Library Education

I got wind of a recent study by the department of education through the New York Times. The headline, which seems designed to grab an educator’s attention, reads: “Learning Online May be Better,” and the article details findings that “on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

A press release at the Department of Education includes more useful background: Read More »

Much of the discussion on our blog centers around public and academic libraries, and we often neglect an extremely vital player in the library technology world--school libraries. School librarians are, in many respects, the gatekeepers of library technology. They help teach basic technology skills, particularly library technology skills to our future public and academic library patrons (and employees). They interact with younger users of this new technology and work hands-on to make these technologies practical learning tools. Because they work with these young student users, school librarians can provide insight into the application of these technologies that librarians who work primarily with adults cannot.

I was thrilled to see this article in Sunday's New York Times, which goes a long way towards providing some of the coverage we haven't been able to. Read More »

I've just finished my semester at Dominican as an adjunct—the version of LIS 753 Internet Fundamentals & Design I teach is taught over three fun-filled and information-packed weekends—and turning the students in the class on to online social tools and the bigger picture of what's happening online was a highlight for me. We ended the class with group presentations, a discussion of the Newsweek cover story on the Social Web, and a look at three 2.0 job descriptions as a wrap up.
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“Libraries are…" I can't finish that sentence; I can't seem to come up with an encompassing term or pithy phrase to finish it in a way that would do justice to the notion of the library, the value libraries provide to humanity, and all the library facets we encounter in the Information Age.
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Evaluating Our Institutions and Education
The posting of a job at Wayne State University Libraries back in January was worthy of note to me because it was the first time I'd seen Web 2.0 tools specifically mentioned in a job ad. The 2.0 meme was indeed unfurling into many facets of libraries. A few weeks later, Jenny Levine posted about another job—this time for a school media specialist with definite 2.0 duties.
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