Week 6, Thing #15

This was a wonderful exercise and so timely for me. I'm preparing for a meeting with the librarians in my district. I hope to get librarians to want to explore Library 2.0 through the School Library Learning 2.0 course. Putting my thoughts together for this exercise will help me with my presentation.

As I read the different perspectives on Library 2.0, several things stood out as important for us to consider as we begin the Library 2.0 journey. The first is a point that Rick Anderson makes. We must be willing to let go. We can’t do everything. If we are going to add new things, we must be willing to abandon other things. I think this is going to be one of the hardest things to do. We are comfortable with many of the things we do now and we also feel that they are important.

The second aspect is closely related to the first. We must be flexible and open to change. In Wikipedia’s definition of Library 2.0, the point is made that there must be a change in the way we deliver our services. We can’t just do it the way we have always done it. We need to be constantly evaluating our programs. Because our patrons are constantly changing, we need to be ready to change too. According to John Blyberg, Library 2.0 is not an option. We must take steps to see that we are embracing Library 2.0 and changing to meet the needs of our students.

One of those changes is the need to eliminate barriers. This was mentioned in several of the articles. Rick Anderson makes the point that it is more important to eliminate the barriers that our students face than it is to teach them research skills. He also points out that we must abandon the “come to us” model where we expect our students and teachers to always come into the library when they need something. When Michael Stephens refers to eliminating barriers, he talks about providing access where the patrons are. Our district has begun that process. Our OPAC is available from school and from home. Our district also provides numerous databases that allow students to search reliable resources from school and from home. Many of these resources are grouped by elementary, middle and high school. This enables our students to quickly find materials that are age appropriate and on their reading level. John Riemer mentions another helpful tool, the federated search. Our district is adding this feature to our OPAC. This will allow our students to search the OPAC and several of our databases at the same time, rather than having to search each one separately. He also mentions including a link from the OPAC to an online bookstore. I think this is an interesting idea and something that I would personally use.

We must also make the library experience relevant. George Bishop sees his library as a relevant and essential part of the school. He insists that teachers must become “dependent” on the resources provided by the library. One of the ways he does this is by incorporating the resources into the curriculum and requiring teachers to use the library resources in their lessons. This allows teachers to help students see the relevance of the library resources. Wikipedia’s definition of Library 2.0 includes a user who is active and empowered. There are many web-based tools that can be used to empower our students and encourage them to take an active role in their learning. These include blogs, wikis, podcasts, tagging, social bookmarking and RSS feeds. Students should be given the opportunity to express their views and opinions. They can do this through book reviews or book discussions in the form of a blog or a podcast. According to Christopher Harris, it is even possible to do this from a cellphone. But Harris also says that “The heart of the concept, though, is not about the tools, but rather the communities and the conversations that they make possible.” In his discussion of relevance, John Riemer includes being able to capture a citation. I couldn’t agree more. I think the important thing is that students realize that they need to cite their sources. If we can make citing easier by allowing them to download or capture a citation, I think we should.

The last, and possibly the most important, idea is what Christopher Harris calls marketing. Unless our students and teachers know what is available and what we can do to help them, they will never become dependent upon us. Librarians can use the same tools as students to promote what they do in the library. Librarians should be blogging about their library, creating podcasts to showcase resources and sharing resources by using social bookmarking.

I think this quote from Christopher Harris says it all: “Digitally re-shifting your school library is about harnessing the power of new ideas like Web 2.0 to help fulfill the mission of school libraries. It does not necessarily mean discarding the old, but rather reconsidering what works best in meeting new challenges in a changing educational world. It’s all a part of helping students become literate users of information in order for them to have successful careers in school and beyond.”

In closing I’d like to mention some of the other ideas shared by George Bishop. His school utilizes ILL, has self-check, checks out MP3 players, has a cyber café and issues a school lunch card that is also a library card. He also suggests that librarians not only adopt a motto of “we want to serve you” but also mean it. That is my motto and I try to be there for my librarians. I want to help them on their journey toward Library 2.0.