Two weeks prac placement

I've just finished my practical placement: two weeks with the West Gippsland Regional Library Corporation. What a whirlwind of different experiences and scenes! One day number crunching, another processing donations, another helping out with Baby Rhyme Time-where I have to admit my recollections of various tunes was a bit rusty. I spent one day zooming around the countryside delivering tubs of books and DVDs, and another sitting in on a formal board meeting. I got to have a lunch break on the pristine beach at Sandy Point and another day I helped set up the mobile library in the pouring rain.
The people I worked with were all interesting, helpful and informative. I thoroughly enjoyed my two week's placement. Thanks so much to West Gippsland Regional Library Corporation who have also recently given me a job! Yipee!

Canberra Study tour

What a great bunch! The Canberra cohort.

Study visit to Canberra

Strolling through the gardens at the Australian
 War Memorial. (Source: B. Montgomery)

Last week I spent four days touring libraries and archives in Canberra. Although exhausting it was an extremely interesting and rewarding tour. I came away with great memories of some of precious national institutions and plenty of ideas for helping people conducting family research. The team leaders were wonderful guides and it was tremendous to meet some fellow student Teacher Librarians. Learning online is such a lonely experience.

Signing copies of my novels at the
Lu Rees Archive of Australian Children's
 literature housed at the University
 of Canberra. (Source: B. Montgomery)

Meeting Dr Belle Alderman, the curator of
the Lu Rees collection. (Source: B. Montgomery)

An outrigger canoe from Kiribati. One of the Asia/Pacific items
 on show in the Menzies library at the Australian National
University. (Source: B. Montgomery)

Pathfinders

Last week I had the privilege of spending a couple of days making up a pathfinder for a year 9 Social Science topic. All this came about because there is a new SOSE teacher who is now the Department Head and was recently teaching at the senior level. He found that kids in years 10 and above had no grounding in research. He was determined to make amends and came to the library to ask advice. We suggested the idea of pathfinders to him as well as two intensive lessons on avoiding plagiarism. He was enthusiastic.
   The Teacher Librarian set to work to develop her anti-plagiarism lessons with the teacher and I was directed to make a pathfinder on the topic of Plate tectonics. The teacher was so thrilled with what I'd created that he took the hardcopy to his department meeting and insisted that all his staff use pathfinders in future when conducting research lessons in the library.
   As I was only filling in for the library technician at the time, I suspect I have probably created an extra workload for an already overworked TL. However she was so delighted with the SOSE teacher's enthusiasm and the fact that they would be working together to improve the students' research skills that I think she won't mind.

INF 506 Evaluative Report

Evaluation

My online journal Ibid et al features seven blog posts undertaken throughout session three to achieve the course objectives.  These are all tagged with the folksonomy INF 506 and are all to do with aspects of social networking.  

Social networking can be defined as using interactive software to link like-minded people, maintain social relationships and share information online. These platforms are often called Web 2.0 technologies and when libraries adopt such media they can be described as embracing Library 2.0. Even so the term is a slippery one which is open to interpretation (Farkas, 2008). My blog post ‘Implementing Library 2.0’ highlights aspects of the library 2.0 movement which I felt were applicable to the school library I knew.

Understanding user’s needs is a basic tenet of Library 2.0. There is no need to take on every social networking platform available which is what Porterfield and Carnes (2012, p122.) term ‘Shiny Object Syndrome’. For instance most students at my school use Facebook and Instagram. Trying to connect with them using Myspace or Twitter, platforms they hardly use, would be fruitless. 

Establishing a policy for Web 2.0 use is essential for the library (Porterfield and Carnes, 2012, p83).  Information policy needs to be developed which can guide students’ use and not be overly restrictive. If students learn that information sharing and social networking come with responsibilities as well as freedoms then they are more likely to become responsible digital citizens.

This web post also noted the need to manage one’s time effectively. Maintaining Web 2.0 technologies takes persistent effort, but similarly spending many unfocussed hours on a few sites is not good management.

As professionals we need to try out a range of these technologies ourselves to be able to guide our patrons with first-hand knowledge and interact with them on these very same platforms. Over this session I have experimented with Twitter, Facebook, Movellas, Second Life, Filckr, LinkedIn, Goodreads and Delicious, documenting my experiences of the last four in blog posts.

The technology I used was limited to a digital camera and a desktop computer as I do not own a webcam, mobile phone or tablet.

Using Delicious, a social bookmarking site, was problematic. In my blog post ‘Dealing with Delicious’ I wrote about how I found its features confusing and its functionality compromised by the technical capabilities of my computer.  This was because I didn’t have an up-to-date version of the web browser Internet Explorer (Delicious, 2013). Frustrated, I abandoned the site for several weeks. Eventually I changed my browser to Google Chrome which gave me better access. The platform appears to have been upgraded in that time and its ease of use has improved for me.

Compatibility issues are a technical aspect of becoming familiar with social networking platforms. Through struggling with Delicious I have learnt to seek advice from ‘help’ buttons, colleagues and trial and error as well as asking advice from IT professionals.

Trends in social media were examined in my blog post ‘Did You Know 4.0’. One important issue for librarians raised here is that of content sharing versus copyright restrictions. Librarians need to educate the public about creative commons licensing and fair use (Brooks-Young, 2010, p81). Privacy issues were also highlighted and are important for users of social media to understand (Brooks-Young, 2010, p80). All too often in public life an unguarded comment can tarnish reputations. This is also true for those not in the public eye, particularly students.

  

Data protection is another issue which has ethical implications. Cybercrime is rife and students need to arm themselves against it, as much as possible. But more insidious is what companies do with our personal information in terms of advertising. Companies can skilfully target advertisements to suit the individual because they have harvested lots of data on our ‘likes’ or interests (Bailyn, 2012, p20).

In an educational sense students and teachers can use platforms such as wikis and blogs to share assignment content, post results or converse with peers. If students become familiar with the collaborative nature of wikis they are more likely to critically examine the plethora of information available to them on the Web.

Overall social networking is an expanding phenomenon with hundreds of millions of people posting online daily (Adams, 2012). As an information professional we can use these tools to connect to our patrons and cater our services to their needs. We can also highlight the pitfalls of using social media, guiding patrons to be savvy digital citizens.

Reflection

When I tell people that I have been studying social networking I get mixed reactions. Younger people say, ‘cool’; older people say, ‘Oh yes, what’s that then?’

To the latter I explain that it is connecting with friends or like-minded individuals online, by creating and sharing content such as photos, news, videos and links. They condescendingly say, ‘That must be interesting.’

Well, it is!

This subject has given me the motivation to become an intrepid explorer of ‘Web 2.0’ platforms. Although I have a Facebook page and a blog, I have struggled with using them effectively. I also have a Twitter account that I rarely use. The assigned project developed my skills and confidence in using a range of social networking media. I now know how to tweak my posts in response to Facebook’s ‘Insights’, how to upload links and videos and navigate around the administrator’s options and settings.

Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn and Goodreads are also manageable and easy to navigate once the ‘help’ button is discovered.  

As an author I have enjoyed joining Movellas and Goodreads. These are set up for writers and bibliophiles respectively. Movellas is a site for serious writers of Young Adult Fiction, the majority of whom are teenagers. Building a presence here targets potential readers of my YAF fiction and I can interact with them, offering constructive feedback. Goodreads is a network where readers rate and review books, a characteristic of any good librarian. A TL can recommend both these platforms as ideal networking sites for committed literature students (Hilbun, 2011).

I have also enjoyed using Flickr, even when approaching photographers to gain permission to use their work. Understanding copyright is an essential skill of a librarian and Flickr offers a unique slant to this by employing creative commons licensing. I have learnt how to assign different licences to my own pictures and how to find the licensing on others. Newman’s (2013) article on licensing changes emphasises the necessity for TLs to record the dates of retrieved photographs and their ascribed licences.

LinkedIn is a platform for business professionals and has a static atmosphere. I am uncertain about how valuable it is to me in the short term. However it may be that sometime in the future a professional contact will prove beneficial to my career or perhaps I can help further the career of someone else. These are the fundamentals of social media: sharing and networking.

I found Delicious with its technical issues frustrating, however its potential as an online easy-access filing system for specific topics is a boon for library professionals and a great organisational tool for senior school students (Edwards & Mosley, 2011). Also TLs can guide teachers in its use as a way to share resources (Shareski & Hertz, 2012).

As for Second Life, unfortunately my computer couldn’t accommodate it apart from making an account and an avatar.

I agree with Brown’s (2009) statement that in order to use Social Media effectively you need to have a plan otherwise you could waste a huge amount of time and effort. She recommends limiting the sites used on a regular basis to four as any more than this becomes untenable (Brown, 2009). I am content with Facebook, Flickr and Goodreads. The fourth contender will be chosen from LinkedIn, Delicious and Movellas.

Twitter doesn’t even register on my preferred sites, which is partly due to not owning a mobile phone. I am currently a spectator there, content to simply view tweets and not contribute (Bernoff, 2010). Twitter obviously has plenty of advantages for information professionals. It can be used to share links for professional development so educators can keep abreast of recent information on virtually any topic (Chamberlain & Lehmann, 2011, p379). It can also be used as a short sharp communication tool for providing instructional support or administrative concerns (Couros & Jarrett, 2012, p149). But you need to develop an approach on who to follow. Some tweets are banal and others are thinly disguised spam. ‘Unfollowing’ or blocking persistent annoying tweeters are strategies to filter such tweets (McFedries, 2010, p63, p76).

Apart from shunning Twitter I believe I have met the goals I set in November. No longer frightened to experiment with these platforms, I know I have learnt the skills to create my own brand as an author. But better still as a TL, I feel I can confidently develop and implement a plan to promote the library and help others to explore social networking sites too.

References

Adams, P. (2012). Grouped: How Small Groups of Friends are the key to Influence on the Social Web. CA: New Riders.

Bailyn, E. (2012). Outsmarting Social Media: profiting in the Age of Friendship Marketing. Indiana: Que.

Brooks-Young, S. (2010). Teaching with the Tools Kids Really Use: Learning with Web and Mobile Technologies. CA: Corwin

Brown, A. (2009). Developing an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy. Salt Lake City Social Media Examiner. Retrieved 30 Jan 2013 from http://www.examiner.com/article/developing-an-effective-social-media-marketing-strategy

Chamberlin, L. and Lehmann, K. (2011). Twitter in Higher Education. Educating Educators with Social Media. UK: Emerald Group Publishing.

Couros, A & Jarrett, K (2012). Twitter. What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media. (Ed. McLeod, S. & Lehmann, C.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Delicious (2013). Frequently Asked Questions. Delicious. Retrieved 1 Feb 2013 from https://delicious.com/#help/mobile-browser-support

Edwards , G. And Mosley, B.F. (2011). Technology Integration can be Delicious: Social Bookmarking as a Technology Integration Tool. Educating Educators with Social Media. Wankel, C. (ed.) UK: Emerald Group Publishing.

Farkas, M. (2008). The Essence of Library 2.0? Information Wants to be Free. Retrieved 1 Feb 2013 from http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/2008/01/24/the-essence-of-library-20/

Hilbun, J. (2011). Using Social Networking Sites to Connect Teens with Young Adult Literature. Teens, Libraries and Social Networking: What librarians Need to Know. Agosto, D.E. & Abbas, J (Eds.) Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited 

McFedries, P. (2010). Twitter, Tips, Tricks, and Tweets. (2^nd.Ed). In.: Wiley Publishing

Newman, B. (2013) The Danger of Using Creative Commons Flickr Photos in Presentations. Librarian by Day. Retrieved 28 jan 2013 from http://librarianbyday.net/2013/01/27/the-danger-of-using-creative-commons-flickr-photos-in-presentations

Porterfield, K. & Carnes , M. (2012). Why Social Media Matters. IN.: Solution Tree Press.

Shareski, D. And Hertz, M.B. (2012) Social Bookmarking. What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media. (Ed. McLeod, S. & Lehmann, C.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

503 Collection Policy

I thought it would be a straight forward task to revise the old School Library policy: fix up a few clauses throughout and then insertsome statements about e-resources. On closer inspection I realised the whole structure of the document needed an overhaul.

So where does one start? After examining a handful of policies from different schools I found that everyone does it a little differently. But some consistencies remain. They all have a set of goals about what the collection is meant to achieve and go into some depth about selection and weeding. I read through the existing policy and isolated anything to do with collection management. Revising it section by section I found that it wasn’t such a daunting job. I actually enjoyed the process as it was akin to editing. Deleting lines of redundant phrasing is something I enjoy. The end product is a crisp document that has lost a lot of its rambling vague statements.

When it came to addressing the topic of e-resources I found Evans and Zarnosky Saponaro (2012) instructive. But as change is rapid in this area it is an aspect of collection management policy that will need to be constantly monitored and revised. Unfortunately our TL has a ‘wait and see’ mentality when it comes to e-resources. She doesn’t embrace e-books and is very entrenched in her love of print resources even for students conducting research. It’s only a matter of time before many students read predominantly from Kindles or iPads at home. It is imperative that the library stay ahead of this wave of technological change.

I can understand her reluctance to make a poor selection on big budget items, and licensing agreements do make selection difficult but doing nothing isn’t staying true to the guiding philosophy of what the library is and what purpose it serves. It is our duty to provide information in a range of formats and to expose patrons to new technology. Revising the policy reinforces this connection between patrons and the service we provide (Selby, 2012). It also guides selection when the time comes for her to make a decision on e-resources.

Another aspect I added to the policy was a clause on evaluation. Currently the only collection evaluation that goes on is in the TL’s head. Using the LMS can be a quick way to gain relevant information on the age of the collection and what sections are poorly represented. Hard data can back up hunches on where imbalances occur. Hard data is also a language the business manager understands when discussing budget demands.

The section on challenged materials is heartening. It’s reassuring to know that there is a process to follow when people complain about an item in the collection. This bolsters selection choices, because controversial material would be omitted if the TL was worried about complaints.

References

Evans, G. E. and Zarnosky Saponaro, M. (2012). Collection Management Basics. (6th Ed.) Libraries Unlimited. Santa Barbara.

Selby, C. (2012). Honesty is the Best Policy: Collection Development Policy Revisions in an Era of Change. The CRIV Sheet Vol.34 No.2, Feb.

ETL503 Evaluating the Collection

There are lots of ways to evaluate the collection ranging from comparing it to other collections right through to gathering data from users. For the smaller school library that is understaffed, the best options are those that are efficient and cheap. In libraries that have a wizz-bang computer system gathering data on circulation and publication should be easy enough, as well as determining how many items are in each section of the non-fiction library.
   So why is evaluation needed? TLs can collect data to reinforce budget requests, to gear the collection better to the existing curriculum and to meet demands from administration.
   One of the things I like about collection evaluation is that it informs administration a lot about where their funds are being used and how up-to-date the collection is. Excel can be used to manipulate the data into various graphic representations, suitable to show committees.

Flickr fun

Flickr is a steep learning curve for me but I am determined to master it. I've decided to do a little each week until it becomes second nature. The first hurdle was creating a user name and uploading a few pictures. Once I'd got my head around this I decided to group varius pictures into 'sets'. Then I thought I'd send my happy snaps to the INF506 group which was not what I was meant ot do but I was so excited by my small success that it blurred my reading of the course objectives.
   Once I discovered that I'd put photos where they weren't supposed to be then I had to remove them. I found the FAQs and 'help' sections of this platform very user friendly and easy to follow and invaluable in discovering how to delete pictures. However my understanding of where the tiny drop boxes and copyright boxes were took some time to master. In many ways the design of Flickr is quite busy but not overwhelmingly so. The links to other pages are still a bit confusing for me but I feel I am slowly getting the hang of this platform.  
   Once I discovered (from advice given from fellow students) how to do a screen shot, I took several snaps of the steps I went through to delete my pictures. My intention being to upload them straight away but Flickr didn't want to upload them as I'd saved them onto a word document.
   I have since discovered Zamzar, a site which changes files from one format to another. I used this to convert my screen shot into a jpeg file. Then I found Flickr was happy to upload the page, and I subsequently added it to the INF506 group.
   The other thing I've been doing on Flickr concerns trying to get my head around creative commons and the different licenses on offer. I found a photo I wanted to use for my Island Stories blog but it didn't have a creative commons license. So, trying to be a good digital citizen, I contacted the photographer, which is very easy to do. Just click on their name and a profile pops up. Highlight the profile and a drop box appears beside it. Scroll down the list of options and select 'send Flickr Mail'. Then when the text box appears, type your message asking for permission to use the photo.
   I got a response in two days, saying 'sure thing, but please link it back to my photostream.' I wasn't sure how to do this but it ended up being surprisingly simple. With the photo you have permission to use, move the cursor just above the picture to the small menu on the left hand side. Select the 'share' button and find your desired platform. In my case it was blogger. Then a new box appears where you can add some text. Once you post it, the whole thing appears quickly on your blog, just like magic!
   I have started to think about what kind of licenses I want my works to have. For the time being I have settled on Attribution-NonCommercial-No deriv's License which seems to be a pretty popular option.
There is still much to learn and I have very few friends on this site. Perhaps that is the next step: trying to connect more with others. But for the moment I am just trying to immerse myself in the land of creative commons so I can guide young learners to this fabulous pool of photographs.

Did You Know 4.0 ...

    

After watching “Did You Know 4.0” (2009), an official update of the original “Shift Happens” video I noted a few trends that are undoubtedly much more entrenched than they were when the video was made.

Firstly the issue of Copyright was highlighted. The video stated that 95% of downloaded music was pirated. Music is an obvious one, but what of videos, photographs, documents and artwork? Creators deserve recognition and copyright is the law which protects this right. Librarians need to instruct students on the best use of other people’s work. We can direct them to use creative commons and guide them in protecting their own creations when using Web 2.0 technologies.

Mobile phones are now ubiquitous and their use has many implications. One prediction is that mobile phone will connect just about everyone to the internet within the next seven years. Students use mobiles primarily to send text messages. Text messages can create a wave of public action in a political context as evidenced in the recent ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings. There are benefits in whipping up public support but public hysteria is the other side of the coin. Students need to know that they have a responsibility to be accurate and refrain from defamatory remarks as there can be legal consequences.

The former speaker Peter Slipper MP would also acknowledge that posting sexist remarks on his mobile phone cost him his job. Privacy is becoming a very slippery issue (please excuse the pun). The video highlighted how a casual remark on a social networking site could be seen by an employer and compromise a worker’s position. Similarly job applicants could be vetted by an administration by viewing their social networking profiles. It pays to say only things that you would say in front of your grandmother.

 Even though the majority of adults own mobile phones, apparently many of them are reluctant to make purchases using their phones. I’m not so sure about this one as the rise in online shopping is skyrocketing. But I understand the reluctance to put one’s financial information online. The issue here is cybercrime, I guess, and also the issue of data protection. Just how safe is our personal information? What is it being used for and to whom is it being passed on? We need to make sure students are cautious about online transactions and are aware of scams and fraudsters.

Lastly the video explains that traditional forms of advertising are rapidly declining. It cites that 90% of emails sent everyday are spam. This form of advertising has been around for a long time but students need to be aware of how businesses are targeting them now on social media platforms and search engines. We need to educate students about being producers of spam too. Sending off form letters, chain letters or impersonal pleas to all their friends to 'please respond' or act on a certain purchase or post is just as annoying as receiving spam.

So, ‘Like’ this or what?