The Importance of Media Specialists

The latest article in the NYT series The Future of Reading,  In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update, recognizes the value and role of school library media specialists in teaching students how to do research, evaluate information, and present their results. Calling the media specialist "The Digital Librarian," it describes one media specialist:

Ms. Rosalia, 54, is part of a growing cadre of 21st-century multimedia specialists who help guide students through the digital ocean of information that confronts them on a daily basis. These new librarians believe that literacy includes, but also exceeds, books...

Soon Ms. Rosalia progressed to teaching students how to ask more sophisticated questions during research projects, how to decode Internet addresses and how to assess the authors and biases of a Web site’s content.

Now for the bad news,

Yet as school librarians increasingly teach students crucial skills needed not only in school, but also on the job and in daily life, they are often the first casualties of school budget crunches.

Certainly both of these statements are true in Minnesota--media specialists are teaching these vital skills to students and teachers and are among the first programs/staff that are cut to trim budgets. A recent KSTP-TV Investigative Report highlighted both of these issues. 

There is much research, including two Minnesota studies done by Metronet in 2002 and 2004, that shows that a professionally-staffed, well-stocked school library media program impacts student achievement. This research needs to be shared with school administrators at all levels.

Facebook for Parents

To help kids reach their full potential, parents today must know about Facebook. That’s the purpose of this website.

So begins the introduction to this potentially useful resource to share with parents. Facebook for Parents is a four session course offered at Stanford University designed for parents of Facebook users under 18. There is an optional hands-on lab prior to class that includes coaching of participants by Stanford students. Parents--or teachers--can sign up for an e-newsletter published three times a year. It will include updates about Facebook and explain the skills kids learn on Facebook. The Web site will eventually include the class materials.

So, we can't go to Stanford for the class. Can your district develop and offer a similar class?

Here are some Facebook privacy hints for anyone on Facebook from the AllFacebook blog.

What is a cool tool?

This is a cool tool for creating Jeopardy quizzes. The template is ready to go--you add the content. It is free and no registration is required. Just go to Jeopardy Labs and build a game.

Fair Use?

AP claims copyright infringement--and wants credit & compensation--of the photo Shepard Fairey used in his iconic Obama poster. What do you think--fair use?

Update:

Diane Wallace-Reid from Minneapolis shared this link to an NPR story on the issue.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100301384&sc=emaf

GMail Stickers

Act fast for some free GMail stickers from Google. From the Official Google Mail Blog:

There's the standard Gmail m-velope -- dressed up in glitter. One of three bookplate style stickers you can stick on anything from the inside of a favorite book to your laptop or your skateboard. (Trading with friends is encouraged -- we realize the unicorn isn't for everyone.) And there's a sheet of keyboard shortcut stickers intended as a tool to help people learn Gmail's shortcuts. The adhesive is a bit more removable than standard stickiness, so you can take them off once you've trained your fingers.

Details here. Your self-addressed stamped envelop needs to be postmarked by February 14, 2009.

Resource for Readers

The Children's Series Binder wiki

seeks to create a comprehensive listing of series books for children to help librarians, teachers, parents, and kids find the chronological and publication order of series books.

Children's Series Binder is organized by series title and genre, and the entire wiki is searchable by keyword. Series titles are listed in alphabetical order in the Table of Contents. You can also browse the Category Link List, which is a list of all the genres, authors, and categories of books in the Children's Series Binder. This could be a useful link from a library media center page.

Everyone is welcome as a contributor; email the wiki owner for user ID and password. seriesbinder@gmail.com

rant/This is an aside, but ... The Series Binder is created by the Webster Public Library Children's staff. Where is Webster, you ask? Well, it took me five clicks deeper and deeper into the site and it could have been more if I hadn't gotten lucky to find it is Webster NY. I think every Web site should have at least its city and state on the front page.

Even if you assume only your neighbors and other locals are using your library/school/business/institution/other Web site, it is vital to put your location on the front page! How else will they know that this is the Webster Public Library they are looking for? It's the World Wide Web, after all--people find your site from all over the Web and world. I can't tell you the number of times I have looked at a newspaper or TV Web site and it is identified only as the Springfield Gazette or KSRE with no other identification. I can name a half a dozen Springfields without trying very hard. So, when students or you are putting content on the Web, tell us where you are. Make it a best practice. /end of rant

The Tangle of Copyright, Fair Use, and YouTube

Here is an interesting article on the issues of copyright, fair use, and user-generated content. It is a complicated issue, as you can see from the discussion of the various court cases and different perspectives from copyright holders, users, YouTube and other hosts for user-generated content, viewers, and others.

The article seems particularly timely in light of Mr. Rother's Rants and Raves post about his group's video being taken down from YouTube.

Article Citation:
Seidenberg, Steven. "Copyright in the Age of YouTube." ABA Journal Feb 2009 3 Feb 2009 <>.

Belt & Suspenders: Backing Up Your Google Info

Even though online resources and tools are generally secure with little danger of data loss, it is still a good idea to back up your data. The announcement that Google will no longer support Notebook is a reminder that even the biggest guys with the most reliable tools can change their offerings. 

So...read this Mashable article on How To: Take Your Data Back from Google's Claws. It explains ways to extract and back-up documents and information from Google services including Docs, Gmail, Calendar, Picasa, Google Reader, and more.