Civil Discourse

"couple yelling at each other" by hang_in_there

There have been numerous mentions in my network recently of an online petition to Save School Libraries, which recommends that:

"Any school receiving Federal funds should be required to have a credentialed School Librarian on staff full time with a library that contains a minimum of 18 books per student. Failure to have a school library open to all students and/or failure to have a credentialed School Librarian to run that library should be punishable by a immediate withdrawal of all Federal monies."

While many people supported this proposal, Buffy Hamilton chose to blog about Why I Am Not Signing the "Save Libraries" Petition. Doug Johnson voiced his agreement with Buffy in You can't mandate quality, but you can mandate mediocrity. Each of these postings was thoughtful, reasoned, dispassionate. Unfortunately, many of the comments added by readers were not.

During my classroom days, I sometimes shared with my students the Rules of Civility that were written by a teenage George Washington. Although we laughed at some of the caveats ("Spit not in the Fire, nor Stoop low before it neither Put your Hands into the Flames to warm them, nor Set your Feet upon the Fire especially if there be meat before it."), and shook our heads at others ("In Speaking to men of Quality do not lean nor Look them full in the Face, nor approach too near them at lest Keep a full Pace from them.") we found some recommendations that still hold true after more than 250 years.

In regards to conversation, Washington admonishes:

• Use no Reproachfull Language against any one neither Curse nor Revile.
• Let your Conversation be without Malice or Envy, for 'tis a Sign of a Tractable and Commendable Nature: And in all Causes of Passion admit Reason to Govern.
• When you deliver a matter do it without passion & with discretion, however mean the person be you do it too.

Two hot topics in education today are cyberbullying and good digital citizenship. We cannot just pontificate on these issues. We need to model positive behavior for our students. Disagreeing with a professional colleague in a respectful manner is appropriate; personal attacks and name-calling are not.

When engaging in a public discussion, please remember to keep a civil tongue in your head.

It All Started with a Rant...

JOHNSON, Doug. School Libraries Head for the Edge: Rants, Recommendations, and Reflections. 196p. illus, bibliog. Web sites. CIP. Linworth. 2009. pap. $35. ISBN 978-1-58683-392-3. LC 2009022053.


When I "discovered" the world of blogs, RSS feeds, and online interaction, I began by reading the offerings of four people: David Warlick, Will Richardson, Joyce Valenza, and Doug Johnson. Although I now skim more than 240 subscriptions in my Google Reader, this quartet continues to challenge my thinking and enrich my professional understanding.

Doug Johnson's new book, School Libraries Head for the Edge: Rants, Recommendations, and Reflections is a collection of his columns for "Library Media Connection." For some reason, this volume became vacation reading for me: I first opened it on the train to Philadelphia for EduCon, and finished the Afterword on a beach in Dorado, Puerto Rico.

The book is divided into thematic chapters, like "On LIbraries and Education in Transition," "On Reading, Research, and Technology Skills," and "On Technology in Education." Individual offerings are arranged in chronological order, which shows both Doug's evolution as a teacher/learner AND his early identification of trends and issues in educational applications of technology.

Rather than try to reprise the author's pithy and entertaining writing, I decided to spotlight one entry, "How We Spend Our Days."

Doug begins by mentioning time management and the stress of increasing job demands. But rather than stopping at advocating for staffing or funding, he urges "all educators, especially those involved in libraries and technology" to consider some key points when assessing a program:

• Should someone else be doing this task?
• Am I operating out of tradition rather than necessity?
• Is this a task that calls for unique professional abilities?
• Is this a job that will have a long-term effect?

In times of fiscal crisis and budget slashing, it's not enough to "save" programs. Appropriate utilization of available resources, including personnel, is essential. As Doug reminds us, "...it is important to our patrons, our organizations, and to ourselves that on a daily basis we consciously evaluate how we direct our energies."

"School Libraries Head for the Edge" is full of observations that cause the reader to pause, reflect, reconsider.

Like a fine wine, it is for savoring, not gulping. This book was, after all, perfect vacation reading.

Thanks, Doug!


Disclosure: This review was based on a press copy of the book, which I received for free from Linwood Publishing.

Welcome to the Jungle

Education Week has just made available online a timely article about the shifting role of school librarians and the evolving purpose of libraries.

The dual title says it all: School Libraries Seek Relevance Through Virtual Access; Librarians' Roles Shifting to Address the Demand for Quality Online Content.

As Cassandra Barnett, the president of the Chicago-based American Association of School Librarians and the school library media specialist for the 2,000-student Fayetteville High School in Arkansas, points out,

"Gone are the days when a library was essentially a warehouse of books...We have really burst out of our walls, and we’re a part of everything in the school now, which I’m not sure was always the case."

Yet even as school libraries work to expand their scope and purpose, budget issues on the local, state, and Federal levels threaten to severely curtain services. Hours of operation, level of staffing, and print and online resources all depend on funding that is increasingly tight.

Why do schools need professional teacher/librarians?

Doug Johnson, director of media and technology for the 7,000-student Mankato school system in Minnesota, explains it this way:

"We’ve gone from being a guide in an information desert to a guide in an information jungle," he said. "Instead of having to seek out information, students and teachers are now inundated with it... and it is the librarian’s role to teach them how to judge the 'good resources from the bad resources.'"

Information literacy, the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, and share needed information is “no longer an optional literacy,” said Buffy Hamilton, the media specialist at the 1,500-student Creekview High School in Canton, Ga. “It’s a literacy and a form of cultural capital that I think you have to have in order to fully participate in today’s society.”

Carolyn Foote, the district librarian who works at the 2,500-student Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, speaks of the expansion of services to include not only research, but production

“Students are producing all sorts of products—YouTube videos, PowerPoint presentations, online slideshows, podcasts—and so as librarians, we need to have the skills to work with all those different formats and help students learn how to produce in those formats,” she said.

Continuing this train of thought, Joyce Kasman Valenza, library information specialist for Springfield Township High in Pennsylvania, adds

"...libraries are no longer 'grocery stores' where students can go to pick up ingredients, but 'kitchens,' where they have the resources necessary to create a finished product."

While some might question the need for a physical library, given the pervasiveness of Internet connectivity, advocates say there is still a need for such a space, operating under the guidance of a teacher/librarian:

"Providing students with a space where they can gather, share ideas, and learn is what we try to do,” Ms. Hamilton added, “to be at the heart of learning, both formal and informal.”

"The library is not a shrine for the worship of books...A library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas." -Norman Cousins




"Welcome to the jungle" by neeZhom

Buffy the Filter Slayer

In case you missed the tweets and retweets, the plurks, or the blog postings from Doug (who started the photo madness), Gwyneth, Joyce and me, among others...tonight is the ISTE SIGMS free webinar, "Free the Filter," presented by Buffy Hamilton.

Gwyneth Jones has kindly allowed me to copy both her informational summary and the Buffy poster. If you work in a school or any type of library, you NEED to participate in this webinar!


"Fight the Filter" ISTE SIGMS
2nd Webinar!

Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010 at 8 pm E.S.T., 7 pm C.S.T., 6 pm M.S.T., 5 pm P.S.T Presenter: Buffy Hamilton

Want to start your new year off by making a positive difference in your library program? Join ISTE SIGMS for our second FREE webinar on January 13 at 8 pm E.S.T. when Buffy Hamilton, The Unquiet Librarian, will share her ideas on "fighting the filter."

Directions to join the SIGMS webinar event
1. Check that your computer is set up for Adobe Connect by visiting Adobe Connect Pro Connection Test
2. Use this URL to enter the webinar room 10 - 15 minutes before starting time: http://Montgomery.na4.acrobat.com/SIGMS
3. Enter as a guest and type your first and last name.
4. Here is a link to a Visual Quick Start guide (pdf) to help you if this is your first webinar event.
https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a227210/vqs-participatemeeting/



"Fear of corrupting the mind of the younger generation is the loftiest of cowardice."
- Holbrook Jackson

Evolve, Adapt, and Thrive

"Our best librarians will evolve, adapt, and thrive in effective schools." -Joyce Kasman Valenza and Doug Johnson, School Library Journal, 10/1/2009

Things That Keep Us Up at Night enumerates the issues that are a concern (or should be a concern) to school teacher/librarians:

• economic shifts
• intellectual property shifts
• the challenge of keeping ahead
• failing to embrace networked media
• advocacy by nonlibrarians
• national expectations that ignore critical learning skills
• missing the potential of reading 2.0
• realizing that Internet access is an intellectual freedom issue
• recognize that modern practice is directly connected to equity
• we are bigger than databases
• define the brand
• plan for one-to-one computing or ubiquitous computing
• become an online presence
• see obstacles rather than opportunities
• the lack of urgency in our profession

Rather than attempt to paraphrase this article, I urge you to read it in its entirety.

Joyce and Doug have issued a warning and a challenge: embrace the change in our profession or face irrelevancy and obsolescence. We're at a critical juncture; we can become a part of the new information landscape or fade into obscurity.

What will you choose?



"There ain't no rules around here. We're trying to accomplish something." -Thomas Edison





"Alice looking for Wonderland" by micheleart