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What's New?
August - Birth Month of
Leo!
The end of the summer is
nigh upon us and it was a busy and productive time.
My summer fieldwork is ending, right when we finally got the bugs out
of the video editing class!
My lone video teen, Zeki, and I got one of his videos done last week,
and are still hoping to get the green screen to work. We had a
problem with backlighting the screen so much it washed out the green, I
may have to dye it a deeper lime green.
My Young Adult Lit class has been superb! If you are a School
Media Specialist, Teacher or Librarian who wants to learn more about YA
Lit, I highly recommend the 646 class taught by Mary Wepking at
UW-Milwaukee! Mary is a wonderful teacher and really knows her YA
Lit! If you take it in the summer online, be prrepared to
read at least one book every 3 days!
ALA National Conference.
What can I say? Amazing and very informative! I met the
Shannachies, 3 librarians from the DOK (Delft, the Netherlands), the
amazing library bureau of investigators. They are doing things in
Delft which are truly cutting edge, and further show the blending of
libraries and technology. See the other side column, and the page on
Interactive computing.
I learned that non-traditional uses for technology are fast becoming
traditional (got to write that paper soon!). There will be a page
coming soon!
June
Summer has arrived!
I have been working on
implementing my video production ideas at the Oscar Grady Public
Library in Saukville, Wisconsin.
Since April, I have been involved with the library helping with the YA
Summer Reading Program.
We're trying to get some teens out to try their hand at video
production.
I was able to find a perfect lime green sheet set for
chroma key use, and John Holdun, NYU Film School student and
friend, has been very helpful suggesting programs to use and techniques.
A new page called "Budget Video Production" will be added soon!
Watch for it, and send me questions if you want!
Oldies but
Goodies
Or...I'm no archivist but ...
On St. Patrick's Day, Kimberly Bolan Cullin, of Kimberly Bolan and
Associates put some of my ideas on video production on a budget for
teen and children's spaces.
Kim's company does design consulting for Teen and
Children's spaces, and is the author of two books available from the
ALA on this topic.
Check out her blog at:
http://indielibrarian.blogspot.com
As this is the first edition of my
homepage/blog, please be sure and check out the photos of my two
cow-kitties, Eve and Ella. They are sisters, and each has a
heart-shaped spot on her right side when sitting. These same
hearts actually look like the "person reading a book" sign that
is in front of your public library! How cool is that?
Eve and Ella Cow-Kitties NOT at large!
Updated 3.17.09
| "I can't pay the
rent!" |
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| Eve - the big sister |
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A Male
Children's
Librarian?
An
anomaly to be sure!
So how did I choose to become a
Youth and
Children's Librarian? It was easy! I work at a large chain
bookstore, and I read Mr. Kent's Storytime every week to "my kids".
I absolutely fell in love with watching their eyes light up as I
became the pirate captain, the baby raccoon, the imposing frog, or the
small boy in the story.
The kids are great, and I love performing
for them! Get them involved, use different voices to fit the
characters, and have fun! I am working on learning storytelling
techniques so I can act more and have an even better time!
I am also a big fan of technology bringing
teens into the library and finding that one thing that captivates them.
bringing out the child still inside.
I also have an unnatural interest in
untraditional uses for RFID in libraries. I have a couple
projects I'm working on in this area, which I hope to have
finished in a year (with a bit of help from some friendly
RFID or UPC manufacturer - hint, hint), and hope to show as part of my
master's thesis.
If you also have an unnatural need to play
with RFID or UPC, contact me!
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| a younger, but not
wiser, me |
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Libraries
and Technology
Libraries
have traditionally been not only the archivists and
history-keepers, but also the technologists and futurists.
Librarians are often
embracing the very technologies that threaten to
put them out of a job!
Check out the DOK,
the public library in Delft, the Netherlands. These photos are
from Jenny Levine, The Shifted
Librarian:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shifted/sets/72157604142377648/
Jenny was instrumental in bringing the Shannachies (sha na key) back to
the US for
the ALA LITA President's presentation (unfortunately held at the same
time as the Library Cart Competition). :(
The DOK is not just crammed with technology,thought was also given to
making the library more personal, accessible, more user friendly.
Bright colors, gaming, innovative thinking and a great use of the
bookstore model.
How many of your libraries don't allow food and drink inside? DOK
has a cafe with coffee and a juice bar, also snacks. Eric, the
head Shannachie said "people check out materials and take them
home, where they eat and drink, why restrict them in the library?"
I agree. In the bookstore, we have a cafe, people read, eat
and drink, and we rarely have any spills, although of course it happens.
If circulation is King - I think we have to get on the stick and
embrace some of the forward thinking ideas - or become obsolete.
Yes, we need quiet areas. But we also need areas for kids
to be kids and make some noise. We need areas for teens to be
teens. We need dedicated gaming areas, audio and video production
areas and cafes! And we need to let people enjoy their cafe
purchase in the library!
After all, libraries and librarians are keepers and purveyors of
freedoms.
Access to technology is a freedom we can't afford to ignore.
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