7+Reflections

Thursday - April 7, 2011 Topic: **Pursuing the Perfect Pathfinder Platform** http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2011/03/18/pursuing-the-perfect-pathfinder-platform/ Pathfinders are a collection of resources laid out in an organized and user-friendly way as a springboard to kickstart research for a project. It is important to find a pathfinder platform that has the easiest interface for students to use, otherwise, they might opt not to use the information an educator may have so diligently collected for them.

Thursday - April 7, 2011 Topic: **An Academic Hit Man Brings More Bad News** http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/books/in-the-basement-of-the-ivory-tower-by-professor-x-review.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss This article is about a book which is about a poorly paid adjunct professor who could not make it as a writer. The bottom line of this article and book is that "not every American kid is cut out for college" despite the president's championing community colleges. Students go into debt when college does not necessarily benefit them or their ultimate career choices.

Thursday - April 7, 2011 Topic: **Internship/Volunteer/Networking/Palmer listserv**

On the Palmer listserv this morning, I got this email

To Whom it May Concern,

 The Rubin Museum of Art is looking for a volunteer librarian between  the hours of 9-5 on Mondays through Fridays. The library is a small <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> collection of about 3,000 art reference materials. You would be <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> managing the collection, participating in an international publication <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> exchange program, and assisting curators and educators in using the <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> library. A large part of the job is copy cataloging, and some original <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> cataloging. It's a great opportunity for hand-on experience in all <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> aspects of arts librarianship, from acquisitions to cataloging to <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> reference. We are looking for someone to start ASAP.

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">And saved it because if there is a worst case scenario that I cannot get a job in my field right away, I would at least volunteer about 5 hours a week as a librarian until my job hunting pays off. Chalk it up to more experience, right? Funnily enough, a person on the listserv replies to this right away, angered that newly graduated library students not only have a tough time getting a job but are asked to volunteer. He misread and believed the volunteer position required all those hours indicated, but of course, it was phrased vaguely enough that it could have either meant that or whatever hours a volunteer chooses to put in. It was a comical misunderstanding, but this listserv generally fueled quite a few replies.

<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; line-height: normal;">One person (and I agree with her) replied that it was who a person knows that can get them a position as libraries tend to hire internally. It was true and I do think and believe my internship and whatever positions I may volunteer for in the future will effect my chances of securing a good position. Still, I can't help but think back to the NY Times article of unpaid interns: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">[]

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thursday - April 7, 2011 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Topic: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Reframing the Concept of Plagiarism, Or What I Learned From Banksy** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">**<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal; padding-right: 10px;">[] ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This article discussed how to draw in students by having them help decorate the library. The purpose of this art project was supposed to give students a sense of ownership and allow them to feel that they are part of the library. However, the school decided to re-do the art project the following year and the educators noticed visual plagiarism... some students unknowingly replicated the art of others in the past year and did not acknowledge it. This raised and interesting problem, in many ways more interesting because the way to explain it to student is more tangible. That is to mean that students will understand more readily how plagiarism could effect them in an immediate way rather than if they were caught plagiarizing words written in a different generation than theirs by a stranger.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thursday - April 7, 2011 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Topic: **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">A Universal Digital Library ** <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; padding-right: 10px;">[] <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Google's efforts to make a digital library for profit (see <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-right: 10px;">[] ) was denied by a court in NY, but it paved way for others to make a universal digital library free and accessible to the public. What ever happened to Google's motto to "do good"? The commercialization of Google is troublesome. However, it is great that this movement spurred on the desire for others to make this a humanistic goal to digitalize books to be made available freely to the public. Some possible support for a universal digital library may come from the Digital Public Library of America, National Archives, and Library of Congress. The idea is still in its infant stages and there needs to be organization for the scope, content, audience, and governing for this universal digital library, but that the idea is out is very exciting. Think of the access to rare and out of print books that will soon be available to us in the future.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thursday - April 7, 2011 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Topic: ** Augmented Reality App for Shelf Reading ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">[]

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">This application in the video is featured on a Samsung Galaxy tablet (but I imagine it can soon be uploaded to androids, iphones, ipads, and so forth). It basically scans the shelves digitally and show the user on the screen if a book is out of place with a red X. If it is in the correct place, there is a green check. It can also show the user where the out of place book belongs. It will certainly take the tediousness out of shelf reading, but may either make the job of pages obsolete or open up room for more serious responsibilities for pages (hopefully the latter). It is also exciting for libraries, especially media centers, whose budgets cannot afford the extra help to have this type of technology. Primary school media centers can especially benefit because children may not yet have learned how to put books back properly.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thursday - April 7, 2011 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Topic: **Rise in Online Classes Fuel Debate About Quality**
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[] **

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Cutting corners by making more online classes and less physical classes means it's less expensive, but also less beneficial for students, especially in K-12. Think of it, most students do not have the foundation needed to study independently. Average students, such as 18 year old Daterruis Hamilton featured in the article believe obtaining knowledge is as simple as going to Wikipedia or another online source with murky credibility to get answers. Many students (alarmingly, even in the college level) need to be taught what credible sources are and how to judge its credibility. Students also need to be taught about plagiarism as some are even unknowingly plagiarizing. Students need an instructor and guide whose knowledge is easily and readily accessible to be there and help them understand how to use information.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Friday - March 4, 2011 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Topic: **The Telelift System in the National Library**

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">I think this is in the Budapest National Library, but it's kind of unclear because it's in Hungarian. :)

<span style="color: #ff00ff; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia,serif;">[]

media type="youtube" key="cKgUMxFPy5Y" height="390" width="480"

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Wednesday - March 2, 2011 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Topic: **Speed Dating in Libraries**

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Originating from Europe, San Fransisco Public Library takes a cue and initiates speed dating to attract young professionals (probably mid-20s to mid-30s) to come use the library. What an awesome program idea! Bring your favorite book and discuss it in a speed dating setting. :)

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Read the full article in the NY Times <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/fashion/03dating.html

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Tuesday - May 4, 2010 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> **Visual exposure to classical music** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">media type="youtube" key="ipzR9bhei_o" height="385" width="480" <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Stephen Malinowski under the youtube username "smalin" uses a music animation machine to visually represent how music moves. He writes: "Music moves, and can be understood just by listening. But a conventional musical score stands still, and can be understood only after years of training. The Music Animation Machine bridges this gap, with a score that moves -- and can be understood just by watching. This animated score contains much of the information in a conventional score, but shows it in a way that can be understood intuitively by anyone, including children. How? The Music Animation Machine display is a score without any measures or clefs, in which information about the music's structure is conveyed with bars of color representing the notes. These bars scroll across the screen as the music plays. Their position on the screen tells you their pitch and their timing in relation to each other. Different colors denote different instruments or voices, thematic material, or tonality. And each note lights up at the exact moment it sounds, so you can't lose your place. The experience of watching the Music Animation Machine can be a remarkable awakening to the inner structure of music, especially for people who are sensitive to music but lack the training to "see inside" a conventional musical score. A tool for listeners of all ages." ([]). The Music Animation Machine will be able to teach students how to play music in a new and more comprehensive way in conjunction with reading sheet scores. This tool is not only a way to awaken music in people, but can transcend fields by awakening a new way to make art (whether painting or the like) or create a physical dance choreography. The possibilities are endless.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sunday - March 28, 2010 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">One of the best book reviews ever by Hank of the vlogbrothers **

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> media type="youtube" key="Ep9MI5Mc7tU" height="385" width="640"

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep9MI5Mc7tU

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Now this is how a book review is done! Target audience: high schoolers and above. :) <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> The title is "10 Minute Book Reviews in 4 Minutes" <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> This book review video is humorous and tongue-in-cheek, but it is nevertheless a good model/example for book reviews. It is brief and attention catching. Of course, the language can be toned down for younger children, but this is one way to summarize books. Did I mention it was BRIEF? Always an important factor for this generation (which is good and bad). High quality content in conjunction with brevity is key to getting the message across in all mediums. This desired delivery is due to the overwhelming amount of information this generation generates.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Also check out Storytube as blogged on Feb. 23rd..

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Reenacting parts of books would also be a wonderful way for kids to reinforce their reading retention and make words come alive for themselves and their peers! It will also generate interest from their peers for reading.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Saturday - March 27, 2010 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Topic: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Changing World and its graduates **

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> media type="youtube" key="WRBhoJliO9s" width="425" height="350" <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">This is a good message to the generation who grew up with computers to remind them how different they are and how good they have it. It is a reminder that they can utilize the tools they have now to create for the greater good. I can't get enough of the vlogbrothers, this is web 2.0 at its best.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Tuesday - February 23, 2010 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Topic: **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Constructivism **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> method - using tech tools for education and the greater good.


 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Twitter **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> and its multifaceted uses:

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Howard Rheingold has it right in his “Participatory media literacy” excerpt in the article http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6716598.html?nid=3270. Yes, Twitter may be overrated and a fad on its way out within the next several years. Yes, Twitter may promote triteness and self-involvement, but so does the internet. Rheingold said that “The difference between seeing Twitter as a waste of time or as a powerful new community amplifier depends entirely on how you look at it—and on knowing how to look at it. The use of Twitter to build personal learning networks and communities of practice involves more than one literacy. The business about tuning and feeding, trust and reciprocity, and social capital is a form of network literacy that we discuss in my classes.” Twitter can be a place for unproductive venting and narcissistic updates (ex. check out the hashtag #imthekindofperson ) but it can also be used for professional connections like www.twitter/KalebNation or for professional overlapping social purposes such as “best-selling authors conversing with readers who’ve never heard of them or [having] the CEO of a major publishing house tweet a restaurant recommendation to an indie bookseller”. Yet, Joe Murphey says in the article, we as social media users begin our exploration of a new tool by figuring out how we can utilize it for ourselves individually before we apply that to other aspects of our lives such as for our company or career (http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6716598.html?nid=3270). Professor Carol L. Tilley of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Principal Eric Sheninger of New Milford NJ High School both support the use of Twitter in an educational setting, claiming that it is beneficial to students because its limited characters facilitate creative and critical writing (http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6712742.html?nid=3270).

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Youtube is another program used as a tool to promote reading. The public library sponsors a contest called “StoryTube” for K-12 young American and Canadian students. Students enter in a short video to promote their favorite books. Judges look for good performance, script, creativity, and other factors (http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6712661.html?nid=3270).

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Monday - March 1, 2010Article: Program uses foreign-language concepts to teach reading -http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/feb/22/giant-strides/ via http://www.smartbrief.com/news/ascd/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=C2A7BFF4-0C88-4D40-A54C-ADDD9E7E6F0C©id=2535B33B-6D63-4BF6-B803-EA6ECBACAA0F&brief=ascd&sb_code=rss&&campaign=rss Teaching students to read through intense phonetics is not a new concept. Somewhere along the lines, the American educational system emphasized on whole language, specifically reading content over first teaching phonetics in an intense manner. The phonetics versus whole reading has been a big controversy for newspapers and government since the low scores that arose in the 1990s (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/Reading_Wars.html). The argument for emphasizing whole language instead of phonetics is that half of the English words cannot be pronounced correctly based solely on phonetic rules. Whole language is a constructivist learning theory that presumes students would pick up reading by being exposed to a high literacy and rich learning environment. Personally, I believe that one cannot exist without the other. Phonetic training provides the basis, but a language cannot be fully internalized and used functionally without contextual integration in a student’s daily life. This article also reminds me of a study I read for Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences report for my LIS620 class. American inner city students with low reading scores (whether due to dyslexia or other reading deficiencies) were taught to read in Mandarin and the studies found that the students performed quite efficiently in the time they were given. This showed that students learned in other ways as Chinese characters, like hieroglyphics, are pictorial representations of a word or idea as opposed to English which is mainly a phonetic-based language. One website brings up the point that it would be better to say something like “seven different sounds can be represented in writing by the same spelling” because, for example, “ough” can be pronounced as: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> 1) though (like o in go)2) through (like oo in too)3) cough (like off in offer)4) rough (like uff in suffer)5) plough (like ow in flower)6) ought (like aw in saw)7) borough (like a in above)* <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> (http://www.englishclub.com/esl-articles/200104.htm)

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Monday - February 22, 2010 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Article: Choose <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Privacy ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">: It's 2010. Do you know where your personal information is? - http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6712741.html?nid=3270&&

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Heads up and be wary of your personal information! People who never sign out of their email accounts or whatever other internet accounts have you are going to be the next victims of stolen online identity and much more malicious crimes. Even the law enforcement are looking to track your moves says the EFF. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Who are the EFF? This enlightening article revealed that the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation @ www.eff.org/about ) are a non-for-profit civil liberties group founded in the 1990s that look out for the welfare of others in the digital age. One of the EFF’s major concerns is to maintain digital privacy for all individuals. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> In line with the ALA’s core belief of intellectual freedom, ALA opened the site http://www.privacyrevolution.org/ in support of Americans taking back their right to privacy in the digital age.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Tuesday - February 16, 2009 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Article: Mom, Could You Please Stop Tweeting? - http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6720086.html?nid=3270

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Intriguing article with studies that found <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">the majority of social network users are early middle aged people ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> which lead to this article - http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/study-ages-of-social-network-users/. This article states that “a full 25% of the users on these sites are aged 35 to 44, which in other words is the age group that dominates the social media sphere.” <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Something to keep in mind that the reason why people of that age bracket are using social network is that those are the people most interested in news. Prior to the internet and the web 2.0 concept, news was consumed. In the web 2.0 era, news can now be generated by anyone with internet access. We the people have the power to disseminate more than ever, but we must also be more wary than ever of each information disseminator.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> 3 charts from http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/study-ages-of-social-network-users/

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Monday - February 15, 2010 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Article: Canada’s Blythe Academy Replaces Textbooks with eReaders - http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6712084.html?nid=3270

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> This article explored something I’ve always been interested in ever since the kindle - no, since the blackberry came out - <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">will eReaders eventually replace books altogether? ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> This school in Canada are replacing textbooks with $300 Sony eReaders for all students. While it is space efficient, some are hoping that it is also a more environmentally friendly alternative to books ( http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/universities-turn-to-kindle-sometimes-to-save-paper/?scp=3&sq=ebooks&st=cse ). It is too early to tell just yet, but it is a hopeful and worthwhile pursuit. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Other things to consider are: will the retention of the materials read on an eReader VS on traditional paper format differ? and How will knowledge, culture, and humanity carry on if electricity runs out?

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> media type="youtube" key="yue4t0L1Q1E" height="385" width="640"

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Tuesday - February 9, 2010 Article: Tech Is all the Talk at NCTE - http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6708409.html?nid=3270

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> This is a heartening article about the modern use of <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">constructivism ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">. This article harkened me back to the time when I was a temporary permanent substitute English teacher for grades 10th and 12th in the year 2006 for three months. It contrasted to the way I implemented my personal teaching theories. In retrospect, I certainly wish I took education courses before I jumped into that job (but I was desperate to get my foot in the door and I wanted the experience badly). There certainly was no time inbetween in which I could have taken courses anyway. So, in 2006, I used the traditional format of teaching, because it was basically the only way I knew how to teach. The teacher (being me) lectured and students listened and handed in written assignments. Of course, I also shadowed two teachers, had a department advisor, and asked other colleagues for assignment advice, but if I knew about the constructivism approach, I would have implemented it a lot more consciously and my teachings might have been a bit more efficient! Now, that isn’t to say there wasn’t behavior problems to address, because that is the reality of it. Some of the behavior problems were due to the students themselves, but some of it also had to do with my newbie status as a teacher. That is one thing about educators is that it takes about five years to become proficient and comfortably settled in the role. The sad thing is, that most teachers tend to drop out within the first five years due to low salaries and poor working conditions ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050801344.html ).

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Sunday - February 7, 2010 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Article: Conferences Are All a Twitter: Live blogging, tweets help spread the joy of events - http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6703704.html?nid=3270

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> This article mentioned that funding for travel to conferences are scarce, so they are using alternate ways for communication. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> One of the ways are through <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">twitter hashtags ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">. Basically, a hashtag creates a taxonomy for tweets. There are a selection to choose from on twitter, but a user can create his/her own if his/her choice category is not found. Hashtags can vary from each community and bring a number of people together through their interests. Tweeters might seek out what is “trending” (most popular hashtag topics) in their area, read the tweets, and tweet their own thoughts. For example, one hashtag, I forget the exact tag title, but lets say something like “#NYC parties”, had a large group of people planning on going to one party and these tweeters were strangers interested in meeting each other face-to-face. They were arranging plans through this hashtag merely because they found they had so much in common with one another through twitter in the first place. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> So twitter hashtags can bring people with a common interest together in a community and that can work for educators and school librarians (and as we know, SLMSs are usually physically isolated throughout the day, being the only one in their profession in the workplace). Using twitter is one way to bring together people locally, but a warning - hashtags can expose personal twitter accounts to the public. Hashtags can expose accounts to the scrutiny of many eyes, so beware of scandalous tweets in your personal account. Make sure those tweets are protected or use a separate twitter for your profession. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> This article reminds me of “Up in the Air”, a movie with George Clooney (a terrific and touching movie that made me cry). One of the messages of the movie was that, with the uprise of technology, people tend to forget, or conveniently want to overlook, the importance of physical presence and communication in the physical presence of others. There is just no replacement for it.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Friday, February 5, 2010 <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Subject: On article "Graduating students who are not only learned but also learners".

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> This article is definitely true that we should start instilling in our youth as well as ourselves <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> **<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">the disposition of being a "life-long learner" ** <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">. This is one of the reasons I felt that I am quite adept at being "today's librarian". Even though I feel sub-par in many aspects of technology, I try to keep in the company of intelligent and technologically savvy people so I may always be up-to-date or find answers to my personal queries.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> I learned from my family, who were very technologically closed off and generally closed minded people that I need to react differently to the world. I must have a sense of curiosity, patience, and diligence to find out things about the world around me.

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;"> We must begin with teaching students basic foundations of information in a different way than the traditional (cold hard memorization of facts and testing this memorization). While this mode of learning should not necessarily be thrown out altogether, we are now able to make learning memorable, fun, and fulfilling if the accumulation of facts are through more interactive ways (like through powerpoint or through any web 2.0 tools). However, that is the challenge of any professional in the school/academic/learning field are ways to make learning successful and fun. Homeschooling was easier because of the student/teacher ratio, but it is always harder trying figure out the learning methods of 20 or more students at a time and find a happy medium.