Thursday, February 25, 2010

USA Today Article + "Future is Now" Online Conference

A colleague, Michael Oppenheim, forwarded this very positive USA Today article about librarians, with reference to Marilyn Johnson, author of the newly published *This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All.” Johnson will be one of the keynote speakers at “The Future is Now: Libraries and Museums in Virtual Worlds” online conference, scheduled for Friday 3/5 and Saturday 3/6. The conference is very reasonably priced, at $25 for ALA members, $45 for those who don’t belong to ALA, $10 for students, retirees and those between jobs, and $70 for groups. In addition to the keynotes and other sessions, there will be a panel titled “Joining Hands: Library/Museum Collaboration in Virtual Worlds,” scheduled for Friday, 3/5, 3:30 to 5 pm SLT/Pacific Time. Check the conference schedule for information about all sessions.

Please note that while some of the sessions in this conference will be held in Second Life, a number of them will be held via OPAL web conferencing software, similar to Elluminate.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

"How Millenial Are You? Quiz" - Pew Research Center

Thanks to a Tweet from annavan (Twitter name), you can check to see "How Millennial Are You?," a quiz mounted by the Pew Research Center. The results page also provides an option to see how your score would change if you changed specific answers. (Note: I scored 41/100.)

Help Needed re 3d Grade Info Lit TRAILS Testing

Message posted to the InfoLit Listserv:

TRAILS (Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills)
Do you work with 3rd graders or have a colleague who does?
The TRAILS project seeks school librarians working with 3rd grade students to assist in testing items for the new TRAILS-3 assessment tool designed to measure information literacy skills at the 3rd grade level.

The TRAILS-3 tool will be similar to TRAILS-6 and TRAILS-9 (http://www.trails-9.org). It too will be a freely available tool offering immediate feedback on student information literacy competencies at the class or individual student level. Privacy is assured; no student identifying information is collected.

TRAILS consultants began last fall to work with 3rd grade information literacy standards to write objectives and then develop items addressing those objectives. We are now ready to have 3rd grade students take an assessment to verify the workability of the items.

Requirements to be a testing site:
1. Testing population: 3rd grade students
2. Technology: computers with Internet access
3. Time needed to administer: estimate of 20-30 minutes/session
4. Testing time period: March through May, 2010

If you are interested, please fill out the TRAILS-3 Testing Volunteer Interest Form at http://CTLSilhouette.wsu.edu/surveys/ZS98172 by Monday, March 8. School librarians selected for participation will be notified the week of March 15 and provided specific directions for administering a TRAILS-3 assessment. Please direct any questions to Barbara Schloman, TRAILS Project Director, bschloma@kent.edu.

TRAILS has been well received. More than 8,300 school librarians have signed up to use the tool. Since going live, more than 13,000 sessions have been delivered to over 248,000 students. Numerous requests from librarians working with grade school students prompted us to undertake the development of a 3rd grade version. With your help, we can offer the library community one more tool to assess student understanding of information literacy competencies.
We hope you will consider being part of this project and ask that you share this invitation with colleagues.

Cheers, Barbara

--------------------------------------
Barbara F. Schloman, Ph.D., AHIP
TRAILS Project Director
Associate Dean and Professor
University Libraries
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242
--------------------------------------
http://www.trails-9.org
voice: 330-672-1665
fax: 330-672-4811
e-mail: bschloma@kent.edu
--------------------------------------

Saturday, February 20, 2010

"The Future is Now: Libraries & Museums in Virtual Worlds"

The complete schedule for the March 5th and 6th online conference "The Future is Now: Libraries & Museums in Virtual Worlds" is now available.


January 26, 2010

For Immediate Release

Everyone is invited to participate in* The Future is Now: Libraries and
Museums in Virtual Worlds*, an online conference to be held on Friday and
Saturday, March 5-6, 2010 in OPAL, the webconferencing collaborative
service, in Second Life, and in other three-dimensional virtual worlds.

Throughout this two-day conference there will be dozens of presentations,
panel discussions, poster sessions, demonstrations, tours, and social
events. You need not be proficient in virtual worlds to participate in
this conference. Orientation sessions will be held prior to the conference
dates.

*Keynote Speakers*:

· *Marilyn Johnson*, author of the new book, *This Book is Overdue!
How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All*. She also wrote *The Dead
Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries*.


· *Tom Atkinson* teaches Instructional Technology at the U. of
Central Florida and has over 30 years of experience in designing, producing,
delivering, and evaluating interactive instruction on mobile learning
platforms and in virtual worlds

· *Sharon Tettegah and Cynthia Colongne*, co-authors of the 2009
book, *Identity, Learning and Support in Virtual Environments.** *

*Conference Website*: http://bit.ly/7L8M1j

*Registration Fees:*

- $25 for individuals who are members of the American Library Association
(ALA).
- $45 for individuals who are not members of ALA.
- $10 for individuals who are students, retired, or between jobs.
- $75 for Groups (A group is defined as two or more individuals who are
currently directly affiliated with an organization. Participating members of
the registering organization need not be in the same location in the real
world when they attend conference events.)**

*Register Now*: http://bit.ly/7cB88t

*Twitter Hashtag*: #FIN10

*Poster Session Proposals*: Although the deadline for submitting program
proposals has passed, the deadline for poster session proposals is Monday,
March 1, 2010. See the conference website for details.

*Sponsor: LearningTimes (*http://www.learningtimes.org/), an open community
of education and training professionals.* *

*Conference Co-Organizers*: ALA VCL MIG (Virtual Communities & Libraries,
Member Initiative Group), ACRL Virtual Worlds Interest Group, the Alliance
Library System, and TAP Information Services.

*Conference Archive*: We plan to record and archive as many events as
possible. Only paid registrants, presenters, and members of the conference
planning team will have access to the conference archive for 3 months after
the conclusion of the conference. On June 6, 2010 the conference archive
will be made available to everyone.

*More Information*: Please contact Tom Peters (816.616.6746;
tpeters@tapinformation.com)


--
Lori Bell
Director of Innovation
Alliance Library System
600 High Point Lane
East Peoria, IL 61611
(309)694-9200 ext. 2128
skype: lbell927
lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com
lbell927@gmail.com
"Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries"
http://books.infotoday.com/books/VirtualWorlds.shtml
-

Friday, February 19, 2010

"Search is the Web's Fun and Wicked Problem"

Thanks to a Google Alert for "information literacy"... An interview with Peter Morville in the February 19, 2010 issue of O'Reilly Radar, "Search is the Web's Fun and Wicked Problem," offers a fascinating look at a topic of great interest to librarians. Morville, author of the new book, Search Patterns, with accompanying web site, cites many concepts and technologies, including Jakob Nielsen's "paradox of the active user," "averted vision," augmented reality, and Bruce Sterling's 2004 "Spime" speech at SIGGRAPH, an amazing read in itself.

Embedded in this interview is Morville's focus on information literacy as an essential skill: "The real responsibility rests with parents and teachers. I'm convinced that information literacy is among the most important subjects we can teach our kids. They must learn where to search and how to evaluate what they find. Wikipedia, for instance, can catalyze great conversations with our children about authority and trust. In a world where we can increasingly select our sources and choose our news, these analytical skills are mission critical. And, better searchers will make search better. Their behavior will offer valuable feedback that will in turn improve the interfaces and algorithms of tomorrow's tools for search and discovery." This section links to the University of Idaho's information literacy tutorial.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

President's budget freezes library funding; omits school libraries from education increase

Sad news, another blow to public libraries and school libraries, reported by the ALA Washington Office and posted to BCALA, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, as well as elsewhere:

For Immediate Release
February 1, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Obama today released his FY2011 Budget Proposal to Congress, calling for a freeze to federal library funding under the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the primary source of federal funding for libraries.

Under the President’s plan, LSTA would be level-funded at $214 million.

As Americans deal with the weakened economy, they are using their libraries more than ever before, visiting them over 119 million times each month. American Library Association (ALA) President Camila Alire said freezing federal funding for libraries at this time of increased demand will hinder libraries from serving job-seekers, who are flocking to the library for help with online job searching and applications, resume writing, computer classes and much more.

“During this time of hoped-for economic recovery, public libraries are one of the greatest tools our nation has, and a lack of federal support jeopardizes this critical institution,” Alire said.

“President Obama often speaks about helping America get back to work, and libraries are critical access points to information and resources that are helping job-seekers every day. Unfortunately, countless libraries in our country are suffering from state budget cuts that have resulted in staff loss, reduced hours, or even closures. Many libraries have managed to efficiently use what little resources they have, but they are hanging on by a thread.

Federal funding may be a small percentage of the funding America’s libraries receive, but it is critical. The ALA calls on Congress to support America’s libraries by not only restoring the funding lost to libraries in the President’s budget proposal but by increasing the funding, which is desperately needed.”

The President’s budget also included a $400 billion investment into education but did not include specific funds for school libraries. Alire said the federal government should invest in school libraries to ensure every student graduates from high school with 21st century skills.

“It is alarming that the President did not recognize the value of school libraries in today’s schools and include them in this effort to improve education,” Alire said.

“Research repeatedly shows that a well-funded and fully staffed school library program with a state-licensed school librarian is an integral component of a student’s education.”

Friday, February 12, 2010

"In Defense of School Librarians"

A Google Alert for "information literacy" retrieved this excellent and heartfelt guest opinion piece by Cathy Collins, a school librarian, "In Defense of School Librarians," published in the February 11, 2010 issue of pressdemocrat.com. She laments the fact that the general public misunderstands the role of the school librarian, and cites a dissertation on the topic of school libraries and student achievement:

"As recently as December 2008, Douglas Achterman published a dissertation titled “Haves, Halves and Have-Nots: School libraries and student achievement in California.” It is composed of 225 pages of research. Being the nerd I am, I read it cover to cover.Findings confirm prior research on the relationship between school libraries and student achievement and point to the inequitable access of school library services in California."

Her opinion piece is well worth reading and passing along to others, including legislators, as she suggests.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Public Libraries & Information [Technology] Literacy

Thanks to a Google Alert for "information literacy," here is a link to an article titled "Public Libraries Take Information Literacy to the Next Stage": http://www.govtech.com/gt/743612

The article, on the Government Technology web site, actually focuses on the use of games in public libraries to engage young people. In addition to discussing online games and traditional board games, the author, Russell Nichols mentions the following: "One particular game re-creates the 1960 U.S. presidential election. Players have cards that look like the front pages of newspapers with historical facts about John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon." Nichols quotes Christopher Harris, coordinator of the New York School Library System for the Genesee Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services: "They look like Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards except they're all about the election," Harris said. "Someone keeps track of electoral votes, media relations, issues for debates. Now the students are really engaged in the experience of running and being a part of an election."

LILAC Conference in UK Filling Up

Posted to the ILI Listserv:

The LILAC 2010 conference is booking up fast. To guarantee a place visit:

http://www.lilacconference.com/dw/

What is LILAC?

Do you teach information literacy skills? Do you want to improve the information seeking and evaluation skills of your library users? Perhaps you are interested in emerging technologies to support information literacy? If so then LILAC 2010 is for you.

LILAC is the Librarians' Information Literacy Annual Conference, organised by CILIP's Information Literacy Group. The event is brimming with new ideas, innovative teaching techniques, inspiring speakers and exciting social events. There is a packed programme of parallel sessions including long and short papers, hands-on workshops, symposiums and poster presentations. Librarians from across the UK and around the world attend.

Debbi Boden
Deputy Director Information and Learning Services
Peirson Library
University of Worcester
Henwick Grove
Worcester
WR2 6AJ
Tel: 01905 542160

Thursday, February 4, 2010

CARL Conf: People Make Libraries 4/8-4/10/2010

CARL is the California chapter of the American Library Association's (ALA) Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). This conference will take place April 8th through 10th, 2010.

Posted on various lists:

ARE you joining us in Sacramento for the 2010 CARL Conference, People Make Libraries: Digging into our Past and Polishing our Present to Transform our Future?

Save $100 by registering by February 19, 2010 to attend this event.

Go to http://carl-acrl.org/Archives/ConferencesArchive/Conference10/
for more information on speakers, programs and events.

Note your library can make one payment/reimbursement/purchase order, if you elect to register as a group, email Kelly Janousek, CARL Registrar for detail

See you at the Conference!!

CARL Research Award Announcement

CARL is the California chapter of the American Library Association's (ALA) Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). Posted on various lists:

The CARL Research Award Committee is excited to announce the winners of this year’s CARL Research Award: Shannon Staley, Valeria Molteni, and Christina Peterson.

These CARL members submitted a team proposal entitled “Standardized Information Literacy Assessment: An Institution-Specific Approach.”

All three of the team members work at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library at San Jose State University.

The objectives of the proposed research are as follows:

 Implement a consistent and comprehensive means of information literacy assessment
 Apply learning outcomes based on ACRL standards
 Develop assessment instruments customizable to specific disciplines and courses at their university
 Evaluate programmatic strengths and weaknesses through a systematic approach to data analysis
 Provide an opportunity to improve library instruction through a more accurate reading of student learning
 Share findings with other library professionals

The team has been awarded $1,971 to complete their research.

The CARL Research Award Committee received a total of 13 applications. We are thrilled with the number of applications we received, and thought there were a number of strong proposals.

We look forward to hearing back from the winning team in one year for a report on their research. The report will be presented to the CARL membership at either the CARL Conference or in the CARL Newsletter. Congratulations to all the applicants for a great round of research proposals and especially to our award winners!

Respectfully,
The CARL Research Award Committee

Alexandra Chappell, Claremont Colleges
Bonnie Gratch-Lindauer, City College of San Francisco
Aline Soules, California State University, East Bay
Carol Spector, Chair, University of San Francisco

Carol Spector
University of San Francisco
Gleeson Library | Geschke Center
2130 Fulton St., San Francisco, CA 94117-1049
415.422.2040
csspector@usfca.edu
govdocslists@usfca.edu