Friday 5th October

Article – Conversations

Author – The True Adventures of a High School Librarian Blog

Posted - Friday, September 28, 2012

Located -  http://educationrejuvenation.blogspot.com.au/

Viewed on Friday 5th October

This blog just outlines the importance that sometimes you have to actually talk to people you work with. They might surprise you. This librarian works in a school library and the school offers a subject she had no idea what it actually was or did. So she took herself and spoke to the teacher who ran the program. She found out what the program was and how the library could help with resources. Then later another conversation took place when she was installing software onto a teacher’s computer and found out the teacher was intending to step out of his normal comfort zone of teaching and was going to try different things, including using different types of technology in his class teaching. Again the librarian found out how she could help and what resources they had available. She was amazed that having two different conversations with teachers she worked with would have such a positive response. And a more fulfilling role to play.

Sometimes knowledge comes from the logical places if you think about it. The library is not just the four walls that surround it. Especially in a school. Teachers have an amazing range of knowledge and should be used by the library to get the best out of both.

Friday 28th September

Article – Digital Literacy, Libraries, and Public Policy Draft Open for Comments

Author – Bobbi Newman

Posted - September 27, 2012

Located -  http://librarianbyday.net/2012/09/27/digital-literacy-libraries-and-public-policy-draft-open-for-comments/

Viewed on Friday 28th September

The American Library Association formed a Digital Literacy Task Force in 2011. This task force was set up to investigate Digital Literacy in libraries. What needs to be improved, remodelled or removed completely from the policy. The policy is a 21 page document.

As Bobbie Newman is a Member of the ALA. She has set this blog up to be a comment point. You can lodge your comments and thoughts about the policy on her blog and she will pass them on. She also has links for you to do this yourself.

But having this blog is a lot easier to place your comments and thoughts and hopefully it would reach a far wider community than it would normally. As I live in Australia and I am still able to comment on a policy in another country. Whether they take the comments seriously or not, I will never know. But at least I now get the opportunity to do this. I get to have a say.

Friday 21st September

Article – Cycling for Libraries – A TTW Guest Post by Mace Ojala

Author – Dr. Michael Stephens

Posted - September 19th, 2012

Located -  http://tametheweb.com/

Viewed on Friday 21st September

Mace Ojala commented that all conferences and professional development are all conducted the same way. We are placed in a room, a person stands in front and then talks and show slides for the next two hours. You have a short break and then move onto the next person. We have always done it this way.

Mace commented that all the actual networking is done in the break. Where people talk to other people. Get thoughts, opinions and ideas.

So for the next conference, instead of just turning up, Mace organised Cycling for libraries. Roughly 100 librarians got together and rode 650 km in 2011. They rode from Copenhagen to Berlin to be present for 100^th Deutcher Bibliothekartage. It worked so well that for the 2012 IFLA WLIC conference in Helsinki they planned to do the same thing.

We need to have new and different ways to learn, share and work together. Coming up with innovated ways to share this knowledge helps to renew interest and get people thinking. 

Friday 14th September

Article – Library in the News: August Recap Edition

Author – Erin Allen

Posted - September 13th, 2012

Located -  http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2012/09/library-in-the-news-august-recap-edition/

Viewed on Friday 14th September

This article discussed how the Library of Congress was in the press during the month of August. But all the articles written were in a favourable light. It pointed out the Library was using technology to preserve the nation’s past and future.

The article was full of links that I spent ages just jumping from one to another. One link just had pictures showing bulldogs in costumes (some were really cute) to a really interesting one on how currency was made a century ago. All the links were items that the Library of Congress held and of course once you went to one you find yourself looking at others. 

Friday 7th September

Article – Question of the Day: What the Truth in Taxation Act Notice Really Means

Author – Julie

Posted - Friday, September 7, 2012

Located -  http://www.plainfieldlibrarydirector.blogspot.com.au/

Viewed on Friday 7th September

Julie discusses the amount of taxes a library can collect and that there is a maximum level and this level is set by law and the voters in the district.

This library is situated in Plainfield, Illinois, USA. I didn’t know that libraries were able to collect taxes. The whole document was a little bit confusing and some of it was really hard to understand.  But what I did learn that Plainfield hold a public hearing but to actually attend this hearing or present a testimony you had to put in an official notice that you would be doing so. And I thought some of our procedures were complicated and hard to understand. But there’s was impossible. Sometimes simple is best.

Friday 31st August

Article – "We’re a copy-and-paste profession"

Author – Aaron Tay

Posted - Monday, August 27, 2012

Located -  http://musingsaboutlibrarianship.blogspot.com.au/

Viewed on Friday 31st August

Aaron Tay writes about how libraries have tendency to what other libraries are doing then follow suit. And he made an observation that the greatest strength libraries have is that they share information and this in fact could turn into a potential weakness. He also points out that sometimes we copy an idea but without considering if it makes sense or fits in with our ideals or in fact if there is a better way to do it.

I agree with Aaron to some degree. It is far easier to use something you know works and the hard yard has already been done for you. And sometimes the world of new thinking and new ideas is hard, really hard. But sometimes you need to take a chance because it might pay off in the long run.

Friday 24th August

Article – The Reluctant Cataloguer

Author – K.G. SCHNEIDER

Located -  http://freerangelibrarian.com/

                   It was posted on Friday 17^th August, 2012

Viewed on Friday 24th August

Free Range Librarian comprises the public, oft-daily mumblings and grumblings of one K.G. Schneider, a writer and librarian who has published over 100 articles and 2 books.

The blog is basically her thoughts and ideas. What is happening at her work as well  in world outside of it. I like how she words things that occur in every body’s life and that a laugh is good. This blog is just about that she recently been on vacation and a new term looms ahead of her and that the vacation is becoming a pleasant memory. Other blogs I have read from her are about hiring/un-hiring of people, a friend passing away, her being in charge, birthdays and conferences she has attended.

Because I have had to do some investigating for these blog posts, I now have another resource to tap into. It’s fun reading what she thinks and some of the points that she covers makes you think as well. I now will be checking into this blog at least once a week to see what new has been posted.

Friday 17th August

Author – Casey- Cardinia Library Blog

Located -  http://www.cclc.vic.gov.au/blogs/invisible-ink?page=3

Viewed on Friday 17th August

The Casey – Cardinia Library has its own blog page. It has four main blogs which include local history, library news, teens news and children’s news.

I lobe logging into this site, has it lets you know what’s going on in their library world. From the reading room where you can discuss books, find books in the same genre or by the same author. It has links to Advisory Council on Public Libraries. Where you read discussion papers on tomorrow’s library. Plus what is happening in the area. Plus I love reading there Reading Rewards blog as it is all about books for adults. 

Friday 10th August

Article – Continuing the Conversation: Choosing an e-Book Platform that Works for Your K12 Library.

Author – Submitted by Daniel A. Freeman on August 8, 2012 - 9:21am ( The article was placed on a blog but the actual author of the presentation was Buffy Hamilton.

Located -  http://www.alatechsource.org/blog

Viewed on Friday 10^th August

Basically this presentation went about showing how to pick an ePlatform. What questions to ask when looking to purchase a system. What features do they come with, what support do they supply, can it be incorporated into your current system or do you have to run two separate systems to accommodate e-Books. Then the presentation went onto discuss five known systems. What they each had to offer, what their drawbacks were and what they posed to do in the future.

This presentation was really interesting because it was something I hadn't even thought of. I am still very much the physical book person. I like holding an actual book. As with people and libraries, you go into a bookshop, find a book and purchase it. You have this item physically in your hand. You can cover it, label it, put it on a shelf and lend it to people. But with e-Books, it’s an electronic copy, so of course it would be handled differently. The presentation put forth so many questions that you would have to ask yourself. For example, most systems are subscribing ones. You pay a subscription each year, what happens to “purchased” e-Books if the subscription is not renewed. I don’t know how e-Books work. I don’t know anything about the systems that you need to read and access this information. It makes it all seem very daunting and waters that seem a little scary to be jumping into.

Friday 3rd August

Article – 6 Facebook Pages Every Librarian Should Follow, Plus 17 Bonus Pages

Author – Bobbie Newman

Posted - November 29, 2010

Located -  http://librarianbyday.net/2010/11/29/6-facebook-pages-every-librarian-should-follow-plus-17-bonus-pages/

Viewed on Friday 3rd August.

Bobbie Newman is an ALA councillor and has her fingers in a number of pies. She is very passionate about libraries and is a resource treasure trove. So when I came across an article that she had written which outlines Facebook pages that you should  follow, I looked into it further. Of course they are all American based but with knowledge in hand, I then went in search of similar pages that were Australian based.

I use Facebook nearly every day, but generally it was just to see what my kids were up to. What pages they were following, liking or commenting. And of course playing a couple of games.  I never thought about using Facebook for anything else. Now I look at it in a different light, since doing this course. Now when I log into Facebook, I now look to see what else is out there and what information I can gain. So not only adding her top six pages to my following list, I have added others as well. Bobbie’s top six were 1) American Library Association, 2) Webjuction 3) Your state and local library association, 4) Library Journal, 5) Library Renewal and 6) Learning Round Table of the American Library Association. Some of them make pretty interesting reading especially if they discussing where libraries are headed in the future.