Final Reading Response – Learning Incentives and Using Learning 2.0 on Grad Students

I’m honestly not sure what to take from these final class readings.  The Blowers piece on Learning 2.0 illustrates how important it is for current librarians to learn even the basics of Web 2.0.  I definitely chuckled a little when Blowers mentioned how librarians would claim a computer was out of order because they couldn’t remember the password, but that habit is indicative of a deeper problem that Learning 2.0 addresses.  It provides incentive for learning skills like the ones we learned in 643 in the form of an mp3 player (albeit a less-than-stellar one) while giving librarians the skills to keep up in this changing world of technology we always talk about at SI.  Hopefully these librarians won’t freak out the next time a floppy disk is left in a computer.

Fontichiaro’s piece was interesting in that it reveals how she took Learning 2.0 and translated it to an elementary level.  This reveals her ability to adjust Learning 2.0 to different learning situations, and I can’t help but assume this is how 643 was born.  I’m totally okay with this since I learned so many practical skills in this class, but I can’t help but feel that someone owes be a 1 GB Sandisk mp3 player.

The piece about Fusion and teachers, on the other hand, did not excite me as much although I do appreciate the fact that Fusion is designed to enhance teachers’ different teaching styles instead of forcing them to teach in one certain way.  Just as people learn most effectively in different ways, I imagine that teachers work the best with different teaching styles.

Eleventh Class Response – More about Twitter and Social Network Creeping in general

Were we supposed to make a class response blog this week?  Why not?

I think I’ve already offered up most of my opinions about using Twitter as a professional development tool, but it’s been interesting to discuss it with my cohort compared to Facebook.

For some reason, it’s pretty much culturally accepted that your Facebook is a personal place that is also public, and, as such, employers are not allowed to see it even though everyone else in your life can.  This seems like a logical, web-based extension of the feeling that people should generally keep their work life separate from their personal life, and I totally agree with that.

It creeps me out that potential employers would even look for my Facebook to catch me doing something “wrong” that would make me a terrible candidate for employment.  This screams of an invasion of privacy, but if we put ourselves out there on the internet of our own free will, is it an invasion of privacy?  Maybe not, but I hate it, and I make sure to check regularly that my Facebook is unsearchable by the general public.  Awesome.

Twitter, on the other hand, reveals such a small part of our lives that it would be totally fine for an employer or possible employer to stumble upon it.  I mean, you can do a lot of damage with one tweet as we saw with Spike Lee and his tweet which forced an old, Florida couple to move from their family home.  However, most people don’t even have that many followers, and posting the occasional funny observation or interesting article isn’t really going to implicate you in some horrible activity.

LinkedIn was supposed to solve this problem and become the “social media network for professional development,” but as long as other sites are out there and we make accounts on them, employers are going to look to them as well.

Post-Webinar Update:

Everyone’s webinars are going so well!  I really liked all the ones I participated in and really appreciate everyone who went to my webinar and participated in it despite our technical difficulties.  We definitely did a trial run the day before and everything worked!  It just goes to show that you need to double, triple check EVERYTHING all the time before you do a webinar.  Technology was supposed to make things easier, wasn’t it?

Even with the tech problems, I still really enjoyed putting on a webinar.  It was like presenting to a class but the nerves weren’t so bad since people weren’t staring at me.  Awesome!  I found it difficult to engage with the chat box while I was talking, but the webinars I went to definitely had a disconnect between the chat box and the presentation itself, so I didn’t see this as a problem.  Also my group (Jungwon, Karen, and I) worked really hard to have a moderator in the chat at all times in order to answer questions on that level.

Twitter Response

I was already very active on Twitter before this project, and I definitely treat my Twitter account as something funny and personal for my friends.  So, for this project, I chose to make a new Twitter handle where I would struggle to be “professional.”  This assignment is all about networking and figuring out what’s going on in Libraryland, right?  So I immediately set my personal account to private, and my new Twitter account was born.  Did anyone else feel the urge to do this?

After being on Twitter with my new account, I realized that I probably did not need to make a new account at all.  The libraries, librarians, and archives I followed were generally professional, posting articles about the Toronto Libraries and retweeting each other all the time, but then I noticed the inevitable, awkward, personal Twitter posts that ran along the lines of “Locked myself out of the building and I’m getting a package today OH NO” or even “Oh God I hate airplanes.”  My personal Twitter account doesn’t have anything inappropriate on it, and if this level of personal chatter is “allowed” in the Twitter county of Libraryland, then I suppose I can do it, too.  I’ll definitely be deleting my new Twitter account soon and transferring my new, library contacts onto my other one.

That being said, I can’t say I was surprised by the kind of things the librarians were posting about.  It was mostly articles about the Toronto Libraries and the Penguin eBooks problems, so I didn’t learn anything new.  It was fun seeing them chatter on about interesting books or promoting fun, museum exhibits in their respective communities.

Overall, I think if I ever become a librarian that “needs” to be on Twitter, I’ll probably have an account for me, the person, and then an account as me, the library, so I can kind of keep them separate but still be understandably more casual on my person account.  Does that make sense?

Tenth Class Response – Ranganathan and Webinar Prequel

          S.R. Ranganathan’s five laws of library science:

1. Books are for use.
2. Every reader his [or her] book.
3. Every book its reader.
4. Save the time of the reader.
5. The library is a growing organism.

I’m glad we at least touched on Ranganathan’s library science laws in class.  It was interesting to see what we were “missing out on” that other library schools teach all the time.  I’m glad we approached them in a kind of sarcastic way.  I think these laws are good… for 1931, although the fifth law is an amazing sentiment that should be carved into library doors around the world.

My biggest issue with these laws is something we covered in class, and that is the issue of 2 and 3.  “Book” is a vague specific terms, and I think we mentioned that “resource” or “information” would be a better fit for libraries today.  The word “book” is problematic because maybe every book doesn’t have its reader.  I think mostly of very outdated textbooks that can be purchase for $0.01 in the Amazon Marketplace.  For some reason my history books in middle school still thought the Soviet Union and East/West Germany existed (keep in mind I was in middle school 2000-2003).  I don’t think those books have much value, and even if I saw one I would laugh and think about how sad it was that we didn’t use online resources and other exciting media in the classroom instead of old textbooks.  I’m digressing, but I think the point about books versus owners is in there somewhere.

But now let’s talk about webinars!

I’m actually really excited about this.  I mean, the other assignments have been practical, too, but, like the screencast, a webinar involves software that I’ve never used before.  That’s really cool!  The potential is awesome, and I was never really into webinars in the past because I thought it was just one person awkwardly Skyping with a lot of people, but when you get people involved via a chatroom, polls, and drawing random shapes on PowerPoint slides, it becomes something great.  It’s probably the best way to do distance learning or hold a remote workshop that I’ve seen, and I guess that’s why they made up a word to describe it: webinar.

Week 10 Reading Response – Great Teachers, Webinars, and the Other Things

How People Learn Chapter 7 – “Effective Teaching: Examples in History, Mathematics, and Science”

This reading was amazing!  It’s nice to know that these kinds of great teachers exist and are being recognized as the teaching standard.  However, this chapter also acknowledges that these teaching methods, such as the rebel/loyalist Revolutionary War debate in the history class, will not work for every teacher.  Teachers need to constantly learn new things about their subject area to become better teachers, and not every teacher can teach every subject.  I remember in 6th grade when my 4th grade English teacher suddenly reappeared and morphed into my 6th grade math teacher.  I was definitely confused about what was going on, and my worries were confirmed when the teacher asked me in class whether or not she was doing a math problem correctly because she wasn’t sure what the right answer was.  Yikes.

I really appreciated the section on methods to personalize learning in a large, science lecture setting.  Sometimes I wish I had been a science major of some kind at a large university for my undergrad.  Pushing buttons to answer questions sounds like a game show, and I definitely would pay more attention to try to get the answer right.  Maybe this kind of teaching is ideal for super competitive people, of which I am one.  So fun!

Montgomery – “Online Webinars!” & Matos, et al. – “The Embedded LIbrarian”

I decided to discuss these two articles together since they cover the same topic: that of ways to make librarian/student interaction easier.  I like that the Montgomery article has an exclamation point in the title.  She’s REALLY excited about webinars, and I guess there’s plenty of reasons to be excited about them.

Webinars aren’t really a new thing, but it’s definitely better than the everpresent podcast of classes and lectures to which we have access at UMSI.  Webinars are interactive, so while there’s still the computer screen disconnect between librarians/teachers and students/patrons, input from the audience is possible.  This is pretty AMAZING!  The future is totally now, with or without flying cars (which are really just private jets, right?).  I’m excited to try this out!  I have no idea what kind of software to use, but I guess we’ll figure it out.

Embedded librarians is also not a new idea, but, as Matos point out, it’s something that’s very trendy to talk about in library journals these days.  This issue of getting patrons to interact with librarians is a problem, and the solution would be to have librarians get all up in the patrons’ business, right?  Good thing I’m naturally obnoxious (not that librarians are obnoxious… this is just how I am!  I wonder if “obnoxious librarian” is taken as a Twitter handle yet…)

The first challenges brought to any embedding project are the internal concerns of the librarians of being isolated from colleagues and being placed in a new environment where library services are not traditionally sought (Matos, et al. 131)

I quoted this sentence from the Matos article because it seems almost like a false concern.  The bigger issue to address is whether or not students or patrons are seeking out library services at all, and not just in “nontraditional locations.”  I also think the issue of librarians becoming “isolated” is largely trumped by the millions of forms of communication to which librarians and people in general have access.  Just because the librarian can’t walk across a hall and talk to her colleagues doesn’t mean he or she is isolated.  Also, isn’t everyone in a community or university the librarian’s colleague and concern?  The librarian’s not being isolated; he or she’s being integrated.

Ninth Class Response – Workshops!

I had so much fun doing workshops with the people in my group.  The workshops covered a large selection of topics, including: Google’s privacy policy, library’s as maker-spaces, libraries and the Patriot Act, libraries as “third places,” and bring the eBook publisher conversation to library users.  Ashley and I were odd women out by doing a thesis statement-writing workshop in which we asked our participants to act like undergraduate freshmen. It went over reasonably well except for the final thesis-writing activity… Oh, well!

All the workshops were great, and I have to give a shout out to all the delicious food and the poster-making activity designed by Laura A. and Esti!  I haven’t been that crafty in FOREVER, and I seriously almost took you guys up on that construction paper offer.

I definitely learned a lot about what is good and bad in a one-shot workshop.  Picking a topic is crucial; it’s got to be something engaging but still something you can cover in 20 minutes or so, depending on where you’re giving the workshop.

Eighth Class Response – Did I spell ‘eighth’ right?

For this response I’d like to continue some thoughts I had in a comment on Liz’s blog (reproduced here (without mentioning strip clubs) for convenience):

This idea that libraries are a sacred place and shouldn’t be filled with ads is remarkably similar to book fetishism that we’ve only briefly mentioned in class. I get this, obviously, since I want to be a librarian, but sometimes I like my reasoning to be backed up with facts instead of feelings. I guess the TPL board felt the same way since they went ahead and said they could put ads on the checkout slips.

I don’t think this is a slippery slope, though. I think it’s simply a way to get a little money in the libraries by utilizing paper space that wasn’t being used before. This is starting to sound like a rant. I think I’ll continue this thought on my blog as my class reflection.

And here we are!

I think in general we sometimes worry too much.  Kristin asked whether we’re worrying too much about libraries in class, and I was going to say yes.  I think the life of libraries is similar to that of the physical, paper book: yes, paper books are not being bought or manufactured as much in the wake of the eBook, but they will always have a place.  There will always be paper book lovers (I specify ‘paper,’ because you can totally be a book lover and only read eBooks) who will keep the tradition alive.  Also, who wants to give an eBook as a gift?  I did it once for my dad who had just received a Kindle, but it wasn’t that exciting for either party.  It’s much more fun to give or get a physical book with or without a personalized note (a fact that I had to repeat to my brother over and over again when he got me a giant hardcover book the same birthday my parents bought me a Kindle).  Also, would you let a little kid use an eReader unsupervised?  No.

Additionally, this worry about libraries disappearing along with paper books is extremely classist.  Not everyone can afford an eReader or even paper books.  Libraries were designed to be a place of learning for EVERYONE and not just for fancy pants people (myself included) who love eReaders and the Internet and Apps and iPhones and the Future and Megaliteracy.

I think I’ve posted similar ideas before (probably on the War versus not War class response), but I think they’re something we don’t address in class very often.

Thoughts?

Week 8 Reading Response – Librarian Ethics and Dangerous Questions

Here it is.  Ethics time!

Ever since I first heard about this idea of dangerous questions in 647, I assumed the answer was easy.

Patron: “Tell me how to make bombs!”

Me: “NO WAY.”

Of course, it’s not that simple.  While I would love the ability to simply refuse to answer any given question, that goes directly against the ALA code of ethics and isn’t fair to the patrons.  I appreciate how the Lenker essay illustrates how it’s possible to be moral yet illegal or legal and immoral.  It’s a strange, confusing mix that librarians have to tangle with in their jobs.

However, is this even an issue anymore?  I think with the age of the internet that, if anyone really wanted to know how to make a bomb for sinister purposes, they could find out how for themselves.  I suppose the internet can make people paranoid.  I’ve had to look up weird things for projects in the past or just out of innocent curiosity, and the thought crossed my mind that, if the FBI or whoever is really “watching” the internet, I would be in so much trouble.

Since librarians don’t have a search history like Google, maybe they are still the safest place to ask about sketchy topics?  This is so tricky.  Even now, I’m worried that this blog post will be read as giving advice to terrorists or creepy people in general.  Yikes!

The ALA Code of Ethics is interesting in that I’m surprised that we really need one.  I suppose if it didn’t exist in an official form, the ALA would not be able to keep librarians from refusing to tell patrons anything.  However, the Code can be boiled down into: “Be nice to everyone, and tell patrons whatever they want to know unless you can’t.”  “Can’t” here refers to legal/illegal values of “can’t” and not moral/immoral ones.

This blog post isn’t a super long one, but this was my immediate reactions to the readings.  I’m really jazzed to talk about them in class!  Am I into ethics?  I had no idea!

Seventh Class Response – Book club! We love books!

I loved the book club!  It was really fun, and I liked having a casual discussion with a smaller portion of the class.

It’s clear that a lot of us come from humanities backgrounds, and it was a little tricky to revert back to the literary analysis way of thinking for this project.  I particularly enjoyed our discussion of “Every Book in the World… Except One.”  It was the only comic in our group, but it was also totally about a love for the physical book, which I think is something that all librarians share.  We went around and mentioned which specific books we treasure the most and would never want to lose, and it was interesting to see that most of them were children’s books that we’d had forever or since lost.

We also noted how, upon a recent reading, many books we read when we were children are actually a bit offensive.  I think Terence’s example of one of Kipling’s Just-So Stories was the highlight of this discussion.

The other works were super cool, too.  I liked talking about whether or not you’d want to know how you were going to die and whether you’d be willing to kill someone for the sake of great food or something else you love deeply.

Awesome!

Week 7 Reading Response – Book Club Offerings

Terence & Sherry – “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish” by J.D. Salinger

I don’t know very much about J.D. Salinger, but I think I’ve read this story before in a class during undergrad.  It’s very interesting in that everyone seems to talk around Seymour’s mental health problems without talking about them directly, but then when he shoots himself at the end of the story, all pretense that nothing is wrong vanishes in a dramatic moment.  It’s a dramatic ending to the story, and even though Sybil’s world is probably ruined by his suicide, I can totally envision here mom saying “I told you so.”

Ilana, Mariah, & Ryan – “Murder and Suicide, Respectively” by Ryan North

Definitely a roundabout way of sending a text message, if you ask me.  I’m really excited to discuss this in the book club.  I love weird sci-fi stories, and this is super Minority Report. 

SCIENCE!

Leigh & Rebecca – “The Blind Spot” by Hector Hugh Munro

Oh, this story is delightful!  I noticed how Sir Lulworth was constantly talking about food at the beginning of the story, and when he said he took Sebastien into his service after the Canon was killed, I assumed Sir Lulworth either killed the Canon himself to take the cook or was covering up for the cook’s murder of the Canon.

I also appreciate amazing food, but I don’t think I would cover up for a murderer like this, but I guess everyone has their “blind spot!” Ha!

Also, I don’t think I would take a cook into my employ that was known to kill employers.

Meggan & Kelly – “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried” by Amy Hempel

Oh, this STORY.  It’s so emotional and so real and so relatable, I almost can’t handle it.  The fact that I’m from California aside, I think everyone’s had someone they loved in the hospital, and everyone’s felt awkward about visiting them and wanted to leave as soon as possible.  I think it’s terrible for the dying person to realize people are already mourning for them before they’ve passed.

Esti & Laura A. – “All the Books in the World… Except One” by Darko Macan and Tihomir Celanonic

Ugh, people are the WORST!  I like how this glorifies the idea of a personalized book.  I, for one, am really into eBooks for casual reading, but this is why I think paper books will never really go away.  They make great gifts and can be personalized, and the memories associated with specific books are amazing.