1. A list of accomplishments from the yearly report of my predecessor. Quick check shows me in line for accomplishing a similar set of tasks that she had done. (I still feel she was one of the best school librarians in the business.)
2. Reading a blog post that used pictures from one school that participated in our Battle of the Books program. The students look happy with the program they are participating in. One of my main goals of my life is that students are happy with reading.  Seeing student’s faces as they get a school banner for their Battle Book win.
3. The support from people in my office when someone questioned a book that is in the Battle of the Book program for the year that is winding up. Support from coworkers is a definite sign to me that I am doing a positive job.
4. Comments from colleagues about the materials that I send them when they are looking for new teaching ideas. People tend to be surprised by the wealth of materials that we have to cover the subjects they are teaching.
5. The work that I am doing on Koha. I am learning more and more each time I sit down to it. I keep thinking there has to be an end to the learning curve, apparently not.
6. Purchases that I have made this year to build a collection that has a more digital bent. I have found a lot of dvds that I know will help teachers in their classrooms.

What I hope to accomplish this year:

1. ILTL Grant – Finish the write up by this weekend 2/10/08
2. Send grant proposal to others to get their input. Encourage input on the goals and activities in the grant to get other’s good ideas.
3. Visit schools that I haven’t been to.
4. Planning Fall In-service for library aides.
5. Set up a system for books with duplicate barcodes. We need to rebarcode the books.
   1. Determine which books have duplicate barcodes.
   2. Make new barcodes for those books.
   3. Find an easy way for the books to be rebarcoded.
   4. Go to sites to help with this process.

This should be enough to get me through this year and maybe next school year.

It was nice to work with students.  I gave a lesson to high school students on recognizing hoax Internet sites.  That is always a favorite lesson of mine to give to students.  I had purchased books for the library last year.  The library aide and I were able to process the books and get them on the shelves.  Kindergarten students enjoyed “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” and “Diary of a Worm”.

I am thinking of looking at Pines.  They have a feature that I would love to be able to use in order to merge MARC records together and keep the best record that you have and  integrate the items into that one record.

SirsiDynix put on a great webcast this morning entitled 25 technologies in 50 minutes. This was very well done. I am happy that 90% of the technologies I have used. Now I just need to learn the other 10%. One of the best ideas I got from the class was to just spend 15 minutes a day learning the new technologies. With that we should be able to keep up.

As I have now been at work for 13 hours, I think it is time to go home. I can guarantee that I will be back here at 7 am tomorrow for the fun of uploading the records to Koha. It feels so good to have made progress.

What is your library doing to:

• Support the user’s affinity for self-paced, independent, trial-and-error methods of learning? – Are we putting up online tutorials for students to look at when they need to?  I have seen some libraries that have iPod guides for library tours. Currently, I have built some online tutorials for using the Alaska Statewide Databases.
• Create opportunities to make library information look and behave like information that exists in online entertainment venues?  This may be the best place and time to install Worldcat buttons and the new search features of Google for each of our libraries.  Websites that interact with the students rather than sit there and wait for student to search and the OPAC to distribute information.  Why haven’t we added the ability for students to leave their book reviews in our OPACs?  I think a lot of this has to do with the software we have at our disposal.  I am hoping that this is something that will be able to the added to Koha down the road.
• Explore alternative options for delivering information literacy skills to users in online environments and alternate spaces?  I return to the online tutorials for students to gain information.  In my position, I am usually not at the student’s side when they need the information.  I am connected through three different IM programs for students to get a hold of me when they need to.  The problem I am finding is how do I advertise this so it is there when students need it.
• Apply the typical user’s desire for instant gratification to the ways that libraries could be using technology for streamlined services? I am not sure how we can meet these needs.  I do know what I do which is offer inter library loan so that users know that their needs are met, even if it will take a week to get the book.  I have added downloads to my district’s wiki of sites that give students the information they need to meet different standards.
• Redefine administrative, security, and policy restrictions to permit online users an online library experience that rivals that of a library site visit? I think we need more audiobooks that are downloadable and a better way to provide this service.  Copyright stipulations need to be met, but I would love to figure a way that students have access to the electronic resources, electronically rather than having to visit the library.
• Preserve born-digital information?  This is a matter of who is willing to stand up and pay for the storage medium.  It is easy to be in charge of the digital medium as long as you are willing to ensure that the materials are always accessible through current technology.  I think we have seen enough errors in this by now that we know how to keep abreast of changing technologies that we can revisit our ability to preserve materials on a yearly basis. — or am I the only one who lost all my MARC records by using an antiquated back up method?

I hope this gets us thinking to how we can provide the millennials the best library experience they can get.  We have moved a long way with technology.

My high school librarian was so afraid that the computer would make her unnecessary to the research process that she actually removed subjects, ISBNs, authors, and other parts of the MARC records so that students would have to come to her for the information.  I only know this because I became a library aide there before getting my own school library.  I spent the year adding full records and deleting a LOT of books that wouldn’t ever be used.

We need to embrace the technologies that our students are embracing and make sure that our libraries will always be the place that our students can gain more access to information.

• I give classes every year at inservice for teachers.
• I teach students when I visit their schools.
• I have built online tutorials for other people to use when doing research with students.
• I am getting ready to work with Camtasia to build some webcasts to help people use these tools more effectively.

Still if feels that no one is using them… I am taking a new approach. We all have journals or magazines that we like to read. I am asking individuals which journal would the love to get, but choose not to due to the cost. I then set up a ‘journal alert’ for them. This will let them know each month when their favorite journals are posted.

This isn’t how I wanted to do it. It doesn’t feel right to me somehow. I always believe you teach patrons how to find their information so that they are free to search again without your assistance. Maybe the mistake was that no one knew what the databases could provide and this will get them to know them better.

I did this as part of providing information that people didn’t have. This is what our libraries need to continue to do if we would like to stay relevant. Part of the in service training to the teachers included our need to provide relevant information to our teachers and how do we do that.

I am able to work on Koha now. I am doing the initial set up while it is on a server that is not our districts. It will get moved over at the end of next week. Tomorrow I should be uploading the library records. It will be great to see what it looks like then.

I know I will achieve my goals in Gambell.  I will work with the library aide and with classrooms of students to cover the topic of online research skills.  My special lesson this year is one involving Jelly Belly’s.  I have a movie of how the candy is made, guides for what kind of Jelly Belly the student has, and best of all – two pounds of Jelly Bellies per school.  I think this will be a fun lesson.  The purpose of the lesson is notetaking from movies.

I am off to Anchorage for a class in marketing your library.  I hope I gain a lot of insight in what I can do better.