Social Software and the Day School Librarian

Slide 1: Social Software and The Day School Librarian A Brief introduction to Blogs, Wikis, RSS and other web 2.0 stuff Karen Ulric, School Media Specialist kulric@ssdseu.org Bernard J. Meislin Memorial Library Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex & Union, Upper School West Orange, NJ 2007

Slide 2: What is this web2.0 anyway? The read/write web   User-focused and user-driven  Web 2.0 is a concept, not a defined set of applications  What web 2.0 promises is interaction and engagement  New ways of communicating professionally and personally

Slide 3: Why bother with Web 2.0? Professional enrichment – Creative writing   reading and contributing assignments to relevant blogs and wikis Student ownership  Wider audience than  Jewish Day Schools have  the classroom unique needs – these tools can help us fill them! Meet students in their  world to engage them

Slide 4: The “Millennial Generation” are DIGITAL NATIVES We are DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS Lee Rainie, Pew Internet & American Life Project

Slide 5: Some of the most popular Web 2.0 applications Blogs/RSS   Wikis  Audio/visual sharing  Social networks (myspace, facebook,etc.)

Slide 6: Blogs (Write One!) Create a blog!  Library news, Book Reviews – add a link from your library webpage, or  use a blog as the library webpage  Popular blog hosts: General:  www.blogger.com (now part of Google)  www.typepad.com  www.wordpress.com  Educational: Designed for Schools  BlogMeister  ePals (more than blogs – classroom to classroom sharing, etc.)  Gaggle (secure email, blogs)  imbee for Teachers and Schools (secure Social network , email, blogs)  Examples of library blogs  Nothfield Mount Herman Library Blog/  Library of Congress Blog  Gargoyles Loose in the Library  Blogs can incorporate audio (podcasts) and video  The Book of Life 

Slide 7: Blogs (Read them!) Read blogs! Great for professional development! Blog Readers let you keep up with multiple blogs  in one place Blog Readers use RSS (real simple syndication)  to create a “feed” that you can subscribe to Popular Blog Readers  Bloglines www.bloglines.com  Google Reader http://www.google.com/reader/ 

Slide 8: What I Read - My Blogroll Education technology Library Literature Link to Ed-Tech Blogroll Link to Library Blogroll Link to Literature Blogroll 2 Cents Worth  •AssortedStuff •A Fuse #8 Production Alice in InfoLand  •Gargoyles loose in the library blogwithoutalibrary.net  •Brave & Brass Book Blog •Google Librarian Central Blue Skunk Blog  •Brooklyn Arden •Google Librarian Newsletter eHub  •educating alice Free Range Librarian  Google Group •Hennepin County Library - From the Trenches of Public Ed.  •HigherEd BlogCon Bookspace Blog Giveaway of the Day  •Infosearcher •The Longstockings Joyce Valenza's  •Killin' time being lazy NeverEndingSearch •Muller In the Middle •Librarians' Internet Index: New Information Wants To Be Free  •NPR Topics: Books Jewish School Libraries  This Week •NYT Book Review learning.now  •Library Garden •wayfarers all learning.now comments  •Library of Congress Blog •Ypulse LibrarianInBlack  •Library of Congress: News Library Stuff  •Library Stuff Mark's edtechblog  Religion •The Liminal Librarian NYT > Technology  Link to Religion Blogroll Search Engine Watch •The Plagiarism Blog  Talking Out Loud  •The Shifted Librarian •Mayim Rabim Techcrunch  Tools for the TEKS Updates  •Rabbi without a cause Ubiquitous Thoughts  •Renegade Rebbetzin Weblogg-ed  The Websearch Blog 

Slide 9: Wikis Community driven websites where multiple  people can edit the information in real time Wikis can be open to the public or limited as the  creator desires. Uses include:   Pathfinder & subject guides  Industry/ Career specific collections of information and/or best practices  Group projects

Slide 10: Wiki Examples Pathfinder/Subject Guides   SSDS Holocaust Research Guide  SJCPL Subject Guides Industry/Career Specific   Jewish School Libraries  Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

Slide 11: Wiki Examples cont. Group Projects   http://ssdstechcommittee.pbwiki.com/  Google Documents is a very simple way to do a group document. www.docs.google.com  Events   http://ajl2007.pbwiki.com/  http://cil2007.pbwiki.com/

Slide 12: Social Networking Purely social sites are often not appropriate for  schools – ie myspace, although many libraries are creating pages  Brooklyn College Library Myspace page But many sites for sharing information can be  useful  www.flickr.com (photos)  www.youtube.com (video) search “schechtervision”

Slide 13: In Conclusion! The tools are cool, but they are not an end in themselves  It is most important to determine what you want to  accomplish – and then decide if these tools are appropriate Effective use of technology requires major pedagogical  shifts Have fun – the more you know the better you can lead  your library, your school, and your community!

Slide 14: Interesting articles, blogposts & resources Wesley Fryer: Moving at the Speed of Creativity.  Let’s ask teachers to rethink assessments Web 2.0 Meets Information literacy!  Teacher Librarian Ning: a community for teacher-librarians and other educators  Which Wiki is right for you? Shonda Briscoe, SLJ 5/1/2007  Microsoft Digital Literacy  Partnership for 21st Century Skills  21st Century Skills for Strengthening your school library program. Pam Berger, Infosearcher  The question IS the answer: Creating research projects for an age of information. James  Mckenzie RSS Tutorial  Coming of Age: an introduction to the NEW world wide web. Terry Freedman (ed.)  TRAILS: Tools for real-time assessment of information literacy skills  Using Blogs as a Novel Approach to Engage Students. Learning Now - Andy Carvin,  Pew Quiz: What’s Your Technology Temperature? Part of the  Pew Internet & American Life Project