Week 9, Thing #23: The Liberated Library Media Tech!

As a masters of library and information science student, the CSLA School Library Learning 2.0 program was an easy and fun way to get acquainted with web 2.0 tools and concepts. I especially appreciated the comments and words of encouragement that I received from my district librarian and CSLA School Library Learning 2.0 team that were posted on my blog. Knowing that my efforts to learn were being acknowledged inspired me to complete all the exercises in this program before the deadline of September 1st! Receiving these comments and reading the thoughts of school librarians' in their blogs or on the wiki really made me feel like I was participating in this wonderful learning community that will support me in my future educational endeavors.

My favorite exercises were many and they include playing with the image generators, subscribing to blogs via RSS, discovering Pandora and Del.icio.us (these are the websites I use everyday!), learning about wikis and how to apply them in libraries and classrooms, and recording all my thoughts into this blog. This my first time blogging professionally, and I plan to continue posting in this blog.

One important take-a-way I culled from the program is the power of collaboration and how instrumental it is to the learning process. Before I completely understood wikis, I castigated Wikipedia as a reliable source of information. After this program, however, I have an understanding of its origins and its aim that makes me look at it more positively. I was also surprised with the number of online tools that would be beneficial to libraries and classrooms. I want to know how to choose which web 2.0 tools are useful and applicable to my school and library.

My learning experience was LIBERATING. It gave me the confidence to break my chains of self-doubt in my ability to utilize web technology in the classroom and in libraries.

Thank you CSLA School Library Learning 2.0 team!

Week 9, Thing #22: Looking for an older text? Check out an ebook!

Due to my unfortunate timing, I cannot avail of the "free" downloads on World EBook Fair's website until July of next year. If I would like to access the numerous ebooks on the site, I can pay $8.95. Instead, I explored ManyBooks.net to learn about ebooks. Although this site's ebooks offerings pales in comparison with the World Public Library's (many of its ebooks, however, were taken from Project Gutenberg), it is well organized into categories like "Young Readers" and "Banned Books." ManyBooks. net is useful if you are browsing for titles from certain authors, its offerings are also organized by author and title. The site serves different ebook readers, as well, offering them in various ebook formats like Kindle and iPhone pdf. There was also the World Public Library's public access page, that has over 75,000 books in html. Ebook sites are a convenient place to go if you're looking for copies of older texts instantly, since all of the ebooks are under public domain. On ManyBooks.net the copies of Edgar Alan Poe's short stories and the works of William Shakespeare are clicks away.

You can search for audiobooks in the public domain on the LibriVox catalog. I found whole audiobooks for free! The books are read by volunteers, and if you're questioning the quality of their readings I suggest you listen to some sample audiobooks and you'll find that they are quite good. I found whole audiobooks of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. You can also browse for audiobooks by genres like "Horror/ghost stories" and "Teen/young adult."

It is nice to know that if I am ever in a bind and require instant copies of older texts, I can download them as text or audio.

Week 9, Thing #21: Podcasts, Radio On Demand

I almost gave up searching for interesting and library-related podcasts after going through Podcastalley.com, since it was one of the few podcast directory links that was still up and running. Luckily, I was curious and patient enough to discover wonderful podcasts via the iTunes podcast directory. The podcasts are easily searchable, and organized by topic. I discovered a poetry podcast and The Library of Congress: 2008 National Book Festival Podcast. I was really excited to find that the Library of Congress podcast featured recent interviews with popular young adult authors like Sharon Draper, Joseph Bruchac, R.L. Stine, and Jon Scieszka. While listening to Sharon Draper's interview, I learned about her involvement with the International Reading Association's "Reading Across Continents" program. There were also podcasts of library news and events for some public libraries, like the Seattle Public Library. I anticipate to continue looking for more helpful podcasts via iTunes and I am happy to discover this version of helpful information online.

Week 9, Thing #20: YouTube and Your Library

YouTube was one the web 2.0 things that I was familiar with before I even heard and understood the words "web 2.0" It was introduced to me as a site purely for entertainment purposes, and I had not considered it as an educational tool until this year. Indeed, all the tutorials I viewed are all on YouTube and there is quality educational content on the site. It is difficult, however, to easily find these videos. Even if you go to the "Education" videos, links to irrelevant and inappropriate videos are displayed. When you do an advanced search for videos, you can choose to "filter videos that may not be suitable for minors," which may be helpful in excluding inappropriate videos from your search.

I do like how when you do find a video that you like, YouTube has a section for related videos and even suggests them to you after the video is finished. After a while of viewing a whole bunch of videos, I chose this one:



I like this video because it was created by and for teens to promote the public library. My favorite line is "The-Books-Only-Library?!" and I like how the teens mentioned Chris Brown, namedropping the popular R&B singer to get them to the library. This video is an example of how video projects and events in the library can now be shared online through YouTube. Sharing videos on library websites can be informative and create a buzz of interest that will inspire more of the public to check out their libraries.

Week 8, Thing #19: LibraryThing is *MY* Thing

As a library media technician at a middle school library, I input new acquisitions to our library catalog daily. When I began adding books to my LibraryThing account, the whole process of searching books with the intent of procuring its summary and MARC information was second nature to me. I do have to admit though, cataloging with LibraryThing is a lot more fun. The two things I like the most about LibraryThing are being able to upload a picture of the covers of my books and tagging each of them with my own categories. Mainly, I enjoy the ability of creating my personal online library catalog. When I added my favorite book Little Women, to my library, I was a little dismayed to initially find that the first listing for the book did not have the same cover as the book that I owned. Not to be discouraged, however, I added it anyways and then searched the ISBN number of my book as an afterthought. I had bought the book sixteen years ago, and I naively assumed that I would have to acquiesce to the book cover that LibraryThing (or Amazon.com) uploaded at first. To my surprise and delight, I discovered the cover to the book I owned! It was like stumbling upon an old class photo of an old friend! I rejoiced over the silly, sentimental thing but I am happy that this cover is featured in my personal library.

After getting over the excitement of LibraryThing's ability to individualize libraries, I explored its features for connecting with other book lovers. Within my library I could see that my favorite book, Little Women, is shared by 8873 members. By clicking on the "Talk" tab and "Your books" I can discover what other people are reading and discussing and even which discussions mention any of the books in my library. In order to find the specific posts on just Little Women, I have been clicking on the main discussion and then using CRTL + F to find where my favorite book is exactly mentioned. I also found that you could find talk about the book when you looked at its record in your library, and to the left click on "Conversations" (which are the same results when going through the "Talk" tab). Most of these conversations, however, merely mentioned the book as their favorite or not so favorite and did not go in depth about it so much. Perhaps it was just for Little Women, but I enjoyed reading the member reviews better than the conversations on it.

LibraryThing-ing might turn out to be one of my new hobbies. Other than that, I shall explore more to see how this catalog fun would prove useful for public and school libraries.

Week 8, Thing #18: Google Docs...Your Virtual Flashdrive

As with my RSS reader, since I have a Google email account I decided to experiment with Google Docs instead of Zoho Writer. Google Docs allows you to create word documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, and even forms (a template where you can type in questions and answers). After watching the YouTube video about Google Docs, I learned that it enabled you to save files created on your computer on the Internet. I learned that by saving these files on Google Docs, you could easily have them viewed and edited by others.

The capability to create slide show presentations and word documents seemed immediately useful for me. As a graduate student starting my library studies at San Jose State University, I foresee using Google Docs when I need to co-author essays and create slide shows with classmates.

I had fun with the forms feature of Google Docs. You could use this feature to create surveys and tests quickly and publish them on the Internet, administering them to people via online. By administering it online, you could receive responses to your surveys and tests quickly. I think that this would be a good way for librarians to create surveys to receive feedback from their patrons about their services. Of all the web 2.0 tools, I think I will use web applications the most since its format is identical to the current computer applications that I use everyday.

Week 7, Thing #17: Wikis, The Online Bulletin Board...and more!

I logged onto the California Curriculum Connections wiki and played around in the Sandbox. It was thrilling to add my two cents to the wiki. One person commented how "creepy" it was when they edited what another person had written in the Sandbox and how they feared this "lack of control." In contrast, I was really excited to see how much freedom we have to edit and add as we wish to the wiki. It was also reassuring to know, as someone else commented, that you are notified if someone edits the information you've posted and that there is also a page that chronicles the changes the wiki page has gone through.

I put up these changes in the Sandbox:

I'm just testing out to see how this post comes up on the Wiki Sandbox! Also, last week I listened to the radio program "To The Best of Our Knowledge" on August 10, 2008. Its theme for the day was "Collaboration" and it featured an interview with Ward Cunningham, the inventor of the wiki. You can view that programs audio archives here: http://www.wpr.org/book/realaud.html Look for the August 2008 calendar and look for the episode titled "Collaboration." It was very interesting to hear the inventor's perspective on this web 2.0 tool.

After I posted this, I realized that a wiki can be like an online bulletin board. A place where people can post and share important information.

I am glad that a wiki was created to provide a space where we could all share our ideas. I know that many people who participated in this online workshop posted up ideas in their blogs, but it is so much faster and easier to see all our ideas posted in one place! I tagged this page and intend to refer to it often for ideas on how to apply web 2.0 tools in the library and classroom.

After reading through some ideas, someone suggested that a wiki be created for the California Young Reader Medal nominees, and it would be a place where students could post their thoughts on the nominees and any information related to the themes brought up in these books. I really like this idea and hope to find some examples of these types of wikis and connect with their creators to see how they worked for them.

Week 7, Thing #16: Aloha Wiki!

When I think of wikis, the first one that immediately comes to mind is Wikipedia. Although I understoond that wikis were a compendium of information created by consensus, it was exciting to see how wikis were applied in the library world. My favorite wiki from CSLA's library wiki list was Library Success. I liked the idea of having librarians from all over share their secrets of success with other librarians. I especially liked the section on Services for Teens and the book lists on it. The Library Success wiki had all these resources compiled by other librarians, all in one place. I like how I can just save Library Success on my Del.icio.us and know that all these important and relevant links are there waiting for me to discover them. Also, to protect the wiki's credibility, Library Success required that people log in, in order to edit the content. Although I trust most of the links on Library Success, it was nice to know that this extra security measure is taken.

As a person with a B.A. in History, I was really excited to find the Sample AP World History Wiki. The purpose of the wiki was so that students created a study guide that they would use to study for the AP World History exam. Building the wiki as a class gave them an opportunity to learn how to work in a group, create content using technology, and study for the AP test. I wonder if the class enjoyed creating the wiki as much as I enjoyed reading it.

Meredith Farkas' article helped me see how wikis could be applied in libraries. I especially liked her idea about how wikis could be connected to library catalogs, so that patrons could read recommendations written by other patrons. I think that this would be extremely helpful at the middle school library where I work at, because students will check out a book that has been enjoyed by other students like them. And having the recommendations written online will allow all types of students (the ones who chatter away when I ask them how they liked a book to the ones who are too shy to talk to me) to write about how they felt about a book. For our school, our staff could create a wiki that contains the reading lists of all the English and Social Studies teachers. This way, these reading lists were located in one place and it would be easy to edit this list too. Students and parents could easily consult this list when they're in the school library, public library, or bookstore.

This exploration really made me a believer of wikis. I excited to discover other ways they can help our school and library the next school year.

Week 6, Thing #15: Our Future Libraries and Selves

I read these three perspectives on Library 2.0: Rick Anderson's Away from the "icebergs", Michael Stephens' Into a new world of librarianship and Dr. Wendy Schultz's To a temporary place in time...

These three perspectives illustrate important stances in the Library 2.0 conversation. All three wrestled with the old and the new, and proposed a resolution. Anderson believes in abandoning traditional library practices (i.e. possessing a vast print collection) for the sake of successfully functioning in the user-centric world of Web 2.0. Stephens is a big believer in the role of the new librarian--the "Librarian 2.0"--to deliver quality service in Library 2.0. Schultz envisions a "Library 4.0" where traditional libraries as well as the libraries 2.0 converge, a place where print and digital collections co-exist in harmony.

I was most interested in what these people had to say about the relationship between librarians and patrons and how it is transforming. I agreed with Schultz's comment that "tagclouds offer diverse connections, not focussed expertise" in my previous post about the disadvantages of tagging. She asserts that with Library 2.0, patrons will continue to require "experienced tour guides" to steer them in the right direction. I agree that with the current information density of the Internet, media, and print, patrons will require another human being to help them. Even though library patrons today are intelligent information finders in their own right, their information needs will call for a professional. Schultz is correct in stating that future librarians “will put a premium on service, on tailoring information to needs, and on developing participatory relationships with customers." I appreciated Stephens’ definition of quality library 2.0 service and how librarians can cultivate a collaborative relationship with patrons.

I was also awed by Schultz’s futuristic, yet nostalgic, vision of libraries. She detailed the evolution of libraries from commodity, product, service and finally to experience. It appears that coffee is an analogue for information; for coffee that once merely served a function is now an experience. Why not say the same for information? I could even argue that reading within our present libraries is a fulfilling experience—at least for me. It is interesting to dream of libraries as “knowledge spas.” And if the libraries of the future will be luxuries, I want to be the type of librarian who helps people see that they are luxuries that *should* be indulged in and are affordable to all. I believe that libraries are not merely a place to “experience” information but are instruments of social mobility and self-realization.

Library 2.0 for me is to fulfill the roles of a teacher-librarian utilizing new technologies. It is to harness new web technologies to inspire a time-honored skill: a love of reading and learning. This goal, to inspire a love of reading and learning, can only be attained when librarians and students have a reciprocal and collaborative relationship. It just so happens that the success of Library 2.0 is contingent upon it.

I see School Library 2.0 as a place where teachers and librarians help students recognize their digital information finding skills, and develop them via teaching web 2.0 tools and experimenting with them. As we are experimenting with web 2.0 tools here. School Library 2.0 is a place where students can find the information they seek, the information that helps them define who they are as a person and discover who they want to become. It is a place where they can express themselves creatively, asserting themselves in self-created images that can be re-written and re-fashioned as they see fit.

School Library 2.0 is not just a place where technology and education merge, but it is a place where minds young and old converse and discover themselves.