Tomorrow morning, pre- crack of dawn, I leave for New Orleans for ALA and for the culmination of my Emerging Leader experience. It's been an amazing six months, and I've been lucky to work with a group of other smart, passionate, and creative librarians. It's been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.
We were given the task of creating some promotional materials for Learning4Life and AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner. We decided pretty quickly that the best way to promote the standards was to highlight the incredible work school librarians are doing all over the country. So we wrote and distributed a survey using a GoogleDocs Form, and used the responses we got as the raw material for all of our projects.
I created an Animoto using some images that school librarians shared, and included some examples of the standards in action:
Melissa Corey created a Storybird, which I just love:
Think, Create, Share, Grow at Your Library by melissacorey on Storybird
as well as a great GoAnimate video:
GoAnimate.com: Think, Create, Share, Grow in Your Library by melissacorey
Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!
Alicia Blowers made this great Xtranormal video:
and Kim Ha made one too:
Showing posts with label AASL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AASL. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Friday, February 5, 2010
Thank you in advance
If you care about school libraries at all--and if you're friends with me, you better care at least a little, or we're in a fight--please take the time to write President Obama and your Congresspeople to ask them to restore funding for school libraries to the FY2011 Budget. You can read more about the story here: President Obama Proposes Eliminating Federal School Library Funds
Buffy Hamilton, the Unquiet Librarian, responds quiet eloquently here: An Indecent Proposal
My letter to President Obama (which I adapted from Hamilton's letter) is below.
Not sure what to write? Feel free to copy either my letter or Buffy Hamilton's.
Not sure where to send your letter? Find out here: Contact Elected Officials
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. President:
Recently I learned through the American Library Association and the American Association of School Librarians that your FY 2011 education budget does not include any additional specific funding for school libraries, additional school librarians, or statues mandating certified school librarians for every state. Equally disappointing is the news that the Improving Literacy for School Libraries grant program has been all but put out of reach for school libraries with the FY 2011 budget proposal that will absorb this grant program into a variety of other Department of Education programs.
When you delivered the keynote at the ALA Conference in Chicago in 2005 you said, "At the moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better. It's an enormous force for good." For many children the library that "hooks" them is the school library. Many young children don't have ready access to their public libraries, for any number of reasons--and often those libraries are also inadequately funded, or may not have programs that specifically meet the needs of younger children. School libraries, however, are always accessible to the students they serve, and are designed to instill in them a love of learning and reading. Without well-funded, professionally staffed school libraries, those students may never have that transformative moment you spoke of.
In October of 2009 I was heartened to read your official proclamation for National Information Literacy Awareness Month. I, and many other school librarians, cheered your recognition of the importance of information literacy--and what seemed to be your recognition of the crucial role libraries and librarians play in teaching students to how to find and evaluate information. You privilege information literacy as being equally important to the traditional literacies and mathematics, yet you are providing no additional funding to provide all schools the primary teachers of information literacy, school librarians. Why are you providing funding for additional resources and teachers to support reading, writing, and mathematics, yet you ignore funding for the experts who are most ready, willing, and able to teach information literacy to our nation’s students in grades K-12: school librarians. Are you aware that not all states legally mandate a fully certified school librarian? Did you know that many school libraries do not have a full time certified school librarian? Do you think students can become informationally fluent in the absence of rich, current, and diverse collections in their school libraries or appropriate access to digital content? How can we as a nation provide students the instruction needed to help students cultivate “the ability to seek, find, and decipher information” without fully funded libraries staffed by highly qualified, certified school librarians?
As an independent school librarian, I am less directly affected by these funding decisions. But making students--students who will one day join the work force, and vote, and run for public office, and are the next generation of this country's leaders--information literate citizens is in everyone's best interest. Finding information and separating, as you said in your proclamation, "truth from fiction and signal from noise" will become an increasingly more complex skill. But the life decisions we make using that information will become no less crucial. We need citizens who can find and evaluate the information needed to make those decisions.
I became a school librarian because I believe, passionately, that these skills are vital to both our individual and collective success. These skills have the most resonance when taught in the overall context of the school curriculum, and driven by students' own inquiry and desire for knowledge. If you say you support information literacy as the cornerstone of a democratic society and informed citizenry, then you must not marginalize school libraries and librarians, and consequently, the students we serve.
We are already dealing with the aftermath of a financial crisis that was brought about, at least in part, by an inability to effectively evaluate information, to separate truth from fiction and signal from noise. Our collective ability to avoid and navigate future crises--of all kinds--will depend upon our having the skills that school librarians teach.
There is still time to restore and increase funding for school libraries. We will pay to prepare students to answer the questions of tomorrow, or we will pay when they don't have the answers. And the price tag for the latter is much, much larger.
Buffy Hamilton, the Unquiet Librarian, responds quiet eloquently here: An Indecent Proposal
My letter to President Obama (which I adapted from Hamilton's letter) is below.
Not sure what to write? Feel free to copy either my letter or Buffy Hamilton's.
Not sure where to send your letter? Find out here: Contact Elected Officials
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Mr. President:
Recently I learned through the American Library Association and the American Association of School Librarians that your FY 2011 education budget does not include any additional specific funding for school libraries, additional school librarians, or statues mandating certified school librarians for every state. Equally disappointing is the news that the Improving Literacy for School Libraries grant program has been all but put out of reach for school libraries with the FY 2011 budget proposal that will absorb this grant program into a variety of other Department of Education programs.
When you delivered the keynote at the ALA Conference in Chicago in 2005 you said, "At the moment that we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better. It's an enormous force for good." For many children the library that "hooks" them is the school library. Many young children don't have ready access to their public libraries, for any number of reasons--and often those libraries are also inadequately funded, or may not have programs that specifically meet the needs of younger children. School libraries, however, are always accessible to the students they serve, and are designed to instill in them a love of learning and reading. Without well-funded, professionally staffed school libraries, those students may never have that transformative moment you spoke of.
In October of 2009 I was heartened to read your official proclamation for National Information Literacy Awareness Month. I, and many other school librarians, cheered your recognition of the importance of information literacy--and what seemed to be your recognition of the crucial role libraries and librarians play in teaching students to how to find and evaluate information. You privilege information literacy as being equally important to the traditional literacies and mathematics, yet you are providing no additional funding to provide all schools the primary teachers of information literacy, school librarians. Why are you providing funding for additional resources and teachers to support reading, writing, and mathematics, yet you ignore funding for the experts who are most ready, willing, and able to teach information literacy to our nation’s students in grades K-12: school librarians. Are you aware that not all states legally mandate a fully certified school librarian? Did you know that many school libraries do not have a full time certified school librarian? Do you think students can become informationally fluent in the absence of rich, current, and diverse collections in their school libraries or appropriate access to digital content? How can we as a nation provide students the instruction needed to help students cultivate “the ability to seek, find, and decipher information” without fully funded libraries staffed by highly qualified, certified school librarians?
As an independent school librarian, I am less directly affected by these funding decisions. But making students--students who will one day join the work force, and vote, and run for public office, and are the next generation of this country's leaders--information literate citizens is in everyone's best interest. Finding information and separating, as you said in your proclamation, "truth from fiction and signal from noise" will become an increasingly more complex skill. But the life decisions we make using that information will become no less crucial. We need citizens who can find and evaluate the information needed to make those decisions.
I became a school librarian because I believe, passionately, that these skills are vital to both our individual and collective success. These skills have the most resonance when taught in the overall context of the school curriculum, and driven by students' own inquiry and desire for knowledge. If you say you support information literacy as the cornerstone of a democratic society and informed citizenry, then you must not marginalize school libraries and librarians, and consequently, the students we serve.
We are already dealing with the aftermath of a financial crisis that was brought about, at least in part, by an inability to effectively evaluate information, to separate truth from fiction and signal from noise. Our collective ability to avoid and navigate future crises--of all kinds--will depend upon our having the skills that school librarians teach.
There is still time to restore and increase funding for school libraries. We will pay to prepare students to answer the questions of tomorrow, or we will pay when they don't have the answers. And the price tag for the latter is much, much larger.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Seeking subtitle
As I referred to in an earlier post, and as most of you know (thought it's recently been brought to my attention that people who are not friends and family have actually read this blog on occasion. Which is I suppose is part of the whole point of writing publicly, but it still feels weird), I have recently been promoted, in a manner of speaking. I wrote out a new job description and everything, which is quite long; I realized, however, that it doesn't include much in the way of new responsibilities--there's just a lot of different aspects to my job. It was oddly comforting, however, to see them all written out concretely--this is why I often feel overwhelmed.
The big additions to my job responsibilities include writing and implementing a research curriculum for the school. It's now currently possible--depending on the classes and teachers a student has during their time here--for a student to avoid doing any significant research until they are seniors--or possibly at all. While it's clearly needed--you can't really have a good library program without a clearly articulated curriculum--it's also a rather daunting task, and I'm still wrapping my head around it, but you can expect to hear more about as I figure it out. But this post is not about that--this post is about my job title.
My "official" title is now Director of Library Services and Research Instruction, which I'm somewhat conflicted about, as I believe that one's grasp on reality is inversely proportional to the length of one's job title. I still haven't changed the signature line on my e-mail, and I can't decide if I want to. I know I came up with the title and all, but it just seems so. . . pompous (and while I have an inkling what Clay Shirky might have to say about that, I am really okay with not coming off as a self-aggrandizing jerk). And part of me feels like a job title this long deserves a subtitle--ideally one that can be turned into an acronym. I'm more than open to suggestions.
I do, however, really like the idea of being a library director, particularly because my very first professor in library school made it abundantly clear to my class that a) none of us could ever be school librarians, and b) none of us would ever be library directors. Someday I hope Greg Byerly Googles his name and learns how very, very wrong he was, as I am a school library director less than three years after getting my degree. So there. And I will freely admit that part of the reason that I wanted the word "Director" to be part of my job title was because of him. Spite can be an excellent motivator.
I am, apparently, not the only one thinking about job titles. After Midwinter, AASL issued the following press release: AASL votes to adopt the professional title school librarian. While such an announcement is doubtlessly greeted by a mildly confused 'duh' by anyone outside the world of libraries who might be paying attention, I'm glad that the American Association of School Librarians has decided that its members should be referred to as. . . school librarians.
I am hoping the title "Media Specialist" dies a quick, quiet death. I understand the intention behind the title, but it's meaning was lost on me, and on most of the general public. I've been reading discussions on LM_Net, with some arguing vehemently on behalf of the title, saying it makes it clear to people that librarians are adept at using technology. I've stayed out of the discussion, because my only response is, "No, it doesn't." It makes us sound like some weird hybrid between librarians and the anchorman on the evening news. I'm pretty adept with a lot of different technologies, but I would never consider myself a "media specialist"; I'm an information specialist, regardless of the medium. And we already have an excellent title for people who are information specialists--librarian.
The services offered by and roles played by public library has continued to change as well, but they have not insisted on being called "Public Media Centers", nor are public librarians being called "media specialists." If part of what we're doing in school libraries is trying to create lifelong library users (which, I think it can be easily argued, it is), it makes sense that we share the same name as the libraries we hope our students will someday use.
For me, it comes back to sounding too self-important. The title "Library Media Specialist", like my new official job title, just sounds pompous to me--more about perception than action. Which is why, no matter what job role or title I take on, I'll always simply want to be known as a school librarian.
The big additions to my job responsibilities include writing and implementing a research curriculum for the school. It's now currently possible--depending on the classes and teachers a student has during their time here--for a student to avoid doing any significant research until they are seniors--or possibly at all. While it's clearly needed--you can't really have a good library program without a clearly articulated curriculum--it's also a rather daunting task, and I'm still wrapping my head around it, but you can expect to hear more about as I figure it out. But this post is not about that--this post is about my job title.
My "official" title is now Director of Library Services and Research Instruction, which I'm somewhat conflicted about, as I believe that one's grasp on reality is inversely proportional to the length of one's job title. I still haven't changed the signature line on my e-mail, and I can't decide if I want to. I know I came up with the title and all, but it just seems so. . . pompous (and while I have an inkling what Clay Shirky might have to say about that, I am really okay with not coming off as a self-aggrandizing jerk). And part of me feels like a job title this long deserves a subtitle--ideally one that can be turned into an acronym. I'm more than open to suggestions.
I do, however, really like the idea of being a library director, particularly because my very first professor in library school made it abundantly clear to my class that a) none of us could ever be school librarians, and b) none of us would ever be library directors. Someday I hope Greg Byerly Googles his name and learns how very, very wrong he was, as I am a school library director less than three years after getting my degree. So there. And I will freely admit that part of the reason that I wanted the word "Director" to be part of my job title was because of him. Spite can be an excellent motivator.
I am, apparently, not the only one thinking about job titles. After Midwinter, AASL issued the following press release: AASL votes to adopt the professional title school librarian. While such an announcement is doubtlessly greeted by a mildly confused 'duh' by anyone outside the world of libraries who might be paying attention, I'm glad that the American Association of School Librarians has decided that its members should be referred to as. . . school librarians.
I am hoping the title "Media Specialist" dies a quick, quiet death. I understand the intention behind the title, but it's meaning was lost on me, and on most of the general public. I've been reading discussions on LM_Net, with some arguing vehemently on behalf of the title, saying it makes it clear to people that librarians are adept at using technology. I've stayed out of the discussion, because my only response is, "No, it doesn't." It makes us sound like some weird hybrid between librarians and the anchorman on the evening news. I'm pretty adept with a lot of different technologies, but I would never consider myself a "media specialist"; I'm an information specialist, regardless of the medium. And we already have an excellent title for people who are information specialists--librarian.
The services offered by and roles played by public library has continued to change as well, but they have not insisted on being called "Public Media Centers", nor are public librarians being called "media specialists." If part of what we're doing in school libraries is trying to create lifelong library users (which, I think it can be easily argued, it is), it makes sense that we share the same name as the libraries we hope our students will someday use.
For me, it comes back to sounding too self-important. The title "Library Media Specialist", like my new official job title, just sounds pompous to me--more about perception than action. Which is why, no matter what job role or title I take on, I'll always simply want to be known as a school librarian.
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