Back at Last

Life has flown along here at the library in the last four years. Just as you think you're doing all you can do, you find another gear. The online library scheduler that the librarian from New-Hope Solebury school district shared at PSLA last year has kick Ryan into high gear.

Week Nine, Exercise Twenty-Three

Eric Faden’s parody of Walt Disney’s movies to teach copyright is cleaver and humorous especially since Disney is notoriously persnickety. The fair use declaration in the beginning is startling to the unprepared. Because I can never keep the rules straight, several years ago I bought, Copyright for Schools: A Practical Guide. Carol Simpson, ed. 4th ed. Worthington, OH: Linworth Books, 2005 as an ebook. This way I can get to the rules while working with a colleague at another library, at my library, or at home. It is depressing how often I’ve gone to workshops given by other teachers or agencies that should know better, and they teach something that involves improper use of copyright. How can we then expect our students to keep the laws straight? And people don’t want to hear the fair use rules. Last year my daughter came home from her school with an entire Xerox copy of Elie Wiesel’s Night. After a fruitless discussion with her teacher, it took the school librarian to have the copies withdrawn. There wouldn’t have been a parent in that class that would have objected to paying for a legal copy.
Additionally, California Technology Assistance Project’s website will be helpful in developing a project for my own students.

Week Nine, Exercise Twenty-Two

Ebooks and audio ebooks are for me. That's because they are easy. Easy to search, easy to use at home, at school, in the classroom. I started a reference ebook collection several years ago and now the school collection is over 800 volumes in GVRL and I don't know how many in Gale's Lit Crit. It all started because I wanted the school library always to be available to my students--never to have a library closing time. Also, I have three children who always started their assignments after regular library hours. That is also how in another lifetime I discovered books on tape, which evolved into Audible.com, Libivix.org, mp3's, iPods, and Playaways--and as I've mentioned before Kindle. I go nowhere without my iPod containing my latest book--never to be bored again in a checkout line. Those little bag holders for name tags at conferences work great in holding an iPod and earbuds--put it around your neck and your in another world. "Best Places to Get Free Ebooks" site certainly widened my horizons--a treasure trove. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Week Nine, Exercise Twenty-one

Last year I was deathly afraid of podcasting-- because I didn't understand it. I felt I was being left in the dust and along with me my students, so I bought Linda Braun's book, Listen Up! Podcasting for Schools and Libraries and began to experiment. I also asked the Computer Club and Book Club to help. Ask and you shall receive. What a great mix of students. The Book Club members that were reluctant to do written book annotations were galvanized. The Computer Club members that were at loose ends because they no longer design and maintain the school's web page were necessary again.It was hard to get a word in edgewise. It was also a great excuse for getting an Apple laptop for the library. Although we have a Mac piano lab, it is always in use, even after school and all of the library labs are PC. I had played with Audacity but Garageband was much easier to use. The tutorial in this course "How to Podcast" is very good and "Podcast Alley" very interesting. While puttering around in the podcast world, I found Joyce Valenza's "Web 2.0 Meets Information Fluency" which has many helpful links. I came across "Public Domain Music" music that could be used without infringing on copyright and music for which you could pay a small one time royalty fee at "Instant Music Now"--all very useful. I think it's time to graduate to video, I just bought Camtasia Studio--onward and upward.

Week Nine, Exercise Twenty

YouTube and TeacherTube have become a staple in our school. The access within the building is blocked, but if a teacher wants to use a specific video within the building, our techs provide a link to it. This summer, my daughter started to take guitar lessons and somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered that there was a controversy about guitar lessons on YouTube. Low and behold, guitar lessons. Justin was better than the private lessons she was taking because she could see the technique over and over again without feeling clumsy or inept.She even sent for his DVD's.
While browsing, I couldn't resist "The Librarian's Song" for laughs.
Moving on, I viewed this TeacherTube video . It was inspiring. I teach in a large school which translates into I repeat myself a lot. This librarian from Creek View High School Media Center used her head and created a wonderful tutorial on how to cite GVRL in NoodleBib.Once created, not only her students can use it, but my students. How Sweet is that!

Week Eight, Exercise Nineteen

I've been using Shelfari for the last year with my book club and since Amazon has bought it recently I expect improvements beside a link to buy what you are admiring. So, I didn't think I'd be impressed with Library Thing, but I was. I enjoyed the "How Libraries Are Using Library Thing" article, and plan to utilize the LT widgets on my webpage. I'm not sure about linking LT to my OPAC yet. I'll think about it.

Week Eight, Exercise Eighteen

Zoho Writer is offline today, so I explored Google Sites. I have been using Gmail for several years now, and when I found out about Academic Gmail, I moved the faculty and administration email to this free service. Which incidentally is leaps and bounds better than what we were paying for. Consequently, we have been using Google Docs at least two years for collaborating and editing. I also use it to keep a log of my PO numbers and track fulfillment and back orders. The teachers use Google Chat to see if I'm at my desk before making the trip to the library, and teachers that use Academic Gmail or Gmail from other schools in the Archdiocese can see when I'm online and send a message. So, I was very interested in Google Sites for student clubs and teachers that want their own web space. I did create a web page, and it was very easy to use and upload documents. I couldn't find the space limitation and that could be problematic. I guess, I'll live and learn.