The OLD Top Shelf

Wow! Things have been going fast and furious since we got back from TLA last week. I can’t believe how long it is taking me to get all of these sessions posted! Sorry for the delay…

Anyway, after the Smackdown, I went to have lunch with 2,000+ of my closest friends. We had some kind of grilled chicken salad and celebrated the with the winners of the Siddie Joe Johnson and Texas Bluebonnet awards. As always, seeing the student representatives and hearing their presentation of the Texas Bluebonnet Award are some of the most fun parts of the conference. After all, promoting good books for kids to read is one of the things we like to do best! Having them there reminds us why we spend time and effort promoting these books every year. The winning author, Lucy Nolan, told some great stories about the dogs she’s had in her life and how they have influenced her writing. Her book Down Girl and Sit: On the Road was a definite kid favorite, earning 19,000+ votes.

Beyond Books and Bytes: The Role of Libraries in a Networked World
Presenter: Lee Rainie

Lee Rainie is the director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. This organization does original research to determine how the Internet impacts people in their daily lives. His presentation was fast-moving and full of research findings about how information and communication are changing and the role that libraries can play in the digital age.

When Rainie first started this research in 1999, he was surprised to find that librarians were some of the most avid consumers of Internet content. Since that time, however, librarians have been identified as the #1 stakeholder in the work of the Project. His latest studies have found that with the advent of Web 2.0 (the “social” web), there has been a major shift in the social lives of Americans today that has big implications for libraries and they way that they serve their communities.

Rainie discussed 8 hallmarks of the Internet today:
1. Media and gadgets - Everyone uses media and has technology gadgets.  97% of computer users use the Internet. The web itself has become a storage device that allows people to access the information they want via whatever device they have access to.

2. Broadband access - More than ½ the population now have broadband Internet access at home. The web has become the central information center and the first place people go for answers to questions.

3. Wireless connectivity - allows access anywhere. This connectivity has changed the way we have to think about the digital divide and the importance of e-mail.

4. Content creation - Ordinary people are now publishers and creators of their own content. These new content creators post photos, create social networking profiles, blog (either on a blog site or on their social networking profile), create their own web sites and help others create sites, take other online content and use it to make something new (mashup), and create avatars, or online identities. 

5. Many different audiences - All of these new content creators have some sort of audience that uses video sharing sites, reads blogs, uses wiki sites for information, downloads podcasts, etc.

6. Sharing knowledge and feelings - People are using these new web tools to share what they know and what they feel. By doing this they are creating online conversations and communities. There are many services that allow users to rate people, products or services and communicate their feelings about them. Other users tag online content or make comments on videos, photos, blog posts.

7. Customization of the web - People are customizing their Internet experience with web 2.0 tools, e.g., iGoogle and myYahoo pages.  Others use RSS feeds to get the news/information they want.

8. Different people use technology in different ways. Rainie’s findings have identified three tiers of Internet users:

High tier users

• OMNIVORES have the most info gadgets and participate voraciously in content creation
• CONNECTORS are more into e-mail cell phones and the social networking aspect of the Internet
• LACKLUSTER VETERANS are frequent internet users of the Internet, but don’t really love it
• PRODUCTIVITY ENHANCERS are positive about technology and the way it helps them do their jobs

Middle tier users

• MOBILE CENTRICS – embrace the cell phone and its capabilities; includes a high share of African-Americans and Latinos
• CONNECTED BUT HASSLED - have a lot of technology but don’t like how it intrudes into their lives

Low tier users:

• INEXPERIENCED EXPERIMENTERS – occasionally take advantage of online connectivity and can use it if they are shown how to do it
• LIGHT BUT SATISFIED – use technology but it does not play a central role in their lives. These are the people you have to call and say “Did you get my e-mail?”
• INDIFFERENTS – have some technology, but don’t like it
• OFF THE NETWORK – do not have cell phones or use the Internet at all. These people tend to be older or without the resources to buy technology

All this connectivity changes our relationship to information and to each other. We are living life in a “continuous state of partial attention.” The validating of information becomes more social.

Libraries need to plug into people’s social networks as a source of information. People perceive the Internet as a “node” on their social network to fill in gaps when friends can’t help them solve a problem.  Libraries should be one of the sources that they can turn to easily.

Libraries should also help teach new literacies. Rainie ended his presentation with a reference to a post by Pam Berger in her InfoSearcher blog. In her post, Pam identifies the new literacies required by the digital age:

graphic literacy - the language of the screen

navigation literacy - the transition to nonlinear formats

context literacy - the importance of seeing connections

focus - the value of reflection

skepticism - the capacity to evaluate

ethical behavior - the will to be responsible

Overall, an excellent presentation that was worth getting up for the 8:00 start time!

This was the day we had been working towards since last May. We were in charge of coordinating the Strong Libraries-Strong Scores mini-conference for school administrators and trustees. This mini-conference has become an annual event held in conjunction with TLA. Administrators are nominated to attend by librarians. This year for the first time, the librarians attended the morning portion with their administrators. The goal was to allow librarians and administrators to learn together what the research says about how strong school library programs can impact student achievement and discuss how to strengthen the programs on their campuses. Many good things have happened as a result of this conference, so we were happy to have a hand in it. There have been some great stories of administrators in various districts that have increased library budgets, added certified librarians, added clerks, etc.

We had fabulous attendance - 180+ administrators and their librarians participated in the morning session. We were especially excited to have several administrators from our district there: our new Administrative Officer for Library Services, the AO for Curriculum, the AO for Instructional Technology and the Superintendent were all in attendance!

The day started with a welcome from TEA’s Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Anita Givens. Ms. Givens recognizes the impact that libraries and librarians can make in the learning that happens in a school. After welcoming the group, she stayed to hear what the other presenters had to say.

Dr. Keith Curry Lance was next on the agenda. He shared the results of multiple studies that he has done that show a correlation between good test scores and schools where the library program is part of the instructional program. Lance’s research can be found in detail on his web site, Library Research Service Impact Studies and a copy of his PowerPoint presentation can be found here.

Right before lunch, Dr. David Loertscher talked about what research projects should look like in a 21st century library. He cited the need for students to do much more higher-level thinking and shared a couple of his models for reaching that level of thinking during student research projects. Dr. Loertscher’s website can be found here.

After lunch, the librarians returned to the DCC and the main TLA conference, while administrators returned to hear Dr. Gary Hartzell. The topic of his presentation was Reconceptualizing School Libraries as Instruments of School Improvement. His handouts can be found here and and his presentation can be downloaded here.

Closing the day, we heard from Dr. Marla McGhee, co-author of The Principal’s Guide to a Powerful Library Media Program. As a former Texas principal, Dr. McGhee shared her experiences in learning about the library program and gave administrators strategies for doing more learning on their own. Her PowerPoint presentation can be found here. Dr. McGhee also shared three Word documents for administrators to use in evaluating their library programs: a form for evaluating the library schedule, a continuum showing activities on which librarians should be spending more and less time, and a form for reflection and next steps.

Things went very smoothly thanks to the fantastic Library Services staff. Everyone helped copy materials, stuff packets and pack up everything to be sent to the conference location, then BB and GR came down to help get everyone registered that morning. Of course, Digital Deb took care of all things technology-related. It was truly a team effort and they all did a fantastic job! Thank you, thank you!!!

After Strong Libraries, we made a quick visit to the Exhibit Hall. With hundreds of vendor exhibits, it was difficult to see them all, but we made an effort.

Next on the agenda was the Book Cart Drill Team competition. What fun that was! If you’ve never seen a book cart drill team before - you have been missing out! This year’s winner was Austin Public Library’s Bibliofiles, but my favorite was Denton ISD’s group of Super Librarians.

In the evening, we visited a couple of vendor sponsored hospitality events, then crashed into our beds. It was a very full day!!

What a hectic day! After checking into the hotel, Digital Deb and I had to rush  to the Convention Center to do our volunteer work.  We grabbed a sandwich and chips from the hotel restaurant and tried to eat while waiting for the shuttle. I say “tried” because the wind tunnel we were in made eating a little difficult. Deb’s chips became dangerous projectiles!

Once we arrived at the DCC, we were the envy of everyone there because we actually had food to eat. There weren’t any food vendors open that we saw, so there were lots of hungry and thirsty librarians wandering around.

Our volunteer duty was in the Internet Room from 1-5pm(!). We basically had to help people find computers to use, keep paper in the printers, etc. Pretty easy stuff. Since we were right there in the open close to the Registration desk and the free Maximum Ride books, we got to see and visit with lots of people that we knew.

That evening we attended a lovely dinner at the YO Ranch Steakhouse hosted by Gale. The food was delicious and the conversation lively. It was a very enjoyable evening.