The track that I am following is one that was previously known as the "media center specialist" but is now the school librarian track. Hence, the blogs I chose to follow are those by other school librarians. I chose them because they were two very different types of blogs by librarians directed to two different audiences. .
The first blog I followed was http://noshhinghere.blogspot.com/ by a school librarian in Baldwin, NY. I found the one to be very informational and addressing of technology issues for teachers and others in the school setting- No Shhing in the Library shows examples of how the Teaching Librarian is using the technology available to her for her work. The second blog comes from the Clear Brook High School in Texas and is available at: http://clearbrooklibrary.blogspot.com/. The audience is different for this blog, but what it also shows is there is a big digital divide between the ways these libraries and schools are integrating technology for their students. I found the rewards system and the programming for this library to be quite engaging, as the teaching librarian and her staff have come up with creative displays and reward systems.
ABOUT NO SHHHING HERE
No SHHing Here was a written in a natural voice, as the librarian was revealing the programming of her library and the successes she was having with integrating technology activities. The audience for her blog appears to be others in the library field and constituents interested in the on-goings of her work. The successes she is having seem to be the use of iTouches, which were incorporated about earlier this year with examples of how the classes in her middle school are using the technology (http://noshhinghere.blogspot.com/2011/01/itouch-mania.html). For the school to have over 20 iTouch instruments and an iPad reveals that it is very well connected technologically, that here is wireless available to the students using these devices, and that the teachers/librarians are aware of applications to use that are pertinent to their work. It is amazing that she and the instructors are able to take the time to research and manage these devices. She has posted a number of displays that were creative and lively. She questions the creation of temporary painted images from Dr. Suess books in celebration of the author's birthday as fair use. In my opinion, it is decorative and made to get any revenues, so it is fair use it is temporary. Because of privacy and other concerns most of these libraries/librarians do not have Facebook accounts associated with them. However, she posted an interesting project one of the classes did by creating faux Facebook informational pages using a Powerpoint template. This is interesting because it shows how the students are being exposed to using web 2.0 technologies for academic endeavors and not just social media (http://noshhinghere.blogspot.com/2011/03/students-on-facebookkinda-sorta.html). I found the rewards system and the programming for this library to be quite engaging, as the teaching librarian and her staff have come up with creative displays and reward systems (one award was centered around the Dr. Suess One Fish, Two Fish theme and another involved funky sock day for Fox in Socks).
ABOUT THE CLEAR BROOK HIGH SCHOOL
The Clear Brook blog as a slightly different audience but its posts reveal the concerns of the bloggers as part of the LIS field. The audience would be more the constituents of the school and their parents/community. This school is in Texas, and one post is an invitation to help save Texas school libraries. The Constant Contact announcement that corresponded with this post is no longer active, but the main idea is that the libraries are being cut to only being available part-time with a librarian or even being eliminated.(http://clearbrooklibrary.blogspot.com/2011/02/texas-libraries-need-your-help.html).
In stark contrast to the previous entry the only mention of a technology based advancement in the library is the integration of a large screen television playing a loop of trailers for books that students had written, there is not a mention of how these students who wrote the trailers are given the access to devices to create them. (http://clearbrooklibrary.blogspot.com/search/label/television). The other improvements of the library are minimal with the inclusion of a SECOND chess board for students to play (the librarian write that now there will be no more fighting over the first.) It shows how the students use the library as a congregating center as well, because there was a previous post from 2010 alluding to the implementation the game Yu-Gi-Oh as a social activity. Another technology-based post the librarian posted was for a free app available to students for them to access academic databases on their SmartPhone. This implies that there is a large number of students who may have the technology available to them, but it doesn't mean that the library has the means to make the devices available for student use. http://clearbrooklibrary.blogspot.com/2010/10/clear-brook-library-theres-app.html is from before the semester started but it shows the scope of the way this librarian is announcing the technological applications that students can use.
The Clear Brook HS blog also mentions censorship: http://clearbrooklibrary.blogspot.com/search/label/censorship which is a big deal in library collections. The reward system at this library involves trying to get the students in to do something like a "Justin Beiber" pose and the reward is candy. I don't agree with this as a current good practice. From what I can tell, this school has less digital devices available for their students to use.
Overall, I am disappointed to see the minimal responses to these librarian's posts and that there is little following on these pages (Shhing has 5 followers- I was the first) and Clear Brook only shows the number of views (there is a mark for central FL on this map which I think is me- I am going to post the picture and probably incorporate this in my own blog). What I would hope is that I would have a means of reaching my target audience, and encouraging the dialogue in comments. I also see that the first blog is more useful as a newsletter, and I would hope that parents and teachers would begin to use it as follower, through an RSS feed or email. Finding ways to entice the PTA and teachers to be aware of the ongoings at the library would also stimulate more interest in the work going on there.
No comments:
Post a Comment