The 5^th annual Strong Libraries, Strong Scores mini conference for School Administrators occurred as part of the

We had over 85 school administrators attend. We have already received 2 e-mails unsolicited from administrators that were going to increase the Library budget or rethink how the campus and Library were going to relate next year. Effecting a change in how administrators understand Libraries is very rewarding.

Agenda

Strong Libraries Strong Scores
(mini conference for School Administrators)

10:30 – 10:45 = Barry Bishop welcome

Standards

Welcome from TEA Commissioner by Karen Kahan

PowerPoint

10:45 – 11:30 = Dr. Keith Curry Lance (current research)

PowerPoint

11:30 – 12:00 = Marla McGhee (collaboration with teachers and administrators)

PowerPoint

12:00 -12:15 = break and dividing the group into 3 sub-groups

12:15 – 1:30 = Box Lunch and Breakout sessions (as follows):

Practical applications of Library best practices to benefit campus and principal

I had the privilege of watching two outstanding presentations on Librarian and teacher collaboration last night from my students at the University of Houston – Clear Lake.

Introducing Collaboration

Are Two Heads Better Than One?

Collaboration between teacher and Librarian is one of the best ways to counter the teacher statement of “I don’t have time to come to the Library because I am preparing my students for the State Test”. And it is one of the best ways to make sure the Librarian has a job from year to year. If the principal hears from the teachers how successful the co-teaching is between teacher and Librarian then the principal is less likely to replace the Librarian with a clerk.

Thursday evening dinner with Rosen Publishing and many distinguished guests.

Rosen Publishing does things right. They brought 14 School Librarians together in a quiet private dining room and feed us physically and intellectually. We took almost the first hour introducing ourselves as each person told of something they were currently doing and the questions around the room sparked even more discussion—always looking for solutions.

Chris Harris (Infomancy) had much to add on many subjects discussed around the table. I was particularly interested in his comments about gaming. If you go to his blog, Infomancy, and scroll down the left side until you see the topic of gaming, you will find out a lot of what he discussed. Chris talked about what he calls modern board games that are correlated to the New York State Standards and the AASL Standards. This is an article and an article expounding his comments. Modern board games may be much more palatable to teachers who may be a little hesitant to use video games in their class.

We also talked about: budget cuts, what to do about budget cuts, Public and School Library collaboration, open source, databases, and several other wonderful topics. Rosen is always listening to Librarians to determine if there are new ways to improve their very good database—Teen Health and Wellness and to see if there are other needs their company can meet for students and Librarians.

A pleasant evening was had by all.

At

School Library Journal Leadership Summit, 2008

Remixing Library Collections for Digital Youth

November 14-15, 2008

The Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa

Hollywood, Florida

What might a forward thinking Librarian fear most during this scary season?

10. Books might really go away.

9. Librarians might loose their jobs.

8. Librarian’s budget might be cut.

7. Teachers will not collaborate with Librarians nor bring their classes to the Library.

6. Students might not respect the information specialty skills of the Librarian.

5. Standardized testing will win out and only dates and dead people will be memorized.

4. Internet blockers will win and nothing will get through the filter.

3. Online Subscription Databases will get more complex instead of simpler and no one will use them.

2. Students will be so knowledgeable with personal devices that Librarians and teachers will be irrelevant.

1. Administrators will officially scoff at Web 2.0 and we will all be relegated to the world of textbooks and boredom.

0. Administration will act like they get it and approve spending money to buy the technology tools needed in the Library to allow students to create, then the purchasing process will take so long that once everything is purchased and installed in the Library it will be obsolete and students will still not use the new tools.

Knowing what we fear is the first step toward formulating plans to prevent or alleviate the circumstances of the fears. What might a Librarian do to conquer these feats?

I think the thing to constantly promote, push, remind, advertise, etc.. is to focus on student learning!

What are your fears? What solutions do you have for fears?

Starting my 30^th year in the Library Science world does not necessarily mean much. Except that I have been fortunate to have had an excellent university preparation from the University of Texas and had the opportunity to work with many wonderful thoughtful Librarians mostly through participating in my professional organization the Texas Library Association (TLA). What I add to my perspective is hopefully useful observations over the years and the waning ability to remember some of them.

In the 1970’s Library Science was about organizing information not so it could be found by the user but so that it could be found by the trained Librarian. We thought we were organizing information and creating card catalogs so that users could find information but that was so only after we spent much energy teaching the nuances of the Card Catalog. Also, in the 70’s School Librarians dabbled with the creating of information. We learned and then taught how to create the infamous synchronized slide / tape presentation. I even figured out how to record two sound tracks with one a half second off the other to give a great science fiction effect.

In 1988 the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) came out with what I thought then was a revolutionary set of standards or guideline called Information Power (couldn’t find the 1988 version but the 1998 version is here from Amazon). Among other things its premise was that School Librarians were to teach Access, Evaluation, and Use of information. Access meant finding that information we worked so hard organizing. Evaluation at that point meant to determine which information was the best to use: a magazine, a book, a reference book, or a slide/tape presentation. Later, of course with the Internet, evaluation took on the meaning of determining if the information was accurate or any good at all. Use first meant mostly use in a research paper. Now, use means to create new information based from the previous information gathered and synthesized.

So, the progression has gone from organizing information to accessing or finding information, to evaluating or screening information to using or creating information to now as others have so much better described as continuing the conversation with and about information. This is the social networking contribution.

As an underlying theme of this progression that has bubbled up at times, School Librarians have begun to concentrate also on the students or users and try to listen to their needs and meet their needs in a way they understand and appreciate as (opposed to making them learn our information manipulation ways).

All these progressive emphases are cumulative. The fact that we are continuing the conversation now does not negate the need to organize. In fact we may have come full circle (or spiral) since the creators of the information now needs to think about the organization of their creations while they converse about them.

Other than the differences in jargon (You say find and I say access) what other progressions have occurred in Library Science and either paralleled these or intersected these?

At the

Next year (2009) will be the PTA’s 100^th anniversary. PTA and Libraries have had a long history of partnerships. The SMART program is a reflection back over the 100 years of collaboration between Libraries and PTA groups.

SMART is a reading motivation program. The first component is to encourage the collection of “new and gently used books for children in disadvantaged and difficult circumstances”. Texas PTA will make available posters for promotion. They suggest decorating collection bins and sending photos of the collection bins to enter into most creative bins and most books collected contests. Other SMART ideas include:

1. Host a used book sale to raise money.
2. Distribute books to early childhood centers.
3. Host a Family Night with book exchange activities.
4. Encourage high school students to donate purchased books for class assignments to next year’s students.

The second component of the SMART program is the Read 100 challenge. Individual students and families can choose to read:

1. 100 stories
2. 100 pages
3. 100 minutes
4. 100 books

Certificates will be available for download.

School Libraries all across Texas should take this opportunity to build even stronger relationships with their PTA members as we all work toward more reading for our students. Contact your PTA members soon to see how you can work together.

Wednesday, April 16^th I was able once again to participate in the “Strong Libraries, Strong Scores School Administrators mini-conference that was inspired by the White House Conference on School Libraries in 2002. As usual we had nationally known speakers many who spoke at the White House Conference. We were privileged this year to have Anita Givens, Deputy Commissioner welcome us and stay for the whole day.

Keith Curry Lance gave another great state of the research on School Libraries. Everything still points to good Libraries correlating with good achievement scores.

David Loertscher banned the bird unit and took us into higher order thinking questioning. And he introduced some of the thoughts garnered from the AASL conference about iGoogle and other web 2.0 stuff.

Gary Hartzell, a school administrator and not a Librarian had a great message for high school administrators.

Marla McGee again did an excellent job of bringing everything together for all types of administrators. Her chart as to what Librarians should do more of and less of was inspirational and her book Principal’s Guide to a Powerful Library Media Program is still the best around.

The Strong Libraries, Strong Scores mini-conference for School Administrators has occurred mostly the same for the last 4 years. I think it is time to look and see if wee need to make any changes. We did allow Librarians to come with their administrators this time, but I think we need to ask the basic question, “What do we want administrators to hear now”?

If you have any ideas, please comment.

Tuesday, April 15^th all day I was able to attend a pre-conference on building Libraries called “Building for Books, Bytes, and Beyond”. The two presenters were Anders Dahlgren, president, Library Planning Associates, Inc. (Normal, IL) and Jeffrey Scherer, architect, Meyer, Scherer, & Rockcastle, LTD (Minneapolis, MN).

Although most of the discussion was about Public and Academic Libraries, I was able to garner a few concepts that will be easily applied to the School Libraries we are building soon.

Six spaces to consider:

1. collection
2. reading seating (30 sq. ft. per person)
3. staff (125-150 sq. ft. per workstation; circulation, office, workroom, etc.)
4. meeting/program (lots and lots plus 80 sq. ft. for presenter)
5. special use (photo copier, small group, lounge, etc.)
6. non-assignable (not directly supporting the purpose of the Library but essential; mechanical, walls, restrooms, etc…)

When planning for book stock consider about 10 volumes per square foot. Magazines would be 1 title per square foot. Computer stations would be 50 square foot each. The extra space covers servers, printers, etc.

History shows that technology revitalizes print. We need to overcome the false assumption that Library is not a space. It is a space and a quality of life issue. Consider having OPAC computers on top of 42-inch shelves at the end of the row. When planning do a vision, then a master plan and then a program plan.

For a 20,000 sq. ft. Library to look like a Barnes and Noble of equal materials would take 30,000 sq. ft. In a Library, all the best books are gone. Barnes & Noble can put 100 copies of the best seller in front of you when you walk in. Libraries have to plan for two-way traffic of materials. Patrons bring the books back.

Observations show that the more technology seen in a Library, the longer people stay. Libraries need to be more home like. Libraries need to be customized. E-waystations means electronic access. Digital artifacts are going away (like DVD’s). Digital content is being delivered through pipelines. In some Libraries 68% of the orders are based on customer request, not on professional selection. Consider having computers in Libraries that sync to iPods.

90% of the stuff people read off the Internet they print out. In 1970 the average person used 100 lbs of paper a year. In 2000 the average person used 200 lbs of paper each year. The average book circulates 23 times.

Julie Todaro (President for Life) ran a break-out session and gave many wonderful websites:

ACRL/LAMA Guide for Architects

ALA: Buildings – Professional tips

Designing Libraries: the Gateway to Better Library Buildings (UK)

Libraries Facilities Design (K-12)

WBDG: Whole Building Design Guide

Some other suggestions from Julie when meeting with architects were to set the context. Refer everything back to the most recent building by the school district or the architect. Say things like, “is that bigger or smaller than the last Library Spring Branch built. Suggest the architect visit a recent successful example of a Library in your district. Be sure to be clear about deal breakers. Show pictures of what you want (from other Libraries). Be very conscience of having appropriate sound barriers. Consider tables, chairs and partitions on wheels so space can be reconfigured. Consider different kinds of flooring: food on tile but not on carpet areas. Use 4 people tables not 6. And for more current information look up “learning commons” and look at University of Missouri and North Carolina, Raleigh basement media creation.

The best thing that I can think of for Texas School Librarians to come out of this summit was that the majority of participants (Public, Academic, Special, and School Librarians and lay-folks) “voted” to move toward including School Libraries in TexShare. Essential, this will mean a greater sharing of resources for all Texans.

Aside from the purpose of the summit being accomplished, I also learned many other things through side conversations with colleagues.

A great model website using terms that patrons, users, constituents understand exists at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. Instead of listing “databases” they use the term “Premium Resources”. Thanks Julie Todaro.

I have heard the term “federated search” as applying to a “one search finds all”. At the summit, I also hear the terms “aggregated search” and “faceted search”. Now I will need to listen, read, and research to see if there is a difference between these terms.

I heard again about the video resource SAFARI Montage^®. Another resource I will need to research.

An open source integrated Library system, Koha, might be a solution for making our OPACs as user-friendly as Amazon.com. However, until I get more staff or can convince the Technology Department to do some soft programming for me, open source is beyond me. Unless, LibLime, a third party provider of open source solutions, may be my solution. If I understand correctly, I pay LibLime a lesser amount of money than I am paying for my proprietary OPAC and they use open source like Koha to build and maintain an OPAC for me that is user-friendly—what a deal! Thanks David Shuster.

For more information about the “Statewide Resource Sharing summit” see David’s posts at Follow up to Day on of Resource Sharing.