Week 10 Reflections

Last week we split into groups to do our one shot workshops. Overall they were very interesting. Everyone chose great topics. I particularly appreciated the one on copyright in libraries because this is important for librarians and I know nothing about it. Also, Andrea and Eden had cupcakes so that helped too. I think my workshop went ok, but not as well as the book club. When we were planning it didn't seem like an uneven balance between straight lecturing and discussion. However, when we actually did the workshop it felt like we talked forever and that the discussion was short and a little unenthusiastic. I'm not sure if this was just because the other groups were much more interactive so we seemed off in comparison or if it was actually a problem. Regardless, I think it went fairly well and definitely was not worth getting super nervous about.

The chapter from How People Learn discussed specific examples of great history, math, and science teachers. Some of the examples were really cool. The teachers that were described gave me a warm fuzzy feeling about schools and teaching. They all were clearly very passionate about what they were teaching and were also very creative. The main point was that good teachers need more than just expertise on the subject matter itself. They also need to have pedagogical content knowledge (knowledge about how the subject is structured, what about it is important, what parts confuse students...). The chapter stressed that there is no one method for teaching that can be transferred to all subject areas. Each one requires different knowledge and strategies. What this seems to say to me is that a good history teacher would necessarily make a good math teacher or science teacher. This then makes me wonder about elementary school where one teacher teaches all subjects for a particular grade. This makes sense to me, but based on the readings I wonder if it is a good idea. The teacher could be wonderful at teaching certain things and not others and where would that leave the kids? I don't know. Changing that would probably throw elementary school into chaos.

I really enjoyed the Matos, Matsuoka-Motley and Mayer article about embedded librarians. I'm not interested in being an academic librarian but if I was I would totally want to be an embedded librarian, specifically the traditional kind. I loved the description of the music librarian who initially had trouble getting faculty and students to accept her but then changed her location and became very involved, included, accepted, and helpful. I know SI has a specific librarian who we are supposed to go to for help and everything. She seems very nice, but I have never felt like contacting her. I might if she actually had an office in North Quad. Or maybe it wouldn't make a difference. I'm not sure. I know the situation is different then with the music librarian in the article because the music library itself was separate from the rest of the library. I suppose the hybrid embedded librarian would be more practical for SI.

The virtual embedded librarian was also an interesting idea (from the Montgomery article) and I understand the need for them. I just don't think I would enjoy that type of librarian-patron interaction very much. Also, I like the idea of webinars for certain things, like learning about library issues (or as a way to learn about new ideas in any profession). It is relatively easy and cost effective. I have not yet watched a sample webinar for class tomorrow (I will before class starts - promise!) but I did watch one about comic books and graphic novels last semester. It was really interesting and informative. However, I'm not sure how I feel about it as an actual teaching tool in colleges and other schools. I know webinars are interactive, but I just can't picture the college kids actually taking advantage of the features. I think they would just go through the motions and not get anything out of it at all. I'm pretty sure that's what I would have done. I guess I might be a little pessimistic about it. It is an interesting idea and it could work.

Week 9 Reflections

I had my book club last week and I think it went extremely well. I always get very nervous before that kind of thing but after it started it almost just ran itself, although part of that might have just been that we had a group of chatty opinionated people. If nobody wanted to talk I bet the whole thing would have been really nerve-racking and painful. Surprisingly, our biggest problem was that the time went so quickly. I thought twenty minutes a piece sounded really long but it wasn't at all. We had a list of about twenty-five questions and I think we only asked five. There were a few I really wanted to ask too, but we ran out of time. I think there were multiple times where we should have cut people off and moved on, especially during the opening introduction. I was really just expecting people to say their favorite fairy tale and move on, not talk about it in detail. Both Natalie and I are fairly quiet people and it was a little hard to assert ourselves in a group of much more talkative people. I think if the book club had been with actual teenagers it would have been a little easier because I would have felt a little more like an authority figure. It's much harder to direct your peers. Other than that, though, it went really well and I appreciated all of the ideas the other book club members brought in.

The other book clubs went well too. I enjoyed them a lot and I felt completely comfortable sharing my thoughts, which doesn't usually happen for me. Everybody brought up points that I hadn't thought of (like Cinnamon... How did I not catch that reference?!?!?!) and made me think much more about the stories. I think for all of them we were supposed to act like teens and that was really difficult. For most of them we eventually gave up. I don't feel old at all, but I realized that I don't think at all the same as I did in high school. So hurray! I'm growing up!

In class we learned about how to do workshops. It was really interesting and helpful to hear all the different techniques and strategies for designing a workshop. In particular, it was good to see how it should be broken up. This makes it a little less intimidating. You can just look at a specific part that has a certain time allotment and plan that, instead of trying to figure out how to fill up a larger amount of time. Obviously all the parts have to fit together and flow, but still. I am very nervous to do the workshops tomorrow, but hopefully it will be like the book clubs and end up being not nearly as scary as I originally thought.

We also had a video webinar with Bobbi Newman. It was a little strange not being able to see her, but I totally understand why she would feel more comfortable that way. Overall I enjoyed it a lot. The views she expressed were much less intense than some of the blog opinions I read, which I thought was good. I wonder if some of that has to do with the way people write blogs. I think it is easy to go on rants and not actually be as hardcore for or against something as it seems. Like I wonder if the Librarian in Black would have come across as more toned down if we had talked to her too. I think blogs can be kind of strange. Anyways, I really appreciated hearing her views on everything.

Week 8 Reflections

My book club is meeting tomorrow, so more on that next week.

I am saving the HarperCollins issue for last. I have to say, the other readings were sort of blown from my mind after that. Anyways, the ALA Code of Ethics initially seemed very short. Then I read the sentence that “The principles of this Code are expressed in broad statements to guide ethical decision making. These statements provide a framework; they cannot and do not dictate conduct to cover particular situations.” I’m guessing if they were any longer, it would turn into rules rather than guidelines. They all seem pretty straightforward. The third one about patron privacy made me think of my recent visit to the Chelsea District Library for another class. The computers there have shields over them that only allows you to see what is on the screen if you are looking at it straight on. I think this is a great example of a library protecting their patrons’ right to privacy.  The seventh principle about separating personal beliefs from professional duty makes a lot of sense, but I think it will also be the hardest to uphold. Most librarians are very passionate about the library and their work. When you become personally invested in something, I think it is also hard to keep your personal beliefs from interfering.

Pixey Anne Mosley’s “Creating a Library Assignment Workshop for University Faculty” was pretty interesting. I really liked how proactive and involved the librarians were in working with the faculty. I have never had a terrible assignment like the ones mentioned, but I can see how it would be frustrating for both the librarians and the students. I found it amusing how many times the importance of watching our for faculty egos was mentioned. Anyways, I thought the workshop was great and I liked the detailed description of how they created it, how they adjusted it, and the feedback they received.

The HarperCollins debate is really interesting and kind of addictive. I would read one thing, then read the comments, then follow the links, and then repeat. With all the many opinions I read, I am still having trouble forming my own. I do think it is an unfortunate decision for HarperCollins to make. At the same time, they are just trying to find ways to make money from digital reading. Many people mentioned how greedy they are. This may or may not be true, but regardless, their main goal is to make money. As a business this has to be their main priority. In my opinion they are just trying something out. Maybe it was a bad choice, but I think they are being unfairly attacked. Libraries don’t really know how to handle ebooks either. Everyone involved is just trying to find their way. Their statement in Library Love Fest basically says that. I don’t know. This is not me taking HarperCollins’ side. I just think they don’t completely deserve a full out attack. Although after saying that, I think it is really something that HarperCollins’ own authors aren’t taking their side in this. I personally think that says a lot. Marilyn Johnson is a really good example of someone who is looking at things rationally and is, for the most part, unbiased.

On a somewhat similar note, I feel bad for OverDrive in all this. Not that they are getting nearly as much negativity, but they still are getting some. I really liked the CEO’s comments on the issue. I thought it was properly apologetic while also not taking the blame for things outside of their control. I agree with him that the better solution was to continue to provide access to HarperCollins, than to just stop. Overall, based on his post I feel like they are the only side involved that are keeping a level head. Unlike the librarians and HarperCollins.

The library side is definitely the most interesting. In particular I love that librarians' reactions range from outraged, sad, level-headed, resigned, unsurprised... It's amazing. Some were all in favor of boycotting, others were strongly opposed. The eBook User’s Bill of Rights was very popular with many, but not all. Basically, there is not full out agreement on anything.

A librarian who was mentioned often by other bloggers is Sarah Houghton-Jan. She is absolutely furious, which doesn't really surprise me. She was really angry about the Library of Congress and Wikileaks thing too. I'm not sure how well placed or productive her fury is. In particular, I was not a fan of the San Rafael Library's letter to Harper Collins. To me, it just came across as angry and a little unprofessional. There was some good information in there, however, so I don't know why it rubbed me the wrong way. If it rubbed someone who is mostly on the library side, then I can't imagine how Harper Collins felt about it.

I also don't agree with a boycott. My opinion on this is pretty much aligned with the BluePixie blogger, who says that by boycotting "we limit patron access because of an "internal" (to the world of books) dispute. While some patrons may understand why, the vast majority won't care beyond the fact that they can't get the latest title when they want it. Along with the fact that I am philosophically opposed to limiting reader access for any reason, as should any professional librarian be, we will damage our own standing with our patrons by voluntarily limiting access. Alienating the people who pay our wages and provide the money to build our collections? It's both hypocritical and bad business." I think she is completely right. Many patrons won’t understand, and patron support is incredibly important. In Emily’s blog last week she brought up how the library in Troy is closing. Although when I looked into that a little it seems like there were many factors involved, the failure to pass the millage certainly didn’t help at all. Losing community support will kill libraries a whole lot faster than the publishing companies.

In addition to this, Sarah Glassmeyer (a law librarian) looked at the numbers involved between libraries and publishing companies. She basically said that if publishers wanted to, they could cut libraries out altogether. She doesn’t think a boycott of HarperCollins would do that much, and that is if all the libraries joined together. If only some boycott, the effect will be even less.

One of the librarians I was following for the blogger assignment is Meredith Farkas from Information Wants To Be Free. I like her a lot so I was really interested to read her opinion. She brought up some great points. She is more concerned with all the e-content issues, than this one in particular. This makes so much more sense to me. I almost get the feeling that librarians are angry about e-content in general and are taking it out on this particular situation. My favorite thing she said is “I find it amusing that some vendors and librarians want to apply the print model to e-books, until that model becomes inconvenient for them.” Print and e-books aren’t the same but both sides of the issue seem to want to treat it them that way when they are making their arguments. Librarians are saying they can get more than twenty-six uses out of a book so HarperCollins is wrong. HarperCollins is saying that books don’t last forever and ever so librarians are wrong. Really, both are moot points. I don’t think they can be compared.

So that is somewhat a summary of some of the views I read. I hope all of it made sense. It’s hard to write your opinion on something when you don’t know what your opinion is.

Week 7 Reflections

I don't have a lot to say about the last class because I missed it due to snow. I went through the slides and I am very sad to have missed Vicki Browne quest speak about book clubs. I love book clubs and public librarians! It looks like she had a lot of great stuff to say. Luckily the notes Kristin took on her presentation were very detailed so I still got a lot of the information. I looked up AADL's Book Clubs To Go and there are some really great books there! A lot of them I have read or have been meaning to read (I still haven't switched back to adult books after 624). The rest of the class seemed to be tips about book clubs and Socratic Seminars. I am interested to hear more about how the practice Socratic Seminar went. The Darnton article brought up great points and I wish I had heard other people's opinions.

This weeks readings were for our book clubs. For my group I had to read The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank Stockton, Cinnamon by Neil Gaiman, The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, and The Last Question by Isaac Asimov. Oh and also my group's which is The Goose Girl by the Brothers Grimm. I did a quick read of all the stories but I am not meeting with my group until next week so I will go more in depth on them later. I think it is interesting how different everyone's stories are. They took place in everything from the past to the future and covered fantasy, science fiction, and realistic fiction. I am really looking forward to the book clubs next week.

Sorry for such a short post! Hopefully the next few weeks will make up for it.