Looking at Poverty

I think one thing that has really hit home with me this semester is the demographic of this school.  I have to admit, I'm more of an armchair advocate...I think and say a lot to my close friends and family, but I'm not a woman of action.  Why?  Because most times, I just don't know how to get involved or make a difference.  One thing I realized about being a school librarian is that I have a built-in opportunity to make a difference everyday - even if it's just a little thing.

So where do I go w/ the aspect of poverty?  I'm not sure...the demographic this school serves is extremely poor.  Let me just lay out some data that I've researched:

• In NC, poverty is classified as a family of 4 making a total yearly income of $23,000.  Over half the demographic of this school is AT or BELOW the poverty line.
• 100% of the school receives either a free or reduced cost lunch.  That's huge! In my child's school, only 20% of the students need assistance.  There are 450 students at this school while there are almost 800 at my child's...incredible.  
• Test scores in reading and math for 3rd-5th grade are 30-50% lower than the state average

What I've seen with my eyes are...

• Children in 4th grade who read at a 2nd grade level or lower
• Children who come to school with a myriad of emotional, behavioral and physical issues
• Children who are not fed, bathed and taken care of on a daily basis

I've only been at this school for a few months, but in that time, I've realized that there is a huge problem.  I know what I read in the papers and hear on television - American schools are broken.  But I think it's more than that...and I think public education has become the scapegoat to fix all that is wrong in our society.  How can educators be expected to fix what they can't control?  How do we tackle poverty in our schools and our communities?  How do we give children a chance at life between the hours of 3:30pm-6:30am?  or in the summer? How do we get parents, who can't even take care of themselves, to take care of their children, let alone their child's educational needs?

I don't know the answers and I have a lot more questions.

"Character Welcome" in the library

I finally finished my goals assignment for my field experience course on Friday.  This probably isn't a difficult assignment for most school librarians.  Those of you who have been doing this for awhile might laugh at my lack of experience - I'm painfully slow at selecting materials and pulling things together!  I'm sure, over time, I'll get where I need to, but this was a very fun and somewhat labor intensive project for me.

I just posted my pictures on my tumblr account - the 'before' and 'after' of the shelves and display - so you can check out what I did.  (Bibliography of books from the school library - if you are interested!).

I chose to create a book display based on character development topics.  The reason for my project was 1) because it was required for my class but 2) because I wanted to do something that might have a subtle impact.  Kids come to the media center with the guidance counselor in the mornings and afternoons on alternate weeks.  They discuss topics, such as peer pressure and bullying, and then watch a video on how to handle certain situations.  I wanted to give them a chance to explore some of the topics they are discussing in this class through the language of books.

We've all had great books touch us in some way.  Maybe as a way of modeling responses, the book characters will give students a way to express themselves and protect themselves, more than watching the videos.  I've not done any hard and fast research studies on how book characters can affect actual behavior, for better or worse, but I do believe that if we find a character whom we admire for whatever character traits they portray (trust, loyalty, bravery, respect, leadership, etc.), don't we somehow want to emulate them and be viewed in the same way?  I remember wanting be seen as Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird for years because of her attitude, chutzpah and courage. (In some ways, I think I still want to be Scout ; )

I'll be observing to see if any books from my display get check out over the next few weeks.  Fingers crossed...I'll keep you posted to learn what happens!

Testing the waters of teaching

I had the 4th and 5th graders in the afternoon this week and was able to teach a lesson on how to use the online catalog.  Since this was my first time teaching students, I was really excited.  It's one thing to watch, but it's another thing to create the lesson, plan out the objectives and then teach it!

My supervisor helped out so that I wouldn't have to do all the classroom mgmt alone.  That was great because my 4th graders were a bit wild.  However, they did fine and we made it through the lesson.  I'm beginning to learn how to be tough, but appropriately supportive and assertive.  I can see that respect is earned with these students.  

Overall, the lesson went well.  I used a space theme and gave the students a "mission".  My goal was to chunk the lesson into 3 distinct "tools" they would need to complete their mission:

• Guide book = technology vocabulary
• Directions = steps/strategies to finding materials
• Vehicle = navigation the Destiny catalog interface

For the 4th graders, I assigned crew leaders and grouped students at the start of the lesson.  This was a mistake...I ended up grouping students who were a bit rowdy together instead of splitting them up.  When I grouped 5th graders, I waited until the end of my lesson.  This worked out better because I told them in the beginning of the lesson, I would be looking for good listeners to be crew leaders.  Wow!  What a difference in attentiveness!  It was hard to choose my 5 crew leaders. I can see where the benefit of knowing the students helps, too.  I grouped 2 EC students in the same crew in 5th grade and that didn't work out great. 

During the lesson, I allowed students to check their knowledge by coming up front and use the eBeam pen to select an answer.  I had come up front, tell the class what they thought the pictured icon was (IE, Recycle Bin, etc.) and then they could touch the board w/ the pen to reveal the answer.  They really liked that!

After the lesson, I had them work in their groups for practice and conduct a scavenger hunt for terms.  After I checked each group, I had them work independently at the computers doing the same steps: use the Destiny icon from the desktop, identify the catalog tab, and create a breadcrumb doing a keyword search for something they were interested in.  Their 'ticket out the door' to go browse was that they had to show me they had mastered each step.  I didn't do this with 4th but was able to with 5th.  

For next time, I will wait to select my crew leaders until the end of the lesson and the same with crews so I can separate friends or rowdy students.  I liked working with them individually, too and I didn't get to do that with 4th grade so I need to make sure I have enough time to do that.  I also need to work on how to dismiss students so I can successfully manage the classroom while allowing them to browse the media center when I'm not right there.  That would have been tricky if I was on my own.  I need to start thinking about and asking my supervisor about transitions so I know what to do.

The best part was that most of the 5th grade students were able to find the books from the independent search they conducted.  My supervisor was really pleased with my lesson and felt it went really well, too.

 : ) 

Working Under New Leadership

I can't remember what I have written about my school in regards to leadership, but this school has a new principal this year.  He is a very nice man, however, he is not as dynamic or as engaged in creating a collaborative community (yet) as the previous administrator.

My supervisor is struggling with change in leadership as she had built an eight year relationship with the previous administrator.  I can see where this change can be difficult for everyone - including the new principal.  However, I'm trying to remind myself that if I'm faced with this situation (as I will be) that it's important to mourn the loss but move on and embrace the change.  I think I'll try and build myself a little "welcome to the school" kit so that with each new principal, I'll have a way of not only welcoming them but allowing them to get to know me and what I can do (my vision, goals, etc.) for the media center.  I haven't ask my supervisor what she has done to invite the new principal into the media center, although I'm sure she has done something as she's that sort of person - very inclusive, welcoming, etc.

Wednesday was my first opportunity to see how classroom management is done with a class that is completely unruly.  We spent a great time corralling, separating, stopping, etc. for poor behavior in the 4th grade class.  It was so frustrating!  My supervisor and I talked about this and how she picks her battles.  I'm going to have to remember not to gripe over every little interruption, etc.  I think some of my strategies will be to separate kids into small groups and have hands activities, too.  I've noticed that they do not do well in the afternoon.  The 3-5th grades are just not motivated to 'sit' and a hands-on activity or something where they can work together on a project might go over better.  Anyway, that's what I'm going to try when I have them so I can see if a collaborative model will work better for them to learn.

A day in the life of a volunteer school librarian....

I've been such an awful blogger this semester, partly because I'm bloggin' on Blackboard (or "The Costco of Online Learning") and partly because I'm friggin' overwhelmed in my new career path. I'm loving it, but I'm just a fish out of water right now...So I'm taking some of my "Costco" posts and putting them online to share...enjoy! It's been eye-opening ; )

9/12

This week we are on the "A" schedule and have K-2 during the mornings. The school librarian is working with the K's and 1st graders on the parts of the book and how to protect the books when they are checked out. This was a really cute lesson with "Mr. Wiggles" the worm and the book was all drawn on and pages were torn/ripped. Another example that she showed was a book with a spine damaged so that the pages all fell out. The school librarian combined her lesson with hands-on examples, as well as, using the E-beam technology to reinforce the 'do's' and 'don't's' of taking care of library books. She introduced the children to the 'not' symbol and but them on things like a glass of water or a car. She emphasized that places the books are safe are in their book bags. 

To get the kids to remember the parts of the book, she used a rapping technique. Today, she wanted them to remember the parts on the front cover so she would say, 'T' is for Title' in a chant or rap. Then she would just say "T is for"...and they would say back "Title". It was cute and fun and they got it quick! She read a cute book that had a hand puppet (it was a book) associated with it. The book puppet has words such as 'title', 'author', 'spine' and the children need to put the words on him in the right spots. The book covers where all the info goes, too. 

The K's had a difficult time sitting still for the book. The school librarian not only read the book to them, but has it placed on a stand with a document camera in place. The document camera projects the book onto the white board so all the kids who are upfront can see the book pages better.

With the 2nd graders, she focused on them learning how to check-in their books. She had a nice powerpoint and also incorporated the rapping technique to help them understand where the books go on the shelving cart: E's (top), F's (middle) and #'s (bottom). She has her library organized by streets, so E's are 'everybody street' and are primarily picture books, easy readers; F's are for Fiction and #'s are Non-fiction. 

Today was a great experience for me as I was able to see some instruction, but probably just as important was the classroom management. Some techniques I thought were very effective such as calling on people by name to get their attention or reminding them that their reward - a tiger paw - was going to be taken away. (I have to ask what they get for the tiger paw!) However, the 2nd graders didn't get one today. One little boy in the K's tore his name badge with barcode in half. When the teacher came back to get the class, she told him she was "sending him home to his Mama hungry". The little boy had told me earlier that he wouldn't be able to get lunch because he tore it. I felt badly. I understood that he was being a discipline problem (lots of acting out during the school librarian's session), but not having lunch wasn't going to help his behavior improve for the remainder of the day. (I found out later he did get lunch and was very much relieved!)

One particular thing that really floored me was how inattentive the K's were during the book reading. Not one of them could sit still. It was so obvious to me that their parents don't read to them, probably never took them to a story time and most likely, prop them up in front of TV or a video game. I have a child this age and she would have had no problems sitting through story time. I could understand it if was the last thing that they did in the classroom time, but this was one of the first things the school librarian did! It just makes me more thankful that I have given my children the gift of reading and story hour. It does make a difference.

On a happy note, I received hugs from all the students I met today! I loved that part the best. Wednesday, I get to observe one of the classroom teachers, although I'm not sure which one. I get in early on Wed. mornings so we will have time to decide who I can observe before the pace of the morning sets us in motion. On the "A" weeks, I will be hitting the ground running!

School is in Session...well, almost...

The summer went so fast and I had all these great plans to post and read about LIS stuff.  So what did I do instead you may ask??  I took my kids to the pool, read great books and stayed away from my computer for as much as possible! LOL...it was a good summer but as August is here, so is the time to start thinking about what to write about for this upcoming semester.


Some things I find interesting...

1. LIS students!  I will be an officer for our student association and I'm eager to find out what students want from their selected officials.
2. School media - of which I know very little but will be doing some field experience this fall.
3. Social media  + Technology Tools...now that I've switched from an academic lib focus to school media, I'm more interested in finding ways K-12 can use these tools
4. AASL + Those in the "know" - I have a lot to learn...so getting plugged in w/ groups and people who have been in the field will be key
5. Volunteerism - I'd like to do some more of this in various libraries but probably not until next semester...volunteering = learning a TON about not only an organization, but the profession overall

Of course, there's other stuff, like becoming a better runner, biker, swimmer (oh, yeah - the "tri" is on the mind!), however, I think that's a good glimpse into the professional arena for now.

Cheers,

A

A Change in the Calling

My year spent at UNCG's Jackson library was truly a great experience.  Mostly, it was because of one very dynamic, positively-charged ion - Beth Filar Williams, the distance education services librarian.  We had a great time working together and accomplished so much!  I feel every minute of my internship was used to the fullest and that's more than I can say for some of the full-time jobs I've had!!

But...and there is always one of those lurking somewhere...I realized that I would probably not find the hours or schedule I would need to be home w/ my kids when they got home from school.  The thought of putting them in camps all summer was not an appealing idea, either.  So, I went back to the drawing board...Would it be so bad to rethink the thoughts about becoming a school media specialist?  I had started on that track when I first began taking classes.

After a week of thought (and looking at what I would need to do to make it happen!), I decided to jump back into it and this time, no turning back!

I start my field experience in the fall at a school in High Point.  They have a fab.u.lous media center and the woman who runs it is just so high energy - pretty incredible!  I'm excited to work w/ her...a little nervous about working w/ the elementary school kids, though.  It will be a learning curve but a good experience.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!  Hope this goes well and there are jobs out there when I'm ready! ; )

Cheers -

A

Done and gone..sort of...

It's been a week (almost) since I handed in my final and finished classes this spring.  I'm officially 1/2 of the way through my MLS program.  Hard to believe, but I am.

I've watched friends graduate this semester and as they walk out into an uncertain job market, I wonder what I will be facing in another year.  How much better will things get?  Or worse?  Although I've never felt that being a librarian was a career that would bring me wealth or status, I have always thought I would be able to find a job in this field rather easily.  Now, I'm not so sure....

A few months ago I had the opportunity to interview and amazing woman, Mary Ellen Bates.  I was interviewing her for an upcoming book on entrepreneurial librarians.  My piece on Ms. Bates is a supplementary article and will either conclude or introduce the chapter on business owners who are librarians.  Talking with Mary Ellen reminded me, once again, that the job market doesn't have to start and stop with who is or more likely, who isn't hiring.  I can create my own work, my own job description and my only limitations are...well...quite frankly, myself.

I don't want to give the whole interview away, but there is a very good part where she talks about what skills you need to have to be successful as, not only an entrepreneur, but also as an employee.  While I can't publish it here...I will post the link to the book once it is in print.  I think it is one of the most important things I have learned about seeking my own place in the job market.

Looking for opportunities and making connections in everything I do that has to do w/ this career field is very important. I hope my friends and colleagues who have recently graduated have great luck in finding their career place in the world, but most of all, I hope they remember the value of learning and growing continues with or without that immediate paycheck from a library.  They can continue to hone and refine their skills as information professionals no matter where they are and they will continue to be successful if they work towards being business-minded, creative, entrepreneurial and professional.  We are never really "done" with the business of learning...

Good luck to all of you recent grads!

Cheers,

A

On w/ the body count...

or at least the credit count!  (I'm on an 'old school' lyric kick...I promise it will soon pass...please be patient!)

I had to scramble a bit to put the pieces in place for next semester (Fall 2011).  The course listings just went live today and I knew if I didn't act fast, I'd be sucking wind in classes that I had either (a) no interested in or (b) no attentions span for (or (c) both which would be the kiss of death!).

I got lucky, however, and my plan to skip a core course worked out well.  So next semester I'll be taking Digital Libraries (a welcome precursor to Metadata in the spring of '12) and Social Marketing for Info Institutions.  By lucky coincidence, both classes are online so no driving to Greensboro next semester - a first in the 1 1/2 years I've been enrolled.  I'm really excited my gas consumption might be less than $200 a month!!! Whoo hooo!

Overall, I'm happy w/ the way things are going w/ my coursework and the past year.  It was a struggle to get through cataloging, but I'm glad it's behind me and I can focus on taking some courses that I "want" to rather than those that I "have" to take.

Looking forward to the next chapter of library school but for now, I'm going to take a bit of a break and enjoy reading, researching and writing about some other topics.  Stay tuned....

This is the last day of our acquaintance...

Unlike Sinead's song, I had a very good year in ERIT and I'm sad that today is my last day.  However, it doesn't really feel like a last day...somehow, I think Beth and I will manage to collaborate and work together on other projects.  We just had a great working rapport and that's not easy to find.  She's been a great boss, colleague, mentor...

And just so I remind myself of all the awesome projects I was able to do because of her, here is the lineup from start to finish...thanks Beth:

Instructional Technology Toolkit
Current Awareness Libguide
Distance Education Services (web redesign)

and a few tutorials that are not online yet. ; )

Okay...off to cataloging....some lasts are good.

I.Heart.LCSH

After weeks of torture in Cataloging, I think we've finally come to an area that I can (somewhat) embrace - LCSH!! (Library of Congress Subject Headings, y'all!)

I don't know why, but I do love the classification of *things*. I've always loved organizing things and making order out of chaos, so this part deux of the class is something I can relate to more than the description of items. Classification and organization are two of the main reasons why I'm drawn to IA (information architecture) work. Finding similarities in items that appear to have no relationship is tricky, whether it is in a catalog or on a website. The main idea is to get users to find the item and hopefully, matched up categories correctly so that they get from searching to finding rather painlessly.

Pete Morville talks about "findability" in his blogs, books, etc. He is one of the forerunners in the area of IA and, I think, quite brilliant. One thing he comes back to and, really this is oversimplified but true, "You can't use what you can't find." I think if Cutter were alive today he'd be leading the charge with Pete and the rest of them in the "user experience" movement and making things more 'findable' whether it be in a database or on the web.

I'm not going to blather on, but I thought I'd leave some good resources on the topic of user experience, findability and IA in general. I hope you get some time to check these out:

Findability - http://findability.org/

UX Zeitgeist - http://rosenfeldmedia.com/uxzeitgeist/
(great place to link to books, articles, etc. on the "above" mentioned topics)

What is IA? - http://iainstitute.org/en/learn/resources/what_is_ia.php
(probably should have started here first...basic def. of what IA is by the Information Architecture Institute)

Getting over the Hump...A Call to Action

I started off this day in a really brash kinda mood, but a glass a wine and 2 sleeping kids later, I realized I need to soften up a bit.

After reading articles, blogs, discussion boards,...you name it...about how there is no money, lay offs, no jobs, etc....I got really, really ticked off!! For example, here was the start of my orig. post from this morning:

Librarians Should Not Have to Work for FREE!!!

The rant continued but I realized that all I was doing was...well..ranting. And while it feels good in the moment, it doesn't really change the fact that libraries still have no money, lay offs...you get the point.

So here's my "to do" list...I need to add more, but this was my first attempt. My top 5 are:

1. Become a "friend" of the local library
2. Get to know my local librarians better
3. Learn how to advocate for my library
4. Find out what the issues are and FB everybody and their brother about them
5. Attend a city council meeting

If I want libraries to be around for my kids to enjoy, then I'm going to have to start making a statement about why these places are important, and not just to me, but from a community point of view. The "why" is a heck of a lot more important these days than the "what".

So out with the bun and the 'shushing'; no more whining about how we are devalued, underpaid, not appreciated...we aren't having that anymore...it's time for a change in our voices and I want to start ushering in that change in my own way.

Cheers,

Amy

Oscars, here I come!

Okay, well maybe I need to refine my skills a bit, but it was really fun producing this first tutorial on finding a nursing article from a nursing journal in CINAHL.

Check it out...

Evaluating the TLP!

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm in the process of writing my evaluation of the Teach-Library Program from a students perspective. It's challenging to do this...While the program experience for me has been great - valuable, focused, tangible (in terms of project results) - I hope it is the same for the next person who comes along to fill this role.

I don't know why, but for some reason, I think my situation was different when I applied for this position. Coming into the LIS program, I knew that I wanted to combine my skills as an instructional designer with those of a librarian. When this position was posted and I saw that I would be working w/ Beth, receive free tution and a small stipend for only 20 hours a week - wow! - it was a no-brainer!

Even though the project is not over yet and I still have lots of work to do until the end of April, here are some of my thoughts for the next student coming into this internship....

1. Be flexible and keep your eyes open - you never know where a project might take you, how it can impact your portfolio or what networking connections you may make....so be open to new challenges and try everything you can
2. Look for connections - I had to work a little bit harder to align my courses with the practical aspects of my job, but it can be done! I created a distance education collection of resources from my 615 course and am using my 636 course to redo the Distance Education Services home page
3. Don't be afraid to speak up - if the project isn't going as planned or things seem to be moving in a direction that isn't benefiting your learning experience, it's okay to say so
4. Use what you know - everyone comes into a job or school with experience of some kind...so use it!
5. Have fun and get to know others in the library - I have to admit, I have had a ton of fun, but I have not done a very good job of getting to know others in the library - oops! So I'm going to try and work on that this last half of the year

So those are my words of (self-proclaimed) wisdom thus far...I plan on putting them into my formal evaluation but I thought I would put them here more informally. Trying to get my thoughts around what I need to say and how I'm going to say it...as I said above...is going to be challenging!

Cheers,

A

Crafting content....

It seems like we should be much farther along in the semester than week 4!?!? Oh well...I think I'm just anxious for spring to get here!

Thinking of spring and new beginnings...The Instructional Tech Toolkit v.1 was officially completed this past week. Laurie is going to upload it to the live site next week and we'll be able to do a soft roll out to faculty, students and staff. I still want to push it to some students for usuability testing, however, I want the final version link to be sent and not what we currently have up there. I will post it soon!

The toolkit project was great to work on, but I'm very happy I still had some work to do on it coming into this semester. I'm taking a web usability course and reading Jakob Nielsen's book helped me to focus on some areas that needed tightening up - namely, content. Nielsen points out that users don't read - they skim. And what they do read is nebulous until they get to what they really want to read - the information they've been searching for - the article or more indepth stuff that's not right up front on a site...basically, what I would call 'drill down' content. Thinking about this on the toolkit site helped me to hone the landing page text and (hopefully) make it easier for users to navigate to the tools they want to explore.

I'm applying the same principles to the redesign of the distance education services pages this spring. It's one of the projects we agreed to look at and since Camtasia is still being sorted out, it will give me a link between practice and classroom theory. I wish cataloging was more about organizing information as it pertains to the web, as having both of these classes together paired with this internship would have been a grand slam!!! Oh well...can't have it all...

Getting Back into the Groove...

After several weeks of cancellations, delays and other various false starts, I'm finally beginning to feel like I'm back into the mode of school, work and...well...LIFE!

Here's what I've been working on, thinking about or about reading to get going on:

Internship....
Things have been going great in this department! Beth had the toolkit reviewed and we've had some very positive feedback. The team went through with a fine-toothed comb and I just completed the edits this past week (on time, according to my deadline - whoo hoo!) So here's the 'soft rollout' of the site:

Instructional Technology Toolkit - I would love some feedback on it!

The next phase of the internship will be revamping Beth's website pages and revising various 'how to' tutorials. More to come on that...

School...
Fortunately, I am taking an online course this semester dedicated to usability and web design (636 - Web Production and Usability for Librarians) that is going to help me immensely in doing some of the above mentioned work. This class isn't all that taxing as far as the concepts, however, there is going to be a great deal of reading and production work. I'm not that familiar with conducting user testing and I'm thrilled to have an opportunity to do this phase of the project.

Cataloging is my other course, and...well...it's cataloging. However, I am enjoying it a bit more than when I first started it. (Did I just type that!??!) No, I do not want to be a cataloger, but my heart has softened towards those that do this type of work and enjoy it.

Life...
I'm working on a very exciting book project this semester that sort of just fell into my lap! I'm going to be interviewing two women librarians - one works in a public library and one is an entrepreneur - for a book about various types of entrepreneurial librarians. It's a great opportunity to learn more about the topic and hone my writing skills. I wish it was a paying project, but they handed me the job without question, so I'm hoping it leads to other paying opportunities in the future! Keeping my fingers crossed on that one...

And my little tidbit for today is to keep plugging...I read some comment on a blog that said librarians are antiquated and irrelevant...ouch...I had to think on that one for a long time and ask myself, "Does my profession fit this definition?" To this I say, "no" but we are in danger of heading this way if we don't promote, market and engage ourselves in more future-forward thinking. So keep plugging...there are some really great librarians out there doing some tremendous things!

Peace out -

A

Excuse me, are you using that AACR2 at the moment?

I'm learning something I never thought I would ever have to learn in my entire life. When you were a kid and you visited the library, did you ever wonder who typed up the cards that went in the card catalog? If you are asking, 'what's a card catalog'...here's a picture...and yes, I am that old!!!

Well, as a kid, we spent loads of time at the library and I can remember thinking about that very cool card catalog and how fun it would be to put the cards in there...hahahaha...I have no idea why...probably stemmed from my love of typewriters, rubber stamps and stamp pads, and almost any type of office supply.

So guess what I'm learning in my cataloging class...yep! All about how to create all those entries that go on the actual card! Oh joy...and what's even worse is that it's not just a few little rules to learn...there.is.an.entire.binder.of.rules! And not just a 1" binder..oh no...it's like a 3" binder!!

I keep asking myself - 'why do I need to know this?' 'what possible effect could it have on my future career as a librarian?'....you know what? I still don't have any answers for these questions (and a lot more, like 'what the heck is main entry other than my front door?')

So off I go, into the deep dark night, trying to figure out how to label title pages of books. I'll try and find the highlights for us non-catalogers before the semester ends...I promise!

Cheers -

A