School Libraries in Tennessee and Beyond

This blog began as a way to discuss school libraries in Tennessee (and beyond) and became an access point for librarians who are part of the Tennessee Association of School Librarians. It is one of the many newer tools out there for us to use professionally. Here is your chance to experiment while you contribute to the profession. Think about a topic that you’d like to discuss lightly with others. Then register on this blog to begin posts. If you have difficulties, email me at DianeRChen@comcast.net and I’ll help you get started.
Some ideas racing through my brain right now:
*the recent controversy over getting paid/reg. comp’ed vs. contributing to the profession
*the issue of 65% and what ALA should do
*the lack of school library leadership within the TN DOE
*wikipedia and when should it be used
*myspace and free communication vs bullying possibilities
*filtering and ENA over-riding priviledges

Just saw this exciting announcement on LM_NET’s El-Announce. Since I have recently begun watching Podcasts of the Daily Show (among more intellectual pursuits), I thought you might find this of great interest.

Thomson Gale Adds Podcast Feeds to Database Resources
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Nov. 8, 2005 - Thomson Gale, part of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), announces the addition of podcast feeds to InfoTrac on Thomson Gale PowerSearch and its Student Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center and History Resource Center databases. Weekly presidential radio addresses by George W. Bush from January 2005 to the present will be podcast beginning today. New presidential radio addresses will be added weekly.
While this addition marks the first podcast ever loaded to Thomson Gale reference databases, the company will add more podcasts in the coming months. Podcasting is included in Thomson Gale database subscriptions.
“With the number of colleges and universities handing out iPods, and the ever-increasing number of students and adults buying these and other MP3 devices, we have the responsibility to provide content to our users in ways that fit into their everyday lifestyle,” said Gordon Macomber, president of Thomson Gale. “Podcasts are now available for a number of premier content sources. It is our goal to find the ones that make sense in a school or library setting, and make them available as a supplement to traditional reference and periodical content.”
Podcasting is a means of distributing audio programs via the Internet. Once users select their desired files, or “feeds,” they can download the material to their iPod or MP3 device and hear the material whenever they choose.
For example, when students log on to the InfoTrac database and conduct a search for ‘Supreme Court,’ results under the ‘Multimedia’ tab will include any of the 2005 weekly presidential radio addresses that include mention of the Supreme Court. Users can access the podcast immediately, or download it for later listening to supplement their research.

Call your Thomson Gale electronic rep for more information at: 1- 800-877-4253

Terri Alcazar
Thomson Gale
Director of K-12 Curriculum Marketing
27500 Drake Road
Farmington Hills, MI
48331

800-877-4253 x 1014
terri.alcazar@thomson.com
www.galeschools.com

During Joyce Valenza’s keynote address at the TASL conference, she asked how many school libraries in Tennessee had signed on for Web 2.0 with local colleges. Since this is a topic slow to reach the many counties of TN, here is a link to an excellent discussion of Web 2.0 on Ariadne of Paul Miller’s insights. Happy reading.

Blogging seems uncharted territory for many librarians in Tennessee. The TLA conference in April will have 2-3 sessions on blogging, if all the approvals go through. If you have not been following some of the hype on teenagers use of the internet, blogging, and IM’ing to communicate, it’s time to read. Go check out the Pew Foundation’s latest report Teens and Technology: Youth are Leading the Transition to a Fully Wired and Mobile Nation “The number of teenagers using the internet has grown 24% in the past four years and 87% of those between the ages of 12 and 17 are online. ” From this report we learn that
􀂄 75% of online teens — or about two-thirds of all teenagers — use instant messaging,
compared to 42% of online adults.
􀂄 48% of teens who use instant messaging say they exchange IMs at least once every
day.
Teens are writing. Whether we understand all the folksonomies or not, they are spending a huge portion of their time communicating with circles of friends and everexpanding regions of interest.

It’s time for Tennessee school librarians to practice blogging, IM’ing and quick-texting so we can meet the needs of our students.

Please post here as a comment the sessions you most appreciated during the 2005 Tennessee Association of School Librarians conference. Also, what did you enjoy the most?

I appreciated Barnes & Noble and John Tullock’s customer service. When I browsed Thursday night looking for specific books, John and his staff recorded titles I was interested in, suggested new books, then went back to the store and had the titles by Friday morning when I returned.

Cheryl Sheridan’s session goer’s received a CD of projects that could be immediately adapted to my students and I’m already busily working on this for Monday morning.

Joyce Valenza continues to inspire, amaze, and wipe me out! The energy and passion she brings to providing the best materials to her students is amazing. Many people at the conference regretted that she had to rush so much to present such a tremendous amount of content. However, Joyce’s dedication to her students and commitment to being there for them prevented her from getting to the TASL conference until late Friday night. With only 2 50-minute sessions and a keynote, she compacted three 2 hours workshops into less than 3 hours. Pretty amazing. Of course, she couldn’t have printed enough handouts because I think she went through 900 pages of material. (Okay, I’m exaggerating, but even my head was spinning at the end with the vast possibilities out there.) Joyce designs her workshops to inspire and excite you. I am including the links below for you to go and download each of her presentations. Then, take some time and go through this at your pace. Click the links that you promised her you’d visit. (I was there, I know who you are!) Find something new and think about it. Save the documents and refer back to them as you continue to EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS. I enjoyed my time with you at the conference and look forward to seeing you in Chattanooga next year, then Franklin the following 2 years.
Keynote Speech Powerpoint
Garden Powerpoint from 1st session Saturday
NeverEnding Search powerpoint from the final session
Pathfinder Information

Carol Burr received the highest honor TASL bestows on a school librarian - the Clara Hasbrouck Award. Carol has demonstrated continued commitment to TASL and provided valuable leadership at several levels in our organization. She has given generously of her time and talents. Her leadership and willingness to share her knowledge has provided TASL a strong foundation and a direction for our organization and its leaders.

Barbara Robinson, author of the book The Best Worst School Year Ever, and VSBA winner from 1998 spoke at the awards luncheon.

Great Table decorations!

Great fun was had by all:

President Allison Roberts prepares for TASL business

Scholarship Fundraising through the Used Book Sale

Newly elected Vice-President/President Elect for 2006 Margaret Hausaurer

Brenda Moriarty and Nancy Dickinson

Presenter Cheryl Sheridan

Here are some quick snaps of people at the conference. More to come.


Bruce Hester, Conference Chairperson

Becky Jackman, Exhibitors Chairperson, gets directions