MSLIS News

A fellow MLIS - school media student, Karen Cawley, has a great blog called Karen the Librarian, where she periodically posts witty and entertaining tales of her library school studies and horror stories of her Starbucks barista job. Her latest post, Library School f.a.q., pretty much sums up the conversations that most of us distance library students have had with people who are not familiar with our particular type of program. For example, at my student teaching job, when people hear I am a Syracuse student, I either get, “Where are you staying while you’re here?” or “Do you drive that far EVERY DAY?” Considering I live about four hours from Syracuse, it’s a pretty silly question, and apparently Karen has been asked the same thing. Many times.

My favorite part of Karen’s post is when she discusses how people don’t consider her a typical librarian type, and says, “I know about a hundred future librarians who are working every day to shatter your preconceived notions of what librarianship is. We’re not cardigan-wearing, pencil-in-the-hair, shushing types.  We are activists, fun-loving teachers, and technological whizzes who just happen to have an insatiable thirst for information and want to share that thirst with everyone – even though I’ve been known to wear a cardigan and put writing utensils in my hair.” Well put.

Even though I don’t see my fellow students every day (some of them, Karen included, I’ve only met in person once!), I do “talk” to them nearly every day on the message boards, facebook, IM, or however we can get in touch. I consider these people my friends as well as classmates and I enjoy virtually spending time with them. And I consider myself lucky to be in the virtual company of so many smart, interesting, creative, passionate people!�

All school media students have to do a total of 400 hours of fieldwork/practica student teaching experience in order to become NY State certified as a school librarian. We are required to spend time teaching at both the elementary and secondary levels. It may seem like a lot of time but it goes by so fast! I’m currently in the final weeks of my last practicum, and I’ve been having so much fun, both working with the kids and learning from my Library Media Specialist colleagues. Here are just a few of the things I’ve learned so far:

1. If you read a book to kindergarteners in which the main character needs to pee, instantly about 80% of the kids will decide they need to go to the bathroom too.
2. If you let them, students will find most of their information for research projects using Google. However, if you require them to use books first and won’t allow them to use the Web until several days into a research proejct, they will find most of the information they need from the books.
3. Pathfinders tend to be appreciated more by teachers than by students, but they can save a lot of time for both teachers and students. The key is to allow students to struggle and fail to find information using Google, then  remind them of the pathfinder and show them how to use it.
4. You cannot possibly cover plagiarism too many times. At any age level.
5. Don’t assume elementary age students are too young to understand how to do proper citations. They aren’t.
6. Food and coffee are powerful motivators for getting teachers into the library.
7. Two different school principals gave me the same good advice: to deliver more than I promise, and deliver on all promises.
8. Students are drawn to technology; fortunately there are lots of ways to capitalize on technology as a learning tool.
9. No matter how old they are, kids love to be read to.
10. Test out all technology prior to teaching, and have a backup plan if it fails! 

From Stephen Abram via his blog, Stephen’s Lighthouse:

These are some great short videos for the public libraries in Alberta:

Think outside the box!

I have posted about Pam Berger’s IST611 Information Technologies in Educational Organizations class before, but I wanted to post a few more links now that the class has ended. First of all, one of the major class assignments was to contribute to a class wiki of Web 2.0 technologies. Each page on the wiki included a summary, tutorial, and bibliography for the Web 2.0 technologies, including bubbl.us, animoto, GoogleDocs, Facebook, Diigo, Flickr, and many more. The wiki can be viewed at http://suweb20.wikispaces.com/. Some of the tutorials were also reproduced with permission on the Conversants Ning.

Second, I posted on my LearningLibrarian blog about my final collaborative technology project, which entailed using Skype in the classroom to connect students in two states. The project was a collaboration between myself, Lake Placid Middle/High School librarian Sara Kelly Johns, biology teacher Christian Wissler (LPMHS), and biology teacher David Fahey (LaFayette High School, Williamsburg, VA). The classes had a debate via Skype about genetically modified foods.

This was a fun assignment that led to many amazing projects. Other collaborative technology projects by other students in IST611 included developing library instruction tutorials using Flowgram, creating READ posters for the library, using Voicethread in an ESOL classroom with Kindergarteners and 1st graders, and creating wikis, blogs, digital slideshows, videos, and other technology-rich projects. If you have the chance to take this course, I highly recommend it!

Universities across the globe have been delivering courses online to off-campus students for decades, but the Syracuse University School of Information Studies (iSchool) is now trying out the possibility of teaching a course that is open to both students and the public via the online video platform, YouTube.

Throughout the month of June, iSchool Professor Scott Nicholson will teach IST 600 Gaming in Libraries in three online spaces:

· The Syracuse University YouTube channel, where video lectures and guest speakers will be posted, and where students enrolled in the class will be required to post weekly video responses.

· American Library Association (ALA) Connect , a social networking site for the ALA that will host the discussion of students, speakers, librarians, and other participants from the general public

· The iSchool’s online learning management system, a private space for enrolled students to ask questions and submit their assignments

Nicholson decided to offer the course through this open forum for several reasons, including the desire to reach public librarians who are interested in learning more about incorporating gaming into their libraries. “Many libraries are interested in gaming but don’t know where to start,” Nicholson said. “My hope is that the videos will help libraries be successful with their gaming programs from the beginning.”

He also recognizes the potential hazards of teaching a course in a public space such as YouTube. “There are a lot of people there who post negative messages and spam,” Nicholson said. “As it’s a public forum where anyone can post behind a user name, I expect the tone of the discussions may be different than what students expect in an online course. That said, this will also prepare them for what can happen when they become librarians and start to host community 2.0 spaces, so that is part of what we will be talking about in the closed portion of the course.”

Students and other participants in the class can expect to gain a solid understanding of the spectrum of types of games, know how libraries typically use games, and be able to select games for their own libraries based upon the goals of the program and the mission of the library. They will learn how to start a gaming program, how to facilitate the activity, how to assess the program, and how to tie the assessment back to the library’s mission.

Nicholson’s biggest goal for the course, however, is to bring together students, librarians, gamers, and representatives of the gaming industry. He is hoping that some of the 4,000 people who follow his “Board Games with Scott ” video series will join in the course discussions.

The course is being offered by the Syracuse iSchool to its students and students enrolled at partner schools through the Web-based Information Science Education (WISE) Consortium. The course is being funded by the Kauffman Enitiative Project at Syracuse University.

While Nicholson sees more and more social media tools being used in the classroom, he acknowledges that universities face the challenge of receiving compensation for their content. “Universities survive because people are willing to pay for education,” he said. “Social media tends to produce content that is free. If the course is then being given away, this isn’t sustainable.” Yet, he wants to explore ways in which universities can offer some content, such as continuing education courses or information that could serve the public, through these public venues.

Anyone interested in participating in “Gaming in Libraries” course can learn more at: http://gamesinlibraries.org/course. Click here for the syllabus.

Syracuse University’s Center for Digital Literacy hosts an annual event called E*LIT (Enriching Literacy Through Information Technology). The event is a competition among central New York area schools around a central literary theme. Classroom teachers and school library media specialists work collaboratively to prepare projects using digital technology, sometimes combining classrooms or even schools. This year’s event has a Harlem renaissance theme, centered around books by Andrea Davis Pinkney. The authors are chosen for their dedication to giving a voice to an underserved population.  

The projects are submitted digitally, and are judged by Syracuse MLIS students, community members, librarians, and teachers. I was privileged to be part of this year’s review team, because I got to experience the wide range of wonderful and creative projects; for example, games, movies, wikis, websites, sound recordings, and even some interactive digital posters (glogs), all highlighting one or more of Ms. Pinkney’s books 

The final E*LIT event is coming up on May 15 in Syracuse, when all the participants will come together to hear the author speak and receive prizes. I secretly have my favorite project, but so many of them were really amazing, that I can’t wait to find out who wins! Kudos to Syracuse MLIS student Jenifer Sullivan for coordinating all of us wayward graduate student evaluators. I’m sure that wasn’t easy, but what a wonderful and worthy project. Congratulations to all the winners! 

Feel free to comment here or on the Syracuse iSchool LIS facebook page.Posted by Rebecca Buerkett, Syracuse MLIS distance student, rlbuerke@syr.edu.

Here’s a short video I made talking about some of your elective choices for Fall 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3eBQJy8D3w

Here are the classes I referenced in the video:

Campus

IST553 M001 25283 3 Info Architecture for Internet Services O’Neill, P
IST565 M001 25439 3 Data Mining McCracken, N
IST619 M001 25295 3 Applied Econ. For Info. Mgrs.
IST625 M001 25363 3 Risk Management Kaarst-Brown,
IST626 M001 31950 3 Business Information Resources and Strategic Intelligence Hurst-Wahl, J
IST632 M001 31869 3 Management and Organization of Special Collections Lavender, K
IST641 M001 31982 3 Behavior of Information Users Nilan, M
IST645 M001 25379 3 Managing Information Systems Projects Thomas, A
IST645 M002 25381 3 Managing Information Systems Projects Uva, T
IST659 M001 25159 3 Data Admin. Concepts and Database Mgmt. Dischiave, S
IST659 M002 25303 3 Data Admin. Concepts and Database Mgmt. Dischiave, S
IST683 M001 31977 3 Managing Info. Tech.-Enabled Change Oesterlund, C

Distance

IST552 M002 25437 3 Info. Systems Analysis: Concepts and Practice Yilmazel, O
IST558 M001 25489 3 Technologies in Web Content Management Hsiao, W
IST600 M003 25477 3 Participatory Librarianship Lankes, R
IST600 M005 31781 1 Grant Writing Shaffer-Mannion, R
Course meets: November 1 - 30, 2009
IST600 M006 31782 1 Library Budgeting Shaffer-Mannion, R
Course Meets: September 1 - September 20, 2009
IST600 M007 31783 1 Library Fundraising Shaffer-Mannion, R
Course Meets: October 1 - October 31, 2009
IST609 M001 31874 3 Biomedical Information Services and Sources Maggi, G
IST612 M001 25287 3 Youth Services in Libraries and Information Centers Wall, B
Required Residency: August 1-2, 2009
IST617 M001 25499 3 Motivational Aspects of Information Use Small, R
IST631 M001 31870 3 Theory of Classification and Subject Representation Kwasnik, B
IST645 M003 25383 3 Managing Information Systems Projects Emborski, R
IST659 M003 25391 3 Data Admin. Concepts and Database Mgmt. Wiggins, Sr., W
IST661 M001 25367 3 Info. Mgmt. In Schools Franklin, R
IST663 M001 31862 3 Motivation and Information Literacy Arnone, M
Small, R
Required Residency: September 12 - September 13th Hinds Hall 117
IST676 M001 25305 3 Digital Libraries Hurst-Wahl, J
IST677 M001 31871 3 Creating and Managing Digital Assets Hurst-Wahl, J
IST759 M001 25497 3 Planning and Designing Digital Library Services Lankes, R

I spent 10 days in the Netherlands last month teaching a class to students in game technology & game design. While there, I worked with the public libraries in Amsterdam and Delft. I was really impressed, so I made this video lesson about what I saw and what we can learn.

Thanks to one of my fellow MLIS students, Ana Canino-Fluit, for finding this blog posting by onellums: 5 Things I Didn’t Realize I’d Be Working on…When I Decided to Become a Librarian (alternate title, Thank Goodness I Went to Syracuse’s iSchool), over at the ACRL blog. As a current SU student, it is very encouraging (and not surprising) to see that others are finding the things we learn at the SU iSchool useful. We have so much excellent information piled on us as students, it can be hard to believe that we will ever get to use it all, but I try to look at each and every assignment as something I may potentially need to use in my job someday. So I’d better pay attention.  

I am not a real librarian quite yet so I know this will most likely change when I get out into the real world, but here is my list of 5 Things I Didn’t Realize I’d be Working on… (keep in mind that I am a school media student, so my list is a bit different from the aforementioned blog post). 

1.     Tech geekery – I was never a technophobe by any means, but since entering library school, I have learned more than I ever thought possible about technology programs, websites, training modules, and online tools. For example, as onellums mentioned, creating video tutorial screencasts using free programs like Jing. Any kind of librarian, academic, public, or school, will find this useful for teaching patrons about library services. Not only am I becoming more techno-savvy, I find that I am equipped to solve glitches, use technical tools to enhance learning, and teach others about useful websites. I suspect that my constant sharing is starting to irritate my friends. 

2.     Second Life  - virtual worlds are not just for gamers anymore. Educators are using Second Life for hosting conference workshops as well as classroom teaching. We’re having our IST611 class discussion in Second Life next week, so we all had to create avatars. Which was an experience in and of itself. Who knew there were so many different miniscule ways to adjust a body? Long or short nose? High or low hair? Perky or droopy boobs? Long or short waist? Love handles or no? It was existential. But I digress. 

3.     Lesson plans – I think many people think of librarians as resource and support personnel, but we do so much more. All librarians, not just school librarians, are teachers, and we are trained to provide instruction to our patrons on a variety of topics. School librarians in particular receive instruction on developing lesson plans, incorporating learning standards, educational and motivational theories, and literacy development. 

4.     Planning, marketing, and assessment – people associate marketing with business, but librarians need to not only market their services to users, but also assess the adequacy of our services. Knowing how to create effective project, marketing, and assessment plans is a critical skill, so thank you IST613.  

5.     Advocacy – before entering library school, I didn’t realize how much advocacy librarians are involved with, and how much support we have available to us from our peers and professional organizations. Library programs are usually supported with public funds and as such, our services can be very vulnerable in difficult financial times. Advocacy takes place on so many levels: with administrators, governing boards, teachers, parents, and patrons. It’s pretty much a constant task in any given day. Fortunately we have a huge support network of other librarians. Librarians not only like to help patrons find information, we like to help each other! For example, when I needed help with my Second Life avatar, I put out an SOS call to the LM_NET listserv and sure enough, an expert librarian contacted me within hours. Now THAT’s service. 

There are many, many more cool things that I will get to do once I have a real library job, but these are the first five that came to mind. What about you? What are your five (or more) things? Don’t forget to read the viewer comments on the ACRL blog posting to see what others came up with! 

Feel free to comment here or on the Syracuse iSchool LIS facebook page. 

Posted by Rebecca Buerkett, Syracuse MLIS distance student, rlbuerke@syr.edu

I am thoroughly enjoying Pam Berger’s online course this semester at SU, IST611, Information Technologies in Educational Organizations. This course is one of those required for school media students at SU. The focus of the course is to explore the use of Web 2.0 technologies in educational settings, and to investigate collaboration opportunities between library media specialists and other members of the school community. The best part of the class so far has been learning about all the Web 2.0 technologies available for use in a classroom or school library setting. Finally, an alternative to boring PowerPoints! How about a Voicethread or Animoto project? Podcast? Vodcast? Class wiki? Mind Map? The possibilities are endless, and new programs are coming along every day. The two sections of IST611 (Pam Berger’s and Steve Nabinger’s) are putting together a wiki highlighting these technologies, which will be an excellent reference when it is completed.  

The course instructors have been creative in designing assignments and delivery methods. We were required to set up facebook and twitter accounts, if we hadn’t already, and are developing collaborative on-site technology projects at libraries where we live. Some weeks our class discussions are conducted using Web 2.0 communication  tools such as blogs, Skype, and (coming soon) Second Life. For an example, visit the blog I set up for this course: http://rbuerkett.edublogs.org/. Most of the posts are related to IST611, but I intend to continue using the blog even after the course is complete.  

One of the most important takeaways from this course is probably an awareness of not only the technology tools, but also the ongoing professional development opportunities afforded by the various social media tools. I know these skills will serve me very well when I’m a Real Librarian! This course would be useful for MLIS students even if they aren’t on the school media track. Related course for non-schmedia students (those types who get to fit electives into their schedules!) are IST 667 Information Technology for Libraries and Information Centers and IST500 Social Media.  

Feel free to comment here or on the Syracuse iSchool LIS facebook page.

Posted by Rebecca Buerkett, Syracuse MLIS distance student, rlbuerke@syr.edu.