I wanted to point to this great post about ILEAD U from Alicia Hammond, the Corporate and Small Business Liaison Librarian at the Schaumburg Township Library, IL. I have been given an incredible opportunity as a librarian. Earlier this year, I was accepted in the ILEAD U (Illinois Libraries Explore, Apply and Discover: The 21st Century Technology Tools Institute). This program is operated by the Illinois State Library and funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. And it is really cool! Basically there are two things going on with this program. They bring a bunch […]
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What is it? 23 Things for Professional Development, also known as cpd23, is a self-directed, self-paced, inclusive, practical and free online programme open to librarians and information professionals at all stages of their career, in any type of role, any sector, and from any part of the world. It encourages information professionals to explore and discover social media ‘Things’, including Twitter, RSS feeds and file-sharing, as well as other ‘traditional’ CPD routes, such as gaining qualifications, presenting skills and getting published. Participants will be asked to assess how each Thing can assist them in their professional development, and then to […]
Part 1: Defining “Social Reading” “Social reading,” as a concept, is actually quite simple: people want to share what they have read with other people and receive feedback about their thoughts and ideas. Technology is the great enabler for social reading, and the natural place for this activity to cultivate. Social reading has several key characteristics. First, social reading is an extremely public activity. Gone are the days of “selfish,” private reading: reading alone in the bathtub, alone under the covers, alone on the couch, alone in the park, etc. Social reading exists because of the interactions between two or […]
Note from Michael: I’ve followed the “23 Dingen” programs facilitated by my colleague Rob Coers in the Netherlands for some time while working on the Australian research project. I’m hoping to expand my research into this part of the world as well as North America in the next year. For now, here’s an English translation of a great post about the recent Sharing Day. Thanks Rob! Update: Rob writes: “Latest…in case you understand Dutch,the videos have come available during the weekend. You can check them on the Program page.” In the past four years the 23 Things learning program has had […]
Over the past year, I’ve gotten to watch a group of teens that come into the library grow into full fledged hip hop artists. It all started with The Telling Room, a nonprofit writing center in Portland, ME, and their 2011 program Play. Their amazing Young Leaders and Writers workshop was the start of a collaboration between three teens (Chrispo, Emmanuel, and Ali) with local hip hop artist Sontiago (aka Sonya Tomlinson). THE CREATION The group of teens started coming into the library on a daily basis and used our study rooms as their rehearsal space. They would freestyle over beats and furiously scribble down […]
Back in late 2008, I received a phone call from a friend/colleague in Germany with a tantalizing offer: would I be interested in a three-semester teaching gig? The location was the University of Applied Sciences in Leipzig (Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultur – HTWK) [http://www.fbm.htwk-leipzig.de/de/fakultaet-medien/], and the job was a paternity leave replacement for their professor of electronic publishing and multimedia in the College of Media. How could one say no? I was feeling a bit stale in my library work, and know from past experience that I enjoy teaching semester-length courses and possess some teaching skill. That I […]
On Tuesday May 17, 2011, my library had the pleasure of hosting a show featuring the wizard rock band Harry and the Potters. The show itself was awesome: the music was great, the band was super nice, and everyone had a good time. The highlight for me had nothing to do with the actual show. Instead, it came from the patrons. The first moment where I noticed that this wasn’t going to be just any old program was when I stepped out to announce to the fans that were waiting for the show to start that the band was just […]
Via nwi.com: I’ve actually done research on students who are learning game design and about games,” said Jose Zagal, a game development professor at DePaul. “And it is quite often the case that they’ll have a very narrow view of games.” Jim Galbraith, associate director of collections at DePaul’s library, hopes the collection will draw the wider student body while supplementing what’s taught in game design and computer science classes. You can read the rest of the article here. Is your library doing something like this? As a big advocate for video gaming in libraries, I’m happy to see […]
I’ve been working in public libraries for five years now and recently decided to go back and look at the things I’ve done. Part of it was curiosity and the other part was to make sure that I’ve been doing my job and making interesting things happen for my community. Also, sometimes there’s a program or idea that you’ve had in the past that you’ve totally forgot about. Going back through my personal archives has helped me rediscover some ideas that I can now see through to completion. The Library Idea Share is my attempt to get these ideas and tools […]
Last week, a patron came to me needing help with her resume. She’s looking for a job, and she’s desperate. She didn’t want just books on how to write a resume, she wanted someone to sit down with her and help her write it. I’m not good at writing resumes, so I didn’t offer my services and hinder her job search. I recommended another local public library because I’d heard that they had a resume service and I thought they might be able to help her. I was wrong. She came back to me and told me that the librarians […]