week One, Thing One, is making a Blogger blog to be used as a platform for many of our exercises. I am going to use this blog as my 23 Things Blog, so I can comment on our lessons and reflect on how the course is going. So, if you are instituting something like this at your school, stay tuned! I will write about many of the things and do the lesson exercises here, while also reflecting on the process of leading this type of professional development.<br />
<br />
During this time I will also continue with the Maker Break program we are doing. We have Legos out this week, and some upper schoolers seemed interested but nothing too fabulous has happened so far. We had more success with origami, where we had specific things for them to make. See pictures and notes on <a href="https://twitter.com/bwslibrary" target="_blank">twitter </a>or instagram (bwslibrary).<br />
<br />
Have you run or participated in a 23 Things course? Have any tips for us? Thanks!<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-69927777985242808602013-08-23T15:23:00.001-07:002013-08-23T15:33:48.872-07:00Give Yourself a #makerbreak<br />
Today we prepared for our new library program, Maker Break. We introduced it in the back to school student weekly calendar, and put up signs physically and then <a href="https://twitter.com/bwslibrary/status/370966495989215232/photo/1" target="_blank">virtually</a> in our <a href="https://twitter.com/bwslibrary" target="_blank">@bwslibrary</a> twitter stream.<br />
<div>
I also posted the following description on the Library page of the school's website:</div>
<div>
<br />
<div>
Give Yourself a Maker Break<br />
<blockquote>
Libraries foster finding information and creating something new from that information. If we extend our thinking of libraries from housing books to making all types of information easily accessible, we see that we can use videos, works of art, and even tweets for information, evaluate that information, and build upon it. Satisfying intellectual curiosity and creativity doesn't always have to happen in the classroom. Often that spark happens elsewhere.<br />
<br />
Introducing Maker Break, a table in the library where you can learn new small skills - in the time of a lunch period or half a free track. Relieve some stress, have fun with others, and create something new. Maybe you will be inspired to take these skills and expand them to something else. Maybe you will just feel good for having spent 20 minutes not thinking of school. Maybe you need an alternative to video games to clear your head. Whatever the reason, come to Maker Break for a little dose of fun, sometimes old-fashioned, sometimes high tech, sometimes crafty, sometimes literary. But always with potential for creativity and learning.<br />
<br />
Want to know what is happening with Maker Break? follow @bwslibrary on twitter or bwslibrary on instagram, where we are hoping people will post photos or short videos of their work, #makerbreak.</blockquote>
<br />
Week #1 is Origami. We are putting out instructions for making some beginner to intermediate origami, including our school mascot, an eagle. We also have paper to fold, and instructions on how to share their creations with the school community. We are excited to have the kids write poetry some weeks, make stop motion with lego, and do other small, inexpensive, put fun "maker" activities, without the 3-D printer. We are trying to get our kids from just <a href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/hanging-out-messing-around-and-geeking-out" target="_blank">hanging out to messing around.</a>..maybe someday to geeking out. I'll keep you posted!<br />
<br />
What maker activities are you doing at your library this year? Do you have any new programming? </div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-38892903646348989932013-08-02T09:11:00.001-07:002013-08-02T09:13:47.293-07:00Summer Professional Development Part Two: ISLE RetreatOne week after attending NAMLE, I attended another professional development weekend. The <a href="http://www.islexchange.org/" target="_blank">Independent School Library Exchange</a> (a Southern California consortium) held a weekend retreat at the gorgeous <a href="http://www.thacher.org/" target="_blank">Thacher School</a> in Ojai.<br />
<br />
The librarians at Thacher have wanted to host a retreat for the ISLE group for many years, and finally it happened - and I hope it happens again. The ISLE Board met the first evening, and sat outside with a view of the mountains as we discussed consortium agenda items such as dues, attracting new schools, what to do when a school doesn't pay, the pros and cons of the Ning that we use to communicate and host documents, and we started to discuss what goals we should have for the upcoming year. As a group, we usually meet twice a year, but there usually isn't time for pondering and long discussions, which we finally had time to do.<br />
<br />
Saturday morning more librarians came, bringing our total to about 20. Saturday and Sunday we had carefully selected sessions and roundtables on favorite books, professional publishing, LibGuides, book repair, integrating library/information/research skills, and maker spaces. Past Thacher librarian and ISLE member <a href="http://library.sbcc.edu/contact/elizabeth-bowman/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Bowman</a>, now from Santa Barbara City College, presented about information literacy on the college level, entertaining and informing us, and delivering great ideas.<br />
<br />
Our hosts fed us well, and made sure we had time to share more informally during free time. We had time to swim, surprise each other on the high diving board, hike, have dinner in the town, and generally learn from each other and collaborate on new ideas for our schools. I got to know librarians who I had only met at brief meetings in the past, and i am so thankful for the opportunity to do so. Building these relationships will only benefit our school libraries and our work in the future.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigXJqxziQiGDyF7_iOgueDDB2vyAWx3Bv2Swq5xs5Fb2eZspH6yNj0rl1PfnyjaDiZjzaWw09PbeNKPcPA-uBzZnxK20yutIDnlCT5giurV8Cw1bfYIEoP0s2NvU19djDZdlxR2NA0QGDq/s1600/IMG_1136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigXJqxziQiGDyF7_iOgueDDB2vyAWx3Bv2Swq5xs5Fb2eZspH6yNj0rl1PfnyjaDiZjzaWw09PbeNKPcPA-uBzZnxK20yutIDnlCT5giurV8Cw1bfYIEoP0s2NvU19djDZdlxR2NA0QGDq/s1600/IMG_1136.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I even got to take an early morning run with my fabulous co-worker.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This small and relaxing retreat was extremely beneficial, local, and inexpensive. The complete focus on independent schools was extremely valuable. I hope we can make it a tradition and that more ISLE librarians can take part in it.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-32692761011174135682013-07-31T22:36:00.002-07:002013-07-31T22:36:17.115-07:00Summer Professional Development Part One: NAMLEI had two great new professional development experiences this summer, so in chronological order..<br />
<br />
Instead of going to ALA or ISTE this summer, I joined <a href="http://namle.net/">NAMLE</a>, the National Association for Media Literacy Education, and attended their <a href="http://2013.namle.net/" target="_blank">conference</a> in Torrance, California. I thought it looked interesting, and it was only a 25 minute drive from home, so why not go?<br />
I am glad I tried something new because I learned so much about a diverse group of people who care about media literacy, why they care, and what they are doing about it. NAMLE is a very helpful organization with a ton of quality <a href="http://namle.net/publications/resource-hub/" target="_blank">resources</a>. It was a small conference all in one hotel, and it was packed with interactive sessions, conversations, keynotes, and connections. Attendees were college professors and students of media literacy, producers of systems of teaching media literacy, makers of media in a variety of formats, teachers, researchers, and more. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't find very many librarians there, because I think we really care quite a lot about media literacy, but I did meet a few (including Rutgers assistant professor <a href="http://namle.net/2013/07/01/july-2013-m-passioned-member-rebecca-reynolds/" target="_blank">Rebecca Reynolds</a> and fabulous high-tech children's librarian <a href="https://twitter.com/LittleeLit" target="_blank">Cen Campbell</a>). Aren't we school librarians often the ones on campus teaching elements of media literacy? Don't you teach (or at least try to get in the curriculum!) about copyright, evaluating information, visual literacy, digital citizenship, and how to be skeptical about information in all formats?<br />
Here is an overview of my conference experience:<br />
<br />
Keynote #1:<br />
I have a new Jewish heroine and she is <a href="http://tiffanyshlain.com/" target="_blank">Tiffany Shlain</a>. She spoke about how she makes cloud movies, how to make change through film, how she is helping nonprofits make videos, and she shared her family's <a href="http://tiffanyshlain.com/bio/tech-shabbats/" target="_blank">unplugged Shabb</a>ats, even though this is her medium for her work and creativity! Her site is <a href="http://letitripple.org/">letitripple.org</a>. Here is her keynote presentation:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nPOfBhB6-RQ?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Keynote #2:<br />
Jim Berk, CEO of <a href="http://www.participantmedia.com/"><span class="s1">Participant Media</span></a>, was the other keynote, and he was also inspiring and full of information I can bring back to school. I am very excited about <a href="http://pivot.tv/">pivot.tv</a> in particular. And I love the movies made by Participant Media so I am glad to know more about the company.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yMug5w704Ao?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
The sessions I attended were interesting and worth while as well. Here is a sampling:<br />
<br />
I heard about three fabulous girl-led activism organizations involved with media, from Dana Edell, Executive Director of SPARK Movement, Jennifer Berger, Executive Director of About Face<br />
and Dana Hernandez from the Training Institute for Hardy Girls Healthy Women. These women and their organizations will be great resources for me to inspire the girls I work with and with a new class I am teaching second semester about using social media for social good.<br />
<br />
I learned from Chris Sperry about <a href="http://www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/" target="_blank">Project LookSharp</a> and how to use c<a href="http://vimeo.com/42777934?autoplay=1" target="_blank">onstructivist media decoding</a> in classes. This type of conversation with a group of students takes practice, and I hope to start practicing in the fall!<br />
<br />
Bonnie Nishihara (technology director) and Joe Harvey (head of school) from Saint Mark's School, an independent school in California, and Cyndy Scheibe (from <a href="http://www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/" target="_blank">Project LookSharp</a>) gave a great overview of how they <a href="http://www.saintmarksschool.org/academics/media-literacy/index.aspx" target="_blank">made media literacy a priority</a> and have integrated it into their K-8 curriculum purposefully and successfully.<br />
<br />
Near the closing of the conference, Renee Hobbs led us in an exercise to define what the term <i>media literacy</i> means to all of us. Using brainstorming, collaborating, and hundreds of post it notes, the group came up with lots of ideas. I would love to try to re-create this exercise with school librarians someday.<br />
<br />
I think the next NAMLE conference will be in the Spring of 2015 - I hope to see you there! School librarians need to attend this conference to show what we are teaching about media literacy, and to learn what others outside of librarianship are doing. Web/information evaluation, digital citizenship, decoding images, copyright and Creative Commons - it is all a part of it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-86834565162597216222013-06-24T09:07:00.003-07:002013-06-24T09:07:50.194-07:00Independent School Magazine: The New School Library<div class="kwout" style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://kwout.com/cutout/w/c9/w2/ukn_bor.jpg" alt="http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/The-New-School-Library.aspx" title="The New School Library" width="333" height="266" style="border: none;" usemap="#map_wc9w2ukn" /><map id="map_wc9w2ukn" name="map_wc9w2ukn"><area coords="317,1,332,8" href="http://www.nais.org/Articles/Pages/NAIS-Membership-and-Subscriptions.aspx?src=box" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="277,1,315,8" href="http://www.nais.org/Bookstore/Pages/default.aspx?src=box" alt="" shape="rect" /></map><p style="margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/The-New-School-Library.aspx">The New School Library</a> via <a href="http://kwout.com/quote/wc9w2ukn">kwout</a></p></div><br />
So many people, even at our own schools, don't really know what we do. In this article we tried to help non-librarians at Independent schools form more current views of school librarianship and understand how librarianship and school libraries have evolved into the school centers they are today. <br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-73896755812948894492013-06-11T12:28:00.000-07:002013-06-11T12:28:29.711-07:00Pondering E-books, Memory, and Moonwalking<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5047/5285629858_ca94f24dbc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5047/5285629858_ca94f24dbc.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image: '<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36263437@N08/5285629858">The Labyrinth of memory</a>' </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.flickr.com/photos/36263437@N08/5285629858</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Found on <a href="http://flickrcc.net/">flickrcc.net</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I am fascinated by the recent articles about relating current brain research and reading e-books, like this article from <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=reading-paper-screens" target="_blank">Scientific American</a> by Ferris Jabr, who writes the following:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Beyond treating individual letters as physical objects, the human brain may also perceive a text in its entirety as a kind of physical landscape. When we read, we construct a </span><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581905001722" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #19437c; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">mental representation of the text</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> in which meaning is anchored to structure. The exact nature of such representations remains unclear, but they are </span><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131512001704" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #19437c; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">likely similar</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> to the mental maps we create of terrain—such as mountains and trails—and of man-made physical spaces, such as apartments and offices. Both anecdotally and </span><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002253717180066X" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #19437c; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">in published studies</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">, people report that when trying to locate a particular piece of written information they often remember where in the text it appeared. We might recall that we passed the red farmhouse near the start of the trail before we started climbing uphill through the forest; in a similar way, we remember that we read about Mr. Darcy rebuffing Elizabeth Bennett on the bottom of the left-hand page in one of the earlier chapters.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">In most cases, paper books have more obvious topography than onscreen text. An open paperback presents a reader with two clearly defined domains—the left and right pages—and a total of eight corners with which to orient oneself. A reader can focus on a single page of a paper book without losing sight of the whole text: one can see where the book begins and ends and where one page is in relation to those borders. One can even feel the thickness of the pages read in one hand and pages to be read in the other. Turning the pages of a paper book is like leaving one footprint after another on the trail—there's a rhythm to it and a visible record of how far one has traveled. All these features not only make text in a paper book easily navigable, they also make it easier to form a coherent mental map of the text.</span> </i></blockquote>
The article is much longer and points to other areas where e-reading is often less desirable than reading the printed page, but this area stuck me the most.<br />
During Thanksgiving weekend of 2011, I read <a href="http://joshuafoer.com/moonwalking-with-einstein/" target="_blank"><i>Moonwalking with Einstein</i> </a>by Joshua Foer. I often marvel at those people with fabulous memories and I wonder how they do it. How do you memorize so many numbers of Pi? How do you memorize cards during card tricks and gambling? One technique that Foer shares from the centuries of memory masters (he calls contemporary ones <i>mental athletes</i>) is that they visualize a home or a building they know really well and place their memories in locations in the house (or memory palace). Then, they can tour through the house and have this mental map, which gives context to the details they are memorizing. Sometimes instead of a home, mental athletes will image something else, a streetmap they know well, or the human body, "so long as there is some sense of order that links one locus to the next, and so long as they are intimately familiar" (97). One person could have many memory palaces, one for each thing being remembered. <br />
<br />
This type of memorization technique must be somehow related to the "mental maps" above that Jabr writes about in <i>Scientific American</i>. Perhaps the physical space of a book naturally helps our brains remember the stories better. Thinking of a book as a structure, or memory palace, and knowing where events happen, and what details occur on what page, probably helps with remembering and context. I wonder if the memory masters Foer writes about prefer e-books or print books for learning.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-46596887559964939362013-06-05T10:28:00.001-07:002013-06-05T10:59:07.006-07:00Teaching Citing: The Importance of Individual AttentionThis month I spent a lot of time assessing some of what I teach the kids. I haven't done a lot of this in the past, and I am seeing the the fruits of my labor now. Believe me, it has been a lot of new work. But it is so worth it! Here is an overview:<br />
<br />
A teacher asked me to grade some of her works cited sheets from her seniors, and while grading I realized we were failing in how we were trying to teach them how to cite using NoodleTools. Maybe failing is too strong a word.. Some students did well, some didn't, either because they didn't put in the effort, or they didn't know how. They also didn't know I'd be grading it, so senioritis could be part of the problem.<br />
<br />
In response, I changed tactics this year with how I teach citing to 9th graders. It is now much more individual in approach. As we embarked on our third project of the year, I did show them briefly how to cite reprinted articles - the last new piece of citing we do as a group. But instead of spending a lot of time on it, I made some quick citing videos: <a href="http://youtu.be/QjH6Q7YKdu0" target="_blank">What is a Reprint and How to Cite it</a>, and <a href="http://youtu.be/UHNCT45Q0QQ" target="_blank">How to Cite from Bloom's Literary Reference Online</a>. Then, as I did in two other projects this year, I gave them individual feedback online in NoodleTools to their working bibliographies. I told them if their sites weren't academic, I told them if they didn't understand how to cite the items. I gave them feedback online, and met with several individually either on their free time or in class "workshops" where they could work at their own pace and ask either me or their teacher for help. Then I had them turn in a paper works cited to me and I graded the 120 works cited lists using a rubric which included citing skills from our few years together.<br />
<br />
The kids enjoyed this new approach and individualized instruction. Who wants to listen to a lesson about citing or do citations in the abstract? They need to know it when they need it, and I need to be there for them. They have to know when to ask for help - and what to ask. I got to know many of them much better, and I feel like they trust me and know I care about them. They know citing is not exciting, but they also know it is one of my responsibilities to help them understand why and how to do it. I am excited to see how their skills last as they continue in the upper school. Will their lists of Works Cited be as dismal as the ones I graded from our seniors? Or will this new "worshop" approach work better for them?<br />
<br />
I am also in the midst of grading 10th grade blogs. Each 10th grader made blogs during a UN Simulation activity, and I am part of the grading team. I just make sure they are citing quality sources and using proper Creative Commons images on their blogs, with appropriate captions. The tenth graders with more research and Creative Commons experience are doing better than the others, demonstrating that practicing information literacy and digital ethics helps you over time.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>An interesting side observation:</i><br />
The most important part of citing is knowing what you are looking at and trying to cite. For the first time this year I had several students think they had the paper copy of a newspaper article for example, because they had printed it out. So they chose print, when actually they were citing a database newspaper article. Interesting.. I long for the day when none of this will matter anymore.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-53395201126585710592013-04-11T16:03:00.000-07:002013-04-11T16:03:19.936-07:00Library Sleepover!<b id="internal-source-marker_0.25256844982504845" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.25256844982504845" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A recent Friday night was our 11th annual Upper School Library Sleepover. Originally started by students, I was ready to let this tradition retire with the previous librarian, who retired last year and chaperoned and organized this event for a decade. The students who thought of it as a Brentwood School tradition, however, demanded we do it again, and I am so glad we did! As soon as I advertised the event one time at assembly, it was full, with over 20 students wanting to attend. Members of the Student Library Advisory Council (SLAC-ers) decided we would read Arthur Conan Doyle’s </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Study in Scarlet</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and watch the BBC Sherlock version of the Sherlock Holmes novella. One senior created a role-play mystery game for us to solve, which we did at 1:00 AM. She creatively invented characters related to the novella, and gave us each clues on paper made to look old, complete with wax seals. A tenth grader shared that the “library overnight was a great way to bond and meet new people ... My favorite part was when some people summarized the first half of the book by performing an interpretive dance version. Overall, I had a ton of fun, and I'm definitely excited for next year.” We set up our sleeping bags in front of the TV at around 1:30 AM and most of us were asleep by 3:00. It was a night of laughter, acting, books, mystery, and new friends, and we are glad to keep the tradition going for another decade.</span></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.25256844982504845" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.25256844982504845" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So many of our kids excel at sports or drama, where they get to have parties - end of season parties or cast parties - with their peers who have similar interests. I was honored to have a party for the students who love to celebrate stories, and I was happy to bring them together. Our foreign exchange student from China came too, and it was so fun for her to enjoy the craziness of the teens being up most of the night. Next year I think we are going to read excerpts from Pride and Prejudice and watch the Lizzie Bennet Diaries - we supported the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pemberleydigital/the-lizzie-bennet-diaries-dvdand-more" target="_blank">Ki</a><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pemberleydigital/the-lizzie-bennet-diaries-dvdand-more" target="_blank">ckstarter project </a>and bought the DVD already!</span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-61730046511114108312013-02-28T18:52:00.000-08:002013-02-28T20:29:36.898-08:009th Graders Prefer Print BooksI work in a 1:1 iPad environment. All of our 9-12 grade students have iPads. I have slowly been collecting a fiction and pleasure reading e-book library with Baker and Taylor's Axis 360. Currently my <a href="http://bwslibec.axis360.baker-taylor.com/" target="_blank">Magic Wall</a> has about 120 books.<br />
<br />
<div>
This semester's 9th grade students in Human Development class have a reading assignment. They are going to read a fiction young adult novel of their choice, as long as it has a human development-y theme (identity, sexuality, divorce, family issues, drugs, addiction, cutting, romance, teen pregnancy, etc). In a month or two we are going to have a book party with refreshments, where they will present creative interpretations of the books - slide shows, playlists, collage, painting, monologue - whatever they want to do to celebrate and share the book.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
This week I have seen this as an opportunity to teach Axis360. I show them e-books in our collection to read by Chris Crutcher, David Levithan, and other important authors. I also have print books for the students to check out. Can you guess how many students decided to use the e-books? Answer: about three out of sixty.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
The students use their iPads for so much: e-textbooks, assignments, games, everything. I thought this was a great opportunity to teach how to access our e-books, and the students checked out print books. With e-books nobody can see what you are reading, there are no real scary due dates, you won't lose the book, you can read it in the dark (on the iPad).<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
The teacher thought maybe they like having a print book because it becomes almost like a transitional object when they are getting really into the book. Was she comparing it to a comfort blanket? I think so, and I love the comparison! The kids are attached to the book. They don't want the book for fun to be attached to their other stressful school work, perhaps. I understand that too. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Providing e-books for this population isn't really taking off the way I had expected. But I am a bit delighted with their attachment to the print book. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Coming up next: The Library Overnight - will the 20 students attending want to read the free e-book book on their iPads, or do they want the print book? Find out in the next post! </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-61961164971053796622013-02-12T19:50:00.000-08:002013-02-12T19:55:11.577-08:006 Word Story Contest<br />
<br /><br />I have been looking for ways to make the library a hub for a growing community of writers at Brentwood School, so on the heels of <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a>, and before the yearly spring short story contest, I was ready for another writing incentive. <br /><br /><br />The idea for this contest came from Kate Hammond, librarian at Perkiomen School, who sent out her idea for a multi-school 6 word story contest via the listserv for AISL, the Association of Independent School Librarians. I responded, and the 6 Word Story Contest was born. Brentwood School community members competed against each other, with 223 entries, submitted via a Google form embedded on the l<a href="http://infoeagles.bwscampus.net/?p=845">ibrary blog</a>. A committee from Perkiomen School judged our entries as we judged theirs. The students who participated eagerly awaited the results.<br /><br /><br /> The winners from both schools were announced on twitter a couple of weeks ago. The librarians enjoyed slowly tweeting out all the winners, @bwslibrary tweeted the Perkiomen School winners, and @perklibrarian tweeted the Brentwood School winners.<br /><br /><br /> We had 3 faculty winners, 3 middle school winners, and 5 upper school winners from each school. The results were tweeted (see the <a href="http://storify.com/bwslibrary/6-word-story-contest-results">twitter stream here</a>). I look forward to holding this contest again next year!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-72646939412315720932013-01-24T21:20:00.001-08:002013-01-24T21:20:08.042-08:00Adventures with E-books, Part 2: The PositivesAfter several research projects this year (as you can see from our<a href="http://bwscampus.libguides.com/" target="_blank"> LibGuides</a>), I am in a much better place to review the e-book platforms we have chosen to play with this year. I am reviewing them from the perspective of the upper school (9th-12th grade) that is in its first year of 1:1 iPads.<br />
<br />
The Gale Virtual Reference Library is still a favorite for specialized encyclopedias. E-book reference is really the way to go, and if your reference collection isn't migrating online, it really should be. We also have some ABC CLIO ebooks and I am thinking of adding more, since their databases are also quite popular for introductory research at our school. Our upper schoolers now use the GVRL via the easy to use Gale iPad app, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/accessmylibrary-school-edition/id371676736?mt=8" target="_blank">Access My Library</a>. The students download articles as PDF's and highlight and annotate using PDF Expert. GVRL is also popular because the students can copy and paste the citations into NoodleTools.<br />
<br />
Ebrary has really caught on with our upper schoolers because of the scholarly content and fabulous keyword searching. Once the students see how they can use a massive library instantly (78,000 books and growing!), with easy bookmarking, downloading, highlighting, keyword searching, and an iPad app to read the books offline, they are very happy. The teachers are impressed by the ease of access to quality information. [Update to my <a href="http://archipelagoblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/adventures-with-ebooks-part-one.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>, the copying and pasting from the app works beautifully into Evernote and the NoodleTools notecards.] The students also seem happy with the idea of reading the books offline via the app, but I don't know how many have done so. I have to review my ebrary usage statistics - but who has time? I know they are using it - I see them in the library. I will look it over when research season is over. Currently the 10th and 11th graders are using it, and the seniors are about to start.<br />
<br />
A couple of students have found e-books in ebrary that we actually cannot access. I would like to try the Paton Driven Acquisition process soon. Although not officially on my selection policy, I try to buy most of what my community recommends - that day. Sometimes they are even delivered the following day (thank you, Amazon). Those books will at least get used! I'd like to do the same with nonfiction e-books, so that will be my next thing to learn with ebrary, the <a href="http://www.serialssolutions.com/en/press_room/detail/2026" target="_blank">award winning</a> product that is becoming a favorite (even after all my complaints on the <a href="http://archipelagoblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/adventures-with-ebooks-part-one.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>).<br />
<br />
Axis 360 hasn't caught on quite as much, because our kids really enjoy reading in print, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323874204578219563353697002.html" target="_blank">as many Americans do</a>. I think that if more popular titles were available, it would be more consistent and students would use it more. Also, since I am not using it for anything curricular, the students are not really forced to learn how to use it. I am saving it mostly for pleasure reading, and some students and faculty are enjoying it, but I'd like a larger affordable selection.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned for more of our adventures with e-books, and let me know about your adventures!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-5174862795646419822012-09-25T13:36:00.003-07:002013-01-23T21:03:36.648-08:00Adventures with ebooks, Part One<h3>
Maybe I should call this post <i>Misadventures with e-books.</i>. or <i>If I think ebooks are Confusing, What about my Students?</i></h3>
<a href="http://btol.com/axis360/" target="_blank">Baker and Taylor's Axis360</a> ebook <a href="http://bwslibec.axis360.baker-taylor.com/" target="_blank">Magic Wall</a> needs the <a href="https://www.blio.com/blio/screens/homepage.jsp" target="_blank">Blio reader</a>. That is quite a sentence. They have an OK selection of books (although some are triple the cost of others, and I'm not buying those), and the books appear in the Magic Wall within a day. Customer service is really helpful, and the Magic Wall is pretty, especially on the iPad. Blio is a great reader. And, the platform's price is very reasonable.<br />
<br />
<b>However</b>,<br />
<ul>
<li>E-books for libraries are just more expensive than the alternative.</li>
<li>Explaining how to access the ebooks is a chore (we are making a LibGuide and a<a href="http://infoeagles.bwscampus.net/?p=712" target="_blank"> blogpost </a>about it).</li>
<li>The Axis 360 MARC records don't work well in our ILS, Destiny! We have to manipulate each record individually so Destiny will show that 1/1 books are in (which will be wrong if something gets checked out, but it is better than it always saying 0/0 are in), and we change the link in the MARC record, so it actually states that you click on the link to get to the Magic Wall to download the book, instead of just being a wild looking URL. Lots of work. </li>
</ul>
So, why not get the Follett e-books, you might ask. They work seamlessly with Destiny, and the circulation status is very clear. Well, Follett takes several days to deliver the books and the page turning is painfully slow. S-L-O-W. At least it is slow on our iPads at school. I will keep trying to see if the reader gets better. <br />
<br />
E<a href="http://www.ebrary.com/corp/schools.jsp" target="_blank">brary</a> is a whole other can of worms. On the computer it isn't too confusing, and you can make a bookshelf for your books. You need the bookshelf login to use the app. But then the bookshelf doesn't show up on the app. In fact, the bookshelf has nothing to do with the app. You use the app to search and download from the catalog only on to the iPad. Notetaking on the iPad is essentially cutting and pasting, and then the note has the citation attached, yes, but ittakesoutallthespacessoitishardtoreadwhatwascopiedandpasted.Thequotationslooklikethis. What is the deal with that?<br />
On the computer the notetaking is good, and you can email pdfs to yourself to read on the iPad offline, among other features. But why the 2 products with the same name don't talk to each other is a mystery and a drawback.<br />
<br />
Have you found that your patrons like the e-book options at your library? <br />
<br />
Stay tuned for more on our journey, hopefully some improvements in the market, and maybe some feedback from users. I haven't yet rolled these sources out to big groups of users. I am enjoying the experimenting and investigating, and I think this year of playing will turn up interesting results.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-66417254464611718752012-09-03T22:44:00.001-07:002012-09-03T22:44:05.254-07:00Flashcard WishesI got stumped by a seemingly easy request this week. One of our Educational Technology teachers and I have been spending time finding a flashcard app that:<br />
<br />
<br />1. Allows for large images<br />2. Allows for <b>lots</b> of text on the other side of the card<br />3. Can be emailed or shared to small groups or individuals<br />4. Can be made on computer cloud version<br />5. Deck can be downloaded to study on an iPad without wifi<br />6. Can "shuffle" the deck of flashcards, mark ones that are difficult, exclude the learned ones, and other fun learning capabilities like that.<br />
<br />
I have tried out a bunch of great tools, but none so far can do <b>all </b>of the above. This is for an Art History teacher who wants to put <a href="http://artstor.org/">ARTstor</a> images on one side and all the notes about the piece on the other (here is my I<a href="http://bwscampus.libguides.com/artstor" target="_blank">ntro to ARTstor LibGuide</a>). You would think this would be easy to find, but all the ones I have tried so far are missing crucial elements. The best cards are on Gflashcards, but the sharing is limited because of ARTstor's understandable Terms of Use.<br />Do you know of one that works for all of these criteria? Please share!<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-89028146093138173482012-08-26T09:53:00.004-07:002012-08-26T09:53:54.368-07:00Too Many Changes for the School Year?I am hoping to blog in detail about our many changes and get your advice. Here is a list of the changes for the library for this school year:<br />
<br />
Staff: I am now the Head Librarian for our East Campus (7-12 grades), and we hired an amazing new librarian to focus on our Middle School needs.<br />
<br />
Tools: We switched from InfoCentre to Destiny, subscribed to ebrary, have Axis360 and Follett ebooks, new apps for databases, and a newly restructured NoodleTools. All this to go with our new 1:1 iPad initiative in the Upper School. Also, I left EZproxy for now and have a different way for students to locate passwords (on a google doc), I have a new look for my LibGuides, and now I need to rework all of them because of this change away from EZ proxy.<br />
<br />
Rules: Finally the students will be allowed to drink in the library, as long as the drinks have lids. We have new beanbag chairs in our redesigned (by students) Fiction Alley, and I hope the kids won't use them as gymnastics mats or cuddling areas.<br />
<br />
Programming: We have a new piano in the library for Friday afternoon music, I have to recruit new people to my Student Library Advisory Council and Book Club (because many of my previous members graduated), and I am open to new suggestions from my community.<br />
<br />
First teaching task: I am teaching the art history students how to use ARTStor on Friday. A new part for me will be the mobile version, which supposedly has a great flashcard feature. I will teach the kids how to access it on their new iPads, teaching from my iPad using the new Apple TV which is installed in the library Lab.<br />
<br />
<br />
Lots to do! I am so excited for Tuesday when we start the school year!<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-45517663751814492662012-06-14T21:36:00.002-07:002012-06-14T21:44:17.628-07:00iPad Inservice<br />
This week I taught three 90 minutes sessions as part of our faculty iPad inservice week. I taught the <i>Productivity </i>session, where I got to teach <a href="http://www.quickoffice.com/quickoffice_pro_hd_ipad/">QuickOffice</a>, <a href="http://www.evernote.com/">Evernote</a>, and <a href="http://diigo.com/">Diigo</a> (using these tools on school laptops and iPads) to groups of 10-20 faculty members. There were 3 other classes being offered by other specialists: iPad Basics, eBook Options, and Classroom Possibilities. I had a lot of fun actually teaching from the iPad as I walked around the room. I could also switch off between projecting from my iPad and laptop. I would have loved it if the Smartboard worked with the iPad..maybe someday! The teachers had varying skills, but we all helped each other, and I had a great time. They loved it when I took their picture in an Evernote note, which was also very helpful for attendance. The most confusing parts to teach were adding Evernote's web clipper and Diigo's web highlighter to the iPads.<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am attending an ALA session about Professional Development, because I see a lot more of this in my future </span>(Leading Professional Development that Matters…and Works Friday, June 22, 2012 | 12:30 p.m.–4:00 p.m. Presenters: Debbie Abilock, Kristin Fontichiaro, and Violet H. Harada). I am already planning our August inservice week, where I hope to be teaching Your iPad and the Library: Access, Collaboration, Participation. Or something like that.. Do you have favorite Apps or iPad uses you think I should highlight (or get) for the faculty? Please share!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<div id="__ss_13333126" style="width: 425px;">
<strong style="display: block; margin: 12px 0 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/eabarbanel/i-padinservice2-13333126" target="_blank" title="ipadinservice2">ipadinservice2</a></strong> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="355" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/13333126" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC;" width="425"></iframe> <br />
<div style="padding: 5px 0 12px;">
View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/thecroaker/death-by-powerpoint" target="_blank">PowerPoint</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/eabarbanel" target="_blank">elisabeth abarbanel</a> </div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-26138743068249186692012-06-11T21:29:00.000-07:002012-06-11T21:44:29.460-07:00Great News from NoodleTools!Friday I attended a webinar about the new version of the citing module of NoodleTools that will be available in late June. I am happy to say, I'm sticking with NoodleTools! After working so hard over the years to make this amazing citing, note taking, and outlining tool a large part of the K-12 Brentwood School research experience, I didn't want to have to change citation platforms. But NoodleTools really needed an upgrade. And an upgrade it is!<br />
<br />
The Abilock team understands that we need to teach the students not only how to cite, but what they are citing, and that the tool students use needs to be flexible and not too complicated. Now they give us three citation levels instead of two, breaking the skills down even further so 2nd graders, 7th graders, and 11th graders or college students can all cite the types of resources they use. Engaging slides defining each type of source and how to find the elements needed for citing are available in each level. Teachers and Librarians can use these slides for instruction, or students have the option of seeing them while citing.<br />
<br />
My students will especially appreciate these highlights:<br />
<u>Quick Cite</u>: They can now copy and paste citations from databases, and NoodleTools will offer some prompts to make sure the citation is edited if it needs to be. It will also mark on the bibliography that it is a copy and pasted citation, so students can go back and refine it later if needed.<br />
<br />
<u>WorldCat Integration</u>: Finally! Enter a title and NoodleTools will offer up matching book covers and information so the student can make sure they are selecting the right one.<br />
<br />
<u>Archive and Annotate</u> web pages: Using the iCyte bookmarklet, students can keep copies of the sites and highlight on the screen.<br />
<br />
<u>Switch easily between types of sources: </u>"Oops - I need to switch from citing a magazine to a newspaper, do I have to start all over?" <i>Not anymore!</i><br />
<br />
And like icing on top, all of these citing features <i>work on the iPad</i>, and later this summer the notecards and outlining features should work as well.<br />
<br />
Some other new features might please your students. For instance, if your school teaches several citation styles, it is easier to switch between styles . Also, the notecard feature has a new layout that looks easier to navigate while writing notecards.<br />
<br />
I did nto get to use NoodleTools myself, I only saw the webinar. I am very excited to see how it all looks live, and to share it with my students in the fall. Here is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLieHxt8VoI">a video</a> from NoodleTools all about the upcoming release. I will be able to write more after I actually use the updated product.<br />
<br />
Thanks, NoodleTools!! The upgrade looks great!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-26831819882990494802012-05-31T11:32:00.002-07:002012-05-31T11:34:23.144-07:00Using the Library on your iPadThe faculty all received our iPads to start learning how to use them before the next school year. So far, I have sent out two emails about using the library on the iPad. I am thinking this will be a regular series from the librarians to the faculty and staff, and soon to the students. Next year I am hoping to do some in-person faculty training too, but for now, emails will have to suffice. We are heading into finals next week and everyone is very busy.<br />
My first email highlighted using Gale's Access my Library App and the Britannica Online App which I just subscribed to for my school. Today's email is all about using ARTstor's mobile site and how I can help the teachers put together a collection for their students to use on their mobile devices. I wanted them to play with these databases over the summer to see how they can incorporate them in the fall. <br />
I want the library's resources (including me, by the way!) to become more important, not less, when we go 1:1.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-3198592969597177862012-05-21T19:54:00.001-07:002012-05-21T19:54:30.099-07:001:1 iPads at the Secondary School LibraryArchipelago is undergoing a slight change of focus. The 9th - 12th grades at my school are going 1:1 with iPads in the fall, and today all the teachers got our new iPads, along with iTunes gift cards. I hope to reflect in Archipelago about how using iPads changes the library and our curriculum. Will it change what I teach, what I buy for the collection, and the overall culture in the library? Probably, but what exactly will be different? What will be challenging? What will be better?<br />
<br />
<br />
My first concerns are:<br />
What is the best Blogger app?<br />
How to serve the middle school equally when it isn't a part of the program?<br />
Will NoodleTools have an iPad app, and if not, will it matter?<br />
Which ebook vendors should I start using? <br />
What can I do this summer to prepare the library resources and curriculum for this new and exciting educational adventure?<br />
Will I ever be able to make a LibGuide on the iPad?<br />
<br />
I will blog all about it on the iPad, of course! Right now I am just blogging using Safari on the iPad. Seems basic, but O.K.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-27135799425636312772012-05-21T10:26:00.000-07:002012-05-21T10:26:01.870-07:00Evernote, iPads, and VeteransRead about an exciting day in our library - a day of creating content and making connections.<br />
<br />
<div class="kwout" style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://kwout.com/cutout/u/np/ru/kni_bor.jpg" alt="http://www.bwscampus.net/infoeagles/?p=693" title="Veterans and Juniors: Oral Histories in the Library « InfoEagles" width="540" height="353" style="border: none;" usemap="#map_unprukni" /><map id="map_unprukni" name="map_unprukni"><area coords="370,174,480,183" href="http://www.calvet.ca.gov/VetHomes/WestLA.aspx" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="7,3,158,30" href="http://www.bwscampus.net/infoeagles" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="496,18,539,39" href="http://www.bwscampus.net/infoeagles/?page_id=164" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="430,18,478,39" href="http://www.bwscampus.net/infoeagles/?page_id=2" alt="" shape="rect" /><area coords="300,201,343,210" href="http://evernote.com/" alt="" shape="rect" /></map><p style="margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bwscampus.net/infoeagles/?p=693">Veterans and Juniors: Oral Histories in the Library « InfoEagles</a> via <a href="http://kwout.com/quote/unprukni">kwout</a></p></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325789614897723018.post-49221795920060101452012-04-13T18:02:00.002-07:002012-04-13T18:02:34.869-07:00NoodleTools - in the Parent Newsletter<i>I am trying to make our library more visible by writing semi-regularly for the school's K-12 online newsletter, which is sent out by email blast every Friday. I figure if parents read about the library maybe once per month, they might come to define the library as we do, as an active teaching and learning space enriched by collaboration, technology, and information in all formats, not just a warehouse of books. This article I co-wrote with Yapha Mason, our Lower School Librarian, and it came out in today's newsletter, immediately after the lead story. </i><br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
<a href="http://www.bwscampus.com/data/files/news/TeachingandLearning/NoodleTools1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://www.bwscampus.com/data/files/news/TeachingandLearning/NoodleTools1.jpg" width="320" /></a> NoodleTools: It's Not About Pasta<br /> by Elisabeth Abarbanel and Yapha Mason, Librarians</h3>
Changes in the research process in the past decade might make what your child is doing look foreign to you. For instance, almost every 3rd to 12th Grade research project has a NoodleTools element. What is NoodleTools, you ask? It is online software that supports all aspects of the research project, from organizing sources to note-taking to a final bibliography or works cited. The librarians have worked with the teachers to integrate this online tool to make the process collaborative and much easier than when we were all in school.<br />
In the Lower Division, our students start to cite their sources using NoodleTools in 3rd Grade. They learn the basics of citation with one book from their ocean animal report. In 4th through 6th Grade they are expected to cite all of their sources, and they learn the different pieces of information needed when it is a book, encyclopedia, web site, interview, or even an iPad app. Ms. Mason works with the students on how valuable it is to keep track of the sources used, and the best ways to accomplish this. We teach the MLA format for citing at Brentwood School, preparing the Lower Division students for their research on the East Campus.<br />
<br />
<br />
On the East Campus, all 7th graders receive an introduction to citing using NoodleTools. They can then start taking notes using the online notecard feature, which is required in 8th and 9th Grade. Imagine typing your notecards and storing them in “the cloud” where they can’t be lost or left at home by mistake, and are never too messy to read. Students invite their teachers to access their work cited lists and notecards, and the teachers can comment online to offer help and dialog about the process. When working on group projects, students can also collaborate with each other in NoodleTools.<br />
<br />
As the research process gets more complex, students learn more and more citing and note-taking tips. Have you ever had to cite a YouTube video or a Tweet? Brentwood students graduate feeling confident they can cite any piece of information, regardless of the format. The students don’t have to worry about the particular punctuation or format of the work cited list (NoodleTools does it for you), and can use their time instead to think critically about the research. Already a scholar’s dream, NoodleTools is going through an update this summer and it should be even easier to keep track of sources and information in the fall.<br />
<br />
If you are interested in learning more, please contact Elisabeth Abarbanel (East Campus) or Yapha Mason (West Campus) or look at our NoodleTools online help here: <a href="http://www.bwscampus.com/broadcast/action/clickthru.aspx?id=143.1681.1134427.44078.2894">http://bwscampus.libguides.com/NoodleTools</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12525174545940100216noreply@blogger.com2