Leverage Leadership by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo

This book focus on what we are talking about in class. Improving the learning experience for everyone. It is about starting with school leaders and teaching the importance of learning not tests and scores.In this book there are "core ideas" which I see as comparison to "the Big Think" it is about what did the student learn?
This book talks about team development - leadership development. These area's would include lesson plans, observations, results, data and development.
This book is a good guide to use with our class, in our class I feel that it is more centered on the student and the book is on the leader/teacher. All in all it is about helping teachers be better teachers and not just recording grades and students to be more interested and invested in learning and participating and thinking.

Does My Collection Reflect My Community? Diversity in the School Library

Panelists Sylvie Shaffer, PreK-8 Librarian, Capitol Hill Day School (DC)  (@sylvie_shaffer‏) Matthew Winner, Elementary School Librarian, Howard County Public Schools (MD) (@MatthewWinner, @ChildrensBkPod)

This Future Ready Librarians’ webinar takes a long hard look at the authors or curators of the literature in our children’s school library collections. This topic and inspection can inform our selection of diverse books in our communities. Their data features statistics about books received (3,500) and census estimates from 2015.  For example, in 2017 White Americans (61% of the population) were the authors of 85% of the total number of books published.  This leaves very few new books written or shared with the children’s book center (or school libraries) by marginalized, or other authors. Moreover, the books published historically have not been written by individuals from non-white communities.  The panelists further include important topics such as what is diversity, and what is the importance of diverse books in a homogenous population.  The popular topic of books as windows and books as mirrors is presented as more than just a connection to literature for the reader but as a literary journey, meaning “transform human experience”. To get started tips for analyzing classroom libraries and workbooks are presented. Simple audits are done by students in the classroom or with a scholastic book fair. The flyer provides real-time data and anyone can take on the challenge. Additional resources for staying engaged and informed about new titles and new authors representing various backgrounds include asking specifically for diverse books from publishing companies, reading blogs, joining diverse books campaigns, creating Symbloos with schools, reviewing electronic collections, making Padlets and so on.

Reflection: These are practical tips and suggestions for the librarian to consider.  Perhaps the collections policy needs to include a checklist, or better yet, the electronic analysis needs to highlight or give prizes to the schools that take the time to transform their collections to meet the standards we are seeking.  While I think it is important to reverse the trend and provide authentic literature from people representing all cultures and lifestyles, I do not want to have a diverse collection that doe not appeal to my young patrons. A further topic could be how to promote the titles once they are acquired.

Perception Matters

Richers, Katherine

 

Powers, B. (2016). Perception matters: What message are we sending to faculty with departmental book allocations? Collection Management, 41(4), 221-227. doi: 10.1080/01462679.2016.1242443

 

Summary:
In this article, the author focuses on how the faculty of a university can help build a collection as well as how changing budget allotments can bring libraries more in line with their modern-day purposes. Do budgets accurately reflect types of materials in the library? Some have tried to shift the focus of the budget from acquisitions to access.  She looks at the possibility of eliminating departmental budget allocations, and notes how the college where she worked did not adequately reach out to faculty on the subject. The library sent out emails about the book collection and did not explore anything different for other collections. Librarians and faculty at her college rarely went over budget so rethinking the allocations would not have been too problematic. In 2016, the college finally restructured their budget to encourage faculty to work with librarians to develop subject-based collections in different formats.

 

Evaluation:
All the budget politics were confusing, but I understood it. Thinking back to the Sammonds and Housewright article I posted, I think physical books are too closely associated with libraries. While I am a great fan of books and I believe that we should have analog materials, the prevalence of the internet and electronic formats demands differ materials. The college’s library should have emailed the faculty about more options besides the book budget.

 

 

 

 

Should These Clothes Be Saved?

Richers, Katherine

 

Friedman, V. (2019, 29 April).  Should these clothes be saved. The New York Times. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/fashion/smith-college-clothing-collection.html

 

Summary

Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts has a collection of 3,000 pieces women’s clothing that’s unusual because most of it is not designer or from anyone famous. The collection has recently come under scrutiny for its purpose and value.  Many pieces are stained and have been donated by alumnae or were purchased at auction by the professor who started the collection. English, history, anthropology and math classes have studied the collection. The dresses are considered important by students and by staff because they belonged to everyday women. However, at this point it’s not a formal collection and what could happen to it without funding and institutional support sounds dismal. Moving the collection to another institution has been suggested.

 

Evaluation:

I chose this because it spoke to me on collection weeding. This isn’t even a formal collection but it’s become a valued part of a college. I wouldn’t know what to do. I like the idea of moving the collection somewhere else but the staff students seem to really like it and find it useful. The professor who started it has a point; why shouldn’t a women’s college study the clothing of ordinary women? At the same time, a museum might increase the audience.

 

 

 

Enabling Inquiry Learning in Fixed-Schedule Libraries: An Evidence-Based Approach

Enabling Inquiry Learning in Fixed-Schedule Libraries: An Evidence-Based Approach

Stubeck, Carole J. Knowledge Quest; Chicago Vol. 43, Iss 3, (Jan/Feb 2015): 28-34

Summary: Libraries often adhere to a fixed schedule for class lessons and classroom room teachers are provided prep time or grade level professional learning community time. This supports the learner in a minor way and often supports for instructional development is missing.  Working with fixed schedules limits time for an important teacher to teacher collaboration and slashes the time needed to build inquiry-based studies. As a result, it creates challenges for the teacher librarian. The author addresses one middle school librarian’s efforts to create collaboration and collaborative lessons while on a fixed schedule. Some solutions are offered. She creates a strong argument that small measures should be taken to ensure learner-driven project learning in our school libraries.

Evaluation: The fixed schedule model, where students are cycled through the library or tech area without a core teacher, often creates low expectations. Often open library hours are limited, and there are strict procedures based on class management concerns. The alternative, flex time, as we like to say, benefits the community as a whole and is more reflective of what libraries aim to do, provide access. With time to co-teach units and direct research, the school will develop fluid use of a librarian's skills and all will benefit. To reach this goal the teachers need to be part of the selection process during the school year. The our collection development will support core curriculum.

Understanding the text genre preferences of third-grade readers.

Gallo, G. & Ness, M. K. (2013). Understanding the text genre preferences of third-grade readers. Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 9(2), 110-130. Available at http://jolle.coe.uga.edu/

Summary: Many have reported that reading success stems from curiosity, enjoyment, and interest.  With an eye towards reading success, building stamina and making personal connections to subject matter the authors use a study of 78 students to explain the importance of teaching reading with informational text. They monitor daily instruction, attitudes, and preferences between fiction and non-fiction. Then the study compares students' self-report against actual reading during Relax and Read programs in 3rd-grade classrooms. Most often students expressed their preference in selecting non-fictional text because the topic was already important to them.  Across the board, students demonstrated a preference and familiarity for fictional text more often than the other.  The review also sheds light on the importance of this genre by stating, "More specifically, through exposure to informational text, children built their background knowledge of the works and of domain-specific topics".

Evaluation: This study reminds me of our role as librarians, to support a learners "entry point" into a genre. Students interest may change but we can support learning success and positive reading habits by incorporating informational text into our daily routines.  Additionally, with more exposure to media and social media sharing, non-fictional stories may be shaping the learning of "domain-specific topics" in a way we have never seen before. Collections management needs are shifting to more informational text.

Chapter 3: Curation in public libraries

Tammy Ross

Valenza, J. K., Boyer, B. L., & Curtis, D. (2014). Chapter 3: Curation in public libraries. Library Technology Reports, 50(7), 18-26.

Summary

This article presents Q&A style interviews with three public librarians: Billy Parrot of the New York Public Library, and Amy Sonnie and Meredith Sires of Oakland Public Library. Both interviews reveal how social media curation, using channels such as Pinterest and Instagram, can help libraries promote areas of their collections and engage their user communities.

Billy Parrot runs NYPL’s Instagram page and maintains thematic Pinterest boards that promote the library’s Picture Collection, a traditional print collection of postcards, photographs, magazine clippings and other nostalgic images organized by subject headings. Some of Parrot’s thematic Pinterest boards promote items within the Picture Collection that connect to history and pop culture, such as the TV shows Mad Men and Downton Abbey. For example, Mad Men character Sally Draper’s Reading List ultimately links back to items in the library’s collection. “I like defining curation as the retelling of a story, maybe a visual story,” Parrot says. “From a curatorial standpoint, taking one subject and seeing it through different divisions, looking at books and music and films, rounds out a subject and gives you a more detailed picture” (p. 19). By connecting users to the library -- users who may come to the library and those who don’t -- the library is able to promote its collections. Parrot says tools such as Pinterest and Instagram make libraries more aware of the “possible audience” (p. 21). More than anything, though, Parrot says this type of digital curation is fun.

Amy Sonnie and Meredith Sires use social media to promote Oakland Public Library’s TeenZone. Digital curation allows them to “share materials in a more immediate, interactive and visually appealing way” (p. 22). In addition, they add, using Pinterest enables them to highlight services and items in the collection without having to update the website, which often involves cutting through layers of bureaucracy. “Pinterest allows us to be both dynamic and responsive to new ideas,” Sonnie states (p. 25). Sires notes that social media tools like Pinterest enable librarians to learn from each other and collaborate.

Evaluation

I enjoyed the conversational Q&A format of this article. It seemed like the librarians interviewed were talking directly to me. If I were a librarian, I would definitely experiment with social media as a way to connect patrons to the library’s collection, programs and services. It’s always fun when people connect on social media over things that interest them. It makes sense that librarians use social media tools to generate engagement and interest in all the library’s collections have to offer. This is one area where the library I am studying needs to improve.