Alaska Bush Library Service

Is the textbook the curriculum, or should it serve the curriculum?

This is the line I latched onto from the blog entitled “The Education Bazarr” which is a discussion on the uses of open source in the classroom. In my last job, I remember having to educate several teachers, one several times, on the fact that the adopted curriculum is not the same as the textbook. The teacher wanted to get a new secondary school reading text adopted. Her reasoning was that , “We haven’t had a curriculum adoption in six years.” This was six years ago, had we purchased new textbooks then, it would be time to buy them again. More importantly, at what point did we decide that publishers that live far away from us should decide what our children learn.

As we move more and more into open source, how will this effect textbooks? How will this effect books in all? I am in the middle of a class project. “How to answer the school board member who meets with the technology coordinator and librarian to ask with all this new technology, can we give up the book budget to purchase more technology?” This makes me wonder what our libraries will look like in 20 years. We need to be thinking of this as we plan our library futures.

To check out OPAC’s that are using Koha I went to Library Technology and found a website in which you can search for libraries based on the automation system that they use.  What a disappointment to find that Library Pro wasn’t among the list of programs that you can search for.  I could find libraries that use KOHA though and it was nice to look that the interfaces that are offered to the clients in those systems.  There are also a lot of useful articles about what is going on in the world of library automation.

I had an interesting interaction with a librarian who is visiting Alaska from Texas.  I commented on her blog asking why she chose to come to Alaska.  After several posts, it turns out she is here to visit a friend of mine.  I let her know she could tell her friend that I said hi.  It is interesting how we can use these resources to find out that we are connected in many different ways.

After reading David Lee King’s Blog about what libraries put on their websites, it makes me think what would help our patrons the most.  Today I am just looking at the BSSD Media Center website to see if I have all of these features.
Traditional Content, or “Stuff we Buy”: - We have this within the media tub lists that we provide on the website.  Principals and teachers can download the list of tubs if they would like the list in a paper format.  Some people still seem to prefer a paper copy rather than using the online catalog.
Original Content, or “Stuff Librarians Create” - This would be the links that I provide for Battle of the Books.  I still need to upload my tables for this year.

Attendable Content, or “Things you Attend or Visit” - Battle of the Book dates and when I will be attending different schools.
Collaborative Content, or “Interacting with Patrons” - I need to think more about this.  How can I interact with my patrons more?  I am here to provide help to the teachers so that they can have their workload lessened as they teach class

Library/Librarians as Content, or “Content About the Library” - How people can use the library and contact information about me and Maggie.  I think that might be covered.

The question now is what would be better on my website.  I am going to start mulling this over before I add content willy/nilly

We are currently weeding the district media center. I think this is the least liked job for all librarians. I have just pulled all the software that can’t be read by our current computers and come to a decision that I shouldn’t be supplying software for check out. There isn’t enough use in it to justify the cost. Another item that is being pulled from my library are videos that were taped off educational television in about 1986. It is kind of fun to watch these tapes and see the styles from my teen years, but they definitely don’t need to be watched by students. The information has changed.

Pluto - Weeding takes on a new thought process when you think of Pluto. Do all materials that refered to Pluto as a planet need to go away now? Can it be a great teaching experience for teachers to explain that science is a changing field? Finally, do you think that the people who declared Pluto to not be a planet are the same ones that will write the new textbooks.

Last year I told my boss that I was very unhappy with Library Pro. If I had an unlimited amount of money, I would probably purchase Destiny by Follett. It really has the features that I think make us better librarians for our patrons. John, my boss, is an open source fan. Read that to be, he is willing to provide the support an open source program needs to get up and running.

We are getting prepared to implement Koha in our district. This will allow for some flexibility that we haven’t had before. It will also allow a good test run of this program for other school libraries. For the past few days I have been looking at the features of Koha that make it nice. One that I came across today is library barcodes. Right now every automation program I know requires you to use a specific type of label. Koha will allow you to set up your barcode page to be what you want it to be. Why don’t other programs do this?

This year, as opposed to last, I am working on organizing my library better. As all libraries have, we have materials that don’t get checked out. These materials either need to be promoted better or weeded from the library so we have more room. This will be a long process, but my library will be better for it when it is finished. My goal right now is to clean and weed a section of shelves each day.

Then I will start on the library tubs. Some of these we don’t need any longer because each school has purchased the material. Some we don’t need because we no longer teach in those areas.

Today I tried something different. We printed spine labels from the automation program. It includes a line on the top of the label that says ‘Fiction’ or ‘Nonfiction’ on the top. This is why we don’t use the label program. I do not like this automation system. This year another goal of mine is to get KOHA up and going. It is an open source program. We know that we will have to spend some money to tailor it to what we want, but it has got to be better than what I am doing now.

Huh,

Does anyone else see the problems with this poster? It bothers me that as we work to put forward that librarians and libraries use current technology, this poster has a picture of the old time card catalog. Arrrggghhh, I can think of a pictures that would show how libraries matter with today’s technology. I know I am probably putting more thought into the matter than should be put into a simple advertisement. Curious as to what others may think.

The teachers in our district were here for the last three days. This first day was Success for All training. The next day and a half was small group sessions. Most small group sessions focussed on using the data they have to best help their students. I think it was a successful in service.

My idea to get people to visit the library was to give out tickets for a free book. I have shelves of books that publishers have sent me to preview. I preview them, choose to buy or not buy, and put the rest on shelves for schools to look through. I think I had an 80% turnout to the library by giving out tickets for a free book. I looked at each book that was taken. If it was one that I was on the line about buying I asked the teacher to please give input if the book teaches and engages the students. It was great to have the small group interaction with teachers.

One teacher is teaching a class that compares and contrasts fairy tale stories with their movie counterparts. I bought a copy of The Anotated Brother’s Grimm” for her unit. I can’t wait to preview the book. It gives a background of what was going on with the stories were written. I think this class will be a winner that covers several aspects of the BSSD curriculum in the areas of social studies, English, and culture.

It is hard to believe but I am starting a third week of classes this week. Today is SFA training. SFA is the reading program that my district chooses to use. SFA is a program that has had a lot of discussion about on the LM_Net listserv. A lot of librarians don’t like the fact that they are pressed into service as a reading teacher for 90 minutes a day on top of their other duties.

On the plus side for our district, this program provides continuity for our students. We have a high turnover rate among teachers(It is getting lower). A program that is as prescriptive as Success For All, works well as next years teacher know what was taught. It is working in our district as we have more and more schools reaching the test scores they need for Adequate Yearly Progress.

How do we as librarians, help our teachers with SFA? This year I want the library aides to set up displays that are titled “If you are reading ______________ in SFA, you might like this in the library__________________” We can include books that are by the same author or subject.

Last year I worked on buildidng the library collection for SFA and Reading Edge. Most librarians don’t feel that our library collections shouldn’t house class sets. I am in a different position because my district media center is here to help our teachers. That is the main philosophy I have. If I help the teacher I have won.

Today teachers return for an inservice. They will learn a new student reporting format. Our Tech team has been working hard all summer and especially the last two weeks to build a new system that will work to show progress in our curriculum program. I don’t know if I mentioned it before but we don’t have traditional grades in our system. Students work through the standards. A level of standards must be met before students can move on. It is a great program to make sure that students learn all they are suppose to rather than make it through.

My goal for teachers while they are here are twofold. The first is to get them into the library to remember what we have and to schedule what they need now. The second is to allow them to help pick the Reading Is Fundamental books for their school.

One of the main complaints I have when we have a RIF distribution is that the same books are passed out over and over. I know that this is do to how well Scholastic Books advertises itself as a provider of RIF books. I am hopeful that if teachers help pick out the books that go to their site, they will feel more ownership of the program.

To get them to visit the library, I will be again offering a free book from my preview shelves. Wish me luck I hope this works this week.