Leading Learning Through the School Library

Ross Todd presented this full day seminar, Leading learning through the school library: Part 11: Transforming information into deep knowledge and did not disappoint. Syba Signs has done a great job of facilitating leading edge events over the last year. Long may they continue.

For the full story go to CISSL where you can link through to Guided Inquiry, and get details of Carol Kuhlthau's new book. But here are a few of the thoughts from the day that stayed with me. Apologies if I am miss quoting Ross here, but there are some lines that I know I can't have got wrong as he repeated them so often:

Have a vision for your library. What can you see? Practice stems from vision.

Position yourself in the knowledge commons.

Do not be accomplices to mediocrity.

Engage with disciplinary knowledge.

Do not water rocks.

At the end of the day Teacher Librarian Lee Fitzgerald of Loreto Kirribilli gave an excellent overview of Guided Inquiry as practiced in her school this year. Practice is the proof of the pudding and the place to really learn about this process for us all. For a taste of this see the article Guided Inquiry the KISS Way in aisNSW Teacher librarian Newsletter, Term 4, 2007

Finally, those promised pics.

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Standards for the 21st Century Learner

Ross Todd referred to this document at last week's Syba Signs Seminar Leading Learning Through the School Library Part II. Launched last month by the American Association of School Librarians, Standards for the 21st Century Learner starts with nine common beliefs:

• Reading is a window to the world.
• Inquiry provides a framework for learning.
• Ethical behavior in the use of information must be taught.
• Technology skills are crucial for future employment needs.
• Equitable access is a key component for education.
• The definition of information literacy has become more complex as resources and technologies have changed.
• The continuing expansion of information demands that all individuals acquire the thinking skills that will enable them to learn on their own.
• Learning has a social context.
• School libraries are essential to the development of learning skills.

You can download an eight page colour version of the Standards (link above). Well worth reading.

And whilst looking for a link to Ross I came across this fabulous School Library Journal cover and article: Ross to the Rescue! about the quest to renew school libraries. It is by SLJ's Editor in Chief Brian Kenney from April, 2006.

Travelling Librarian

Hyperactive Parramatta Diocese TL (and Bibliosphere News contributor) Jan Radford from Delany College, has not been content to develop a range of traditional and Web 2.0 services in her library. Now she has become the virtual librarian, for a few weeks anyway, as she visits the world, and a good few school libraries along the way.

You can follow Jan's progress via blog - Delany Library News - or listen to her voice messages on the Library Home Page. Make sure you check out Library Thing (I've linked to the cover view), Delicious, the Book Club Blog and other great things going on at Delany Library.

The Connected Library: A Handbook for Engaging Users

This timely book by Suzette Boyd is a must read for all library staff. Slim enough to be manageable in these days of information overload, I found this book affirmed many of my current practices but more importantly inspired me to reach a bit further. There are first all those things I always meant to do but didn't quite get to and then the more difficult area of taking a few risks. I think what is obvious or correct or a risk will vary from one library to another, but Suzette's book is an excellent place to find your next project.

To be a bit more specific, I like the suggestions for reading programs and promotion and the very good advice on going about improving (or inventing) your web site. But there is also lots to absorb about planning, research into practice, and knowing your stakeholders.

This book is good reading and very manageable. Go on, order it today, or borrow a copy. Your local public library will probably buy it if you ask.

VoiceThreads in the Classroom

I have just been exploring the possibilities of VoiceThread. This website allows you to upload photos and add an oral commentary to a photo. If you don’t wish to record audio you can add text instead. Clear video instructions are given to set up a microphone for both Mac and Windows XP. VoiceThread is free for educators and students.
What a great place to store book reviews for your school!

Library Design at Broadgreen

I was really inspired by a school visit in New Zealand. Broadgreen Intermediate in Nelson, hosted an evening cocktail party for the attendees at the recent SLANZA/LIANZA workshop in NewZealand.

The library is inspired by New Zealand art work, on loan from various museums. The Principal, Roger Brodie, has been behind the re-creation of a the new library for the school. The students came up with much of the interior design, and that first year of students is represented by a large photo mural near the circulation desk.

All the books are shelved in 'bins' facing outwards - and the Principal, who has a strong focus on literacy and getting the kids to read - says that circulation of books increased threefold with the new design.

There were lots of interesting design features - but the one that particularly caught my eye were the chairs. There is a Nelson company that takes old furniture and remakes it in the checkered and coloured designs that you see on the library furniture. That's the best part really, and the easiest for anyone to replicate!

Enjoy the photos, and think of what you might do!

It's World Book Day!

Well, it was.....on March 01!

Even though we missed noting it, perhaps it's still worth celebrating World Book Day by exploring the list of top 10 books, and top 100 books. It's the 10th anniversary of this listing.

Here are the top 10 books:

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

The full Top 100 list is shown in the UK Telegraph

And for more information about World Book Day, visit http://www.worldbookday.com/

No-Tech, Recycled Bookmarks

Having carried around for the last few weeks (in the boot of my car) a large number of unwanted but beautiful magazines I was at the point of putting them in the recycling tonight when I had an idea. Tearing out a few of the more attractive pages I tri-folded them, sticking the open edge closed with a gluestick. The results, some pictured above, are pretty nice bookmarks. We go through hundreds each year and I haven't had a chance to print new ones since starting back at school, so these will go on the circ desk tomorrow. And I had fun making them!

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UPDATE: Highlights of the week have included a boy taking some time choosing a bookmark which suited his book (Soldier Boy) and another dismissing them as there were no cricket ones. That night I took to our ABC Cricket guide and the Kingsgrove Sports catalogue to produce the required bookmarks, the best of which went the next day.

Hopping Into Library 2.0 & Millenial Disconnects

This week I participated in my first and second online seminars. I especially liked sitting at my desk eating lunch as I watched the seating plan fill for the SirsiDynix Institute web seminar Hopping Into Library 2.0. Podcast and slides should be up within the week for this. It was great to hear an Australian Library (Yarra Plenty) share their experiences with the world. Over sixty people were in attendance, 20 or more from Australia. There were just a few schools participating, but I think this program could be profitably rejigged for schools. Not only lifelong learning but also play was emphasised in the Yarra Plenty program - as you can see from this pic from their Flickr collection.

I couldn't resist the opportunity of another online event at 7am Wednesday. There were close to 300 participants in this and a chat window going the whole time. Discussing the Disconnects Between Library Culture and Millennial Generation Values was presented by the Learning Times Network, and will also be available for podcasting soon. This article by Robert McDonald and Chuck Thomas was an excellent lead in to their presentation. There are some challenging ideas for libraries to deal with, but deal we must. As the authors conclude:

Finding the right way to achieve balance between traditional library values and the expectations and habits of coming generations will determine whether libraries remain relevant in the social, educational, and personal contexts of the Information Age.

Children's Library of the Future?

We don't need libraries anymore? Right?

Thank goodness that not everyone is so narrowsighted as to think that children only need spacious classrooms, computers and the internet to develop their creative talents, and foster a thirst for enquiry and knowledge.

I suggest that good 'future' thinking is what is really needed, and as usual (when it comes to design) the scandanavians are right into it!

Imagine a children´s library where movements activate the room and elements in the library, and where imagination is stimulated by sound, images and light. And at the same time it is possible to place oneself in isolation and become deeply absorbed.

How do we create a physical and virtual sensation of being inside and outside, of being both alone and part of a social group?

Here we have an entire conference devoted to this theme - The Children's Interactive Library - with presentations available for download in pdf form. Amongst these papers you may find ideas and inspiration for tackling the "learning spaces" agenda that we began to discuss in 2007.

Let's keep the focus clear - libraries do have a valuable place in our schools and communities!

We know that the information society is changing, and that the way children look for information and the way they use information is changing.

The question is whether we as libraries are also keeping pace with the change and if so; is it in the right direction and in what way are we involving children – with their different talents - in this proces ?

Innovation is what it is really about!

How are we going to go about this?

2007 Printz Award for Young Adult Literature

This most recent of the major US awards is proving a great showcase for Australian authors. After the success of Markus Zusak and Margo Lanagan last year with Honors for The Messenger (US title:I am the Messenger) and Black Juice, Zusak has done it again with The Book Thief. This time he is joined by Sonya Hartnett in Honor status for Surrender. Very well earned kudos for both authors, and interesting that both books were published as adult titles in Australia.

Although I admit to not being a particular fan of The Book Thief, I know I am in the minority with that opinion (and must admit that parts of the book resonate with me still). The Book Thief also won a hard fought battle to take out both the Jhunt Award and The Karen Sue Simonetti Cover Art Award. The Jhunt is a survivor-like contest run each year by the very active YA discussion list Adbooks.

Not to be too parochial, let’s acknowledge the actual winner of the Printz which is an interesting first as it is a graphic novel: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. This is also the next discussion book for Adbooks and I was thrilled to find it at Dymocks’ Macquarie Centre yesterday after ringing around half a dozen stores within cooee of my home. Have just started and am hooked. The blog at Manhasset Library TeenZone has a nice cover picture and annotation. Gene Yang is also a teacher and has a passion for using comics in education.

More about The Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

2007 Newbery Medal Winner

Just in case you haven't heard (and have a manuscript of your own in the bottom drawer) :
a librarian has won the Newbery award for children's literature this year.

The 2007 Newbery Medal winner is The Higher Power of Lucky written by Susan Patron, illustrated by Matt Phelan, published by Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson.

In “The Higher Power of Lucky,” Patron takes us to the California desert community of Hard Pan (population 43). Ten-year-old Lucky Trimble eavesdrops on 12-step program meetings from her hiding place behind Hard Pan’s Found Object Wind Chime Museum & Visitor Center. Eccentric characters and quirky details spice up Lucky’s life just as her guardian Brigitte’s fresh parsley embellishes her French cuisine.

“‘Lucky’ is a perfectly nuanced blend of adventure, survival (emotional and physical) and hilarious character study... as well as a blueprint for a self-examined life,” said Newbery Medal Committee Chair Jeri Kladder. “Through Lucky’s experiences, we are reminded that children support one another just as needy adults do.”

Here's an excerpt from "Patron and Wiesner Discuss their Award-Winning Books"

This story originally appeared in Children's Bookshelf on January 25, 2007 by Diane Roback, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 1/25/2007

Some old habits die hard. Susan Patron, a Los Angeles librarian who served on the Caldecott committee back in 1988, remembered that "the call" to the winner was traditionally placed on Sunday night, in advance of the Monday morning announcements. "We all have that little hope—you dream about it,"she said, of her Newbery chances for The Higher Power of Lucky
[Atheneum/Jackson) . However, since she was under the impression that the call came on Sunday, when the phone didn't ring, she thought, "It's OK, I'm moving on.".........

As juvenile materials collection development manager for the Los Angeles Public Library, Patron says she's very accustomed to trying to gauge the possible award winners each year, to have them in stock for library patrons.

"Lucky was not among the books being buzzed about, not on any mock Newbery lists," she says. "It didn't make a splash. I truly did not expect anything. So it was a great shock."

She's been a librarian for 34 years, and says the award is especially meaningful to her because it was given by her peers.

From Martha Baker
_________________________________________________________________________
Bibliothek / Library - Salem International College - Kurt-Hahn-Str. 1 -
D-88662 Überlingen - Germany

WOW! How much fun was our PARADE!

News from Frances Manning....
Students at Holy Family Primary had a great afternoon looking at the creative talents on show at our BOOK WEEK parade for the theme "BOOK NOW".

The *Parade* had a novel TWIST!

Students decorated not themselves, but a bag!............a bag that holds all the things they*ll need for the adventure they've *BOOKED INTO* when they picked up a particular book from home or the Library.

Bags were decorated at home or at school. There were 'adventure bags' decorated with all sorts of characters and settings. Some children had included in their bags the things they would need on their adventure (into a particular book/story), others had decorated the outside of their bags with all sorts of things stuck on or drawn. It was a fantastic effort from everyone.

Special thanks goes to Mrs S our 'MC', and all the Year 6 Judges who sure had a tough job. Thanks also goes to the helpers in Year 6 who gave out the participation certificates and prize lollies.

Our 'Special Guest' The Cat In The Hat' had a great time leading each class & he is looking forward to the next Library 'event'.

It really was a great afternoon, and all those bags will look fantastic decorating the Library & Classes!