Bonus(!) Final Blog Post: Amazon and eBook Lending

I'll admit it; I bought a Kindle today. I've had the money set aside for three or four months now and have just been waiting for the Kindle to support the lending of library eBooks. Even though I don't anticipate using my Kindle for library lending often (I have a suspicion I'll still prefer physical books over eBooks), it's the principle of the matter. Now that Kindles are willing to play nice with libraries, I expected the library blogs and Twitter feeds that I follow to explode with excitement. Not the case.

Sarah Houghton-Jan had a reaction I could handle, and one I would label cautiously optimistic. Many of the questions she raises are worthy ones (like How exactly will patrons privacy be kept? and Will libraries get MARC records?) and those that I disagree with (like the disappointment that Amazon went to OverDrive for this deal instead of going directly to libraries) are minor. Bobbi Newman also takes this cautiously optimistic stance, though, again takes issue with the fact that Amazon is dealing with OverDrive instead of libraries.

Then it begins its switch towards the negative with Jason Griffey, though he still doesn't come right out and say he's not pleased with the entire deal. But that's where Andy Woodworth comes in, and it was his post that really made me mad, particularly the following argument:

"If the '1 eBook to 1 patron at a time' model is [the] best we still have when the Kindles come to Overdrive, I think it will be a serious problem. It’s not simply a matter of sending eBook wait lists skyrocketing (which it will for new releases), but that it will fail to meet patron expectations as to how eBook content should be managed."

Let's start with the idea of growing wait lists. The wait list is a concept with which library users are fully familiar, as they've been dealing with it in relation to print books for years. While it can be frustrating to wait for their turn, patrons generally understand that a library can't afford to purchase an endless copies of even the most popular titles. Though it would be wonderful if eBooks could cut down on this wait time (and I still have hope that, in the future, there could be licensing options that allow for this), it won't cause a decrease in service for patrons-- they're used to have to wait. As far as "failing to meet expectations on how eBook content should be managed," not providing eBooks for the most popular reader is a much larger failure than a wait list.

Sure, the situation doesn't fit librarians' ideals, but it's a huge step in the right direction. Did you really think Amazon's entry into the eBook lending field would solve the many other problems in that area? I fully applaud librarians posing important questions, and I think it's equally important that librarians recognize that lending Kindle eBooks is going to increase, not decrease, patron service. Having seen firsthand the disappointment on a Kindle-user's face when she was told she couldn't borrow eBooks from the library, I cannot wait until we can stop turning away that patron base. And I also can't wait to read a book on my Kindle.

Final blog post (webinars and such)

I'll admit, Elluminate is still kind of thrilling to me, even after watching (and leading) a handful of webinars over the past week. Though I wouldn't want all of my classes to be taught over the internet, there was something so cool about not having to make a trip to campus for class. And I get a kick out of all of the buttons, particularly the "laughter" one.

Elluminate aside, the webinar experience was still pretty cool. Like Kristin warned us, it was odd talking to the empty room, (and seeing that people were chatting, but not having time to read the chat). Seriously, I don't know how anyone could present a webinar and, at the same time, monitor chat. Even without reading what was happening in the chat box, I still found it a little distracting.

So, let's jump into this week's reading!

I had mixed feelings about the "Fusion" teaching style that the Semadeni article discussed. On the one hand, I think we do need to experiment with different teaching styles, and figure out a program that rewards good teachers and encourages teachers to try different methods and increase their skills. However, the Fusion style seemed a bit extreme, and I would have liked to hear more about how students (and parents) felt about this teaching method. Though the article did state that students had better achievement scores, there was no testimonial by any students in the program. I am particularly curious about how the roaming substitute affects the students experience. When I think back to elementary school, we really didn't learn much when a substitute came. Would this be different if the substitute was the same person? Does the substitute have to be versed in the curriculum of every classroom in the school? Basically, I'd like to get a bit more information before I make up my mind about the Fusion teaching style.

Blowers & Reed's computer/web training modules (and Fontichiaro's remix) seem like a great way to allow interested staff members advance their knowledge. I particularly liked the parts that emphasized group learning (staff training staff, teachers talking together about what they learned). What I wonder is how those less enthusiastic about learning computer skills would react to the system (and if they would still have success in picking it up). Specifically looking at it with CDL in mind, I feel like the people who could learn the most from the learning modules are those who would not be interested (and would be intimidated) in the modules. How can libraries encourage these people to participate and learn these skills?

You've been a great blogging cohort, all!

Twitter!

I wanted to hate Twitter, I really did. (Okay, I didn't actually want to hate it, I just thought I would.) But I definitely didn't expect to like it. How quickly I was won over. Though I hate that the format encourages abbreviations (I will never use "2" for "to" or cut words short) and bad/no punctuation, the 140 character limit is an interesting challenge-- almost like a game. I also really like Hootsuite-- it makes it much easier to follow, and, somehow, is just easier on the eye than Twitter's site or TweetDeck (which I did not care for). As I said in my first...post (I still can't bring myself to use the word "tweet" seriously), my feed consisted mainly of librarians and comedians. It was a nice mix, and I will continue to keep up with Twitter after this class. This also prompted me to finally make use of the Twitter that, ages ago, I secured for my Daily Shill blog project. Though I only have 2 followers of @dailyshill , I still think it'll be a good way to get out the word about the blog. Oh, and let's talk about class last week! I enjoyed listening to Paul Courant talk about the various challenges and dramas associated with digital libraries-- how timely! I also appreciate the time we had to talk in groups about embedded librarians (plus, I got to talk with Susan about my much-loved elementary school librarian, which was great!) As much as I love my blog group (really, you all are super), it would be nice to hear some other points of view, particularly when we're discussing the same things we write about in our blog. Perhaps for future group chats, we could mix it up more?

A ramblin' post about webinars

First off, I want to apologize if this blog isn't entirely coherent (or if it's just a bit goofy in tone). I'm at the end (or maybe the middle?) of a long stretch of paper writing, class, and work at CDL. (Let me tell you, this afternoon was exhausting. The teens are getting stir crazy with the cold, and we had several groups "cruising" the library (for lack of a better word) that had to be asked to "pick a place and settle" several times. They didn't like that.). Oh boy, parenthesis within a parenthesis. That's how my brain feels.

Class last week flew by! It was quite interesting to participate (and run) one-shot workshops-- I learned a lot of new things (like what the heck those boxy not-barcodes are). If I could have had one change, though, I would've liked more talk about library ethics. John and I didn't pick an ethical issue ourselves, so part of it is my fault, but I just felt like there's so much more debate about and working-out of issues that could happen. Gosh, I'd love it if there was a whole class on Ethics involved with librarianship.

I'd also love it if the free html copy of How People Learn were still up. (How's that for a transition?) I'll borrow a book from someone to read on Monday between 500 and 643, but it won't make it to the blog. That's what I get for being cheap.

Now onto webinars and embedded librarianship. I began by reading the webinar form (and the tips that went along with it) and began to get a little nervous about this assignment. I'm not particularly nervous about actually leading the webinar, but I'm a bit concerned about putting it all together. I'm not sure what issues are out there that I know enough about to be the "expert." Hopefully my partners (whoever they may be) will have some idea-- I think once I get that, I'll be more confident jumping into the project.

I went from reading the assignment to reading Montgomery's article on online webinars. I was hoping to get a better idea of what goes into webinars so that I could get some tips/ideas on mine. Sadly, they were not to be found. Much of the article focuses on the idea that college students use the internet and that it's a good way to reach out to them. When webinars specifically came into the article on page 6, I expected to scroll onto page 7 and get more information. But no-ooooo (to be read as John Belushi would say it...I've been watching a lot of old episodes of SNL in the past few months). Instead, there were references. Ah well.

Though Matos et. al's article didn't deal a whole lot with webinars, I still found it more useful. I was especially interested in a sentence that the music librarian (the one embedded within the music school) wrote: "We often end up talking about the music we like, learn, and perform, which is not always related to their assignments." I think this idea is key in making the library an important part in people's lives. As a circ clerk at a public library in a small community, I make a point to learn regulars names and pay attention to the kinds of books they like. I love when Marcos (age 4ish) comes into the library and I can tell him that we have another book on monster trucks for him (he runs around in tight circles like kids do when they get excited). Though I bet Marcos would like coming to the library even if I didn't call out to him, I think the personal contact makes patrons' relationships with the library (and library employees) even closer.

To close out my evening on 643 work, I went on a quest for an interesting webinar. I opted to go to Library Journal's list of webinars, and chose one called "Video in the Library: Trends and Best Practices" that took place on May 4, 2010. I thought I could watch it right away. But that was not the case. First, I had to fill out a complicated registration form that required that I share my address and phone number and said that it would share information with its sponsors. (At this point, I browsed some of the other sites that had webinars, but didn't see anything that caught my interest. So I jumped back to LJ and decided to bite the bullet and give them my info). Then, I had to download a video player, since the two I already had on my computer were not compatible. Then I had to download another browser, since the two I already had on my computer were not compatible (Chrome and Safari...two widely used browsers). THEN, the video on the webinar was not working, meaning I couldn't see presenters slide, so I had to download the slides and flip through them myself. Though I made it through all of these difficulties, I probably would've given up if it weren't an assignment for a class. It makes me wonder, do all participants have such a hard time accessing, or is it just me. I know being a Mac user has caused problems in the past, but lately, most websites and softwares tend to have versions for both platforms.

At this point in time, I was pretty grumpy. I started mumbling to myself about working all day long without a break and the 500 paper I have yet to write and the fact that it's Friday night and I have to stay up late doing homework instead of something fun. (Though I purposely chose to do 643 homework because it tends to be more "fun" than other classes). And then, to top it all off, the webinar wasn't all that great.

Perhaps I should have asked myself what I hoped to learn from a seminar on video in the library. Then I would have realized that though I want my library to have video, I'm not terribly concerned with the various ways a library can license it. (This could change one day, if I'm responsible for gathering media, but by that point, the technology probably will have evolved greatly). But, the real point of watching this webinar was to learn about webinars. So, since this post has been long enough, I'm going to share what I learned in a bulleted list.

- Video of the presenter would make it easier to maintain attention (even if just a bit at the beginning so I could have a face to imagine.)

- Speak with an engaging voice! (The first presenter had an English accent-- good!-- but the second one had such a monotone voice. He sounded bored with the whole thing.)

- Avoid too much text on your slides and don't just read what's written on them.

-Use photos or graphs in slides when relevant.

- Address questions as they come up (as well as you can). By saving them all to the end, you get questions out of context.

- Leave participants with directions of where to turn for more information (They did this one quite well in the webinar I watched).

Since I've been kind of negative in this post, I'm going to close it with a story from work last night. It's not really related to class, so at this point in time, you can stop reading this entry and feel no guilt.

A girl who looked about 10 came up to the circulation desk and asked me if we had the book Fudge-a-Mania by Judy Blume. Immediately, I perked up. First of all because the Youth Librarian was On Call instead of at the desk, which meant that we circ clerks were encouraged to help patrons find books, even though it technically falls under the librarians job-- I like doing that. Secondly, because I love the Fudge series. And thirdly because this girl was so adorable, giving me the book's title and author and telling me that there were hyphens between the words.

"Oh, I love that series," I said, "Have you read the first two?"

"I just finished Double Fudge."

Now, as many of you probably know, Double Fudge is actually the fourth in the series.

"Guess what! There are two others."

So the two of us wandered over to the shelf where the Judy Blume books are, and she picked up the three Fudge books she hadn't read, super excited that the series was twice as long as she thought it was.

And that's a reason why I can't wait to become a librarian.

And guess what song just came on my itune shuffle? Accentuate the Positive, sung by Vera Lynn. I'm going to launch into this attitude change.

Week 9: Book clubs, webinars, and gun laws

Book Club
Boy, these were a lot of fun! If we had time for it, I'd love to have a monthly SI book club. There's something so exciting about discussing stories with people who care about books and literature. Things went quite smoothly, though we did find it incredibly difficult to stay in character and respond as high school (or middle school) students. Perhaps because all participants were eager to respond, leading the workshop wasn't particularly challenging. However, we did have some issues keeping people from talking over each other. Though it's a shame that folks were being interrupted, it's still kind of exciting that people were that eager to share their opinions.

Class
I will admit that by the time class rolled around, I was exhausted. The sugar from the cookies I'd ate had worn off, and I was crashing. The explanation of our one-shot-workshop left me a little overwhelmed (but, luckily, planning for it has gone okay...we'll see about the execution). However, I perked up for the second half of class with our webinar with Bobbi Newman. As I've indicated on this blog, I've been obsessed with the HCOD drama. It was refreshing to hear Newman's reasonable take on the controversy. It was also really neat to see elluminate at work. What a cool program! I found myself attempting to describe it to a friend of mine, and I think I overwhelmed him by talking so quickly about what it can do ("And there are buttons that can show that you're laughing or clapping and you can write on a board with markers and send messages, but they aren't completely private, beware!...")

Other stuff
Friday was CDL's Staff in Service day, so I had the opportunity to ask some of my coworkers what they thought of the HCOD controversy. Generally, though disappointed, the librarians saw this as inevitable and something they had been expecting (not the particular number 26, but that checkouts would be limited). Plus, there are so many more things for Michigan libraries to worry about. The first is the huge budget cuts we're facing. Here's MLA's page-long take on the cuts. Also, at the beginning of our day, we were visited by Chelsea's police chief to discuss the actions of Michigan Open Carry, an organization that has been carrying guns into libraries as a form of "protest."
Michigan Law currently allows registered gun owners to carry their guns openly in holsters or over the shoulder. Though it is prohibited in a small number of places, including schools and banks (plus, any privately owned businesses can make their own rules), libraries are not on that list. Though I'm not entirely clear what MOC is trying to promote when it goes into libraries with guns (what they're doing is already legal...doing crazy things is just increasing the chances that it will be made illegal), it's clear that attention is what they're after. I did try to get a look at their insights, but their website (michiganopencarry.org) is down as of this writing. Recently, after MOC members carried guns into children's and teen areas at the Capital Area District Library in Lansing, a preliminary injunction preventing MOC members from carrying guns into that particular library.
Unfortunately, as the chief told us on Friday, because MOC's actions fall under the law, there isn't much the police can do. Basically, he told us that it's best to ignore them, if they do come to CDL. Only if the person's actions would prompt us to contact the police even if he/she did not have a gun, could the police take actions. All in all, not a great thing to hear. Here's hoping that legislation to add libraries to the list of exceptions will get passed soon!

Ethics and HCOD: Week 8(?) post

Class

I'm part of the book club group that meets this Monday, so I didn't attend class this week. Next blog post, you'll get a bonus, double-issue of class commentary.

ALA Ethics

As I read each of the eight principles of the ALA Code, I couldn't help but think, "Yes, yes. I agree!" These should be posted in every library in the country, and even though many of them seem like common sense, librarians should make a habit of reading through the list once a month. After all, it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes and would be a great reminder of the expectations and goals that come with the library profession.

I was especially interested in principle V: "We treat co-workers and other colleagues with respect, fairness, and good faith, and advocate conditions of employment that safeguard the rights and welfare of all employees of our institutions." While I would hope that people in all professions would follow that, I think it's interesting that the library world has spelled it out. I've certainly only been treated with respect, fairness, and good faith in the libraries where I've worked, though I don't know that the code had anything to do with it (and I doubt it did). It's still a nice touch, though.

Mosley

Over Spring Break, I went back to Kalamazoo College and visited the librarians I used to work with in the ILL and digitization apartments. As part of our discussion, a few of the librarians expressed frustration that professors were giving students assignments that they could not complete using library resources. (A certain professor would tell students they needed to get sources from a particular journal to which the library did not subscribe, and she would not accept alternate sources). It seems as though the library training for instructors that Mosley introduces would be a useful resource in that particular library.

Though I recognize how helpful this type of training could be, I wonder how realistic it would be to expect instructor participation. Would instructors really volunteer to come to day-long training on how to write assignments that utilize the library resources? Don't they think that they are writing good assignments? And if attendance were required by the administration, would the instructors truly participate, or just do the minimum amount of work required (especially if they felt they didn't need training)?

HCOD

I've been following this for the past few weeks and wrote about my thoughts on it in my last blog post. However, for this week's class, I read even more resources, including The CEO of OverDrive's statement. I was quite impressed with Potash's points, particularly his explanation of why OverDrive is not going to stop offering HarperCollins materials, and their reasoning of posting HarperCollins materials in a separate catalog. I felt as though OverDrive actually cared about libraries and that they would do what they could to continue to support them.

I wish I could say I felt the same about HC's statement. Its attempts at demonstrating that it cared about libraries (by saying they'd discussed the issue with librarians) seemed disingenuous, and it made me want to support the boycott against HC even more.

I'm curious what individual libraries in our area are reacting to the issue. I've actually had almost two weeks off from my library job (crazy) so I haven't had the chance to talk with any of CDL's librarians to see if the library is taking any action against HC. Though I know this is an important issue, I think the closing of Michigan libraries and the huge budget cuts are weighing more heavily on CDL.

It's a new post. I don't know whether or not to count break as a week, so I've given up numbering.

I'm a little confused about whether or not we're supposed to blog this week, since our only assigned readings are for our book clubs, but I'm going to jump in with my thoughts on class last week and then talk about other library related stuff.

Class

The highlight of class almost two weeks ago (geeze, break has gone by quickly) was watching the Socratic seminar. First of all, to all of you who were up there, way to go. The pressure of answering questions about an article that your entire audience read did not get to you! The demo gave me a better idea of how the seminar works, particularly for the person presenting questions. It was also surprising to me to see how many people had experienced these seminars in high school and hated them. Like I said in my last post, I wish my class would've had these. But, who knows, maybe I would have felt differently when I was in high school.

Library News

Harper Collins

I don't know how much other people's bloggers have been talking about it, but the issue of Harper Collins limiting the circulation of ebooks has been all over the ones I follow (or, at least, all over Agnostic, Maybe). I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue and what you think libraries should do to combat it.

Personally, it's hard for me to get over how it will affect the library I work for. Because the consortium of libraries that CDL belongs to (The Library Network) has the membership with Overdrive (rather than each individual library) the 26 checkouts will be used up incredibly quickly. And though I'm sure Harper Collins thinks that this means the library will run out and buy another ecopy, I don't think that's the case. Money at TLN is going to be increasingly tight, with libraries and branches closing (so far Romulus is closing and Waterford is shutting down a branch) or leaving the consortium because they can't afford the membership fees. Replacing ebooks is just not going to be a priority.

Andy Woodworth, author of Agnostic, Maybe, wrote a post with interesting suggestions of how libraries can show their discontent with HC without completely boycotting them. Do people have other ideas of ways libraries can stand up for themselves?

Troy Library Closing

As I'm sure those of you in tune with the Michigan Public Library scene have heard, the Troy Public Library will be closing, effective May 1. Many of the libraries in the surrounding area do not allow non-residents to purchase library cards and will not begin to offer this service. On our staff board at CDL, a page-long list of the privileges (or, more, lack of privileges) that Troy patrons will have at surrounding libraries was posted. I was astounded (in a bad way) that libraries were not willing to sell non-res cards to people from Troy. Aren't we all about sharing information and making it public? It just doesn't seem right to me. I brought this up to my supervisor who said that these strict rules were put in place so that the people of Troy would have to go without a library (with the idea that this would make them realize they needed one). I can understand this tactic, and I certainly agree that Troy needs a library, but I just can't wrap my head around denying people borrowing privileges. Again, I turn to you all to see what you think.

CDL Facebook page

Starting soon (probably this week, but maybe next) I will be posting "Book Talk Tuesdays" on the CDL Facebook page. A few weeks ago, CDL decided they wanted to have more of the staff update the Facebook page (and have more posts that are more than program plugs). I've been reading Alison Circle's marketing blog, and I got really excited about her idea of initiating short conversations about books by asking questions like "A book you faked reading" or "A book you wish you could read again for the first time." So, now I'm doing it! I'd love it if you would participate (if you want), and I'd also love suggestions of topics, since Circle just gives a list of about 8.

UPDATE: A little bit about book club readings

Since we aren't all in the same group (and we're going to be having discussions about what we read this week), I don't want to get in specific details. But, in reading my pieces, I got thinking a lot about character names. It started with "The Goose Girl" where most characters are not given names (and instead are just referred to by their title, such as the queen, and the maid in waiting), but for some reason, one of the horses gets a name (falada) and the boy who tends the geese does, too (Conrad). Why are some worthy of names? Then, while reading "The Last Question," you could tell that names were chosen particularly so that readers could see the evolution of names throughout the generations. I'm don't think names has much to do with libraries, but I think it could make an interesting part of a book club discussion, particularly in stories where naming is not consistent or seems deliberate.

Week 6 -- Book Clubs and Socratic Seminars

Class
Despite the fact that we were all punchy due to lack of sleep and paper overload, class was decent this past week (though I will admit that it got hard to stay awake and pay attention around the 6:45 mark). I especially enjoyed our group discussion about the bloggers we follow and the issues that they cover. Even though I knew that we would have overlap between the blogs that we follow, it was still neat to have those connection moments (“You read the Bubble Room? Me too!” “You hate the Daring Librarian? You’re not alone there!”)
I know I brought this up briefly in our group, but we didn’t have much time for a response. I’m curious about people’s views on the ethics of librarians’ personal facebooks. What do you do when a patron (who you only know through the library) requests to be your friend? If you are friends with library patrons, what obligations do you have (if any) regarding what you do and do not post?

Hoffert
As someone who loves reading, I always find it exciting to learn about interest in book clubs. It was neat to read about videoconferencing with authors, and I hope that it’s something that happens even more often than the article suggested it does (given the increased popularity of Skype, I bet it does). I was intrigued by the idea of book club meetings that focus on a theme, rather than a particular book that everyone reads. Though I recognize that this is a great way to bring together people interested in reading different types/genres of books, I’m curious as to how discussion of these would work out. Does it end up being various people summarizing the books they read, or can discussion of bigger issues emerge? Additionally, I’m someone resistant to all kinds of spoilers-- I don’t know that I would want to participate in a book discussion where people are talking a lot about books I haven’t read.

Metzger and Tredway (but, to be honest, mostly Metzger)
I had never heard of these Socratic seminars, and boy are they an exciting way to foster learning in high school English classrooms. After finishing Metzger’s article, I found myself wishing my English classes had done some of these seminars.
Metzger’s point that mediocre readers get ignored in the classroom was something I’d never thought of, but I realized how true it can be; the poor readers get extra help and attention, the great readers speak up more and/or get advanced reading classes, what happens to the middle group?
Though I’m still a little fuzzy on what the outside circle does during these seminars (how exactly do they interpret the inner circle’s thoughts?), I like the idea of an environment that fosters a “non-competitive” discussion.
I noticed that the examples of Socratic Seminars that Metzger gave were all incredibly short works or passages. Would the seminars work when discussing a larger piece, or would it be necessary to give directions to focus on a particular passage?

Week 5 -- Transfer of Learning

Class

I quite enjoyed class this past week. Like Kristen acknowledged, it can be difficult to remain attentive in the 5-8 time-slot, and so our variety of interactive activities were a relief. It's funny, as class was happening, I was just grateful that we were moving around and shifting our focus. It wasn't until a few days later that I realized that the situation itself was a lesson for us: when teaching long lessons, split the learning into a variety of activities to hold attention. Watching the TED talk was exciting (who knew video games could save the world?), and, I'll admit I love anytime the Comedy Central news-team is mentioned... (and in a plug I'm a little ashamed to be making, my other blog is all about items promoted on the Daily Show, so I'm always glad to see connections with the show made).

Readings

Unlike previous weeks, this week's readings didn't seem to present too many new ideas (or, to say it in a more positive way, they built off of many of our previous readings and class discussions). However, within these readings, I was able to make many connections to teaching/learning in my daily life. Two days a week, I tutor at 826michigan (which is always looking for more volunteers...) and help students with their homework. Much of what was discussed in Ch. 3 of How People Learn resonated with my 826 experience, particularly what the chapter said about fractions. HPL mentioned that students knowledge of things like addition and subtraction do not accurately transfer to the process of working with fractions. I saw this firsthand when working with a 4th grader last week. She just was not getting most of the problems. However, the worksheets the student was completing had a variety of types of fraction problems that, while similar, required different processes to complete. She totally understood how to complete one of these problem types, and we were able to use that knowledge to figure out how to solve the others. HPL does suggest giving a variety of problem types, not just because students learn in different ways, but also because it encourages the transfer of knowledge between the related problems.

Both HPL and "Put Understanding First" emphasize the importance of developing knowledge, rather than learning facts, and the three types of teaching for meaning and transfer within "Put Understanding First" are a great way to approach this knowledge development. While I'm still uncertain how I'll be able to apply this directly to much of my public library work (as you can only do so much in one-shot workshops), it does help to get an idea of how people learn.

Learning Environments & Assessment -- Week 4 Post

Class

Somehow, I didn't realize that we needed to post about class each week on this blog. (Seriously, though, I have no idea how I missed it. It's written on the syllabus each week, and, now that I think of it, I remember Kristen telling us we needed to.) So sorry to have missed that for the past couple weeks!

For me, the most useful part of our last class was developing new definitions of information literacy without using the word use. The former English major in me loved the word challenge, and the vocabulary limitations forced me to spend more time thinking about what the phrase actually meant. It was also neat to see the similarities and differences in each group's definition. It made me want to combine them all to make a giant Frankenstein definition.

How People Learn, Ch. 6

It was exciting, given our conversations on information literacy (and literacy in general), to read the information in Box 6.1, sharing how the definition of literacy has changed over time, and how much of that change was due to WWI. It made a natural transition from last week's discussion to this week's readings.

As you all know (since, in theory, you read this chapter as well), Chapter 6 covered various learning environments: learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered. I thought the discussion of the need to combine learner and knowledge centered environments was particularly interesting, especially with regards to math and science. The book pointed out in science, it is important to emphasize "doing science" and exploring rather than just memorizing facts, and that in math, it was important for students to understand concepts in addition to developing computation skills.

The section on the community-centered environment also got my attention because I had never really thought about the importance that a strong community environment has in learning. However, when I thought about my own schooling in the Chelsea School District, I realized that the emphasis on community made it easier for me to latch onto what I was learning. Parents were brought into the classroom to help with a number of projects, which not only helped the teacher allow us to do more complicated lessons (like dissecting cow lungs), but also involved parents in their children's learning. There were tons of after-school and weekend clubs that promoted learning outside of the classroom, and since we had the basically the same classmates from kindergarten on, the classroom was a comfortable place filled with people we knew. Though much of my great schooling can be attributed to things outside of the community environment (like great teachers and good budget for classroom materials), certainly community was responsible for some of my great experience.

Sadler

This article focuses on the assessment and evaluation of classroom learning. Though I was glad to get some more specific background on forms this assessment can take, it seemed to be much more geared to the academic environment. However, it got me wondering about the forms assessment can take in a public library.

Certainly PLs are interested in promoting learning, particularly in the programs they offer, but since many of these programs are the one-shot workshops, how do we provide assessment that the learners can use? Nothing is turned into the librarians teaching, and we don't give back graded or commented material. Other than watching learners work and providing verbal comments, how can librarians assess (and report assessments about) what patrons are learning? What about the learning that takes place outside of a class-setting? Do patrons want feedback from the librarian, or will they be angry if the librarian suggests ways they can improve their searches (or whatever it is that they are working on)?

Reading over that mess of questions, they don't seem particularly clear, probably because my brain is still jumbled over the idea. But if you can decipher them and have some thoughts about potential answers, I'd love to hear them.

Information Literacy- Week 3 Post

To begin my information literacy quest, I selected Edward K. Owusu-Ansah’s article “Debating definitions of information literacy: enough is enough!” The article was published in Library Review Vol. 54, No. 6 in 2005, and I selected it because I figured it would give me an idea of the multiple definitions of information literacy (and, perhaps, a solid definition, since he claimed that there had been enough debate over the issue).

Owusu-Ansah argued that there is no real conflict between the various definitions of information literacy: rather, they all provide different steps or processes in order for people to achieve information literacy. (At this point, though, he has yet to forward a definition of his own—the simplest he provides was from Stephen Foster, who “equate[s] information literacy with knowing how to use libraries.") In order to illustrate his point that all of the definitions say basically the same thing, Owusu-Ansah spends much of the article presenting a timeline of proposed definitions. Here is a compressed version—feel free to skim; it’s still pretty long:

1974: Paul Zurkowski says that individuals who are information literate are “people trained in the application of information resources to their work.”
1989: ALA defines information literacy as a set of abilities. (Quoting Owusu-Ansah) “[these abilities are] recognizing an information need and locating, evaluating, and using the needed information effectively.”
1990: Michael Eisenberg and Robert Berkowitz introduce big six skills approach. The skills (quoting Owusu-Ansah) are “task definition, information-seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation.”
1992: Christina S. Doyle expands upon ALA’s definition, giving ten steps on can follow in ALA’s set of three abilities. (I’m not going to list all steps, but you can find them in full in the article).
1993: Carol Kuhlthau interprets information literacy as (quoting Owusu-Ansah) “a way of learning, not a discrete set of skills.” Like her colleagues in the field, Kuhlthau also felt the need to separate her definition into steps, in this case, the six stages of the learning process. (Again, look to the article for the list)
1997: Christine Bruce looks at information literacy as the thinking process that occurs when encountering information. She contributed a list of “seven experiences” representing this process. (See the article)
2000: The ACRL takes numbered lists to a new level, combining all of the previously mentioned steps to a list of five standards, 22 performance indicators, and 87 outcomes.
Thus ends the timeline (Phew!)

Owusu-Ansah basically argues that none of the various other definitions and lists put forth go beyond what the ALA proposed in 1989. He says that all argue that there’s a “deficiency among information seekers and users” that the library has the opportunity to reduce. Not to be left out of the list game, Owusu-Ansah puts forth 15 traits of the information literate, which deal with abilities to identify and determine information needs, strategies for finding information, and understanding issues that go along with gathering information (such as intellectual property). Though Owusu-Ansah says the library is not the only institution responsible and able to teach these traits, it can help the increase of information literacy.

* * *

Armed with the definitions and steps I learned from Owusu-Ansah’s article, I moved onto “Information Literacy and the Public Library,” an article by Jane Harding published in 2008 in Vol 21, No. 4 of Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services. Out of the three articles I read, I found this one to be the most useful and interesting. After quoting the definition of information literacy she was using, “…to be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information” (from the 1989 ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: final report), she went on to give reasons public libraries were well suited for increasing information literacy and challenges that the libraries would have to overcome.

Here’s a list of some of the strengths: Public libraries are recognized as a place of learning, librarians are information literacy experts, public libraries reach a broad client base, public libraries are an access point (for information and technology resources), reference interviews provide teaching moments.

Here are three of the challenges public libraries face: some librarians resist taking on the new role of teacher, public libraries are limited to helping those who use them, public libraries have limited resources.

Harding concludes by saying that public libraries generally do a good job overcoming (or succeeding despite) the challenges and are playing an important role in the development of information literacy. The lists of strengths and challenges will be useful to keep in mind in my future career when I attempt to increase information literacy.

* * *

The final article I surveyed, entitled “Information literacy: The changing library,” was written by Cushla Kapitzke and published in 2001 in Volume 44, Number 5 of Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Out of all of the articles, I found this to be the least useful, perhaps due to that fact that it is a decade old.

In it, Kapitzke argues that many libraries are being used as “cybraries” (meaning that patrons use their electronic resources without entering the library). Because of this “cybrary” (I don’t know about you all, but that word just makes my skin crawl) trend, users are not having face-to-face interaction with a librarian and are expected to have technical competence, which not all have. Kapitzke says that information literacy—which according to her “consists of a hierarchy of information problem-solving skills"—needs to be developed so that users can find success not only in these “cybraries” (shudder), but in their social practices as well. Though I don’t completely understand how she invisions these skills helping social practices, I suppose the same skills needed to use and understand information could be used to pick up and understand social cues.

That’s the end of my SI 643 novel (sorry it was so long). Here’s hoping the world becomes information literate and Owusu-Ansah, Harding, and Kapitzke live happily ever after.

The Evaluation step of the ADDIE (Week 2 post)

In elementary school, I couldn't decide if I wanted to be a librarian or a teacher when I grew up (and, to be honest, I also considered careers as an astronaut, detective, and famous actress). What's so exciting is that now I see that my choice to become a public librarian means also taking on the role of teacher. One of the many tasks I'm excited to perform in my future career is creating, developing, and teaching classes to library patrons. So this week's readings, which all dealt with the teaching process and resources that can be used to teach, were ones I downloaded and filed in the folder "Will be useful in real life."

The selections from One-Shot Workshop that presented the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation (ADDIE) model were the most useful, as they presented loose steps to follow when creating library classes. It's nice to have a basic outline for the steps that need to be taken in the process of planning a class, but also allows for flexible implementation with a variety of classes. I also appreciated that the book acknowledged potential issues with the steps they laid out (A paraphrased example: designing in teams is great because you get a variety of people with differing skills and backgrounds, but teams can face challenges because of competing ideas).

The step that intrigued me the most in the ADDIE model was that of evaluation. Is it proposing that before a class is offered, it should be given to a test audience? How does one recruit test students? I know that one of our readings suggested paying participants $10-15 an hour, but that seems like a misuse of the library's limited resources. I know there are no ADDIE police patrolling to make sure the model is used as designed, so I suppose the step could be overlooked, but evaluating a class does seem important.

In your opinion, yet-to-be-named cohort (or, I suppose, anyone who happens to read this), would it be adequate to perform an evaluation after the first time the class is taught? This way, you could see how the class works for its audience, and, though the class members of this session would not benefit from it, their feedback would allow you to improve the class for future sessions. What are other people's ideas for no-cost ways to evaluate library classes? I know the time will come in our lives (probably soon) where we'll actually be creating library classes, and it'd be great to have a variety of methods of evaluation.

Core Competencies for Youth and Teen Librarians

In addition to reading the ALA Core Competencies (my opinions on which I’ll discuss in class), I also looked over the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Competencies and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Competencies. I know that I want to work in a public library, and though I can’t decide whether I would rather work in adult, teen, or youth services (to tell the truth, initially, it will probably depend on job opportunities), I am interested in learning as much as I can about each area of librarianship. I’ll save my thoughts on the ALA competences for class, but in this entry, I want to discuss a few of the ALSC and YALSA points that I find particularly important.

Two of the ALSC points that interested me the most were Section III Point 2, “[The librarian] listens and interacts actively when speaking individually with children, families, other patrons, and staff, paying genuine attention to what is being communicated, and confirming understanding,” and Section V Point 3 “[The librarian] respects the patron’s right to browse regardless of age, and provides nonjudgmental answers to their questions.” Though the language doesn’t specifically say this, I interpret both of these points saying (among other things) librarians should not talk down to their patrons, including children. I remember, as a child, becoming frustrated with adults who dumbed everything down and babied me. Conversely, I remember loving it when adults spoke to me in the same voice they used when they spoke to my parents. It may be easy for librarians to break point III-2, and not take all requests from children seriously—they’re kids, what are they going to do? Do they really know what they want?—but if all librarians treat children as patrons with rights to be in the library, the library will become (or remain) a place the kids want to visit.

Which naturally transitions into the subject of the points that interested me most in the YALSA Competencies: namely, keeping teens interested in the library. Section II point 2, “Keep up-to-date with popular culture and technological advances that interest young adults,” strikes me a way that Teen Services Librarians can become, if not peers, relatable to teens, thus making the library somewhat relatable. Another point in the YALSA Competencies that caught my attention was section I point 4, “Encourage young adults to become lifelong library users by helping them to discover what libraries offer, how to use library resources, and how libraries can assist them in actualizing their overall growth and development.” Though this point is quite broad, it reminded me of some specifics that my local library is hoping to put forth within the next few years. These specifics are a part of the hefty strategic plan for the library (for those interested in reading, this issue is related to Service Initiative Three), and some of the ones I found particularly intriguing involved giving teens leadership roles in library (and community) volunteer efforts, promoting teens through volunteer ranks, and creating a mentoring program where teens mentor tweens. By creating programs that allow teens to grow within the library and get them involved in positions of responsibility, it keeps teens interested in the library (while helping them—bonus!)