iPads (and other devices) in the classroom

So, I just learned today that some schools are receiving some iPads to use with students. I think they are elementary (I don't know who--something to do with Imagine Learning?). But many of our schools have a variety of technology in the library that is used with devices--iPads, iPods, Kindles, Nooks, etc.

At the last elementary LTT meeting, Pamela asked about the apps people were using in the library. I found this article on iPad Apps for the School Library, but I didn't recognize all of them--do you? 


What technology are you using in your library, and what apps are you using? What makes the technology most effective in your teaching? 

MLS degrees: What do you wish you'd had?

I was reading an article in March/April 2015 American Libraries about the evolution of library media education programs to meet the needs of 21st century libraries and patrons. In "The Future of MLS: Rethinking Librarian Education," authors Bertot and Sarin talk about the University of Maryland's program focused on "Re-Envisioning the MLS."

They started with two key questions: What should an MLS program look like in four years? And what types of students should we recruit into the profession?

They believe that as the needs of libraries and library patrons change, the role of the librarian will also change--and require new skills and abilities.

This brings to mind my teacher education program. It included a fascinating class in which we learned to run the 16mm projector, including splicing film with tape if it breaks; the appropriate methods for cleaning chalkboards and erasers (which involves the student who needs a little break outside); and running the duplex machine.

Now, for those of you who might not know what some of those things are...keep that to yourself.

The point is, the needs of a profession change, and just like weeding a library, we need to weed our educations if we are going to move into that brave new world.

If you were in charge of the Library Media endorsement, or an MLS program at a university, what would you teach now that would help school librarians the most? What do you wish you'd learned in class rather than 'on the fly' and on the job? How would you update the learning of new LTTs coming into the field?

It's like getting rid of an old friend...

All of us have had periods of change in our lives where we have physically had to pick up, pack up, and move all of our belongings to a new apartment, new house, new state. I have moved eight times in my adult life, and each time, the part of my house that has been hardest to move has been my books.

Tons of books. Literally. When I moved to Utah, I was paying by the pound, so I sorted the books and gave boxes to my friends' classroom libraries and donated to the local retirement home. I still had a ton. A literal ton. They weighed. I paid. What was I going to do? I knew them all by name.

When I married my husband, my book collection grew in another direction. Art books. Beautiful, color, heavy books of photography. Shelves of electronics and mathematics texts. And his son, with his own sets of Transformers and Narnia. 

By the time we moved again, we were up to 3.5 tons. That translates to eleven Ikea Billy Bookcases, several baskets, and stacks against the wall where I think no one will look. And don't get me started about what's on my Kindle.

The point is, we are book people. That's why we love libraries. And it's why weeding our collections is so very, very hard.

However, our school libraries are a critical educational resource, and we have a responsibility to our schools and district to maintain it--maintain the average age, ensure correct and appropriate content, and the  and cut the deadwood.

I love this article by Doug Johnson about weeding. He brings up many great points about why it's hard to weed, including small budgets for replacement.

One very sweet library media specialist came up to me after I gave a talk on budgets in which I railed about weeding. “But, Doug,” she said, “if we weed, our collection will be too small for our school to meet our accreditation standards.” My tongue-in-check advice was to replace the books with those fake book jacket pieces one finds in furniture stores if the standards only required quantity not quality. Whether directly stated or not, I am quite sure her accreditation standards call for usable books, not just any books in the library. ("Weed!")

As states, districts, and schools look at their statistics, it's clear that all public and school libraries could box up a few books and move them to the Great Book Beyond. It's hard for many reasons--finding the time. Choosing the books to go. Having concerns about having a section that is...empty. 

What should we weed? Just a starter list...

1. Books that no one has read in 3-5 or more years. There might be a reason--unless you just pulled it out from behind a stack of books about "The New ELECTRIC Light!" where it's been mis-shelved for years.
2. Books that are physically done. Bugs are a good indicator. Or missing pages.
3. Books you have too many copies of--the vampire craze has gone. Make way for the zombies.
4. Bias. Don't even get me started about those "Jobs for Girls!"books.

What do you think about Doug's article on weeding?

What strategies do you find helpful when you are weeding? How do you schedule time? Do your parent or student volunteers help? What tips and tricks do you have for this process?

Makerspaces: Creating a Space to Apply Learning, or One Big Mess?

What is a Makerspace?

It seems everywhere I go now, I hear this phrase. Magazines, books, librarians in our district, city, and state, community centers, universities are all interesting in creating a place for people to be together and think about how to solve problems. 

Makerspaces are not the Learning Centers of the 1970s, although they started there. In the 70's, we had glue and construction paper and--if we were lucky--fat markers instead of Crayons. But that's a far cry from what we're talking about now. Now, we are talking about a space where students come to share their ideas and their knowledge with each other while creating real things--everything from models of bridges and buildings to robots to who knows what. Legos, batteries, welding stations...what you put in a makerspace is based on your resources and creativity. What does this mean for our libraries?

The Washington State Library Blog made a post than states:

Libraries are no longer simply a holding area for books, they are community hubs. People gather at the library to share ideas and enrich their lives. Computers and internet are now standard in libraries and are often in demand. Unemployed individuals can come to the library and apply for jobs. Kids can do their homework (or play games) at the library. But did you know that libraries are now becoming much more than books, computers and internet? Libraries are becoming creation spaces, often called maker spaces (or makerspaces).

William Gibson, a writer who I think predicts the future, describes in his new novel a makerspace where people come in to create items ranging from fashion accessories to electronic devices and then print them using a 3-D printer. I haven't finished it yet, so I don't know how it ends, but the idea of being able to think up something and then fabricate is no longer a future fantasy. Cory Doctorow wrote a fascinating blog about information, libraries, and makerspaces in which he said, 

What's more, we're *drowning* in information... everyone can reach everything, all the time, and the job of experts is to collect and annotate that material, to help others navigate its worth and truthfulness.

That is to say that society has never needed its librarians, and its libraries, more. The major life-skill of the information age is information literacy, and no one's better at that than librarians. It's what they train for. It's what they live for.

But there's another gang of information-literate people out there, a gang who are a natural ally of libraries and librarians: the maker movement. Clustered in co-operative workshops called "makerspaces" or "hack(er)spaces," makers build physical stuff. They make robots, flying drones, 3D printers (and 3D printed stuff), jewelry, tools, printing presses, clothes, medieval armor... Whatever takes their fancy. Making in the 21st century has moved out of the individual workshop and gone networked...

There are many resources and ideas out on the web for starting, creating, and funding Makerspaces. Information about creating a Makerspace. What have you already heard about them, tried, or seen? Is this a good idea for libraries? What would you put in a Makerspace?