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

Also visit these sites for additional information:

http://technotuesday.edublogs.org
necclibrarians08.wikispaces.com
www.futura.edublogs.org