Nitsche Notes: Who's Who and What's What in Library 2.5?

Feed, Tag, Research: Remixing for School Library 2.5
Presented by a Who’s Who Panel in Library 2.5:
Joyce Valenza. Cathy Nelson, Carolyn Foote, Anita Beaman, Diane Cordell, and Kim Cofino
So you think your world has changed? Drop in and see how this international line-up of school librarians have embraced the tools and rethought what it means to be a librarian and have a library.

Librarians are the school CIO

We need to lead from the center.
We need to partner in the information landscape.
We need to communicate with our learners in remote ways.
We need to lend digital flash drives, digital cameras.
The library should be a place to go for anything you need in terms of knowledge.

Rethinking databases.

We need widgets and gadgets and an amazon-like business model that allows us to subscribe when we need it.
Students don't know what the databases they need.
We need to make them available to them as they need them and be able to set up RSS feeds to receive the data.
Think about information in a bigger way
News is not just in English and Western.

Rethinking Collections

Collection includes the knowledge that our students give us.
How do we gather that together and make it available for others?
How do we organize the students' work and insure equity?
How do we ensure equitable information access and delivery? See Intellectual Freedom for Youth by Annette Lamb
Engage Ethics- making sure that everyone in your school is aware and that they also contribute not just use it.

Changing Your Perspective

Using the tools for professional development
Using the tools for Parent workshops
Think about working with an administrator differently.
Principals may not be aware what the library is there for.
Maybe the library needs to look at how they market themselves.
What do you want from our school librarian?
Are we sure what the mission is for the campus mission?
How can we help them?
How can you be transformative and be a change agent?
The key is advocating for students first not advocating for the library or the program

How to be Popular with Your Principal

Share, share, share
Figure out how your principal learns best? Just like you would with the students.
Podcast, summarize and highlight
Email a link, read a book, send a youtube video
Be there- be at meetings, be a resource
Be a partner, not a judge. If you are judging you are not working as a parter
Share your campus success stories.

Think of Yourself as a Corporate Librarian

Read principal blogs, journals, etc.
Think of your librarian as innovation central- be the person for innovative creative thinking.
Focus on the big picture - on the whole campus, not just the library.
All the new web2.0 tools are just a new way of interacting with others
Create a shared vision.
Do ongoing workshops.
Embrace technology yourself.
Think about ways you can start leaderless organizations to empower others to do the same.
Change the way you see yourself!

How to Reach Out and Get Others Involved

There are too many choices- need to help others change in small ways
Need to expand the SPACE that people are operating in and the mindset they are bringing to the situation
Engage other teachers as co-learners
eliminate the stress others feel- make them comfortable learners
Step 1- interview them- What are you doing now? What do you think might need revamping or change?
The tools need to support the content
Reassure people that everyone is an expert
Don't come at them with a lot of vocabulary that they do not understand
Use word that the learne can identify with
Narrow the choices and help them select
One size does not fit all
If the old tools work better than you don't need to do something
You are a help point- be there physically to help them out
Age doesn't matter- encourage lifelong learning
Have fun- play with things, don't be afraid to fail
Celebrate success