What is the EdHub? A 21st century learning commons

Posted by: Megan Enger

APA Citation: 

Boss, S. (2017, December 7). A small town school embraces a big vision. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/small-town-school-embraces-big-vision/

Summary: This Edutopia resource explains how Superintendent Buddy Barry transformed a high school with declining enrollment in Eminence, Kentucky: by identifying the needs of a 21st century learner, he helped create the “EdHub” and transform not only enrollment numbers but the whole community. A nickel tax raised $6 million dollars and renovated the entire building to look more like Google’s headquarters than a traditional high school. Materials for student checkouts still include books, but also power tools and robotics equipment. There are eight makerspaces and opportunities for dual enrollment through the local community college. This article also includes three embedded videos showing the EdHub in action and with testimonials from students, teachers, and administrators; one video gives an overview of the space, another focuses on the Early College Program, and another showcases a hands-on learning project.

Evaluation: This article is a fantastic starting place for those interested in learning about the EdHub. It comes from a reputable source and succinctly explains how Buddy Barry accomplished such a transformation. The videos are a nice bonus that clearly illustrate the community impact. Even schools with small footprints and smaller budgets will be inspired by the EdHub–it asks us all to reconsider how the library can still be the hub of the school and envisions a 21st century learning commons to best serve student needs. Those wanting to learn more about the EdHub should check out their website, especially for Eminence’s mini-credential program that is structured like merit badges (earned when students demonstrate competency in things like 3D printing and stop motion). Additionally, Dr. Loertscher interviewed the EdHub’s librarian and an ELA teacher turned “integration specialist” who speak to the value of having a dedicated staff supporting this community.

Young Adult Use of Ebooks

Gray, R. & Howard, V. (2017, May 11). Young adults use of ebooks: An analysis of public library services and resources. Public Library Quarterly 36(3). Retreived from https://doi-org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.1080/01616846.2017.1316149

In their survey of teen / young adult librarians across North America, Robyn Gray and Vivian Howard found that most librarians believe there is little to no interest in ebooks among the teen patrons they service at their libraries. However, these authors believe that the programming and promotion of ebooks is being done all wrong. Instead of focusing on advertising the titles and procedures for using the ebooks, libraries should be informing teenagers of the benefits of reading an ebook. Many teenagers are self-conscious about the types of books they read, or their reading level. By reading ebooks they can have more privacy, since their peers are not able to see the books they are reading. There are many advantages, and many disadvantages, to reading ebooks discussed in the books. However, one advantage that I can think of is the ability for students to immediately search for the definition of a word they do not understand, assisting in their vocabulary development and reading comprehension. There are many reasons that teenagers should have the option of ebooks in their accessible library collections.

"Teen Services Competencies for Library Staff" -- Keep this handy!

Snow, Elizabeth (Betsy)

"Teen Services Competencies for Library Staff", American Library Association, March 1, 2010.

http://www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines/yacompetencies (Accessed November 27, 2018)

Document ID: 622a3066-43b3-d3e4-a9a8-fdd45987d59e

Summary:
The competencies for teen services are very helpful for librarians to understand what teens need in a public library setting, but are also a cogent justification for high school teacher librarians as they plan. From finding ways to engage youth and their families along with the community to reflecting teens and their interests, this article includes handy printouts to post in your space or to give to administrators.

Evaluation:
The standout competencies are "Equity of Acess" and "Continuous Learning" as our role in teen lives cannot be underestimated. Librarians are often the frontline to providing services and outreach, academic or otherwise. Teachers can get bogged down by classroom logistics and this serves as a holistic approach to teen education.

Downloads are here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zo306yughdta5xr/Screenshot%202018-11-27%2011.31.32.png?dl=0

How a Connecticut library became a community STEM hub

Lopez, Carrie

Rodgers, L. (9 March 2018). “How a Connecticut library became a community STEM hub” School Library Journal. Retrieved from:

https://www.slj.com/2018/03/technology/connecticut-library-became-community-stem-hub/

Inspirational article about a community library tapping into local schools and making connections with teachers and thus families. Perhaps a high school library could do something similar with a “family literacy night” using high school volunteers and bring in students and families from area feeder schools for books, classes, reading, cool activities.

What Makes a Great Librarian?

Langstraat, Carina

Stephens, M. T., (2016). The heart of librarianship :Attentive, positive, and purposeful change.
       Chicago; 4: ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association

Descriptive Summary:

This book is a collection of articles and insights from Michael Stephens, Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University.  Its title aptly describes the book's content:  what kind of heart is required to be an effective librarian? Among other things, the answers Stephens provides include a heart filled with empathy for not just patrons but other staff members and colleagues.  "For me", writes Stephens, "the heart of librarianship is learning.  It's a cyclical process of support, engagement, and discovery with deep roots in service, access, and freedom to pursue interests of all kinds".

Evaluation:

It’s hard not to let Stephens’s enthusiasm seep into you as your read this book.  He boldly confronts the stodged librarian waiting to retire who is uninterested in change, asking them to get out of the way so work can be done.   He asks new librarians to be risk takers, innovators, and creators.  He challenges one to proceed rather than sitting around and waiting for permission.  He asks for project management, planning skills, and the ability to make decisions when it comes to any new hire.  He wonders why academic papers have to be so boring, encouraging students to put their own personal slant into their work as a means of showing what they learned, understood, and comprehended. He refers over and over again to librarianship being the “ultimate service profession”, asking students why they are going into librarianship. 

If you are in library school and have occasional doubts late a night about why you are doing this, will you ever get a job in this field, and are their aspects to it that are less dry than your least favorite class, then I encourage you to read this book.  You'll walk away energized and simultaneously grounded about the profession you've chosen.

Reinventing ELA for the Digital Age

Micka, Tracy

INFO 266, Fall 2016

Jenkins, H., & Kelley, W. (2013). Reading in a participatory culture: Remixing Moby-Dick in the English classroom. [Kindle version]. Retrieved from amazon.com.

Summary:

Imagine teaching a high school unit on the notoriously long and plodding Moby-Dick and having the students love every minute of it. Daring? Yes. Easy and without hiccups, no. This book chronicles the experience. Employing multimedia mashups, comic strips, staged and recorded plays, music videos, social media, fan fiction, and other ‘new media’, teachers set out to use different expressive practices to enable students to engage with the text in a deep and personally meaningful way. It wasn’t about entertaining the students or making a boring book more palatable, but rather about developing a community of readers and giving students a chance to express their ideas across a range of participatory media platforms and practices.

My comments:

At first blush, it’s easy to miss what this book has to do with collection development in school libraries. This happens when you have a limited view of what a library collection is and does. When you view a library’s collection as x number of books and educational resources, then you are seeing the collection largely as “stuff”; if, however, you are able to envision the collection as a platform for collaboration, or a body of resources that goes beyond “stuff” to include programming, connection-development, and people; as a place that exists both physically and virtually according to a set of norms and practices that emphasize and enable collaboration, participation, and knowledge-sharing, then you can understand that this book has everything to do with collection development in school libraries. With this premise, allow me to share some of the exciting theories and conclusions offered by this book.

This book is the result of the burning desire to reinvent the ELA classroom for the digital age. We are now well into an era that could be characterized as the fall of the ‘expert’. For example, the role of teacher is morphing from the ‘sage on the stage’ to the ‘guide on the side’- since information has become ubiquitous with the internet, teachers (experts) are no longer the gatekeepers to content (information), and instead, use their skills to enable students to productively, ethically, and creatively act upon a distributed network of expertise in a way that is meaningful for both the student and the global community to which the s/he is inextricably linked. This concept has huge ramifications for how schools and classrooms (and, indeed, libraries) work. Reinventing the ELA classroom, then, involves moving the knowledge culture toward the idea that, “no one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity” Levy’s Collective Intelligence (as cited in Jenkins & Kelley, 2013, Loc 3609). In this paradigm, learning is not an individual, solitary pursuit- locating and using information is as important as knowing how to collaborate with others and generate new information from that process. In this context, it becomes clear that ELA is as much about writing as it is about reading; about consuming information, yes, but also creating it; about traditional literacy, but, crucially, also about the new media literacies. A library’s collection can either hamper this ‘new’ kind of learning, or propel it forward.

This is not a book aimed at librarians, per se. It is a book for educators though. And to the extent that a librarian resonates with the role of educator, it is a book for them. Digital curation, issues of copyright, reading motivation, and intellectual freedom are all explored from the lens of What would happen if school work aligned closer to out-of-school / informal learning experiences? This question is of great concern to school librarians who expect to remain useful. Reading in a Participatory Culture is a landmine of ideas, both disruptive and comforting, that will help librarians understand the larger forces at play with regard to transliteracy, and to integrate the values and logic of participatory culture into their collection.   

Bringing them in: Developing library gaming programs

Werner, K. (2013). Bringing Them In: Developing a Gaming Program for the Library. Library Trends, 61(4), 790-801.

This article describes the development of a library card, board, video, and role-play game collection, gaming days and tournaments that fostered connections with young children, teens, and the local community and businesses.

Alongside the advertised gaming days, the library created a book club hour before gaming time for younger children, and a teen advisory board alongside their gaming time.  Creating this program, the library has become a place teens feel welcome in:  the Teen Book Club is made up of many male teens who started going to the library for the gaming events and became dedicated patrons and readers, and the Summer Reading Program doubled within a five year period.  Also, connections with businesses and community were formed as the library advertised in gaming stores and got advice, marketing tips and support.

Recommendations are given of how to start a gaming program.  Games are suggested and ways to research and find the right games are given.  Listed card, board and role-playing games for the most part can be considered ‘current.’  However, given that this article is published in 2013, the video games may be out-of-date.

Challenges are presented:  the right space for gaming time, theft, download issues, ipad and hand-held devices for gaming use is on the horizon as of 2013.  The writer points out other games may still be valuable, and still encourage participation and interest in the library.

The Future of Libraries

McGuire, Morgan

Future Rooms:  The Intelligent use of Space. (2015, January 15) Tech Learning. Retrieved from: http://www.techlearning.com/resources/0003/future-rooms-the-intelligent-use-of-space/69818

The Future of Libraries

Library collections today are all about strong connections.  Both collections and connections are heavily influenced by technology.  It’s not just about the books anymore.  Technology has a big influence on how people connect to information and to one another.  Successful libraries know that patrons and students want to access collections on-line. Information is being made accessible via the Internet and online catalogs.   Librarians are incorporating technology into collections, and it’s important for patrons to know that connections, to and through technology, are a big part of information services today.  When I came across this article about technology and libraries and space, I had to stop and listen.

According to author Ellen Ullman, educational trends are shifting.  Libraries, and in particular school libraries, are not what they used to be.  The days of the quiet libraries and study halls with rows of books are fading.  The library is no longer a place to sit quietly.  Rather libraries are incorporating more elements of learning commons.  Library space is less about owned items and more about shared collections and connections.  The library as place is about experimentation, creativity, collaboration, and 21^st century skill sets. 

So what are 21^st century skill sets?  The physical aspects of the library are no longer driven by silent reflection and study, but rather 3D printers, maker spaces, spaces for creating art with video, and music labs.   Libraries that are able, are dedicating space for patrons and students to create and learn through experimentation.  Judging from the article, school libraries will still promote reading, but the learning experience is much more tactile, much more hands on.

According the article, students, educators, and administrators that have incorporated “maker-space” and “learning common” space into the physical library have been pleased with the results.  Some school libraries have been redesigned all together and no longer appear to fit the definition of library; “other projects include turning the high school library into a media center with a TV studio, recording studio, and café”. The library of the future is not about passivity, but about engagement and hands on learning.

Guides to Collection Development for Children and Young Adults

O'Brien, Sarah 
 

Book Review 

Gillespie, John T. (1998) Guides to Collection Development for Children and Young Adults. Libraries Unlimited (191 pages)

The essential handbook about collection development for children and young adults, John Gillespie has compiled a bibliography of bibliographies, indexes and professional reference material for any librarian who is focusing on building a bigger and better juvenile and young adult collection. This book is divided by sections covering periodicals, sources for children and young adults and sources for professionals. This expansive annotated bibliography is both detailed and extremely valuable for librarians. This book is highly recommended for anyone studying and researching Children’s Literature and more.

First extracted from the references from the Virginia Kay Williams article I previously wrote about, I ended up buying this book for myself to continue my education and research into juvenile collections. This is an excellent and easy to use handbook that should be on every librarians shelf, it provides access to bibliographies, indexes and professional reference material. As a graduate student studying Children’s Literature and Collection Development, this book would have been extremely valuable during my earlier courses, why my Children Lit professors did not include this handbook, I don’t know!!! As a future Children’s Librarian, I know this book will become extremely handy and helpful  throughout my career.

The Educators Guide to Pinterest

O'Brien, Sarah

Muther, Sarah. (2015) The Educators Guide to Pinterest. Edudemic: Connecting Education and Technology. 

Now that learning is happening online, it’s no surprise that bulletin boards have moved online, enter Pinterest. Teachers, Librarians and Educators use the Platform for many reasons including staying organized, planning projects or collecting material for class discussions. Librarians are running reading programs and creating book lists on top of using it for creative purposes like story times, crafts and (actual) bulletin boards. With a guide for educators on how to use the application, Sarah Muther, provides an in depth outline including planning lessons, fostering collaboration, sharing ideas and providing a list of pinners to follow.

Although this article is very brief in its explanation on how librarians can use the Pinterest application, from the perspective of the (almost) children’s librarian at my library, I use Pinterest for a lot of ideas, whether working with volunteers or using it for personal projects. As the Youth Service Coordinator, I use it to build upon story hour and bulletin board ideas. The author points out that librarians use Pinterest to build book lists and even run reading programs. Just recently, I noticed an adult program called the Pinterest Club, I couldn’t help but join in. There are so many great ways to incorporate Pinterest into the workplace and the library is an excellent place to connect resources and information back into the collections and programs.