KimP's Blog

Librarian2.0 Essentials

Kim — Sun, 05 May 2013 11:23:22 +0000

Librarian2.0 is not so much defined by Abrams or Harvey as described by their uses of technology. Harvey (2009, p1) frames her ideas of Librarian2.0 with tools and technologies; and Abrams lists the tools, technologies and opportunities.

Laura Cohen (2006) and Buffy J Hamilton (2010) look at Librarian2.0 as actions, attitudes and attributes that move librarians actively, thoughtfully and positively to respond to the rapid changes in expectations, requirements, technologies, communication channels and social trends in the 21^st century.

Here is my list of essential knowledge, skills and attributes of an information professional in a Web 2.0 world:

Know Your Customers and be where they are – connect using social networking sites, face to face, in real time and virtually. Work to gain a deep knowledge of their interests and goals, needs and wants in order to provide and plan appropriate services.

Be Fearless and Courageous in the commitment to providing the best possible library experience for all patrons by ensuring that the highest quality information is available to the Library community in the formats needed and required.

Be a Life Long Learner – open to discovering better ways to ensure the library delivers the best programs and facilities for the community it serves. Show your desire to find out, to explore, and to keep asking questions.

Respond Positively and thoughtfully when others are not ready to embrace new ways of thinking or doing. Be prepared to back up opinions and views with cohesive examples and research to continue conversations that develop understandings and insights and community.

Play with change – use it as a chance to experiment, test out and try new ways. Accept change, being ready and able to see the positive and work to take advantage of new tools, apps, services and ways of approaching information collection, curation and communication.

Be an Active Participant within and outside of the Library – “walking the talk” be highly visible through the use of technology, a voice on committees, by providing innovative learning experiences and sharing the story of the Library with the community.

Be Accountable for delivering authentic assessments of the effectiveness of services and programs to patrons. Be open and transparent in the collection of data and anecdotal evidence that shows and tells the story of the library

References

Abram, S. (2008). Social libraries – Web 2.0, library 2.0 and librarian 2.0: Preparing for the 2.0 world. Library Resources and Technical Services, 2(2). 19-22.

Cohen, L. (2006, November 9). A librarian’s 2.0 manifesto [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZblrRs3fkSU&feature=player_embedded Accessed 5.5.13

Hamilton, B. J. (2010). It’s in the way that you use it: what library 2.0 means to me. In The Unquiet Librarian. Retrieved from

http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/its-in-the-way-that-you-use-it-what-library-2-0-means-to-me/ Accessed 5.5.13

Harvey, M. (2009). What does it mean to be a Science Librarian 2.0? Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, (Summer). DOI:10.5062/F4M906KW

Retrieved from http://www.istl.org/09-summer/article2.html

Image Attribution:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57567419@N00/8379468749
Found on flickrcc.net

A to Z

Kim — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:02:12 +0000

Library 2.0 is an interesting concept that places the relationships between a library and its users in the hands of the librarian, who is charged with enabling open access to collections, services and knowledge through the thoughtful, judicious and calculated use of web2.0 applications.

My school library blog is a work in progress: moving it from a class based blog to one that demonstrates the learning that takes place in the library has been quite straight forward, but I am realizing that it will not take the place of a Library website as it is – there are changes to be made .

The post A to Z of Social Networking for Libraries (22 January, 2010) on the Social Networking for Libraries blog puts forward a number of ways that a librarian may use social media to extend the reach of the traditional library using web2.0 technologies. I will take five of the suggestions and reflect on how well (or not) these may be applied to my blog to help it embrace a Library 2.0 ethos.

“A = Active. In order for your library patrons to view you as being serious about your social networking and for it to work for you and your library, you need to use it on a regular basis.”

A timely (and time – less) problem for me at the moment. I am not posting as regularly as I could due for the most part to the fact that it is just me writing and posting with no feedback or responses AT ALL! There is no student voice on the blog at the moment, no posts by students, no comments or interactions amongst students, no sharing of work that makes THE STUDENTS proud.

I must establish links with other libraries and classes studying similar topics to encourage sharing and commenting. I need to encourage students to write posts about what they are doing and learning, and share this with the school and wider community.

“D = Direction. What are you planning to accomplish for your library with social networking?”

As a starting point in my Library 2.0 journey, I think that my Library blog is an effective way to form ongoing relationships with students and their families across the school. As a vehicle for sharing what is happening in the Library, the blog is great, however other essential aspects of the library such as information literacy, reference materials and reading advocacy must be available for students and families as well.

“G = Good Reads. Do your patrons need some ideas of what to read? Help them out with Good Reads.”

Now I know that Good reads have very recently been swallowed up by Amazon, but the idea of providing students with suggestions for what to read next is a good one! I know that Shelfari displays books that you are reading as a widget on your blog, but I will have to investigate if the group sharing part of the site is appropriate for primary school children.

“H = Help. Relying on only one or two people to build your library’s social networking presence will not work. It needs to be a whole team effort on behalf of your entire library staff.”

Haha – I AM the entire library staff! It is me or no-one :-0

“Z = Zeal. Is your library staff excited about the possibilities that social networking can offer your library?”

YES! I am excited about the possibilities of social networking for my library. I follow many librarians from around the world and am inspired by the many wonderful ways they engage with students and each other as part of the everyday work going on in a school library. I am determined to work some of their magic as a TL in a Library 2.0.

Photo Attribution:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36976184@N02/5496186373
Found on flickrcc.net

Social Networking for Information Professionals – that’s me?

Kim — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 09:29:58 +0000

Personal Definition:

Social networking occurs when groups of people, who share a specific concern or interest, connect with each other to share, compare and collaborate with each to expand knowledge, understanding and learning. A community forms that enriches members through sharing, commenting, helping, feedback, advice and support.

Use of Social Network Technologies so far:

I have been using a number of social networking technologies in my role as Primary school teacher since 2006 – most of these technologies stem from the class blog and the resulting connections and collaborations made with other teachers and classes around the world. Social networking technologies have allowed me (and my students) to feel as if we are learning for real purposes and in real or authentic ways.

Social networking has resulted in meeting other teachers and educational professionals from around the world – both in each other’s classrooms and at conferences and in homes. The feelings of being a part of a community, and the responsibilities that entails made the learning that was happening (both for myself professionally and for the students in my classroom) vitally important, meaningful and bigger than just attending school.

Some of the social networking sites I currently use are:

Blogs
Wikis
Twitter
Facebook
Picassa
Pinterest
Instagram
Linkedin

It is interesting to note that it is difficult to separate them into work, personal or study groups as they overlap so much.

Now in my second year as a Teacher Librarian I want to learn how to use social networking technologies to:

Expand the opportunities of students across the school – to demonstrate and use social networking technologies to connect with information: experts, peers, an audience and collaborators for their learning.
Support teaches in their use of these technologies for personal professional development and classroom use (to flatten walls and connect to the “outside” world).
Harness the powers of these technologies to enhance the usefulness and authenticity of the school library in its role of providing information and recreational services to the school.

Expectations of INF506:

I expect to transfer or transform what I know about social networks and social media into a basis for pedagogically sound, innovative and authentic uses in the school library setting.

I expect to see best practice libraries and the uses they have for social media.

I expect to become far more knowledgeable on the legalities and technicalities of using social media and social networks across a whole school setting.

I expect to build a Professional Learning Network of informational professionals who can guide, support and who I can learn alongside of.

I expect to learn and think and collaborate and question and do!

Image: ‘Jump on the social media bandwagon‘ By Matt Hamm

Looking, seeing, visioning

Kim — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 02:04:53 +0000

I am currently procrastinating on an assignment that asks me to articulate a vision for my school library. It is a pretty exciting assignment because I am gathering (far too much) information on what a library can be, what it can provide and how it can position itself as the hub of the school.

I have pages of quotes and examples of what I want my library to be and this is the reason I am procrastinating – how to meld all of the ideas, suggestions and scenarios into a succinct, cohesive and do-able vision for the next three years.

As a very new TL in training (I still haven’t been in the library for a full year yet or completed my TL course) I am finding it a tad overwhelming trying to sort out and deal with the number of roles the literature expects me to fulfill.

I am beginning to see, however, that this assignment is helping me to pare down these expectations and take hold of the aspects that are important for the students and school community at my school in the next little while. This is a great chance for me to really focus in on the roles and functions that I can best undertake to move us from where we are now.

It doesn’t matter what we should have been doing, where we should have been working, how we should have been learning – we have the power and the ability to move forward confidently in a way that is authentic and purposeful and relevant to US.

This is truly exhilarating and scary as well. Yet, through the structuring and direction of my learning so far, I know that I can do this, I have to do this, it is my responsibility to do this – with the strategies and skills I am developing as I am learning.

Articulating my vision will help to tie up the many stems of my learning: it will enable me to really develop learning experiences around what is important, it will help me to provide learning opportunities for all students and it will enable me to collect evidence that supports and celebrates the learning occurring throughout the library and school.

If I could just finish this assignment and start putting it all into action …….

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52193570@N04/5774680570

Learning in Action

Kim — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:05:11 +0000

The Joy of ISTE – The Joy of Learning

Kim — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:02:58 +0000

Thousands of kilometres and many hours away from San Diego and ISTE 2012 I am buoyed and excited by the tweets and blog posts that are coming thick and fast from the USA.

From feeling very envious and slightly jealous of the social happenings and get-togethers that are being shared, I am now inspired by watching the learning that is taking place by the attendees:

ideas - tweeted from workshops

discovery – of personal connections to these ideas

joy - when realising the relevance of the ideas

plans – to try the ideas back home

sharing – the discovery with others via twitter and blogs

elaborating - on the first idea

collaborating – and hooking up with others who are sharing the idea

curiosity – about where the idea has come from

looking up – researching some background

thinking – how the new idea fits with what you do

buzzing – with excitement

possibilities – bouncing around in your head

new ideas

What an authentic and wonderful snapshot of learning taking place.

Thoughts, theories and practices being shaped and grown in a positive and supportive atmosphere of “it is possible”.

I can only imagine the opportunities and experiences that await classrooms when the attendees return.

Thank you to everyone who has tweeted and blogged ISTE 2012 into my life this past week or so.

Attribution:

Image: #271 eLearning

ETL401 Assignment 2 Reflection Post

Kim — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:53:26 +0000

My teacher-librarian (TL) learning journey started with me deliberately and defiantly staying exactly where I was! In starting this course I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of information I was processing from the readings, and trying to cope with running the library at my school for the first time ever, that I concluded that the primary and over arching role of the TL was that of a teacher.

I now know, through a Kuhlthau reading that I was doing what George Kelly called “forming new constructs and reconstructing old ones” (Kuhlthau, 2004, p. 17). Having been a classroom teacher for over twenty years I needed to keep the pattern or frame of reference of what I knew when confronted with new experiences. I felt that teaching students and staff, contributing to student outcomes and making a difference in the way teaches taught and students learnt was the role that a TL was expected to play. Ideas and thoughts firmly rooted in my classroom teacher perspective.

Contributing to the Topic 3 Forum on “TL and the Curriculum” I was beginning to look at a bigger picture view of what the TL offered to the staff and students in a school. From planning with staff across the school and for various stage groups of students, through sharing expertise and knowledge of the curriculum K-6, to what I, as the TL, would add to the planning, I was beginning to see that the TL role encompassed more specialized knowledge and skills particularly in the are of information specialist.

The Kuhlthau reading from Module 4: Information Literacy really grabbed my attention, and impacted on my understanding of the role of the TL as information specialist (Kuhlthau, 2004). I had positioned myself in my “What sort of library?” post as aiming for an active, learner-centered library. This reading walked me through constructivist theory, which gave me confidence and background information about learning.

The exploration of information literacy and the various models, processes and definitions opened my eyes to the ways in which the TL worked with information to develop the skills and competencies in students so that learning could take place. The TL role in providing multiple perspectives, formats and types of information to both students and staff was also made clear and reflected on in my Information Literacy and The Constructive Process posts

Reading the AASL Standards for the 21^st-Century Learner document really tied up all of the aspects of the TL role neatly for me. In the Topic 4 Forum I shared how this document really positioned the learner at the centre of their learning and demonstrated how learners needed to be very proactive in their own learning.

This document also brought home to me the importance of ethical and moral use of information. Once again it was a case of a reading tying up my ideas neatly, and then enlarging or expanding my thinking and knowledge. The linking of information literacy and technology was made in a Forum 4 posting and I began thinking of how my role of TL was about “enabling [students] to make informed and positive choices in the future, [so that] we are doing what we can to ensure that whatever technologies come our way we and our students have the skills and knowledge to work with them.”

Over the ETL401 course, my knowledge and understandings about the role of the TL have grown and developed along side my knowledge and understandings of the power and pervasiveness of information. Although I am in no way ready to call myself an information specialist, I can see that this is one area that a TL must have deep knowledge and understanding in. In this information age it is necessary to ensure that all students have the skills, strategies and mindsets to be able to critically, competently and confidently navigate with information to make informed decisions. This is one of the most important roles of the TL and the one that has made the most impact on me over the semester.

Reference:

Kuhlthau, C.C. (2004). Learning as a process, in Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services, Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.

To Do List #1

Kim — Sat, 05 May 2012 22:07:36 +0000

I need to share what I am learning in this module with staff to help build up a common picture of what Information Literacy, Information Skills and Guided Inquiry are, and the benefits to students.

I need to address the “what” and “why” before we can move on to the “how” and “when”.

I need to look at best practice examples of Guided Inquiry , have opportunities to learn from these examples and then look at ways to support each other as we work together to apply this model in the school.

I need to make a great case for taking the trouble to plan and work together collaboratively, when most of the staff are used to working autonomously in their classrooms, formulating and driving their investigations in Key Learning Areas. It will be quite a challenge for some staff to see the point of information literacy skills and guided inquiries and letting go of being the sole leader in their room.

Hmmm – this is an important step in moving forward ……

Learning As A Process

Kim — Sat, 05 May 2012 21:44:55 +0000

Kuhlthaus’ “Learning as a Process”chapter was an important reading for me professionally.

I articulated in a recent post “What sort of library?” the aspects of the learning environment I was striving for – and then I read this chapter! The learning environment I am aiming for is constructivist, where the learning is active and dynamic.

It was enlightening and exciting to read and understand the theories explained by Kuhlthau in this chapter. I had lots of “a-ha” moments and “so that’s why!” and “I’ve seen that too” thoughts.

I will scaffold my thoughts and responses using a Visible Thinking routine called “Connect, Extend, Challenge”:

CONNECT:

How are the ideas and information presented
CONNECTED to what you already knew?

learning is active and dynamic
students are “constructing their own personal worlds”
students construct their own knowledge from the information they collect
information seeking to broaden their understanding of the world
thinking and reflecting go hand in hand with learning by doing -> higher order thinking skills and metacognitive thinking. Visible thinking routines can be used to scaffold student thinking and reflection.
the idea that the “Problem and solution stand out completely at the same time” (Dewey quoted in Kuhlthau, 2004, p.16). Often we can see the solution to a problem at the very same time as the problem itself becomes clear, this is especially the case when researching – clarity and a sense of “a – ha” that’s the answer happens at exactly the time that you understand or “get” the problem that you were struggling with.

EXTEND:

What new ideas did you get that EXTENDED or pushed your thinking in new directions?

to provide useful and appropriate scaffolding that will support students to take control of the process. Students need to be able to confidently be able to use routines and scaffolds that they know will help them organise their thinking.
knowing how to learn – empowering and enabling students to have the responsibility = skills, strategies and processes
working towards deep understanding and being able to transfer it to other situations. In the rush of the classroom we have to have strong convictions to give over the time to support and promote learning experiences that contribute to deep understanding. It can be done, and very rewarding when it is done.

CHALLENGE:

What is still CHALLENGING or confusing for you to get your mind around? What questions, wonderings or puzzles do you now have?

Making inferences - jumping from the known and beyond the given information is the aim of learning and what the students I teach find very difficult to do. I’m not sure if it lack of opportunity to do this, lack of scaffolding or something else? Is it because they haven’t gone through the entire phases of reflective thinking – maybe they are stuck on conceptualizing the problem and are therefore unable to make the jump to tentative interpretation/ hypothesis making.

The Constructive Process

Kim — Sat, 05 May 2012 02:51:53 +0000

In her work on inquiry learning, Carol Kuhlthau is heralded as being the first person to incorporate feelings into a model of the inquiry learning process. Upon reflection, there is a lot more to incorporating thinking, feeling and acting in learning than just identifying the feelings students are having at particular times in the process. Kuhlthau’s model has let me know where in the inquiry learning process my students are most likely to have uncomfortable and negative feelings, and be ready to give up. But more importantly, she has matched these feelings with what the students are doing cognitively at this time.

This will enable me to provide scaffolds, organisers and learning experiences to support my students in their cognitive tasks at these points in the process.

By electing to use these scaffolds, organisers and learning experiences students should be able to reflect, infer, predict or see patterns in their information and therefore technically be in a better, more supported/confident/aware and positive position to make the jump to the next step in the inquiry learning process.

So my role is to have on hand a selection of learning experiences, scaffolds and routines for students to use at various times in the learning process, but especially at those times when their feelings are low and negative.

My learning of and about the inquiry learning process is deepening my understandings of what is involved in the information process and will hopefully lead me to be able to transfer this knowledge in practical and meaningful ways across age groups, grade levels and Key Learning Areas.

Image: “Icelandic Faces”