Yearly Archives: 2012

190 posts

11th Southern African Online Information Meeting Keynote & Workshop Slides

We leave on Saturday for South Africa! I am very excited to be presenting a keynote address and workshop at this conference.  Stephen Abram will also be keynoting! If you are attending, please say hello. I am looking forward to chatting with the delegates and learning with them. I am traveling with just my iPad and iPhone this time – no laptop (!!!), so the slides are prepped and stored in various cloud-type places. For a sneak peak, the slides are here:     http://dl.dropbox.com/u/239835/StephensKeynoteSAOUG.pdf     http://dl.dropbox.com/u/239835/StephensSAOUGTechPlanWorkshop.pdf   I am honored to be traveling to South Africa for this conference […]

Taming Technolust: Ten Steps for Planning in a 2.0 World (Full Text)

Stephens, M. (2008). Taming technolust: Ten steps for planning in a 2.0 world. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 47, 4, 314-317. Note: This article was originally published in RUSQ and on the RUSQ Blog. Permission has been granted to share it here as well. I’ll be using it for a workshop next week at the 11th Southern African Online Information Meeting, Sandton, South Africa. Back in 2004 when I started writing and speaking about technology planning, I urged librarians to be mindful of letting a desire for flashy, sexy technology outweigh conscious, carefully planned implementations. Over the years, I’ve returned to […]

Salzburg Report Released – Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture

  http://www.imls.gov/new_report_explores_roles_of_libraries_and_museums_in_an_era_of_participatory_culture.aspx The Salzburg Global Seminar and the Institute of Museum and Library Services announce the publication of “Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture.” The report details the events of the October, 2011 convening of fifty-eight library, museum, and cultural heritage leaders from thirty-one countries. Together, the participants developed a set of recommendations to help libraries and museums embrace new possibilities for public engagement that are made possible by societal and technological change. The deliberations identified “imperatives for the future” including accepting the notion of democratic access, placing a major emphasis on public value and impact, and […]

King Middle School Expedition Learning TV

At the request of the students, our class embarked on a geography themed expedition this year to study the beauty and mystery of this huge country. All the students in our class are new to the US. After researching they have became experts on one of the US Census regions. In addition, they developed a practical understanding of how the world is categorized into the 5 themes of geography.  –Catherine Paul  I wanted to share this awesome project some of the teens who use my library just did at their school.  They came into the library today and were really […]

SJSU SLIS Faculty Institute Presentation Slides

After two days of faculty retreat, we are finishing the week with the SJSU SLIS Faculty Institute. Our faculty and adjuncts have gathered here in San Jose from all over for workshops and discussion about teaching. I’m doing a talk this afternoon on using social media in teaching. The slides are here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/239835/SLISStephensSocialMedia.pdf Learning Everywhere: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/04/opinion/michael-stephens/learning-everywhere-office-hours/

Office Hours May 2012: Professionalism Matters

By Michael Stephens As the school year wanes, I’ve spent the last few days grading electronic portfolios for a cadre of SLIS students. The portfolio is part of their culminating experience at San José and serves as a lexicon of learning, detailing experiences and evidence of their mastery of our competencies. It promotes a high degree of self-evaluation by articulating a statement of professional philosophy. Truth be told, both students and practitioners can benefit from careful consideration of what it means to be a professional in libraries in 2012. A crowded field In a market where one library job may […]

Transformative Learning 2.0 – And Some Thank Yous

In Library Journal this past month, I explored the concept of “learning everywhere.”  Here’s a snip: This semester, I’m teaching a new class based on Mezirow’s concepts of transformative learning, the work of Char Booth in the arena of user instruction, and the Learning 2.0 model…. We’re working with consultant Polly-Alida Farrington, who teamed up three groups of my students with two libraries and a school library consortium in New York State. Over the course of our 15-week semester, each group is adapting, designing, and running a “mini-23 Things” for its assigned organization. It’s been a fun, chaotic, and messy experience. […]

Do You Know A Librarian Who Could be a Pritzker Fellow?

The Pritzker Fellowship from Chicago Public Media is designed to cultivate a “new generation” of journalists. The fellows are nominated by community organizations, cannot have a degree in journalism, must not be in an academic program, and must be interested in community reporting. This would be perfect for a librarian. In fact, I wish that I could nominate a librarian for this! Do you know a librarian who might qualify? Check out the curriculum from their website: Program Curriculum Throughout the training period, the Pritzker Fellows will work on many projects and develop skills within their chosen arena.  The training will be extremely targeted […]

Exchanging business cards for library cards at the Portland Business Expo

The Portland Regional Chamber held its annual business expo on Wednesday, and booths included the usual: credit unions, hotels, sign shops, telecom companies, the Portland Public Library. Attendance was light in the early afternoon, but began to pick up as …. — “Wait!” I know you’re all saying, astonished: “The Portland Public Library???!!” Sonya Durney, who is the Business and Government Librarian at my library just recently did something super awesome.  She took her show on the road the Portland Business Expo and talked to local small businesses about the benefits of using their local library. Durney explained: “If we can […]