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I’m back with another report on the last day of NECC 2008. Yesterday was busy with lots of sessions to attend. I had some trouble getting online, so I’ll have to post the notes from them later.

This morning’s session is called Feed, Tag, Research: Remixing for Library 2.5. I’m going to try and blog this live, so please excuse errors in spelling or awkward wording.

Before we start, I’m wondering: We’ve just started making our libraries 2.0 – what in the world is library 2.5?

Presenters for this session are:
Joyce Valenza, Cathy Nelson, Anita Beaman, Carolyn Foote, Diane Cordell, Kim Cofino (joining virtually), Judy O’Connell

There is also a wiki for this session.

Joyce:

What does School Library 2.5 look like?

The 2.5 librarian is…

the Chief Information Officers of the school who leads from the center.

has a space on everyone’s online learning space.

provides widget and gadget for databases that students cann pull into their iGoogle learning spaces.

includes information products that students create in the library collection

Builds equity by offering students access to free open source or web-based tools.

Makes students aware of creative commons and new copyright.

Leads the district in creating a web 2.0 poicy.

Cathy:

The 2.5 librarian…

Models being a 21st century learner – we’re all on the same footing now

presents information at every opportunity about the 21st century library – to parent groups, teachers, and various conferences

Carolyn:

The 2.5 librarian considers how services are marketed and gets feedback from the clients served.
The 2.5 librarian is a change agent in the school who advocates for students first because that is everyone’s mission.
The 2.5 librarian shares information with the principal all the time, but do it web 2.0 style. Find out how your principal learns and communicate in that way (podcasts, videos, blog posts, etc.) Work as a partner, not a judge. Share success stories. Think of yourself as a corporate librarian, serving the CEO of the school. Read what your principal reads. Focus on the big picture, not just the library. Create a shared vision, create action steps for yourself. Start “leaderless” groups. Make the library the center of innovation.

Diane:

The 2.5 librarian…

is an apostle of small change who opens the door to new technologies in a way that is non-threatening.

uses skills as a facilitator and co-learner to help people become comfortable with technology.

talks to teachers to find out their needs and introduces new tools at the point of need.

uses language that the learners can identify with – online journal, instead of blog for example.

only introduces a new tool when it makes the work more convenient.

should be willing to “go on the road” to work with teachers.

celebrates others’ success.

Anita:

The 2.5 librarian…

remembers that reading is important and uses technology to promote it.

helps students continue their reading journey outside of the actual book by providing web sites, blogs, myspace groups, discussion boards, etc. that have to do with a book. Put some of these sites on a sticker in the back of the book.

has links to web sites, discussion groups, etc. related to books and reading on the school library web page.

has a del.icio.us account with links to more web sites about books and authors tagged with various subjects.

provides electronic reading devices, points students to collaborative writing opportunities.

More ideas

Judy:

The 2.5 librarian…

works effectively with all kinds of information sources and literacy.

uses inanimatealice

helps students think differently about information and how to use it.

understands that people are talking to each other on the web all over the world

embraces multi-modal learning.

recognizes that technology is no longer a tool, but a part of our lives.

helps students deal with information overload

Wow – great presentation! Great ideas to think about more.

A recent post on the AASL blog has me thinking about pathfinders today. You know what pathfinders are, right? Those lists of resources that librarians make for every research project that is done in the library. The author of the post wonders if we aren’t sending students mixed messages when we talk about how they need to learn searching strategies and then be able to evaluate the information they find, but turn right around and hand them a list of “approved” resources to use. Why should they bother to learn anything about searching or evaluating information when they know that we’re going to tell them where to find the stuff they need? In a world of infoglut, I’m not sure that we are doing them any favors.

The author also mentions that she has started using a wiki site for her pathfinders and allowing teachers and students to help in their creation. Joyce Valenza has blogged about this idea also. While I love the collaborative aspect of all stakeholders contributing to a wiki pathfinder, I’m wondering now – are we leading our students down the wrong path? Post your thoughts in the comments.

Image citation: Chopwell-path to the river. Uploaded on March 24, 2008 by immarkcz. Attribution-Noncommercial-Share alike license.

I’ve been reading about this new web 2.0 tool called Wordle that can create tag clouds out of your del.icio.us tags or from any block of text that you wish to enter. Here is the cloud that Wordle made from my del.icio.us tags:

Looks like most of what I’ve been saving lately has to do with Web 2.0!

In a blog posting last week, Joyce Valenza shared the idea of using Wordle to examine famous speeches or students’ own writing to see which words are used the most.

What ideas can you think of for using Wordle with students?