When was the last time you visited your public library? Do you take your students to the media center for research or to take out books? I began wondering about the state of our libraries today and found some great “Quoteable Facts About America’s Libraries” from the ALA – American Library Association. Did you know that students make 1.5 billion visits to the school library media centers during the school year? That is 140 million more than attendances made to movie theatres in 2008. Did you know that research shows the highest achieving students attend schools with a well-staffed and well-funded library? However, it is also true that Americans spend over 20 times as much money on home video games ($21.3 billion) as they do on school library materials for their children ($1 billion). Libraries are the real lifeblood of our nation and the number one point of online access for people without internet connections at home, school or work. This “tuesdays” is dedicated to our faithful librarians in our public schools and public libraries as they compete with a media rich world.
A creative website
The future of libraries in a digital world is being discussed in a great new Ning community – Library 2.0. This worldwide network is for librarians and others interested in Library 2.0. The beauty of a Ning is that you can form small groups within the larger Librarian group that fit your interest. What really caught my eye this week was their Worldwide Virtual Conference (Library 2.011) that begins tomorrow and continues through Friday across all time zones. San Jose State University and the School of Library and Information Sciences are the founding sponsors of this FREE global virtual conference. There are already 5,500 participants from 151 countries signed up. Steve Hargadon, the founder of Classroom 2.0 and the Global Education Conference is the founding co-chair of the Library 2.011 conference. Steve hosts the popular FutureofEducation.com interview series, and has consulted on social media and education for PBS, Intel, Ning, Microsoft, KnowledgeWorks Foundation, CoSN, MERLOT, the U.S. State Department, the and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology. That’s a lot of advocacy for libraries all in one place. Wow.
An image to share
Free download for everyone
A proverb
“Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest..” Lady Bird Johnson
An encouragement
With the increased use of school libraries and decreased funding, I would like to encourage you to thank a librarian today. One of the least appreciated positions in our school system is the media specialist/librarian. Many librarians have felt the economic crunch deeply with little or no new funding for books and a cut in staff. Tragically, many librarian positions are being removed with only a clerk to check out books. How sad. Crayola even has a certificate that you and your students can make for your school librarian! Random House asked their Twitter followers to show their librarians some love and tweet a thank you to the librarians that helped shape the readers they are today. Comments included: “Thank you for showing me how to research smarter and teaching me that I am capable of learning ANYTHING”, “Thank you for not judging me when I head to the children's section for some light reading.” and “Thank you for reading to me about Ralph S. Mouse and The Borrowers. You made my childhood magical.” Have you thanked your librarian today?
How do you do that?
How can you be part of the Worldwide Library 2.011 Virtual Conference? Go to the main conference site and first join the Ning community. It is a particularly safe and secure area and you will have to be approved before becoming a part of the conference and community, but it should only take a day. The conference is FREE and begins at 6:30am in California PST tomorrow. They are experiencing a most wonderful and unexpected consequence of this popular event. Blackboard Collaborate can only handle up to 700 participants in one session at a time. If you get “locked out” just know that all sessions will be recorded for viewing after the event. Some of the topics include: Being a library and information professional in the age of Twitter, iPhones and Facebook, Making and Sharing Book Trailers, and High School Book Clubs in a Digital World. Sign up, log on and enjoy the conference ubiquitously!
As always, I am
Ubiquitously yours,
K
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