Are you busy this Tuesday evening @9:00?

Joyce Valenza (uber-teacher librarian, SLJ’s Neverending Search ), who will be joining us at the SCASL conference is a scheduled guest on one of my favorite web shows, the Women of Web 2.0 this coming Tuesday night. She and the Director of Media and Technology Doug Johnson (Blue Skunk Blog fame) of Mankato, Minnesota (another oneof my favorites!!) will be visiting the 2.0 ladies  (hence the name of the show Women of Web 2.0, known to many as WOW 2.0.)  There is a planned Ustream, and the EdTech Talk website that hosts the live program offers an AWESOME chat for the virtual participants.  Someone from the show watches the chat, and always brings our comments into the mix.  Plan to join the show on EdTech Talk (or Ustream–they will share details about the Ustream as we get closer to Tuesday.)  The show is on just about EVERY Tuesday night at 9:00 PM. EST.

Want to join in but don’t feel so comfy using the site? Email me or chat to me in my gmail (cathyjonelson) and I’ll assist you getting in to listen and even chat if you like. First timers sometimes have difficulty finding the audio stream.  Of course if you’ll jump right in the chat and ask for help, many there (Lisa Durff, Lisa Parisi, Carolyn Foote, me, others) will offer all kinds of things to try.  I consider myself (and these friends) regulars in the chat room, and all of us go out of our way to assist newcomers.  The shows are always powerful, the hour flies by, and you will make many new friends.  Best, this Tuesday is ALL ABOUT what we are about–school libraries.

C’mon, represent South Carolina LMS’s THIS Tuesday!

David Warlick or David Loertscher

Yesterday I was in a dilemma about what evening professional development event I wanted to participate in. I had read weeks ago that Second Life planned a presentation event in conjunction with ISTE featuring David Loertscher, library media guru and professor at San Jose State. I had also heard that David Warlick would be a guest on a weekly webcast i join, Women of Web 2.0. So at 9pm last night I was truly a multitasking person, pulling up both, and trying both at the same time. As I waited for David Loertscher to begin, I am standing there in SL thinking how eerie it feels to be in a virtual world, and how I was NEVER really a gamer, and didn’t know if I would EVER develop a comfort zone for this. I actually stood, too, b/c I could NOT make my avatar sit down. Seats were rapidly filling. But the other part of my computer was iTunes (as well as a chat window), and the folks were shrieking with laughter and very obviously having a great time. The conversation was LIVELY and fun, and I kept going back so I could follow the chat. The ladies and their guests always bring in the conversations happening in the chat, and last night was no less. I was incorrect about the guests though. David Warlick is going to visit soon, but last night was a show focusing on using social networks and new presentation tools. It was mentioned that WOW2.0 was competing with an ISTE event in SL, but the chatroom had a record crowd–in the upper 30s. The guests were Darren Draper of Blog “Drapes Takes,” 5th grade teacher Dean Meyer, and Steve Hargadon of blog fame, Ning fame, and best, Edublogger Con fame form NECC 2007.

What a WISE decision I made. Even though I was mildly disappointed that it wasn’t David Warlick, it was still very powerful conversations about new, free (mostly opensource) presentation tools, like Elluminate, FlashMeeting, Google Presentations, and others, and how these tools have enabled us to have meaningful professional development with tools designed not only to share, but also involve and interact with participants. Many of the new tools have a chat feature enabled, and sometimes the presenter can even incorporate the back channeled conversations right into their presentations. How awesome. We also talked of the power of social networks and social networking, reliving just a bit of the power that came from EdubloggerCon (which i attended and participated in at NECC Atlanta 2007!!)

Doug Johnson of Blue Skunk Blog fame had blogged yesterday about how he planned to attend the David Loertscher presentation in SL. So I emailed him and shared about my quandry–which one to choose? He emailed me back today, noting that he went to the SL presentation, and it seemed to me he was mildly disappointed that David Loertscher was only there apparently in handout form, as his assistant conducted the presentation. The content was good, but available as a pdf handout download. (NOTE: You can get good summary as well as Doug’s take and thought provoking questions from this SL presentation in a post on his blog today.)

So with this information I now am SO GLAD I choose Women of Web 2.0. It was well worth the hour I spent online in this chatroom as I listened to the guests and hostesses carry the program. Best of all, I was NOT alone in my choice. Reports are that the chatroom had record numbers, and included in the chatroom were some really big experts like David Jakes, Miguel Ghulin, and LMS’s Joyce Valenza, Carloyn Foote, and Lisa Durff. (Great minds think alike, and apparently meet up in the same chatrooms!) My friends, it is a wonderful opportunity to network with educators who have a similar interests in students and education. Here is quoted text from their site that tells what it is:

WOW 2.0 is for all who are using the tools of the internet whether it be in a classroom setting, leading seminars, authoring books, maintaining blogs or wikis, or just enjoying the tools of the internet in an educational and exciting way.

WOW2 is brought to you by Cheryl Oakes, Jennifer Wagner, Sharon Peters, & Vicki Davis, four women who not only love using the tools of the Internet but also love sharing the tools with others…Each Tuesday night’s chat is great fun and we invite you to join in the conversation via the chat room.

One last note. I asked Jennifer Wagner when David Warlick will be there. They are trying to have him mid October, which for the show translates to Tuesday night, October 16, from 9-10PM. I promise if you come any Tuesday night you won’t be disappointed.

What about information literacy?

I read with interest a post to LM_Net a query from San Bernadino, California looking for suggestions to respond to a neighboring school re-shelving the entire library collection to reading levels for the reading program instead of Dewey order. Apparently a literacy coach has been charged with running the media center, and the decision was made to serve the school better by doing away with Dewey and shelving books according to their level. Now I am not such a stickler to think that a library cannot be successful if its resources are not shelved in Dewey order, but it does beg some questions:

Will the school end the use of investment in opacs? Circulation programs were really the turning point in bringing technology into most libraries, before the introduction of reading programs. Of course they have not been the end all-be all to what makes a library program successful, but they were a catalyst to our use of technology, promotion of subscription databases of refereed information, our investment into various electronic programs, and electronic equipment, and yes, even equipment management—everything suddenly had a barcode and was scannable.)

How will patrons find the books and resources that match their curriculum standards or research needs?? If the existing OPAC is kept, will the location field be adjusted to list reading level instead of dewey class?

What becomes of the materials that do not have a quiz? Will they be shelved instead by maybe Lexile level? Is it fair to ignore all the various leveling programs for material not having an AR or RC level? What about videos? What about assorted computer programs? What about my CD collection of National Geographic?

What will become of the reference collection?

Who is teaching students core concepts about research, information literacy, and ethical use of information, as outlined in Information Power? I’m all for implementing programs that promote reading and increase circulations stats, but not at the sacrifice of our library information literacy standards.

Is this a balanced library program?

I have many objections to this decision, and don’t think my school library is in any danger of this happening where I work. I will admit, however, that I have read with interest about libraries that have transformed their shelving system to resemble the “book store” approach. I have some of the same questions about this set up too, but I mildly have a fascination with the approach. From all I’ve read, these libraries (public, at that) are having extreme success, and the circulation stats have skyrocketed. But I’m still skeptical that a school library can adequately serve student achievement with this approach. And the bottom line in schools is student achievement.

“Richmon Open Bookstore Display.” Pesky Library’s Photostream. 14 October 2006. 15 September 2007