SLJ Summit reactions November 18, 2007
Posted by ayucht in : SLJSummit2006 , add a commentCheck out these assorted blogs by attendees for reactions and reflections:
Diane Chen: http://deepthinking.blogsome.com/
Christopher Harris: http://schoolof.info/infomancy/
David Schuster: http://davidsexperiences.blogspot.com
Michael Stephens: http://tametheweb.com
David Warlick: http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/
Alice Yucht: http://www.aliceinfo.org
and explore the wiki at http://sljsummit.pbwiki.com for presentations, handouts, more discussion and follow-up ideas, etc.
AASL Tour: How Rural Elementary, Middle, and High School Librarians Bring Resources to Distant Desert Towns November 10, 2007
Posted by amcdermott in : AASL2007 , 1 comment so farThe 2007 Conference offered several tours as part of the conference experience. Since this was my first conference, I really wanted to participate in one of these, and chose the all day rural schools tour.
A mini bus waited outside of the Legacy Hotel on a cold Wednesday morning, and I experienced some momentary panic when my name was not on the list of participants. However, all was soon settled and I entered to meet my fellow group of intrepid librarians. Since there were only 11 of us and 2 hours of highway waiting to be explored, we quickly became quite friendly. In that small bus was represented the states of MA, VT, CA, HI, WA, NM, AL, IL as well as Germany. Our conversation bounced around, and laughter filled the air as we shared stories.
As we drove towards our destination in the Black Rock Desert, incredible scenery surrounded us of miles and miles of sand, salt flats, shrubs, and rocky hills with the occasional passing truck. For a Brooklyn girl like myself, it was quite impressive.
After an hour, we arrived at the Natchez Elementary School, located on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation in Wadsworth. We were greeted by the librarian, who has 150 students in grades k-6. The library has 4 computers and 10,000 books in the automated collection, with dial-up internet access. I asked about the satellite dish in the parking lot and was told that it, and 2 televisions, was from a 1 year government grant for distance education for parents. However, due to the grant not being renewed, none of them are in use. I thought it was a shame that a Native American tribe would not have access to the important resources that a satellite dish could give them.
The hand made quilts and Native Americans photos on the walls caught my eye. Of great interest were the dog beds, used instead of bean bags, because of their low cost. We didn’t stay long because we thought we were on a time crunch.
Our driver, a former phys. ed. teacher from the Reno area, put the pedal to the medal so we wound up arriving at our destination of Gerlach (population 499) in record time. Since we were too early for lunch, we were directed to a pottery store. After 8 miles, we wound up at a dirt road turnoff with a sign announcing that Pottery X was “open most of the time.” It consisted of scattered 1 story buildings decorated with bleached steer skulls, rusty lamps, hanging bottles, and other oddities. The place seemed deserted, but all doors were wide open showing lovely homemade pottery and paintings ranging in price from $5 to over $3000. We wandered around deciding what to buy and wondering why no one had appeared. We began to call out and soon someone appeared on horseback, which seemed like something out of a Wild West movie.
We soon returned to Bruno’s, the local motel, restaurant, casino, bar and saloon. Bruno, an elderly gentleman in his 80’s who originally hailed from Italy and made Gerlach his home after WW II, still does all the cooking. His specialty is homemade ravioli, which we ate after the antipasto along with vegetables, cooked beef, and chicken, carafes of red wine, soda and desert. The walls were lined with framed photographs of family and friends. We posed for a photo and I asked for us to be hung on the wall, so that if we were ever taken down we would be considered “off the wall” librarians.
Our final stop was the k-5 Johnson Elementary school in Gerlach, which consists of 32 students. Alongside it is the Gerlach Middle/High School, with a total of 40 students; grades 6-8 have 12 students, while grades 9-12 have 28 students. Some students travel over 25 minutes from their ranches to attend the school. Amazingly, the schools had 2 librarians. When we asked how a school with less than 80 students could have 2 librarians, we found out that the middle/high school library is also the town’s public library.
Both schools have dial-up access and, when I commented on its slowness, they answered that it was all they knew. Both have a $300/year budget, and are automated. The elementary library has 1 computer and 4200 books, is on a fixed schedule, and teaches library skills with time for book checkout. The entire student body of 32 gathered in the hallway to sing us 2 songs.
The middle/high school has 4 computers, with some students going on to college. The student’s hardest challenge was getting used to a large college setting. Since it is also a public library, material on all grade levels is available, including audio books for the local truckers. The county of Washoe does book purchases, but the librarian can buy curriculum based and fiction books.
The librarians work together to plan fundraisers, with pizza being their largest source of funds. Neither one of them seemed able to find reasons for their rural jobs to be challenging, saying that they loved what they were doing and had great support from the community. Even the lack of cell phones, the smallness of the student body, and the town’s dwindling population did not faze them.
Gerlach is a company town, run by the U.S. Gypsum Company located 20 miles away in the town of Empire. The Company funds the school and provides employment for those living there. Another large source of funds comes from The Burning Man festival, a type of Woodstock for 45,000+ artists held yearly at the end of August.
Finally, we were presented with gift bags consisting of a company hat and shirt, pottery from Pottery X and other goodies, as well as delicious homemade brownies and drinks. We all thought that it was kind of them to give so much when they had so little, and were very touched and grateful.
Thank you to AASL for getting in contact with these librarians, and putting this trip on the agenda. It was truly an eye-opening experience. My Rural Libraries photos are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunshinealma/sets/72157602913270474/
posted by Alma Ramos-McDermott
ISS @ AASL Reno November 5, 2007
Posted by aernst in : AASL2007 , add a commentOn Thursday 10/25, 50 of us went on the ISS tour “New Independent Schools Serve Special Populations”. We visited the Bishop Manogue Catholic High School, in a grand 2004 building, as well as the Sage Ridge School, serving students in 5th through 12th grades. Our gracious librarian host at Bishop Manogue was Mr. Marcelino Ugalde who gave us a tour of school facilities as well as the “Student Resource Center” , which is an impressive new library space. [http://www.bishopmanogue.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=19&Itemid=66]
At the Sage Ridge School, student ambassadors showed us around several school buildings, while librarian Kelli Anastassatos talked to us in the recently spruced library room. A lovely feature of this little library is an outdoor patio/terrace area. The school’s wireless enables students to use their laptops outside in this area. [http://www.sageridge.org/lib.html]
Thursday evening I had the pleasure of helping to host the ISS networking reception. Nearly 100 independent school librarians from across the country (and I believe from at least one other nation as well) gathered for conversation. Also in attendance were immediate past ISS chair Patt Moser and incoming ISS chair Elizabeth Burke.
Posted by Alison Ernst – ISS Chair 07-08
AASL2007
A Whole New Mind discussion at AASL conference November 4, 2007
Posted by ayucht in : AASL2007 , add a commentAfter Dan Pink’s thought-provoking keynote on Thursday, over 65 early risers showed up at 7:30am on Friday to talk about the relevance of the book to school-library-land. Rather than one general discussion, each table was asked to explore a different aspect of Pink’s premise. See Rob Darrow’s blog for an excellent summary of the table ‘reports’ offered to the entire group:
http://robdarrow.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/aasl-day-3-a-whole-new-mind/
My first AASL Experience November 4, 2007
Posted by dlevitt in : AASL2007 , add a commentI arrived in Reno in the evening excited, nervous and completely alone…sort of. It’s hard to truly be alone when you are going to a conference of roundabout 4,000 people whose job is similar to yours. Even so, the nerves only lasted until Thursday morning when I got on the bus and sat next to a Florida State University MLIS student on the way to the convention center. From there, I met some truly wonderful people and saw some interesting sessions.
As an MLIS student, I haven’t yet entered the field of teacher librarianship. I decided to focus my sessions on those serving new school librarians. I didn’t get to all of them, but I did manage to get to Ruth Toor and Hilda K. Weisburg’s session Present Tense? Future Perfect! Though not directly linked, it was based upon their book New on the Job: A School Library Media Specialist’s Guide to Success as well as Clair Gatrell Stephens and Patricia Franklin’s session, Library 101 (their book is titled the same as the session).
Toor and Weisberg’s session was very informative. I learned to approach the “nonpublic” professional side of things like a businessman would, such as by drafting a belief statement and forming a philosophy that reflects what you are all about. This would normally be a daunting task if it wasn’t for all the interactive help given to us by Ruth and Hilda. All in all, though, they stressed the little things. I find that is important because, as a new school librarian, I think I’d find myself worrying more about my lessons and my collection more than things like being sure to smile or learning names.
Library 101 handled more of the major functions of school librarianship, especially revolving around collection development. In that session, I learned that collection development is a school wide project, not just a librarian undertakes on Tidalwave.
I didn’t just fixate on the “I’m new, HELP!” aspect of conference sessions, however. I did get to have some fun and some broad learning experiences. The highlight of my conference was the two sessions I attended on censorship and book challenges. Keep it Real featured three authors: Lois Duncan, Carolyn Mackler, and Chris Crutcher. This was the best session I attended. I had a lot of fun and I got to talk at length with Chris Crutcher, a man I admire to no end. Someday, I will bring him in to talk at my school library, if I choose a middle or high school librarianship.
The final session I attended was one on the new standards. This has particular impact on my education because I am currently wading through Information Power. It was somewhat disconcerting to go through and internalize those standards only to come to the session and learn “Information Power no longer exists.” I think it would be much different if I were already in the field. Despite this, I think I am coming into the field as a new wave of 21st Century librarians revved up and anxious to make an impact on the lifelong learners of tomorrow.
I would also like to add that volunteering was something I also undertook at the conference and it is something I’d recommend to anyone who is considering going to the next AASL convention in Charlotte. I had a great time doing it and it helped me meet even more people.
By Daniel Levitt
FRIDAY @ AASL 2007 November 3, 2007
Posted by tkaun in : AASL2007 , add a commentDEWEY BREAKFAST
Friday started off nice and early for me with the Dewey breakfast. About a dozen hearty souls attended this meeting which began at 7:00 at the Silver Legacy. We took part in a very nice continental breakfast of pastries and fresh fruit while we heard from to of OCLC’s top executives in their Dewey division. I don’t remember their names but one was the chief of the division and the other was the chief editor. The division chief told us in general about plans for Dewey and, because I told her that on my way down the elevator the person I mentioned I was going to a Dewey presentation wondered whether Dewey was still in existence(!), reassured us that Dewey was still going strong, and adding new foreign language versions regularly. The editor elicited our input on some topics Dewey is currently working on, the prime one being the Education Schedule. She kept referring to us as “the experts” and we certainly were willing to give our input after a bit of coaxing, about whether “play groups” should continue to be mention under the number for preschool programs. It was interesting just get a taste of how the editors of Dewey really do elicit expertise from those who (should) know what’s going on in specific areas.
CONCURRENT SESSIONS
I had planned on attending a couple concurrent sessions i the morning but unfortunately both were canceled. I would have loved to have heard the “Great Database Debate” but alas it was not to happen. Instead I went to the presentation by Cassandra Barnett about the book challenges a couple years ago in the Fayetteville (Ark.) Public Schools. It was a fascinating story and I hope someday someone writes a book about the whole process. In the end, the community was very supportive of the librarians and the library program, but it must have been very difficult to maintain a professional demeanor through the whole nightmare.
My next session of choice was also canceled but it gave me the opportunity to hear Keith Curry Lance’s presentation about the first nationwide survey of library media programs which was commissioned last year by AASL. It was the first such survey and will give us a baseline from which we can continue to learn about who we are, what we provide, and what makes us tick. Keith will continue to tweak the survey and members of the audience (a very full room) were able to provide feedback and ideas. He was very appreciative of the input.
The rest of Friday in my next posting.
Thomas Kaun
AASL2007
Young Adult Literature Pre-Conference November 3, 2007
Posted by Laura Pearle in : SLJSummit2006 , add a comment(aka: Urban Fantasy, Chick Lit, Graphic Novels, Audiobooks, and More: Young Adult Literature for the YouTube and MySpace Generation) by Dr. Ruth Cox Clark.
This preconference was broken into two parts. Part One dealt mostly with the marketing of YA lit to our students, and in Part Two we heard about great books in the various genres (booklist download here).
One problem is deciding where things go vis-a-vis genres: Urban Lit/Fantasy? Mystery/Chick Lit? Don’t worry about it! The main thing is to get the books there, and to promote and cross-promote as much as possible. We need to teach students how to self-select good reading (and AR/RR are a huge problem). The key is that students experience “unconscious delight”, a critical step in becoming a lifelong reader. This used to happen in 2nd grade but now happens later, in part because of AR/RR. Why? Because those programs “force” readers to read a preordained set of books, at a programmed level, whereas before students could read what they wanted and when (both up and down their comfort levels). Reading is more than decoding and comprehension: it needs to be an explosion of delight.
So, what strategies should we try?
- Add non-fiction to booktalks and fiction to research bibliographies
- Try bigfishgames.com (games related to books)
- Allow students to “lie around”, and allow books to “lie around” (don’t worry about shelving and pushing in seats: messy shelves = usage)
- Make students trip over books/magazines “accidentally” left out near seats, computers
- Booktalking is important – always do it with a book in your hands, consider podcasts and using your daily announcement system. Make book covers your screensavers. Tie books like Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist to real playlists, and try that with other books (eg, “what would Hamlet listen to?”)
- Try a 24-hour read-a-thon, or lunchtime read-alouds. In other words, use every opportunity to connect books and students, all day, every day, in multiple ways.
- Don’t waste time with desktops – laptops are flexible and leave more room for displays.
- Cross-pollinate: tell guys about Meg Cabot and Louise Rennison (”this is what girls really are like”) and tell girls about Rough Rides
- Create generic bookcovers, so they can hide books that are “not cool”
- Keep a cart of unprocessed “information” books (puberty, etc.) for students to borrow as they need them
- Create safe zones for open mike activities, booktalks; leave all weapons (including words) at the door
- Buy audiobooks/Playaways
Thanks to Mike Eisenberg and Peter Milbury November 2, 2007
Posted by ayucht in : Community , add a commentMike and Peter, the co-founders of LM_Net, have announced that they are retiring… and that LM_Net will continue to thrive under the guidance of new co-moderators Blythe Bennett, Michelle Walker and Sue Wurster. On LM_Net itself, many folks have posted their gratitude to Peter and Mike for starting this unique listserv in 1992.
As a long-time member, here is my tribute:
When Mike and Peter described this new ‘community’ at an ALA meeting, I don’t think anyone realized what a profound effect it would have on us all. LM_Net has been an integral part of my professional and personal life since 1993.
Even though LM_NET’s core purpose is “topics of interest to the school library media community…” in reality the messages run the gamut of any friendly — and sometimes not so friendly — gathering of colleagues: daily survival skills, administrivia, personal and family interests, budget woes, news of the day, recommended resources, trends and theories, occasional political commentary, book and movie discussions, even bad jokes.
LM_Net has become *our* faculty room. It’s always fascinating (and sometimes heartening) to discover that school librarians all over the world have the same issues and problems. Many times LM_Netters have asked for help/advice, and then reported back that when they presented their administrators with the sheafs of responses they’d gotten from colleagues all over the country/world, they’ve been able to change policies or (stupid) decisions!
For the past 5 years, I’ve required my new/wannabe school librarian students to explore LM_Net’s archives as a way of learning about this marvelous resource. I explain to these students that LM_Net is really most like a giant cocktail party with many different conversations all taking place at the same time. As you walk around the room you’ll hear lots of isolated comments out of context, but if you stop to listen to each small conversational group, you do get a sense of what’s being
said, even as you can overhear comments from the conversation going on in the next group.
Peter and Mike — you have our undying gratitude for creating this wonderful learning community!
With heartfelt thanks,
Alice Yucht
AASL 2007: OFF TO A GREAT START November 1, 2007
Posted by tkaun in : AASL2007 , add a commentIt took me a few false starts before I was able to log into the blog so I’ll be playing a little catch up over the next couple days. I’m writing as an experienced LMT but a first-time AASL attendee. I arrived Wednesday to the Conference on the California Zephyr from Martinez. It was a very pleasant trip across California and I found I could actually enjoy the scenery as we headed up and across the Sierra Nevada–a lot harder to do when you’re driving. On the train were two colleagues from San Mateo, Kris Cannon, the retired LMT from Mills High School and Judy Moomaugh, the county library coordinator. We had a great time sharing recent experiences and ideas which made the trip go all the more quickly. After checking in and looking around a bit, Kris, Judy and I went to dinner in a very nice Italian restaurant in one of the conference hotels. The next morning I took a shuttle bus down to the Convention Center which was located about 3.5 miles from the downtown hotel district.
For me the Conference started with a First Timers Orientation at 12:30. As a pleasant surprise lunch was provided for the first 200 attendees. In the end close to 300 folks were in the audience. Heard a lot of good advice from from AASL movers and shakers, many of whose names were familiar. It was good to be able put a faces to a names I’ve seen many times on LM_NET.
That afternoon also provided the Exploratorium, an exhibit of “learning stations that exemplify best practices in school librarianship.” I saw quite a few interesting ideas and got to meet the folks who fun the TRAILS online assessment for info lit skills among others.
Later we heard the conference keynoter, Dan Pink, the author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. His book was the book all conference attendees were supposed to have read. I have to confess that I ordered the book for my library but in the end actually watched a video presentation which Pink recorded last year just to get his basic ideas down. Even though I had watched his earlier presentation, I was impressed by his speech to us. Dan believes, and backs it up with evidence, that the world of work is changing and the best metaphor to explain the change is the right-brain/left-brain model. Because we are losing routine tasks to outsourcing and off-shoring (Asia), our ever-expanding need for novel consumer goods (Abundance), and the growth of automated processes (Automation) the skills and processes of the right-brain are becoming more important than the skills and processes mediated by the left-brain. Our educational institutions have traditionally emphasized left-brain (logical, analytical, sequential) skills to the neglect of right-brain (empathetic, integral, holistic) skills. Dan believes that since those skills tend to be ones which cannot be outsourced, provide the designs needed to continue producing novel and interesting goods and processes, and are not susceptible to automation, those are the skills which we should be developing in our students. He quoted approvingly an administrator from a school district in New Jersey who said: “We should be educating students for their future, and not our past.”
Finally (whew!), the exhibit hall opened Thursday evening. It’s the location where I spent a lot of time over the next several days talking to vendors and picking free goodies.
Thomas Kaun
AASL2007
