I read  Travis Jonker’s article “Fine. I Got an Ereader. Now What?: A newbie to digital reading gets his first Kindle“ initially when it came out in the January 2012 issue of School Library Journal (SLJ).  I too thought it was (dare I say) cute.  In the least pretty doggone tongue in cheek. Seems though some pushback is in order, as Doug Johnson has posted some of his thinking regarding the article and particularly School Library Journal’s decision to publish it as a featured article this January.

That article was me 6 months ago!! Did Travis Jonkers get in my head?

In my own experience I sat on the sidelines for the last few years watching the ereader/ebook initiatives unfold around me, reading everything available about how this library or that librarian was embracing the new facet of reading. I too was hesitant to invest money as the steward of funds for a library program that serves my students, my school, and my district. I’m responsible for this portion of the school (that essentially belongs to my students) and must strive to provide a vibrant and relevant program. But the longer we waited the more I felt the need to invest and experience it, and this was one way to address relevancy in a challenging time. My research was done. I needed to gauge reactions from authentic use. Just reading about others experiences was no longer enough for me. With our school administrator and even district level support, we decided to invest.

"Overdrive for iPhone" By David King

"Sexier than a Librarian" By ATIS547

It doesn’t make me feel like I’m in with the “cool kids.” I just feel significantly more informed, especially when I see the ebook/ereader issue as becoming more prevalent and not really going away. Nope this fad is here to stay for now. Consider Apple’s iBook textbook initiative just introduced in the last few days. Seems the writing is on the wall. And if we as librarians want to stay, we need to be with it knowledge-wise, and in my mind it means having a solid understanding AND experience with ebooks and ereaders. We must stay relevant. Dragging our feet on something like this is dangerous and downright risky business. Would you rather by a critical part of the instructional team–seen as a team player who can bring knowledge and experience to the table–and even provide experience for your students, teachers, admin, and entire school community, or a RIF (reduction in force) waiting to happen because you bring little or nothing to the table?

Tags: Ebooks, Ereaders, K12 Library

How do you store class novel sets?

In my area, recently a librarian was asking for cost effective management solutions to class novel sets. There was a general reluctance to add them to the library management program (in this case Destiny.) The suggestions that respondents gave were to just use the library program.  So the librarian expressed the concerns with doing that:

We do not want them in our (circulation) system because someone else will be checking in/out these books and will have access to student records (patron privacy) and could possibly mess up the records in existence.

I responded, but would love to see what my readers think as well.  Maybe you do have some viable suggestions.  But in my mind, this is absolutely a potential for negative opinons and attitudes by others in respect to the library.  The following is my suggestion.

Catalog them in your Library Destiny system. If your biggest concern is privacy, then instead of allowing teachers or other school personnel to manage the checking out and in, you and your library staff handle it.

 

In previous years I have had class novels handled in two ways through my library program.  One way was to have every novel barcoded, and each student check out their own novel.  The other way was to store novel sets in tubs, catalog the “tub” of books, and check that one item out to the teacher for management in the classroom.

 

Managing resources  through Destiny is very doable, and it adds a level of accountability, so in my opinion, you should just voluntarily manage them there instead of seeking a second program to do this.  It just makes sense fiscally. This is no different from cataloging videos, cameras, magazines, and other resources that are atypical from the standard book on the shelf.

 

As far as messing up records in existence, I have materials cataloged in my Destiny program, and when I run reports, I tell the system to ignore certain records–things I feel will skew my statistics.  That is the beauty of cataloging today.

 

Don't draw a line in the sand.

The danger I see here of refusing to accomodate a request like this is that you alienate a group of teachers. Risky business IMHO. Don’t draw a line in the sand.  Maybe you can offer a compromise. Go back to the teacher making this request.  Ask her to assist in barcoding the books and even perhaps storing them in the classroom.  Create a catalog record with its copies and even indicate they are stored elsewhere, and not in the library. Ask her to bring the books and the class to the library when it is time to “check them out” so the only real work is you and your staff checking out the books, which might take all of ten minutes.  This way you are preserving that privacy you are worried about compromising.

 

In this day and age where administrators are looking for ways to trim the budget, I certainly would not want a teacher going to my administrator complaining that I won’t help with a situation that I could very well manage.  Not worth it.

 

In my own teaching context, I feel if a teacher went to my administrator with this issue, my administrator would probably come to me and say add the books. Wouldn’t you rather be seen as a team player than obstinate?  IMHO it’s more important to be seen as a solution than a problem. The potential for a teacher walking away seeing you or the library as a problem is great. Repeat–not worth it. This is a losing battle.

Tags: Collaboration, K12 Library, Library Management

Did you know there is a tug a war going on??  That’s right, and it’s between libraries vs. publishers.

Kindle app on three screen sizes (none of which are a Kindle) By Brian Sawyer, FlickrCC

Unfair Game. No Winners.

There can be no winners here.  This is just another classic example of the new gadgets transforming the industry, but (imho) greed directing it.  How is it that for such a long time, publishers were okay with the library model of loaning books when they were of the print variety, but now suddenly they don’t want to play nice now that books have added a digital model?  As a librarian, I buy books for my shelves.  When a book is popular, I buy multiple copies of the books.  It’s a response to supply and demand. If the same were true (and eventually it will be) regarding demand for ebooks, I would buy multiple copies, probably even multiple digital formats.  I am a consumer too. But the publishers seem to view me as the enemy.  Grr, so unfair.  I hate to tell them, and this is probably something they already know somewhere in the recess of their minds, but those who want to own books will continue to buy them, no matter the format.  Refusing to provide digital formats to libraries is NOT going to win them any new consumers.  C’mon folks, let’s all come to the table and work to create a successful model, one that works for publishers AND libraries, but focuses on the patrons/consumers, not how much money can be made.  $$ is a byproduct. The bottom line should be the human by product. Period.

A request to those who unwrapped a reader at Christmas:

If you received an ereader, iPad, or tablet for Christmas PLEASE bang the ebook checkout programs at your local library. Librarians need to send a message to publishers that their industry will not perish because ereaders choose to “borrow” ebooks!!

Tags: Ebooks, Ereaders, K12

Ok so Ive seen many versions of this and each time it tickles me to no end!! I love this song and everytime join in, no matter if it’s serious or just for fun.  In celebration of Chistmas Joy, I bring it here for you.  See the many versions available on Youtube as well!!

Tags: Happy New Year, Merry Christmas

Tags: Happy New Year, Merry Christmas

I love how Christmas break frees up time and really allows me to throughly read through my feeds.  I can take the time to think through the posts, reflect, ask myself questions, develop action plans, and apply what I am learning to my own teaching and learning context. Many times I leave my reader knowing I have shared good content with those who need to read it, hear it, see it, and feel I am doing my part–leading by example.

By Ari Moore, Flickr, CC Licensed

Truths

Today though, that is not the case.  Doug Johnson has struck a nerve and now I am hurting!  for me it’s about truths.  I have been in the mix of PLNs and 2.0 learning for such a long time now–past the five-year mark (my blog was born on October 17, 2006.) it was then I decided to do more than just take from my network, but work to give back as well.  I have used various tools including my blog, other blogs, wikis, nings, Twitter, and even Facebook as a way to advance my own learning and at the same time SHARE with others.

Read the post – 12 signs
Today though after reading Doug’s post, 12 signs your tech leadership is obsolescent, I realize there is so much more to be done, particularly on the home front.  I see signs of hope–there is a Facebook and Twitter presence where there was none before, and teachers may request “district issued” gmail accounts to engage students in some 2.0 tools…but in terms of most everything else in the list, there is so much more room for growth.  What’s a girl to do?  I have evangelized the merits of many of these in the list before, but often  wonder if it is falling on deaf ears?  Am I sharing with the wrong people?

No, I’m not mad or angry.
Sometimes truths like this are what motivates me into action. I guess I need to develop an action list and work even more towards relevancy on my own home front.  But being one voice in one school, I’m just not sure my impact can be greater than those I directly interact with on a day to day basis.  But I also realize I have to start somewhere.

And that, my friends, is why this hurts.  Sigh.

SIDENOTE: As a scoured flickr for cc creative commons license picture to use her, I came across the one above.  I always open them up to see who posted it and maybe get some context from it.  The picture accompanied a brief description that stuck with me too:

Tags: 21st Century Learning, Doug Johnson, k12education

Today I have placed a new widget on my sidebar at the request of Andy Woodworth, a fellow Geektribe member.  He feels (and I agree) that far too few librarians report book challenges. At times I wonder if this same group even realizes there is a division of ALA devoted to preserving that freedom to read or that there are provided resources available.

In its entirety,  his message and request went like this:

To my fellow librarians,

I’m writing to the people I consider to be the online voices of librarians and librarian values with a personal request. Back in October, I worked with the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom to start an awareness campaign to encourage people to report book challenges and/or removals. I feel that the under-reporting of book challenges represents a major impairment to the proper analysis and defense of intellectual freedom in libraries of all types. With better data and information from increased reporting, we as librarians can get a better grasp as to what materials are getting challenged and why and be able to detect trends and patterns to such activities.

In looking to raise awareness, I am asking you to consider adding a link to your blog sidebar that links to the ALA OIF’s Challenge Reporting website.  There is artwork that could go with this link, but a simple descriptive word link would be great as well. So it’s clear, I am doing this on my own; I have not been asked by the ALA OIF to contact bloggers. I’m asking this as a personal request because I was involved in a book removal several years ago that received international attention. At the time, I felt completely helpless and without any form of recourse. Since then, it is my personal motivation and mission to work towards ensuring that no other librarian experiences what I did in the future.

If you are able to, you have my thanks. If you are not, I understand (we’re still cool). Either way, I want to thank you for your time considering what I ask.

Cheers,  Andy

Dear Andy, I am only too happy to included and to use my blogger’s voice to spread the word.  I will be trying to post the same over at SCASL.net.  Note my sidebar widget is in place!!

Tags: ALA, Frredom to Read, GeekTribe

Happy to say I’m in some very good company here with MANY friends. I’m honored to be there with my friends, especially SC friend and SCASL Board member Tamara Cox, author of the Eliterate Librarian!!  Thanks for alerting me via Twitter Tamara!  And thanksalso to  TeacherCertifiactionDegrees.com for selecting my blog in the top fifty blogs for school librarians.

Tags: k12 Libra, SCASL, South Carolina

Today my colibrarian and I lead a staff development each block for any interested teachers. We have been doing this since October, and we call the opportunities “One Tool at a Time.” Yes, I swiped borrowed the name from the ISTE SIGMS webinar series called “One Tool at a Time.”  When I send out emails and reminders about it, I title it 1T@T.

GBE for some…choice by others
Some of my teachers are actually using it as their “goals based education” plan for the school year, something we in South Carolina must do annually.  We advertise a bit, describing the planned topics, and my co-librarian and I try to do something different.  These sessions take place each block of the day during the school day, and teachers are asked to spend just half of their planning period with us (which at my school is 45 minutes.)  Our goal is to give them half of their planning period for whatever they need or want, and be available for those who wish to have guided practice or one on one time.  So far none have missed an entire planning period unless they chose to stay the whole time.  It has been fun and informative, and I swear each time I learn something new too.

You learn from me; I learn from you! Win-win!
Today’s topics were Wordle, presented by me, and then Google Books, presented by my co-librarian. It’s funny because frequently we pull in other apps accidentally just because they are related.  Today during one session we had a discussion on the difference between .gif, .jpeg, and .png, all because one person asked the difference during my wordle preso.  I had a teacher in the group that beautifully explained it–helping me learn too!  During my co-librarian’s part on Google Books, the discussion meandered through Google Chrome, the Chrome webstore, apps, vs. plugins, ebooks, and even the iTunes App store and mobile devices.  We very well may make Google Chrome one of our future tools to focus on!  While some topics were more advanced than the main topics of the session, it was great to have these educators coming together to learn from us, each other, and expand our topic. All, while sacrificing some of their planning time. Best, they left the session with some immediate application ideas for their teaching context.

De ja vous

by Doug Johnson - This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I had a brain fart today though. I have insisted that we did not need handouts for our sessions. After all they were to be low key, with each of us talking, modeling, and demonstrating for 20 minutes max. We arranged to be in a setting for each session so that our participants could choose to do hands on if they wanted, and any could stay as long as they desired for guided practice with us. I seldom take handouts at sessions myself, preferring instead to download later if I need them at all. Most of the time I do not need them. And far too often I’ve made handouts (for adults and students) and after everyone had left, found a number on the floor. I began following my friend Doug Johnson’s lead, going electronic. But I felt for these short PD sessions, I didn’t even need that. Wrong.  I had a major twinge of guilt today when a teacher who hadn’t been coming decided to join for the first time and asked where the handout was.  The others in the group had been a few times, and so they did not expect one. But earlier when we first began meeting, they too had asked. I had simply brushed off the thought that anyone would or should need one. But the new request today just suddenly made me realize they all still want one, and even deserve one.  You see this teacher had come today, she shared with me, because she printed out the email advertising this session and taped it to her wall behind her desk — as a visual reminder.   De ja vous!  Suddenly I remembered the visual of how to get handouts for Doug Johnson’s sessions.  I needed to provide a way for those wanting/needing this to get it. I’ve done this for bigger presentations and speaking engagements. Did my teachers deserve anything less? So tonight I sat down and hammered out a one page handout to serve as the reminder, support, tips, or whatever it is that some need. And I remembered that many are not where I am in their comfort zone with using, much less playing or taking risks for the sake of learning.  So I will from now on provide some kind of handout for my teachers. It may be an electronic download, as I don’t want to waste paper, but I will provide this form of support for those who need it, and send it as an optional download. Yep, lesson learned today, in many ways.

created by Cathy Jo Nelson Dec 2011, licensed CC

Tags: Google Books, K12, k12education, Professional Development, Wordle

I’m not sure if this will be a post in praise of books, authors, local bookstores or friends! It has a little of all. You see it all started like this:

Not sure if this has been posted, but author Cassandra Clare(the Immortals and Infernal Devices series) will be at the Hangar at the Runway Cafe in Greenville, SC, this Saturday at 4pm. Advance tickets are $22 ($25 at the door) and include a copy of her newest book, Clockwork Prince, which just came out today.

I’m meeting up there with several of my students who are HUGE fans. Certainly beats paying an author to fly to your school for a visit! Here’s a link with more details…
Jen Chesney
Media Specialist/NBCT
Powdersville High School

Well THANK YOU Jen for posting that to our SCASL listserv!! I knew that my good friend Fran Bullington is a huge fan–she reminds me all the time that the Mortal Instruments series is her favorite, naturally causing the YA author, Cassandra Clare to be her favorite YA author.  So I asked her–>Wanna go? Fran’s Saturday was slam packed full already, and we didn’t find out until Tuesday, just four days before the event. I didn’t want to go alone, so I was already negotiating with my husband to plan a Saturday afternoon and evening in Greenville, the only catch was going with me to the event.  LOL, he wasn’t too excited about meeting Cassandra Clare, but was going to make the sacrifice for me.

My photo of my book and advance ticket - I'm in the door and in my seat.

Fran says YES!
Thursday Fran let me know she wanted to go but would have to leave at 5:30PM. That meant I could go with her, and then just have my hubby pick me up–he was happy to be off the hook, sacrifice avoided! Thankfully I scored an advanced ticket, which guaranteed the newest book The Clockwork Prince and optimal seating at the event. The agenda was to bring in Cassandra Clare, allow her to do some fan Q&A for about an hour, and then start signing books. Fran and I arrived right around 3:15 so we would have nearly front row seats (we made it to the second row)  which would mean she would be able to stick with her plan of getting out by 5:30 to resume her jam packed Saturday plans.

Here’s what struck me the most from the event:

• Fiction Addiction, a local bookstore in Greenville owned and run by Jill Hendrix, organized the event. It was SUPER organized and I was made to feel welcome and appreciated from the moment I entered.  THIS is why we should be supporting our local bookstores. They have made me a fan for life! As for this being a local bookseller, I think they have truly embraced rethinking what it means to be local. I’m already looking forward to their March 17 author visit by Jodi Piccoult. Now that I have time, I’m going to promote it bigtime at school, as I know we have students and faculty/staff alike who are huge fans.  At the Cassandra Clare event, I saw groups of high school librarians who brought along students and colleagues. SMART!!  Want to be “in the know” about upcoming author visits and events? Visit the Fiction Addiction website and sign up for their e-newsletters near the top right side with an email address.
• 

  Beth Revis, YA author of the series "Across the Universe" was there!!

  The Hangar @ the Runway Cafe, Downtown Greenville Airport, Greenville, SC. This was my first visit there, and I found the place shockingly quaint!  The smells wafting from the cafe adjacent to the hangar started my stomach to rumbling! Patrons can enjoy the scenic view of planes taking off and landing while enjoying the nice atmosphere, and there is even a place to sit outside and enjoy the view.  When I learned the event was to be held in the adjacent hangar, I was seriously skeptical of how successful this could be. I was pleasantly surprised. Fran said she can’t wait to bring her grandson back for lunch one day so he can see the planes land and take off.  I want to try it too!

• While waiting for the event to begin, Fran and I got to introduce ourselves to Beth Revis, YA author (pictured above) of the trilogy Across the Universe. The second in this trilogy comes out in January 2012 (just a few weeks away.) We asked about a possible shared school visit, and she indicated she was free in the spring.  She gave us her contact information, and we are going to follow up with this next week. COOL, COOL, COOL. I am going to go ahead and order some extra copies of her book!
• 

  Photo by VLC Productions - Cassandra Clare in Greenville, SC- Clockwork Prince

  Cassandra Clare was witty and fun! She mixed in the perfect amount of sarcasm and opinions, and shared freely when asked about her books. My takeaways were about the pending movie–the book is being developed into a movie, and how little she gets to say about how the screenwriters change the storyline. She shared when she first read the screenplay she told them fans would NOT be happy with the drastic changes, but of course was essentially told they didn’t care.  She shared that when you sign away on the contract, which she said is as thick as five city telephone books, you essentially sign away the right to control the storyline for the movie. She did say someone else read the script as well, and convinced the movie people to go back closer to the story line. She signed it over so there’s no use dwelling on what they do with it. Losing battle. So she is just focusing on her books and not worrying about the movie. She did ask to be kept informed regarding the chosen actors and other big decisions, which they will offer to her as courtesy since she asked.

• Cassandra Clare shared there will be two more books in the Mortal Instruments series, and another book in the Infernal Devices series. I did not know that!!
• 

  My question!! Photos by VLC Productions in Cassandra Clare in Greenville, SC- Clockwork Prince

  Cassandra Clare answered my question–one I posed selfishly in hopes of getting the cool Rune tshirt being given out for those who had a question chosen! My question went like this: When my kids at school asked for something new after devouring the Twilight series, I constantly suggested The Mortal Instruments series, bragging that they were like Twilight on STEROIDS. What would your recommend as a follow up to your books? She got a chuckle out of my comparison of her books on steroids to Twilight, and rattled off four or five books. I tried to tap them into my phone (why didn’t I think to just record this in Evernote??) but here are the ones I remember (with help from my friend Fran!):  Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, The Gone series by Michael Grant, and Darkest Power Sereis by Kelley Armstrong.

• While signing our books, Cassandra Clare took time to talk to each person who came.  She was jovial, fun to talk with, happily posed for pictures while signing boks, and gave everyone there a really nice Shadow Hunters poster. I REALLY wanted a tshirt, but my question came too late. Sigh. I was tempted to request one while talking with her during the signing of my book, but alas I chickened out.
  

Special thanks to my friend, Fran Bullington who went with me!!

 

My picture set from Saturday:

Tags: Cassandra Calre, FictionAddiction, Infernal Devices, Mortal Instruments