Blog #6 My Website!!!!

It's done for now. Yay!!!

Blog #5 Cybersafety

One thread that has run through this blog since its inception is the issue of safety, particularly as it relates to children in libraries.

Probably, you have all heard about the “Teen Angels,” kids that help police popular teen sites and report on questionable online behavior and worse. Well, I recently came across the “mother” website, which is called wiredsafety.org/

Here’s a bit of what it’s about:

WiredSafety.org’s work falls into four major areas:
• Assistance for online victims of cybercrime and harassment
• Advice, Training and Help for law enforcement worldwide on preventing, spotting and investigating cybercrimes
• Education for children, parents, communities, law enforcement, and educators
• Information and Awareness on all aspects of online safety, privacy, responsible use and security

Those who can benefit from WiredSaftey.org’s expertise include:
• Parents, grandparents and caregivers;
• Kids, preteens, teens and college students;
• Members of the Internet and interactive technology industries;
• Law enforcement, legislators, the judicial community and regulatory agencies; and
• Schools and other educational institutions

This site is really a group of linked sites with different URLs. The kids’ site is called wired kids.org. and there is a list of all the related sites on the homepage. If you follow the link to wiredkids.org, you will find a great deal of information, and not only for kids. Click on the “Educator” tab and choose “Librarians” and you will get information on filtering and blocking as well as a safe site database.

This person behind all this is Parry Aftab, a mother of two and a security, privacy, and cyberspace lawyer who now donates about 90% of her time to issues of Internet safety. A free speech advocate, Parry is devoted to educating and empowering parents, not the censors.
It’s an interesting and important website with a LOT of information.

Now for the caveats.

Much of the information on the kids site is in all capital letters! For a site that tries to teach Netiquette, I’m both surprised and confused by this.

The navigation on wiredsafety.org is not bad, really, but a child would definitely need help, at least at first. Of course, children have to be registered to use the site, and that requires parental permission as well as verification from the child’s school (so no one can masquerade as a child).

Take a look at this site and tell me what you think.

The New Me!

Thanks to Jody for the idea

THE LURE OF THE LINKS (Part 2)

Well, it's Sunday at 7 p.m. and I'm finally getting my turn at the computer.

Back to the legislation re blocking social networking sites. I'm pretty certain these activities aren't going to go away, so I'm on the side of education for everyone, but especially children, on safety issues. That being said, I know that kids don't think ahead very well, and even well trained children can be lured into "breaking the rules" pretty easily.

In my library, in the children' department (which only serves up to 5th grade), any kind of chat or social networking is a tough issue. Parents are the ones responsible when their kids go on the Internet at the library, but our "regulars" are there every day until around 5 p.m. waiting for a parent to pick them up (after work). Many are "dropped off" in the department while the parent goes downstairs or across the library to use the adult computers. MySpace hasn't been a problem since it is illegal to have an account if you are under 14. But Disney is starting a place for 8-to-12 year-olds. What do we do about that? So far, we are just refusing to help a patron open an account, saying that one's parents have to do that for them. I really think libraries are going to have to be pro-active about this by hosting programs for families giving them information about these sites and teaching them how to stay as safe as possible.

.....

Now I'm back from surfing. Those links! I went to Michael's blog and from there went to an article in SLJ about how schools are using Second Life. It seems that the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklinburg County in N.C. are partnering with Alliance Library System in Illinois to own some islands in a
Teen Second Life site. Read this - it's really cool.

This article, along with the job postings we've been seeing (see Michael's Feb. 24th posting
Maricopa County Library Seeks Virtual Branch Manager) have my head spinning. I wonder - as a Children's Librarian, how much of this is going to affect my job? I think I'd like to have a "What's New" blog on the Kid's Space page, but I don't think we're going to be going to Second Life any time soon.

What do you think? (You out there in LIS 753 Land) Will kids younger than 10 be listening to podcasts and contributing to blogs on the library web page? Chatting with friends on the library computers? (We already have a few 5th graders doing this) How much of Library 2.0 will affect Children's Librarians?

So why did I label this Post "The Lure of the Links"? Because it took me two days and about 8 hours to do this one. I just can't quit clicking those links!

Susan's trading card

Susan's trading card,
originally uploaded by childlib.

Well, here it is, finally.

Blog #4 The Lure of the Link

About two hours ago, I started reading the article listed on Squidoo for Week 2: On the 2.0 Job Description (Part 2): LIS Students in a 2.0 World. Along the way, I decided to explore all the links. This took me to Michael's Facebook account and Heidi's blog at http://www.heidigoseek.com/ . (Can anyone tell me what a geocache is?) I started out considering the problem of incorporating all this new technology phenomena into LIS classes. (I do think it should be a part of pretty much every class we take).

But the next link got me thinking about how to use this stuff in a library website. I went to
the St. Joseph County Public Library the St. Joseph County Public Library, where I explored the Subject Guides (Geneology, among others), Kid's Space, TeenNet, and Game Blog (watched two UTube videos). The site is very easy to navigate and it's pretty intuitive. (Also visually well-designed). I bookmarked it to show to my supervisor at work. They're redesigning our Kid's Space on our website. Of course, I was thinking of our web page assignment and all I'm learning about that. But I was also considering how blogging, using comments, and video were seamlessly used. It didn't even seem like I was using anything new. This is a really good example of how to incorporate web 2.0 tools into a site in a non-threatening way. (Here I spent a good 15 minutes digesting.)

From there, I somehow got to Thoughtful Advocates: An ALA TechSource Interview with ILA's Robert Doyle and my thoughts then went to the legislation Michael told us about that has to do with libraries that accept e-rate money having to block all social networking sites. What a can of worms!

Hey, it's 11:15 p.m. I'll have to finish this tomorrow.

Blog Post #3 (finally)

Okay! Thanks to Dan and Jody, I now have a trading card on my blog. It's great to have friends who know what they're doing.

Frustration

I am so frustrated with this stuff! Ok, I worked all day in a busy library and I'm tired. Well, anyway I really have tried to make a trading card and post it to this page. It looked so easy when Dan B. did it after class last week. I did make a card and it's on his Flickr account which I for some reason can't access. Maybe I'm spelling your name wrong, Dan?
Here's what has worked so far:

• I opened a Flickr account
• I uploaded a picture of myself to Flickr
• I posted the picture to my blog
• I read a lot of stuff about Flickr - how to use it, what can be done, etc.
• I don't understand much of it. I think my mind has shut down, so I guess my official blog #3 will have to wait until tomorrow.

Has anybody else had a bad technology day?

Blog #2 IM me

Why use IM for library reference?
What is the difference between IM and Virtual Reference/Chat?
How do you get staff comfortable with using it?
How do you implement the service?
How often should it be available and what times of the day?
Is there a downside?
What libraries are using it?

These questions are answered in the article by Aaron Schmidt and Michael Stephens entitled “IM Me”. (Library Journal, April 1, 2005)

A library reference chat can be done with a librarian/service anywhere in the world. An IM session is done with your local library. If needed, you could physically visit the library and pick up the materials you need to use. Everything doesn’t have to be on the Internet and emailed or faxed to you. If you are a regular library user, you would be dealing with people you already know.

Schmidt and Stephen’s suggestion to have the library staff IM each other (especially between buildings) seems like a good idea to me. Everyone could get familiar with using it, so when the library implemented it’s use with patrons, it would not be a scary, new thing. And it’s faster than email and less expensive than using the phone. My own library has two buildings that are in different area codes.

I think a lot of the resistance to implementing new technology is the fear that it will be hard to learn and that it will take a lot of staff time away from the desk (i.e., patrons that are physically present). Does it mean adding staff? The bottom line is always, “how does it fit in the budget?”

Have any of you (classmates) used IMing for library reference? What library did you use? What do you think of it?

Computer Update

Thanks to those who offered consolation and help with my computer problem!
After many hours on the phone with SBC, HP, and my dear son-in-law-to-be, Noel (who is currently with the Army in Baghdad in Communications), we are now expecting an HP person to come to the house on Tuesday to converse with the SBC people; and hopefully, get on the Internet!

BlogPost#1: Say good-bye to your mothers's school library

Christopher Harris, in his “School Library 2.0” column in School Library Journal, February, 2006, suggests ways in which new technologies may be incorporated into everyday use in the school library. He postulates that these new technologies are “redefining how we connect with people and content on the Internet.”

His main points are:
The way the world communicates is changing, and school libraries need to utilize these new technologies to the best advantage to fulfill the mission of the library.

School libraries need to showcase the power of a digitally re-shifted library. Teacher/librarians need to promote themselves as teachers and leaders in information management.

This new model for the school media center will end the debate over fixed vs. flexible scheduling by freeing the librarian to provide services whenever and wherever they are needed.

The bottom line, says Harris, is to “use every opportunity to help our students engage the joy of reading and the power of information.

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My first reaction after reading this article was that this “redefining of the learning landscape” is going to pertain mainly to middle- and high-school libraries. Children in the lower grades (K-5) still will need the story-times, basic user instruction (OPAC use, organization of the library, fiction/nonfiction instruction, reading strategies, etc.) that they always have. There will definitely be a need for more instruction in basic keyboarding, and office applications, but the onus of use of other technologies will be more on the teacher/librarian than on the students. I think more emphasis in the K-5 library would be on introducing these new skills to the teachers for their use in communication with each other.

I like the idea of students using cell phones to share comments on books they have read by adding an MP3 file to a library site. Using a phone would by-pass the problem of undeveloped writing/spelling skills and help develop oral skills.

I am concerned with the idea of tracking a student’s check-out record. Students should be encouraged to check out whatever they want. If they feel their library use will somehow impact their reading grade, what does this do to free choice?

The classroom teachers I know have a great burden of paperwork for their classes and responsibilities outside of the classroom (school committees, etc.). How can we approach introducing more new learning challenges in an exciting way that will not overwhelm them?

I would appreciate any comments on these or other issues raised by this article.

New Computer Blues

My new computer won't connect to the Internet. Frustration!!! I had to come over to DomU to make this posting. (Is that the right way to say it?) I spent a lot of time on the phone. What I really need is someone who knows about hardware to come over and show me what to do. Does anyone know someone who makes housecalls? I hate having to unhook everything, lug it out to the car, and into the repair shop. It's brand new, for Pete's sake!

Sorry,I'm slogging out my frustrations on you all.

Just call me the slogger blogger.

Hello world!

Hey! This is all new to me, but I'm up for it. I'm a student at Dominican University.