Life Matters interview – “Teacher librarians are a dying breed”

Well done to Mary Manning (Executive Officer, School Library Association of Victoria) for educating Radio National’s Life Matters community this morning about the contribution teacher librarians make to school libraries and student learning. With primary school libraries being targeted as part of the Rudd Government’s Building the Education Revolution, the message that teacher librarian positions have been substantially diminished across some states and territories is certainly a major concern for both the TL profession and the future of schooling in Australia.

With the $12.4 billion investment in libraries and multi-purpose facilities in primary schools, special schools and K-12 schools as part of the nation’s  ‘Primary Schools for the 21st Century’ program, it is timely to ask state and territory governments how they are going to ‘match’ this investment in school libraries, by ‘installing’ qualified teacher librarians into these facilities to help schools transform ‘bricks & mortar’ into a fully functional, dynamic and dynamic learning laboratory that supports the demands placed on students as information and ICT users, both at school and when they are working independently from home.

There has recently been some discussion on the future of school libraries in Australia on the School Libraries 21C blog hosted by the School Libraries and Information Literacy Unit, NSW Department of Education and Training. Discussion has been extended to July 30, so please consider adding your vision for the future of school libraries in Australia as well as your stories about the contributions teacher librarians make in preparing Australia’s young people as engaged and informed digital citizens. Also check out this recent Scan article ‘ School libraries building capacity for student learning in 21C’ which has been published to support this discussion.

Pedagogies and Technology

I have just been reading an article that is based on the work of Dr Kathryn Moyle from the University of Canberra who has been researching how students feel about the electronic devices they use in the classroom, at home or elsewhere. She surveyed 1100 people, from primary age students through to pre-service teachers. There have been nunmerous studies on what technologies are being used by students but not studies in the affective domain.

The major finding is that the most important desire is for students and teachers to have good relationships. It rated above technology in importance for students.

“Students want their teacher to know who they are, to take an interest in what they’re learning and how they’re learning it.” According to Dr Moyle that is a reaffirmation about how professional educators do their job – and it’s not going to be usurped by putting computers in classrooms.

Her final observation is critical. “What is does mean is that we as professional educators need to rethink what sound pedagogies look like when they include technology.”

I think this links nicely with the Librarian’s Manifesto in while many of us may not be comfortable in this new world of technology, are students are but what they want is what they have always wanted – a caring and understanding teacher. If we are prepared to embarce technology,even in a small way at the beginning, that link may be reinforced. Why not ask your students to show you what they can do with technology? I for one certainly learnt a few PowerPoint tips from my students. I could actually see their chests swell when they knew they were teaching me something.

Concluding comments from Roy and others at the close of Library & Info Week

May 31 saw the close of another week of library advocacy in Australia hosted by the Australian Library & Information Association (ALIA). The theme for Library and Information Week 2009 was Libraries your passport to discovery!, which was a great opportunity for our information profession to promote the value of libraries in today’s society. I noticed Sue Hutley’s (Executive Director, ALIA) statement that “libraries offer every Australian a chance to discover, access and connect to a much wider world – and in these tough economic times, it’s a lot cheaper too!”, was a message that resonated through a number of comments in the media this week, including those of Robert McEntyre (Public Libraries NSW Metropolitan Association Executive Director) in the Herald article Book now: libraries are top shelf in family attractions by Rachel Browne (on May 31).

It was also great to see  the words of Roy Crotty (fellow studentslearn blogger, President of ASLANSW and Associate Lecturer with us at the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University - love the concluding quote in the article Roy:

“If anything, the digital era has made a teacher librarian’s job even more relevant.”

The ALIA media release highlights the cultural, educational and economic benefits to society afforded by libraries and information agencies, noting that each year “Australia’s 1,500 public libraries lend over 178 million items to 12 million registered borrowers” which is over half of Australia’s population. Additional figures quoted by Sue Huntley provide the public with an idea of the breadth of library services across the nation including “approximately 9,000 school libraries, 42 university libraries, 387 TAFE campus libraries, and thousands of health libraries, law libraries and other special libraries.” In addition, the Herald article Students can borrow to boost chances outlining public libraries’ support of school children’s reading habits through the provision of multiple copies of books on the Premier’s Challenge reading list each year, demonstrates how public libraries are ’switched on’ to the needs of kids and in supporting school libraries to resource public programs that can sometimes be beyond the capabilities of an individual school library’s budget. 

Sherman Young’s article Is the book dead? published on ABC’s Unleashed on May 26 and National Simultaneous Storytime on May 27 capped off a busy week for libraries, authors, publishers and booksellers in promoting the value of libraries, books, reading and literacy for all Australians.

An interesting antidote to the good work presented in the media this past week about the value of libraries in Australia, can be found in ABC’s Unleashed article The vulgar modernisation of our libraries (published at the end of April) is you missed it. Love to hear your feedback on any or all of the above!

Shh, this is a digital library

This is a link to an article in the Times Online e-publication about what it means to be a librarian in this modern age. One of the people mentioned, Dr Gaynor Eyre, was member of the CSU staff for 5 years. I am so pleased I no longer have to put my hair in a tightly twisted bun.

“Once upon a time a love of books and reading was considered a key requirement for an aspiring librarian. Today, with the advent of digitalisation and moves towards the virtual library, such an interest is no longer enough. Librarians must master sophisticated IT and information management skills as well as the traditional techniques.

Bookishness has gone – along with the old stereotype of stern shushes from a bluestocking in a tweed skirt and spectacles with her hair in a tightly twisted bun.”

Read more at:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article6154172.ece

Librarian’s Manifesto

As teacher librarians, what do we believe our role to be?  Are we teachers, librarians, somewhere in between or something else?  We know what many of our teaching colleagues may think.  Sometimes our role can be misunderstood while at other times our role is regarded as vital within the school and the learning environment.

Below is a link to a video on teachertube so it should not be blocked by system filters on what one teacher librarian believes her role to be through her manifesto of a Librarian 2.0.  It makes thoughtful reading, especially for me the idea of understanding how my studetns learn and working in that environment, even though it may be different than my own.

Death of online encyclopedias?

Below is an extract of an article from the Sydney Morning Herald of April 2 2009. 

“Microsoft plans to close its Encarta online encyclopedia, which competes in an arena dominated by communally-crafted free internet reference source Wikipedia.

The US software colossus said that on October 31 it would turn off all its Encarta websites everywhere except in Japan, with that service to be terminated on the last day of December.

“The category of traditional encyclopedias and reference material has changed,” Microsoft said in an online message at its Encarta website on Monday.

“People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past.”

Encarta was launched in 1993 as competition for traditional reference books such as those offered by Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encarta was originally available for purchase as a multimedia computer resource in DVD-ROM or CD-ROM formats and eventually became available online on a subscription basis.

Encarta’s popularity faded after the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation launched Wikipedia online in 2001.

While Wikipedia lets users continually update or refine entries, improvements suggested to Encarta must pass muster with editors before eventually being incorporated into the data base.”

This raises a number of issues that are of importance to teacher librarians.  Wikipedia is a tool and can have a place in locating information but it is information that cannot be relied upon.  The content is created by people of unknown authority and anyone can edit the information.  This has lead to inorrect and misleading information being posted on Wikipedia and there have been famous incidents of this being reported in news media.  Usually it has surrounded information on politicians being changed during election times.

So where does Wikipedia fit in the teaching process?  This is something that TLs must consider carefully.  Is it to be used as a site to gain some general information about a subject?  Is it to be used at all?  Do students and teachers understand what Wikipedia actually is or do they think it is as good and as authorative as Encyclopedia Britannica?

Now that Encarta is being closed down, where else can schools go online to find an authorative encyclopedia?

If you use another online encyclopedic source, please comment here and let us know why you use it.  If you use Wikipedia, how and why do you use it?  Do you think it is a resource has a place in schools or should we ‘exclude’ it as not being a useful resource?

World Digital Library Opening

 

 Below is a post from one of our colleagues at CSU announcing the World Digital Library which ‘opens’ on April 21.  Have a look and it would be marvellous to have some comments on the artefacts available for viewing as well as your thoughts on the use of such libraries in schools or anywhere.  From what I can see from this press release I can’t wait for the ‘doors’ to open.

01-04-2009 (Paris)

© UNESCO
UNESCO and 32 partner institutions will launch the World Digital Library, a web site that features unique cultural materials from libraries and archives from around the world, at UNESCO Headquarters on 21 April. The site will include manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, and prints and photographs. It will provide unrestricted public access, free of charge, to this material.

The launch will take place at a reception co-hosted by UNESCO Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura, and U.S. Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington. Directors of the partner institutions will also be on hand to present the project to ambassadors, ministers, delegates, and special guests attending the semi-annual meeting of UNESCO’s Executive Board.

Media are invited to attend a pre-launch press conference, which will take place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 21 April at 11 a.m.

Mr Billington first proposed the creation of a World Digital Library (WDL) to UNESCO in 2005, remarking that such a project could “have the salutary effect of bringing people together by celebrating the depth and uniqueness of different cultures in a single global undertaking”. In addition to promoting international understanding, the project aims to expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars and general audiences, and narrow the digital divide within and between countries by building capacity in partner countries.

The WDL will function in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, and will include content in a great many other languages. Browse and search features will facilitate cross-cultural and cross-temporal exploration on the site. Descriptions of each item and videos with expert curators speaking about selected items will provide context for users, and are intended to spark curiosity and encourage both students and the general public to learn more about the cultural heritage of all countries.

The WDL was developed by a team at the Library of Congress. Technical assistance was provided by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina of Alexandria, Egypt. Institutions contributing content and expertise to the WDL include national libraries and cultural and educational institutions in Brazil, Egypt, China, France, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Examples of treasures that will be featured on the WDL include oracle bones and steles contributed by the National Library of China; Arabic scientific manuscripts from the National Library and Archives of Egypt; early photographs of Latin America from the National Library of Brazil; the Hyakumanto darani, a publication from the year 764 from the National Diet Library of Japan; the famous 13th century “Devil’s Bible” from the National Library of Sweden; and works of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish calligraphy from the collections of the Library of Congress.

One of UNESCO’s main mandates is to promote the free flow of all forms of knowledge in education, science, culture and communication. The Organization therefore supports initiatives to improve and increase content on the Internet. To this end, it collaborates with a range of partners on the creation of digital and other repositories.

NLA Innovative Ideas Forum 2009

Yesterday I attended the National Library of Australia’s Innovative Ideas Forum 2009. The theme for this year’s forum was “The value and significance of social networking for cultural institutions”. I really appreciated the diversity of the program. Marcus Gillezeau’s (Producer/Director, Firelight Productions) presentation on the social phenomenon of Scorched.tv (cross platform tele-movie feature on Channel 9 in August 2008) really challenged me in terms of the power of social networking and an increasing blurring of the lines between fiction and reality in a world where info-consumers become info-producers.  At the end of the day as I debriefed with some friends, trying to ‘unpack’ the many complexities of Scorched as 21stC all-media storytelling, comparisons to the War of the Worlds radio play was noted a number of times!

The sessions by Dr Anne Summers (Author and Columnist),  Mark Scott (Managing Director, ABC), Rose Holley (Manager, Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program, NLA), Darren Sharp (Senior Consultant, Collabforge) and  Jo Kay (Freelance Geek, Designer,Facilitator, Second Lifer) all addressed in some way, the impact of social networking on our lives, both personally and as information professionals.

The National Library also encouraged audience participation using Web 2.0 tools throughout the day… it was great to see people twittering on their laptops and mobile phones, uploading photos in Flickr and recording ideas and responses on their blogs. Keep your eye on NLA’s iif2009 website for the vidcasts and podcasts of each session. Darren Sharp’s presentation Library 2.0: Citizens Co-Creating Culture has just been made available. These will be great resources for all CSU TL students to visit, esp. ETL401, ETL411, ETL523 and INF5XX (the new social networking subject for 2010 that I have yet to write!).

This is the fourth year that the NLA has hosted an innovation forum. I am already looking forward to seeing the draft of the 2010 program!

Twitter goes mainstream

TODAY on Twitter

Anyone who woke up to Channel 9’s The Today Show on Monday morning would have seen Karl and Charlie’s segment introducing viewers to Today’s new presence on Twitter. Interesting to see this was about one month after Seven’s Sunrise program started tweeting. Sinclair’s recent article in The Australian provides an overview of how Australia’s media companies have ‘embraced’ Twitter as another way to connect with their audience. What’s interesting (and not surprising?) is that a number of ABC TV & radio shows have been early adopters of Twitter, tweeting their news feeds to a growing number of fans over the past few months. Check out this A-Z listing of Australian media using Twitter - it gives you an idea of the breadth of media users to date.

So has Twitter gone mainstream? Only yesterday, a Twitter tag was added to YouTube’s suite of share tags. Methinx, it’s here to stay, for now. What I’d love to find out, is how many of our CSU TL students have Twitter accounts yet. If you are a Twitter user, please share with us the reasons why you have added this to your personal Web 2.0 toolkit.

Creativity …. and Michael Caine

Are we creative enough?  If we do regard ourselves as creative, in what areas do we have our strengths?  Personally I don’t regard myself as a creative person and admire those who are.  I especially love watching good actors act.  I love the theatre, particularly live theatre and a good movie can also be up there as well. But are our schools creative?  Are we creative?

I have added a link below to a short (17 min) speech given by Sir Ted Robinson in 2006 which has become one the most watched videos on the internet.  One reviewer commented that you stop whatever you are doing and watch this.  I would agree.  Sir Ted challenges us to think about creativity and asks if our schools are killing it.

It made me stop and think about my own school and I was pleased that I could say that we were a creative school.  Students had opportunities to dance (we were regulars inthe State Schools Spectacular and one of our ex-students went on to be a Banana in a Pyjama for a short while), compete in sporting events ( we were State Softball champions two years running) as well as debating, Tournament of the Minds, etc.

What it did make me do was to seriously consider how creative I was as a teacher.  Were my lessons not only crafted to produce success but were they engaging my students interest in a meaningful and creative way?  I tried a few different approaches – some were successful while other not so.  That did not matter as it was only my ego that was affected and I did learn to think beyond the usual style I had been using for awhile.

After watching Sir Ted’s video a few times I gained more confidence and felt that I was achieving my objectives.  I could see it in my students’ faces as they entered the library – no more heads down but some actually seemed to keen to be there.  It certainly gave me a lift.

Sir Ted’s speech is entertaining and profound.  It can be downloaded in mp4 (video) format into itunes and loaded onto your ipod.  I have it on mine and look at it regularly.  I would encourage the same of others in the course.

And Michael Caine – I think Sir Ted must be Michael’s brother.