Catching up on library school

I’ve been on Spring Break the week before last, then last week marked our mid-point in my Library Management course. (Yes, it does seem like longer).  I’m the discussion board moderator for these two weeks about Managing People.  Reading from Herbert A. Simon’s book Administrative Behavior I inserted this quote:

"The major problems of organization today are not problems of departmentalization and coordination of operating units.  Instead, they are problems of organizing information storage and information processing -- not division of labor, but factorization of decision-making.These organizational problems are best attacks, at least to a first approximation, by examining the information system and the system of decision it supports in abstraction from agency and department structure" (p. 248-9).

My questions posed are:  What issues have you witnessed or heard of regarding problems in communication?  What could have been done to solve the problem better?  As a manager, how would you have dealt with the communication in the (library or other) organization?

I’ve found some pretty interesting comments.  I figured that was going to be a hot topic for many people.  There are public and school librarians who say that there are issues within the departments that aren’t expressed to other departments or that instructions aren’t clear and concise. 

Aside from my discussion board moderation, we have a Stakeholders Analysis project for the Dallas Public Library.  I’ll be taking on the local colleges and the City of Dallas itself for my part of the project.  We’ll get the first draft done by April 11th, then the final draft done by the 27th.  Aside from that I’ll have to do my final Reflective Diary for weeks 5-10, plus outline and complete my Personal Theory of Management paper.  That’s a lot of work to turn in by May 4th but I’ll be glad to have it under my belt.

Right now I’m still leaning toward the idea that I won’t be joining up for another online program anytime soon.  Granted I’m not working (still) and I have time to do it, I’m just burned out.  I’d like to do something in Education, but then again I’m not sure.  I think it’s best to just enjoy the Spring, look for work, get back to writing (and blogging) and try to get into a program later on when I can be in a face-to-face setting for a higher degree.  Or, better yet, if my workplace would pay for it!  I was looking through tons of online programs and then after moving and getting settled, I decided that more time in my real life was more important.  Granted I feel more enlightened and accomplished when I’m learning in a class but I can always do some online Webinars or courses through the ALA or YALSA. 

Married life is just way too good to worry about homework! (And you can quote me on that.)  With that said, I’ve got to get back to my cooking…

Going on Week 3

I found out today that since I’ve just arrived in the UK and only under a Visa, I can’t take my teacher training courses with “home” status tuition. I’d be shelling out $18k for two terms just to undergo training that will do nothing more than get me a teaching license in England.  Not worth it.  Ignorance was bliss for a while and I had this grand master plan how I’d work in the summer, then go back to school in the Fall.  Now I’m just going to have to work and keep on looking for a school online in the States to keep up my credentials until we get back.  Until then I’ll just have to try and find some kind of job without the Qualified Teacher Status here; teacher’s aide if they’ll let me.  I can always go to a temp agency or the Job Centre and find something non school related if the system won’t have me.

I’m now torn between the idea of getting an Learning and Technology degree from WGU (as the information states, this is for school media specialists) or the Ed Specialist program at Liberty University.

It’s mildly disappointing but it’s fine in the fact that I don’t have to try and force any kind of plans on myself.  Usually I’m full of organization and plans but now, heck, I can’t make any because I don’t know what’s around the corner.  I’m just enjoying being here with Steve and seeing what life, school and career offer me next.

So I have Librarians as Instructional Partners and Library Management as my courses this term.  So far I’m a bit disappointed with my “fun” class of the Instructional Partners class.  School Librarian classes before were cool.  This one is full of wikis with information all over the place instead of just in the main class webpage.  Then we have a ton of (groan) partner work.  (I should have known.)  But since it’s my last term, the class is paid for and it’s technically an elective, I’ll grin and bear it.  The Library Management class is my main focus so I have to get an A in that and grab that degree in May.  Hooray! Anyway, I did a few things for my class that I wanted to post.

Librarians as Instructional Partners Online Discussion

First, my Librarians as Instructional Partners class required me to make a short video of myself as a portrait of what kind of collaborator I am based on a couple of (not really accurate I don’t think) personality tests. 

My Jung Typology test says that I am an INFJ: Introverted 11%, Intuitive 25%, Feeling 38% and Judging 67%. I really don’t feel that is my personality at all, however. I find the term “judging” to sound harsh rather and assessing, carefully thinking through, planning and organizing, which is what I do. Hartzell Needs Assessment indicates a balance of needs for achievement, power and affirmation. I had four questions that I answered with a 1 or 2 on each section.

http://animoto.com/play/WLtn5kUsQFBJwj3lzjNvYg#

Secondly, today I had to post my reason for wanting to be a school librarian and, thus, collaborator with school teachers:

I love books and I love being important

It sounds silly but it’s true. I love the idea of being a go-to person of importance. I’ve been an English teacher. I’ve had librarians who are very helpful, on top of their game, and always willing to help. That’s the kind of librarian a teacher needs as a collaborator and as a kind of support system. I will say though, sadly, I’ve run into school librarians who weren’t as helpful when I needed interviews or help on assignments in my other classes. I want to do the best I can, learn as much as I can, and play a major role in the function of my future school. I love the idea of being the one whom people come to for help whether they are students or teachers. I know that principals rely a lot of the librarians for teacher training in new technologies or resources. The school librarian is an essential part of the school. My love for learning, literature and, let’s face it, books, is why I want to be a classroom-library collaborator.

Schools and salespeople

While I’m waiting to ring in the New Year, I thought I’d write an update about my search for an online Education program.  As I said in my last post, once I’m in the UK, I’ll be trying to get into teacher training there.  But that won’t start until Fall if I get in.  I won’t be able to be in the classroom working (for school or otherwise) until then.  I need to take online Education program classes to keep my teaching certificate in Florida up.  But without access to a classroom, I can’t take any kind of courses that require field work or a practicum.

I was going to go with GCU, but after Christmas break, they called me six times a day, trying to get me to sign something that was “urgent.”  Since I’d already read bad reviews from them where it was said that they hound you to get a hold of your Financial Aid money, then dash off, never answering the phone or helping you again.  I guess they wanted me to sign off that they’d enroll me in classes on the 30th and have me give them money (which I don’t have now to attend class anyway).  But a normal school would just leave it up to the student.  If you sign up, fine, if you don’t pay, you’re out of the class.  The fact that GCU hounded me so much like telemarketers and salespeople, I really knew it was best to steer clear of them.  Plus, there were problems with the program:  I needed to complete a practicum and I couldn’t take more than 60 days off a couple of times while I was attending.  Just not a good vibe about the whole thing, so I ditched out of it even though a “supervisor” called me and “needed to know either way.” Strange practices that school has.

So I still am thinking about Liberty University except for the problem, again, of having to take a practicum by the end of the program.  Now, if I do get into a teacher program and get into the classroom in the UK, that’s fine, I can so something for Liberty.  The problem there is though, they want 120 hours of practicum.  Not entirely sure I’ll be able to swing that but at least I have 5 years to complete the program in total.  By then I’ll be teaching somewhere I’m sure.

But my latest prospect is Tiffin University’s online MEd program.  Their classes are 100% online and I don’t need to be in the classroom to finish the program.  That’s a major plus right there.  Second of all, it’s set up to match Ohio state standards which makes it a credible program.  My other option I had looked into was staying at TWU for their MEd in Reading program.  It’s listed in the online degree programs and I filled out a new application for it because I’d like to just stay put at a school I know I like.  Trouble is, after digging deeper, I found that the program isn’t 100% online and about every class needed some kind of field work with it.  So I guess all I can do is wait until later to get my Reading Endorsement under my belt.  After talking to a Reading teacher on Twitter who really enjoyed her job, I think it would be really beneficial to have that kind of range in my capabilities as an educator.

While I’ve mentioned before that this did start out as a blog about librarianship, I find that I have to add in my teaching endeavours as well.  It’s all steps to my dream job as a School Librarian.  I have straight As for the Fall term and a GPA of 3.6.  I think I’m headed in the right direction.

Oh yeah – Happy New Year, everyone!  I should be across the pond in about 21 days now.  Hooray!  Steve and I plan on having the best Christmas-in-January ever.

Until Spring 2011…

I’ve finished my courses for the term, officially.  I just submitted a Pathfinder for Information Sources (Reference Librarian class) on American Southern Cooking.  It was really tricky since it had to include almanacs, yearbooks, handbooks, encyclopedias, directories, indexes and the like.  With cooking you basically have magazines, books, television programs and some websites.  But I dug through and found enough things to list so tonight I just added a few more sources, annotated what I had and submitted it.  I was only one day and 15 minutes late on it too – that’s not too bad. 

I ended up with a 950 out of 1000 in my Children’s and YA Literature class as well so my grades should be pretty good.  I want to apply for membership to Epsilon Omega Epsilon (EOE) in January.  I missed the deadline this term so I want to make sure to join before I graduate in May.  I’ll be able to use the insignia on my cover letters and mention my membership in my resume.  Not too shabby.

Knowing that I’ll be graduating in May next year makes me very relieved.  I honestly am not going to be interested in getting into another college program now that I’m a married woman with a life to live.  Before it was just me and trying to get whatever head knowledge and skills I could to get put into some kind of career that I could stay in.  Now that I’ll have my Professional Teaching Certificate in Florida and my MLS degree I will be armed with the tools I need to get into a School Librarian position, should one come up.  Granted, as I said last post, there are stipulations for becoming a teacher in the UK that differs vastly to the requirements from state to state.  That’s one thing I may have to get into – more teacher training.  But no more Master’s degree programs for me for a while at least, until I really have to get one.  I just hope I won’t end up needing an IT degree – I don’t know if I could deal with that much techy coursework.

Now, again, the thing I don’t love about the library degree is that it’s just a lot of fact-finding.  That’s the main reason why I’m glad it’ll be over.  The course work offers little for creativity.  Granted there is some when we have to create pretend events or new programs at the library.  But just talking about the surface of the book and not analyzes the contents and how we can use them is dull after a while.  Now, the Children’s and YA Lit class really gave me the room to read, analyze and discuss how I’d use the books in library or school situations.  That’s what made me really think I wanted to work at the School Library.  It also means there won’t just be a public service vibe to my job.  I understand that it’s more than that, but when I was volunteering I just felt like I was back at Winn-Dixie again, ringing up people’s groceries and giving them money for their returned items.  Plus, when it’s public domain you get the odd balls whom, yes, I sympathize with, but I don’t want to have situations again where I have to call the police because some random person stole some random item off the shelf.  I’ve done that way before I had an education and I’ve no interest in going back there.  (Even though I probably will when I have to gather up some experience at the public library next year.)

Anyway, so Christmas break for me is here and I couldn’t feel less Christmassy.  There’s a slim chance I’ll get an approval email on my Visa next Monday or Tuesday but if not, that means I won’t be going over to be with Steve until after the holidays.  Complete bummer.  If this were April or something and there wasn’t much going on aside from Easter, I wouldn’t feel as bad but Christmas is a biggy and we still have not spent our first Christmas together as a married couple.  Again, major bummer but by going over after the holidays the flights and delays and crowds will be less of hassle to deal with so there is a bright side to this after all.

End of Fall 2010 Term

Next Monday I’ll have my final project, a book trailer, submitted in for my Children’s and YA Literature course.  I’ll also have to finish up my Info Sources project, a Pathfinder on Southern Cooking, by Thursday.  For the most part, aside from a few discussion board responses, that means I’m done for the term.  I’m totally relieved.  I’ve really had a rekindling of love for the library and I know I want to get into the school or academic library (later on if I get some experience and a PhD under my belt).  I’m a bit over it with the courses though.  Burned out I guess you could say.  I’m ready to have a week where I don’t have to think about what homework I have to do.  Saying that, I’ll probably have to do some teacher training courses once I move, but I’m not really unhappy about that.  Hands-on experience and doing something for my career puts you in a different mindset than just sitting and a computer all day typing up papers.  These projects have been killers but get me the head knowledge and the grades I need.  It’s a whole different world from the English/Writing/Education field I was in before.  It’s a lot of fact finding and opinions based on fact rather than creative ideas.  Not that a librarian doesn’t have to be creative, it’s just that there’s a whole science to how the library runs, just like a court of law.  There are ways to do things and the librarian just has to know these ways (and get better ideas for different ways by studying other libraries and librarians.)

I hope that soon I can write more detailed stories of my time at the library.  I’m working on it and I know I’ll get there soon.  May 2011 will be the month of MLS magic!

Collection Assessment

Collection Development class discussion

This question focuses on different collection evaluation methods. The textbook and the articles talk about different methods to evaluate collections. Please pick one method and talk about it. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method?

Circulation studies seems like a fairly easy method to deciding if the materials on the shelves are something your patrons are interested in. If you have a collection with books that have not been checked out in several years, maybe it’s time to add that to the library book sale next time and look for books that will be of more interest. However, if we look at the circulation as “the adequacy of the book collection is directly related to its usage” idea, then we may be weeding out some valuable, classic literature that just hasn’t been checked out for a while (Evans 326). That is not to say that a student in the near future will not want to do a project on Mark Twain and will be interested in checking out his works (for example).

This module is all about collection evaluation and collection assessment. For the collection that you are developing in this class, what are the methods you would use to assess your collection and why?

For my YA serialized novel collection, I would definitely have to keep tabs on the circulation of each book. Even if it’s something I view as good as an expert (choosing something recommended in Booklist or something I saw at the bookstore that seemed interesting) that doesn’t mean my teen patrons will be interested. I would try to “push” a book like that through the Book Club and Teen Space website, but if that fails, I would look to see the use of other libraries statistics. If the book is doing well at another county library, then I’ll keep the book on the shelf for longer in hopes the interest will pick up.

Teaching

The semester is almost over and I keep getting late work turned in.  This weekend will be all about me getting these last grades in for their Drama Unit and then by next Wednesday all the Literary Criticism work (and the inevitable last minute work) will be turned in.  I’ll also have to give them the Final Exam that day too.  Then finals will be done, grades will be put in and everything will be done for the term.  It’s been fun.  I’ve enjoyed working BCC quite a lot. 

Personal stuff

Once school is over, I’ll be doing mad cleaning and getting ready for Steve to arrive.  Then it will be Disney vacation time!

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Internet

In searching for other internet sources that are pertainant to my blog, I went to Bing.com and searched "florida elementary school library". I found Florida Bible Christian School (http://www.floridabible.org/school/library/elementary.htm), which has direct links to Broward County Kids' Catalog Web Site, eBrary and ProQuest, which students must have a username and password, given to them by the school library, to access. I find this wonderful for showing students how to search other databases instead of having just information about the library, as some school library sites had. I can see using this as the library's home page and then teaching students to search various databases from there.

Visual / Multimedia

Looking for school library graphs and charts, I came across this cable graph. In Milford, MA, they have meetings at Town Hall once a month to discuss issues that residents have. This chart indicates the grants given to various establishments in Milford to have free cable. Most of the money has gone to the schools, and 19% of that money has gone to the Milford High School media center. The website states that,"The infrastructure fund was used to establish wireless internet service in the library, update the MHS and Comcast Studios with digital editing equipment and implement a new bulletin board system for the School Channel." I am so glad to know that the community backs and supports school libraries and the learning process that extends from books into multimedia avenues.

Graph source: http://www.milford.ma.us/cable.htm

Image

Searching for an image in Bing.com, I looked up "pre-kindergarten library" and found this. I chose this image because it shows what an elementary school library could look like. I also liked this image because the school where the image was taken, Ecole Parkside School, says that they include extra student involvement with the library by joining the Library Club where "Students from grades 4, 5 and 6 are invited to assist in the operation of the library at noon and after school. They shelve books and help to process new acquisitions." A very neat way to get students involved!

Library image source: http://www.gppsd.ab.ca/school/parkside/ProgramsServices/Library/Pages/default.aspx

Citation Pearl Growing Search in WorldCat

For this search, since I had to go as specific as possible, first, I chose an article from my previous search: "School Readiness and Pre-Kindergarten Programs" by Nancy McEntire. I used the terms s au=mcentire and s ti=school. I did not recall the name of the journal, so I tried with these two terms first. This produced results, but McEntire, Nancy was not listed in the database. If I, again, go back to other searches, "Science Books & Films' best books for children, 1992-1995 (book review)" from Booklist, may be retrievable in WorldCat. I tried s ti=science, and s pu=booklist. No results. Next I had to try one of the other book reviews, such as the one I found on "Footprints in the Snow" by Beverly Combs, published by Library Media Connection. I tried s ti=footprints, s su=combs and s pu=library and ended up with no results. By just searching "Combs" I could find articles, but none by Beverly Combs. If I took one of my failed results, I could look up the article, "Writing from the heart : inspiration for the writer's heart" by Erica Combs, published in More Heart Than Talent Publishing, Inc. I go back and search s ti=writing, s au=combs and s pu=more. This pulls up the article immediately. I guess if you're going to look for a specific article, it's a lot harder to find the right database that carries it. Using a cross-reference database would have produced better results.

Successful Fractions Search in Library Lit

With the specific facet approach, I didn't have a completely narrow topic to begin with. Now, with the successful fractions search, I will have to purposely narrow by adding facets. To try and change things, I will go backwards from my last search, and begin with "fiction". Undoubtedly that will have a huge number of hits. I search "fiction" and get 5495 hits. If I add the second facet of "books", this will still cause a lot of hits, I'm sure. It does: 2823 hits. Now, when I add on the third, most narrow term I had, "prekindergarten", I end up with 0 hits. I go back and try the spelling again, first with "pre-kindergarten", which does not good, then "pre kindergarten" which leaves me with no hits. I have to eliminate the "pre" and use the word "kindergarten" as my third facet term, and now I have 3 hits. These hits include only abstracts and only articles. However, the third article, "Science Books & Films' best books for children, 1992-1995 (book review)" is a good article to use, if I can find it in full test. Too bad it is over 10 years old though.

Specific Facet First Search in ASC

Since my building block search in ERIC did not give me many books listed for toddlers, I used ASC to find books for those aged students. To search for the facet with the fewest hits first, I chose to look up "prekindergarten" which gave me 468 hits. The second facet I added was "books" which gave me 42 hits. Since some of these are scholarly articles that are about school programs (such as the article, "School Readiness and Pre-Kindergarten Programs" By: McEntire, Nancy), I chose another facet. My next facet term was "fiction". This gave me 4 results of good, books to read in a Prekindergarten classroom: "Footprints in the Snow", "Penguins", "Smelly Peter: The Great Pea Eater" and "The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll." These are books reviews that were published in 2007, for the last book and the rest were all published in 2009. This is a good start in creating a Pre-Kindergarten library.

Building Block Search in ERIC

For my Building Block search, I took the query, “What reading books are recommended for Kindergarten students when beginning school?” This search can be narrowed down to s1: reading s2: books s3: kindergarten. I narrowed the search by Education Level: kindergarten as well. I wish to find examples of books that I could use in a school library for kindergarten children.
One of my results is "March of the Penguins: Building Knowledge in a Kindergarten Classroom." While this is an article describing how to teach the same principles of reading strategies with read-alouds and vocabulary building. For a young audience, the visuals along with the words created a tremendous learning tool. The author of the article, Lauren Fingeret, also give information on lessons and tables indicating tested results of those skills.
While this article does not discuss a book, it is quite useful in knowing that I can look for the film and give teachers the lesson plan information. Since Reading strategies go beyond books, I find this a very useful and unexpected search result.

Tagging / Indexing / Cataloging

I searched under "school library" in Library Thing and found this tag cloud:

2001 reads(1) 2004(1) 2007(1) 20th Century(4) 21st c.(1) academic libraries(1) advocacy(1) Australian(2) Autobiography(1) books(1) Books and Reading(2) budgeting(1) censorship(1) collection development(1) copyright(1) database(1) education(5) Fiction(1) gt(1) in(1) information literacy(10) information science(1) intellectual property(1) lesson planning(2) librarians(3) Librarianship(1) libraries(7) library(1) library science(4) management(2) non-fiction(5) public libraries(1) read(1) reading(2) special collections(1) standards(1) teaching(8) technology(1) vintage(1)

The tag cloud and information for "school library" is at the following link: http://www.librarything.com/tag/school+library

Within that search for school libraries, I found a book entitled Library 101: A Handbook for the School Library Media Specialist. This book is a good resource for a career in school librarianship . Another good resource I found was New on the Job: A School Library Media Specialist's Guide to Success, which I would think would serve its purpose in what the title indicates. Having a simple guide to begin your career in school librarianship would be very important to have in your personal library. This book comes highly recommended at Amazon for any first year school librarians, especially elementary school librarians.

RSS

I looked extensively through the ALA RSS feeds list but most of the Children's Literature feeds were only to Wikipedia sites. The updates would only be for changes made to the Wiki site. The RSS feed for the ALSC is not working for that Wiki so I chose to search for "children's literature library blog rss" in Google. There I came across the site that I used my first relevant blog post on, which is the ESSL Children's Literature Blog. I have added this blog's RSS feed to my sidebar.
http://www.library.illinois.edu/blog/esslchildlit/index.xml
Having a list of books that is theme appropriate for all ages is a wonderful resource for a school librarian. Since there is a vast difference between a 7th grader and a 12th grader at a junior/senior high school, having these kinds of book lists handy will help find material for students of various age groups and reading levels.

Podcast

Using iTunes store, I searched for "library" in the podcasts and found "Cool Tools for Library 2.0". As the introduction stated, this podcast is mainly for educational purposes and shows what kinds of tools to use in the classroom and the school media center. For working with students, having new and interesting tools to use to get students engaged in lessons and in what the library has to offer is always essential. It's good to have these kinds of up-to-date posts about new technologies that will work in a school environment. The podcast shows examples and helps the librarian know how to use these kinds of tools for a young audience.

Their blog address is http://cooltoolslibrary2.blogspot.com/

Related Blog

I used Google Blog Search to find the following blog article. It is from the Children's Literature at the Education & Social Services Library. http://www.library.illinois.edu/blog/esslchildlit/archives/2008/08/sibling_rivalry.html
I found this article to have relevance to my blog's theme, as it is important to find books that children can relate to. This article shows a list of various books regarding the theme of sibling rivalry, and lists books for all age groups.
As the article states, "Conflict between siblings is a universal theme. Stories about famous siblings from Cain and Abel to Venus and Serena Williams have captivated people throughout the centuries. The following books explore the frustrations of sharing Mom and Dad's attention, dealing with annoying younger brothers and sisters, and learning to appreciate each other."
Having books available that interest children gets them reading and engaged in the task. This is important, not only for young children who are learning to read and are experiencing a new sibling into the family, but for middle ages and teens as well where these issues are still prevelant, and, perhaps, more difficult.

Initial Post

This blog is for the exploration of information I find regarding young readers in school libraries. As a former teacher, I am interested in learning about how to incorportate my previous experience with my new career. When I complete my Library Science program in December 2010, I will be ready to work in the K-12 level. I enjoy working with children and will be grateful to learn all I can about the needs of young readers.