#SLANZA11 – Twitter stream

One thing I have managed to do in the last week, while recovering from post-conference “exploding brain” syndrome (thanks Greig Daniels!) is to trawl through the conference twitter stream and put together an archive of sorts, of the sometimes amusing and mostly pretty useful and fairly linky tweets from this awesome event.

All in all, about 30 people were tweeting from or about the event – myself and Bridget and Julia (welcome to the blog, Julia!) among them.

If you were at conference, I hope this archive will help you remember and find some of the great stuff that was shared by various presenters and speakers.

If you couldn’t be there, reading through the twitter stream should give you an idea of what went on, and point you in the direction of some fantastic readings, resources, and connections.

There are also a couple of shared Google documents you can read:

• Donna Watt: It starts with you (a strategic approach to saving school libraries, one library at a time)
• Judy O’Connell: Find it fast and get things done

Are you ready? Advocacy rev up from Library Girl

A flurry of postings, just shows you what you can do when you are putting off writing up your revalidation journal.

Clipped from: lib-girl.blogspot.com (share this clip)

This post from Library Girl has really made me think, as she almost always does (please read the comments as well).  How well do you market yourself?  If you went to Donna Watt’s presentation at the SLANZA conference then this post will also tie in some of the things Donna talked about  strategic planning and branding and marketing yourself.  You’ll get the link to the google doc of that conference session on this blog soon.

We really need to get out there and show our teachers how good we are and what we can do for them and for their students.  I for one am going to get this poster printed out and laminated and put it up in the library, but more than that I am going to put it in our staff’s pigeonholes.  I want them to see it and talk about it and understand more fully exactly how useful I am in the school.  I’m not just ‘the book and computer lady’ I can do all kinds of things for all kinds of people and particularly for every single curriculum area.

Also it is worth remembering what Joyce Valenza (Oh Great One as I refer to her) You can’t do business in a pumpkin sweater.  Get your professionalism polished up and get out there and sell yourself.

Sorry about the coding here.  Cant remove it without removing the slide.

<div style=”width:477px” id=”__ss_8693280″> <strong style=”display:block;margin:12px 0 4px”><a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/jlagarde/librarians-are-ready&#8221; title=”Librarians Are Ready” target=”_blank”>Librarians Are Ready</a></strong> <div style=”padding:5px 0 12px”> View more <a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/&#8221; target=”_blank”>documents</a> from <a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/jlagarde&#8221; target=”_blank”>Jennifer LaGarde</a> </div> </div>

A Google a day

Well this is fun.  Just had a little play with this and found it a great way of stretching your brain and testing your search skills.  A Google a day gives you new challenges every day.  It works like this:  They ask a question, you find the answer, they tell you if you are right or wrong, you try again, or if you got it right you get a new question.  Repeat at will.

Great stuff for students, great for the 5 mins at the end of the period when you need a filler, great as a challenge for all sorts of people, including me.  And you can embed it on your blog.   Love it.

The Great Library Stereotypometer

Via Stephen Abrams always fabulous blog this comes from Ned Potter, The Real Wikiman. Both of these guys have excellent things to say and if you got your Google Reader or Feedly sorted out after conference I heartily recommend subscribing to them.  They are also on Twitter of course.

Anyway hopefully when you click the infographic below it will take you to a larger more readable image on Flickr.  Where do you fit into the stereotypometer?  Do you fit?  Discuss!

As for me, I fit the wears a cardigan and likes a gin, yes I can knit – but don’t often, I like cats and lurve Social Media. I so do fit the stereotype!

A view of the mobile future for libraries

More on mobile and smart phone engagement in libraries from the recent M-libraries conference.  This is a really great prezi to watch if you hadn’t realised exactly how much engagement there is with mobile and smart phone technology in libraries and schools across the various library sectors.  M-libraries conference is Australian and focused on mobile learning so you would expect this to be a focus but the sheer number of institutions buying into mobile technologies is enough to make you think hard.  Compelling evidence to get with the programme.  The presenter is Alex Miller.

You can expect another posting on QR codes this week.  They came up a lot at conference and I think they are a simple thing you can do to engage with your smart phone toting students.

My favourite quotes from the presentation are:

• @sallyheroes LOL RT @katecbyrne: Librarians talking about technologies they haven’t tried are like 14 YO talking about sex. #mlib11
•  Learners are mobile, content is moble, work is mobile, why isn’t education more mobile
• Mobile is the fastest growing industry on the planet. Why aren’t we using it more for education?  By the end of 2013 there will be a mobile subscription for every person!

Celebrity’s Libraries

Oh the lives of the rich and famous!  It seems like celebrities want to surround themselves with books too.  I’m tossing up between the Keith Richards and the Ralph Laurens myself.   Somewhere comfy to sit is really important and some of the chairs in these places look a bit bony to me. Have a look here and share in the comments which ones you like.

Advocacy – they’ll miss you if you go

This list of 100 things that students miss when their libraries are closed was posted to the OZTL_NET listserv a couple of weeks ago, no chance to share till now.  It would be useful for anybody doing some advocacy for their school library.  This is the website for the Vision Tour of School Libraries which is promoting outstanding school libraries and this website is Dr Nancy Everhart’s homage to this journey, she is the current President of the American Association of School Libraries.  The tour comprises 35 school libraries which were nominated by their states.  Cool idea, but the reason they have to do it is not cool, they are seriously under threat and closures are happening all over in the USA.

At a recent network meeting we heard of a Primary school in Dunedin who will be losing their library because of the growth of their school, this after spending a long time building up the usage and making a great space for their staff and students.  It is great that the school is growing but really sad that the library is the thing that has to go to make way for that growth.  The main thing that depressed me hearing of this was that the school values teaching and learning but doesn’t see that the library is intrinsically part of that and can just be packed up into a cupboard.  I understand the issues but that doesn’t mean that the students should miss out on having a library.

The list  is taken from “Standards for the 21st Century Learner by the American Association of School Librarians, suggestions from members of the American Association of School Librarians, and students in the school libraries of the United States.”

The link is here

Check out the Theme Song section.  It is really cute.  Has downloadable music and lyrics!

Tablet book potential

You may have seen this Ted short video but I found it today and I am sharing it because it really does show just how much potential there is in the digital reader.  It need not necessarily be the iPad, but devices of various types are going to change the way our students work, study, research and play.  I personally came away from conference desperate, yes actually desperate for an iPad, this from the person who was totally into Android prior to conference.  I defy you to watch the video below and declare that you wouldn’t want to read this way.  Comment if you will.

An end of term treat

For a bit of a laugh at the end of the term, sit yourself down and enjoy this wonderful collaboration.  Film students and retirement home people worked together to create this masterpiece.  It will make you feel all warm and fuzzy.

Even though it is holidays coming up (not to mention the SLANZA conference) we will continue to post links to things we think are useful and interesting.   Enjoy your break.

Charlie Higson – a great author interview

Busy times round here at the moment.  Presentations to prepare and less time for trawling the internet and checking the reader for interesting sites etc.  However this did pop up on the Telegraph’s fabulous booksite (they have a lot and they have lovely stuff on them)

Charlie Higson is huge at my school and I’m assuming he is at other people’s schools too.  Anything zombie is doing brisk business but The Dead and The Enemy are right up there, finally knocking Anthony Horowitz and Darren Shan off their perches.  I presume it is the same in other people’s libraries too. According to the article he is planning 6 books in the series, my guys will be delighted.

Great interview with Charlie Higson here who was in NZ recently and was interviewed by Kim Hill in a most enjoyable fashion, you’ll be able to download the podcast of that on the Radio NZ site.

Check out this rather scary video which goes with the website for The Enemy.  It is gripping, scary and very realistic.