Doug Johnson of The Blue Skunk Blog posted this list


You know you are a 21^st-century librarian when…

• You have to remind kindergarteners to turn off their smart phones before the story starts.
• You know what an IP number is but not an ISBN number.
• You have a student who does a better job troubleshooting the circulation system than the district technician.
• Your students think both The Princess and the Frog and Meet the Robinsons were written by Walt Disney.
• You know more librarians in Texas than you do in your home state because of your Personal Learning Network.
• The best way to remind a student about an overdue book through Facebook.
• You don’t talk in the teachers lounge about a project because it is not tied directly to a state test.
• When answering a reference question, you head to an Internet terminal.
• You’ve started dressing like your avatar.
• Kids look at you funny when you call it the “the card catalog.”
• You have more polo shirts with computer logos than you do book logos - and 25% of your wardrobe comes from vendor booths at conferences.
• Your students want to read the most popular YA lit on their phones.
• Your students show you how to get around the district Internet filter so you can teach a lesson.
• Your aid spends more time troubleshooting the network than reshelving books.
• You never see anyone copy out of the print encyclopedia anymore.
• Your index finger has a callous from tapping the interactive white board.
• You didn’t get your last grad class assignment turned in on time because the network was down.
• You’ve Googled the new teachers in your building - and all the kids have Googled you.
• You don’t remember the last time you’ve had to alphabetize something.
• You have all your passwords and PIN numbers are on your PDA - and you can’t remember the password for your PDA!

ain't that the truth!

Months ago, California school librarians created a list of their favorite web 2.0 tools.  The list varies from Glogster to images to lesson plans to social networks. Quite varied and really interesting.


Web 2.0 Tools -- Top Tools Recommended by CSLA Members

.

Kindle in public libraries?

According to an article on ReadWriteWeb, "The CEO of OverDrive, which distributes e-books and audiobooks to libraries, has dropped a pretty obvious hint that the Kindle will join other major e-readers in public libraries in September. EarlyWord reports that Steve Potash looked "like a kid with a delicious secret" at OverDrive's Digipalooza conference last weekend, saying that he was "not allowed to announce a date ye[t]," but he included this blunt clue in his "Crystal Ball Report" during the final session:


Streamlining (both downloading and ordering)
Explosion (we have gone from two reading devices to 85 and more are coming)
Premium (the library catalog as the most premium, value-added site on the Web)
Traffic (enormous growth coming by year's end).


I find this agreement very interesting.  It is great news for public libraries and the general public, but not for school libraries.  Recently Amazon made the statement that a separate email address for each device is required.  This requirement seems a bit unruly for school libraries with numerous Kindles.   Is this Amazon's way of forcing school libraries to subscribe to Overdrive?  However, the policy just might send school libraries to the Nook!

Kindle books at your local library

Amazon will make Kindle books available at public libraries.  According to a recent Amazon press release  'Kindle Library Lending, a new feature launching later this year that will allow Kindle customers to borrow Kindle books from over 11,000 libraries in the United States. Kindle Library Lending will be available for all generations of Kindle devices and free Kindle reading apps....


"We're doing a little something extra here," Marine continued. "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced....

Amazon is working with OverDrive, the leading provider of digital content solutions for over 11,000 public and educational libraries in the United States, to bring a seamless library borrowing experience to Kindle customers. "We are excited to be working with Amazon to offer Kindle Library Lending to the millions of customers who read on Kindle and Kindle apps," said Steve Potash, CEO, OverDrive. "We hear librarians and patrons rave about Kindle, so we are thrilled that we can be part of bringing library books to the unparalleled experience of reading on Kindle." '

Maybe all the negative comments about Amazon/Kindle not liking libraries made an impact.  A win-win for all.

When was the first school library?

Have you ever wondered when the first school library was opened?  American Libraries does not have a specific date, but assumes school libraries started with the Bible, chapbook and Bay Psalm Book on the corner of the teacher's [his !] desk.  


"... in 1740 Benjamin Franklin recommended school libraries as a key element in the ideal academy, and the Penn Charter School in Philadelphia designating a specially designed room as the library in 1744."


And "... In 1900, the first professionally trained school librarian, Mary Kingsbury, was appointed to manage the Erasmus High School library in Brooklyn. The second was Mary E. Hall, appointed in 1903 by the Girls’ High School in Brooklyn.  Hall went on to collaborate on the Standard Library Organization and Equipment for Secondary Schools of Different Sizes (ALA, 1920) with C. C. Certain, producing the first standards for school libraries, and she later was the the first chairperson of the School Libraries Section, the precursor to today's American Association of School Librarians (AASL)."

SLA's 23 Thing Updated

Since 2088, SLA's 23 Things  has been quite popular with school librarians -- a 10-week approach to learning Web 2.0 at your own pace.  Some of the topics covered are blogging, tagging, photos, newsreaders, social media and more.  The 'Social Media and Networking' section includes articles and instructional videos. Along with the addition of social media, outdated and broken links were removed and new resources and tools added.

I may cover these 23 Things again.

Ah. It's been a tough fall and winter. I totally forgot about this blog while confronting budget issues, retirements, family illness, 66" of snow in the D.C. area, and more budget issues. Hopefully, 'things' have settled down.

Twenty years ago I could not have dreamed of where we are today with computers, the Internet, online resources, social networking and Web 2.0.

Now the question is: What is the future of school libraries? More and more school library departments are merging with technology departments. Has this happened to you? How has the role of the librarian changed? What do you envision for the future?