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Technology plays an important part in your role as a children’s librarian, school library media specialist, or other stakeholder in providing quality library service to children. Do you feel the need for easy access to updates and information about cutting-edge technology and its use with the kids you serve?

The ALSC Children and Technology Committee needs your input. Please complete the brief survey we have created for you. The survey will be available until Saturday, March 1, 2008.

Thank you!

Christopher J. Borawski, MSI
Chair, ALSC Children and Technology Committee

Shortly after reading on our blog Bradley Debrick’s post about tagging, I read Matt Raymond’s post on the Library of Congress blog about the Library’s pilot project with Flickr, an online photosharing site. The Library of Congress is posting photographs which no copyright is known to exist and asking people to comment, make notes, and add tags. Matt Raymond shortly afterward shared how well-received that partnership has been thus far.

I am excited about the project and believe its potential for students of all ages is incredible. The Library of Congress’ Flickr profile page states:

We’ve been acquiring photos since the mid-1800s when photography was the hot new technology. Because images represent life and the world so vividly, people have long enjoyed exploring our visual collections. Looking at pictures opens new windows to understanding both the past and the present. Favorite photos are often incorporated in books, TV shows, homework assignments, scholarly articles, family histories, and much more.

The Prints & Photographs Division takes care of 14 million of the Library’s pictures and features more than 1 million through online catalogs. Offering historical photo collections through Flickr is a welcome opportunity to share some of our most popular images more widely.

Are there ways you envision using this project with young people?

I was so excited when my article, “Discover Babylon: E-Learning Power on Second Life” came out in the November 2007 issue of School Library Journal, I couldn’t wait to share it with my mother.  My mother who is a non-native english speaker who immigrated from Taiwan and doesn’t have more than a 6th grade education in chinese was so proud of me but didn’t understand a word that was on the page.  I was really happy that my first magazine article would be celebrated by my mom but equally frustrated that the language and educational barriers prevented her from understanding the merits of the article. 

The second level of frustration comes from the fact that many of my colleagues do not understand what I have written despite the meticulous nature in which I approached the article with incessant phone calls to the Federation of American Scientists for clarification, consultation with a local psychologist I know and emailing to friends to verify that my writing could be understood at the most basic of levels.  And it is through no fault of my colleagues that the language to describe Second Life is still in its primordial stage, leaving a language and cultural barrier between those who have a presence in Second Life and those who don’t.

Communication:

The frustrations really underscore the “disconnect” between people who understand Second Life and those who’ve never even heard of it.  Not only are there divides between those who are educated and those who are not, but there are divides between those who are technically savvy and those who are not and the role-players and the real-lifers.  No wonder those who are denizens of Second Life are weary about teaching newbies the basics.   It’s analogous to helping a patron who comes into the library whose second language is english but has never touched a computer in her life, demanding to use Rosetta Stone fluently.  And the newbies are weary about taking lessons from avatars.  How do you take lessons seriously when the teacher standing before you looks like a dragon and lectures in a Carl Sagan voice? We tell ourselves it’s otherworldly–the stuff for “Star-Trek” fanatics and not for “normal” people.

Semantics:

You say first-life, I say real-life.  You say in-world, I say in-game.  Game, serious, world, platform–let’s call the whole thing off…

It’s very hard to even start an intelligent conversation about Second Life because at present, the discursive language is constantly being invented and reinvented.  The MacArthur Foundation in their conference talked about how innovations are happening at such a rapid pace between multiple disciplines in virtual planets eg: Second Life, that there hasn’t been time to describe what is happening.  The language can’t keep up.  And as you can plainly see from my above phrase, people are still in disagreement about the terms used to describe the transactions in Second Life.  For instance, I would distinguish the differences between the term first-life and real-life because my first-life was Asheron’s Call (MMORPG), before Second Life was invented and my real-life is my physical life that I live right now as a children’s librarian in the King County Library System.  Those in Second Life, whom have never touched a MUVE before Second Life, would equate their first lives with their real lives.  And no one outside of Second Life understands jargon like “grid, rez, prims and terraforming.”

Education and Non-profits:

 It’s important to have educators, librarians and public, non-profit entities in Second Life so that marketers and commercial companies don’t dominate and influence the education emanating from virtual planets.  It’s important to have virtual planets as a tool for kids that teaches innovation.  Innovative teaching is very hard to do in the traditional classroom.  Take a look at this video of What Are Kids Learning in Virtual Worlds? which was a conference that took place at the University of Southern California on November 14th, 2007.  Put away all doubts that ALSC shouldn’t have a presence on Second Life.  600 librarians on Second Life couldn’t be wrong:  http://takeonedigital.blip.tv/file/488039/

 Being someone who is able to see both sides of the equation, having one foot in Second Life and the other Real Life, I am able to pinpoint the exact place where the real and second worlds collide.  For those staunchly rooted in real life, we have a hard time reconciling what’s tangible with the abstract, what’s theoretical and what’s already being practiced.  Furthermore, Second Life really tests our psyche and takes us to the limit of what is acceptable, unacceptable, sane and insane.  To our familiar mind, there’s something disturbing about shopping for eyeballs or taking classes from a furry wolf avatar.  We see with our lens of perception so ingrained by the society we’ve grown up in that it’s hard to be forgiving of avatars who are strange.  Consider the anti-furry avatar movement happening in Second Life which is blatant racist discrimination against avatars with furry characteristics–picketed demonstrations and islands that explicity state, no large non-human avatars allowed have been documented.

To those who’ve never touched an MUVE, it’s hard to see what’s so great about it.  They see it on a superficial level like the game, The SIMs.  Why would you want to play taking out the trash and washing the dishes when you can do that in real-life? For those in Second Life, the esoteric language, the thrill of the new technological frontier, social networking, explosion of creativity, the innovations are so amazing that it’s hard to fathom why people wouldn’t understand the importance of doing work on virtual planets.  From ignorance and misunderstanding prejudice is born.

Prejudices: 

 It’s important to go into Second Life with an open mind and not be afraid to have new experiences that are “alien” to us.  It’s important to take things at face-value and not project characteristics onto the avatars standing before you, not knowing the person in real-life.  In the short time I’ve been on Second Life, I’ve come a long ways from the vigilante attitude I carried into it as the “pillar of truth” to just taking it one day at a time and not assuming too much.  Maybe that avatar who bumped into you on Orientation Island wasn’t doing it to be spiteful but a vigilante himself.  He wants to rid the virtual planet of “zombies” or gold farmers who exploit a region for traffic.  Maybe that Harry Potter avatar who was speaking gibberish to you when you landed in Korea town was not trying to spook you but trying out a Linguiphile plug-in in Second Life chat to translate English into Korean.  Maybe throwing virtual stones like a zealot at the group called Babylonian Whores isn’t such a good idea because you take on the very griefer mentality you despise in other people.  And real-lifers, it’s important not to do the name-calling as described in Suzanne Delong’s article, “Nix the Name-Calling” from the October 2007 issue of American Libraries. 

If we take a good look at ourselves, we are all still people from the same human race–Baby-Boomers, Generation Xers, Millenials, Ys and Avatars.  Yes, let’s be polite and not call people “freaks” or “old fogies.”  It’s a misconception that older people are not on Second Life–after all, they have more time to spend on virtual planets than the average middle-aged person if they’re retired.  People playing Second Life are often told to get a life or named the ones who drunk from the “kool-aid.” It’s rude and uncalled for. Take it from someone who’ve drunk from the “koolaid.”  I’m still the person I was yesterday, performing story times for youngsters 1 to 2 years old at the library, except with that much more knowledge, enlightened by my virtual planet experience.

by Ann Crewdson

Print Awareness is one of the six early literacy skills that focuses on noticing print everywhere.  Print is in the sky.  It’s on the bottom of your shoes.  It’s on someone’s arm as a tattoo.  And what do you know?! Print is all over the books!

Here are some new and classic books to get your kids looking around for print:

Hurry Hurry by Eve Bunting

Chicken starts mass hysteria at the farm with her hurrying, rallying animals to see something big going down.  It’s a big rush of colorful words spilling out from page to page full of barnyard banter.

Bounce by Doreen Cronin

Unique presentations of the word “bounce” decorate the pages.  Hop, leap, pounce and bounce in ways your toddler may never have thought of before.

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

Winter is almost here–the birds are expecting snow and the seeds are almost gone.  Flip through this book at 90 degrees and read about each member of the snowmen family.

Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming

Beetles on every page, doing everything imaginable from chewing, swirling, flashing, flip-flopping until they go “bop!”

Black Meets White by Justine Fontes

Black and White collide and become polka dots, a checkerboard and wiggles.  Alternating pages of black and white words bring interest to bold print, touching on gray areas.

Cover Art Not Available

I Walk and Read by Tana Hoban

Pictures of words everywhere in every day life are captured in photographs of roads, cars, stores, poles and signs.

Wake Up Me! By Marni McGee

Waking up is easier to do following words, one step at a time.  Bouncing words will show you the way…out to the playground to play.

Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O’Connell

Baby honks the horn, messes up the kitchen, sings and flips the books around.  Here’s a book with words that expresses baby’s feelings.

Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash! By Barbara Odanaka

A garbage truck wakes up two little piglets with words that follow its every move, smashing and chomping until black smoke belches indicate the truck’s belly is full. 

Clip-Clop! by Nicola Smee

Who wants to ride on Horse? The animals go clip-clop clippity, faster and faster on Horse’s back until ploppity-plop they all fall down and cheer, “Again!”

Who is Driving? by Leo Timmers

Elephant, Cat, Rabbit, Pig, Giraffe, Hippopotamous, and Stork are all in a hurry to get to their destinations with various vehicles while words zoom, putt and swoosh.

Overboard! by Sarah Weeks

Baby bunny goes “overboard” over and over again with fun–flinging peaches, wipers, diapers and paint.

This is just a sampling of the wealth of books out there that demonstrate print awareness.  When I do my story times, I like to tell my parents to celebrate print awareness by finding some more titles in the library.  I say, ”Look around and you’ll be surprised by where print hide and reside!” Young children are especially amused by the print in their daily lives.  Activities like pointing to words while they’re brushing their teeth, shopping for groceries are taking a walk down the street all help to reinforce the skill of print awareness.  Suggesting that parents make a book out of the creative fonts available through Microsoft Word or the internet can be quite amusing.  Then urge them to read them out loud once they’re done and have fun!

The ALSC Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship is designed to allow you to spend a month or more, (yes, you read that correctly), a month or more, reading and studying at the Baldwin Library of the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainsville.

O.K., you do need to meet a few qualifications before the ALSC Bechtel Fellowship Committee can truly consider your application:

• Personal membership in the Association for Library Service to Children.
• Currently working in direct service to children, or retired members who completed their careers in direct service to children.
• At least 8 years professional experience in direct service to children.
• A graduate degree from an ALA-accredited program.
• Willingness to write a report about his/her study.

Once you meet the criteria, your application must include a description of the topic of study for the fellowship period and a demonstration of ongoing commitment to motivating children to read. Read what topics previous Bechtel fellows have studied.

The application deadline for the 2008 award is December 3, 2007. For more information and to download the application, please visit the Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship page of the ALSC Web Site.

If you, like me, don’t meet the criteria yet, keep the Bechtel Fellowship in mind as you advance through your professional life. Jot down topics of interest, because one day, you may be heading to Florida for a month of study. I already have my notebook ready.

by Ann Crewdson

Not only apples and pumpkins are plump this season but there is also an abundance of books, especially those emphasizing phonological awareness, one of the six early literacy skills (what children need to know about reading and writing before they actually read and write).  Phonological Awareness is defined as “The ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words.  Use the power of repetition, alliteration, rhyme and play on words in books to teach children language.  Check out this bountiful harvest of books at your local library:

Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney

Llama Llama is forced to go to Shop-o-roma, put on sweaters, pick up groceries and decide on lunch until he realizes that he’s doing all of it with his mama.

Charlie and Lola’s Numbers by Lauren Child

Count to ten with Lola starting with one brother Charlie, through four moonsquirters and over ten elephants.

Baby Bear, Baby Bear What do you See? Written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle.

Baby Bear searches for his mama, identifying all kinds of North American wildlife along the way.

Badger’s Fancy Meal by Keiko Kasza

Badger doesn’t care for the apples, worms and roots in his food storage but his fickle mealtime habit has him chasing the whole animal kingdom, which gets him his just desserts. 

Max’s Words by Kate Banks

Little Max has nothing to trade until he finds the words to negotiate with his two older brothers through story telling.

One Naked Baby by Maggie Smith

Naked baby runs through the household, trying silly hats, eating crunchy fish, exploring the garden, ending in a bath, counting to ten and back again.

Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard

Bird wakes up grumpy, but the other animals convince him that there’s still fun to be had, even by mimicking being grumpy.

I Love Cats by Anne Mortimer

All kinds of cats, cats, cats from big cats, prancing cats to weirdy cats and beardy cats.   

Fix It, Sam by Lori Ries

Sam helps his little brother fix things around the house from trucks to pillow cases to make-shift tents.

Let’s Play in the Forest While the Wolf is Not Around by Claudia Rueda

Follow forest critters through traditional French and Spanish play and music, as the wolf gets ready for the day.

I’d Really Like to Eat a Child by Sylviane Donno

A young crocodile whines that his favorite food, children, is not available for him to eat.

Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

Bears, oranges, pears, and apples blend into one in beautiful water-color pages. 

The Bear and His Boy by Sean Bryan

A bear named Mack wakes up with a boy on his back leading to all kinds of adventures running around like a maniac, until they stop to smell the lilacs.

To learn more about early literacy skills and the King County Library System’s Ready to Ready Initiative through its Foundation, please visit http://www.kcls.org/parents/kidsandreading/readytoread/

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. 

–Margaret Mead

This summer when the ALA Annual Conference was held in Washington DC, I paid a visit to the FAS (Federation of American Scientists) on K Street.  As the Chair of the newly revamped Great Interactive Software for Kids Committee, I wanted to make sure that our committee had a solid foundation other than playing games for fun.  And although we have expanded our criteria to include the evaluation of console games and other digital forms, in addition to pc cd-roms, I wanted a deeper philosophical backbone to our committee.  So I turned to the scientists for help and decided to pay them a visit since our conference was in their neck of the woods.

I didn’t really know what to expect as I walked into the gray building, heavily guarded by security guards.  Michelle Roper, the Director of FAS Learning Technologies had said that the emergency drills after 9/11 had been frequent, although not so often now.  I don’t think I could ever imagine what it must have been like in DC on September 11th, 2001 when one of the planes crashed into the Pentagon.

FAS was located in one of the top floors with an intercom to let visitors in.  When the receptionist let me in the door, I found a starch-white office complex with multiple cubicles surrounded by pristine walls.  There was little sunlight and the air was thick with concentration and severity.  As a children’s librarian doing story times in lively colorful areas, I felt completely out of context.  I was temporarily relieved when I spotted an adjacent room filled with books on a bookshelf.

When Amy Nicholson, the Program Coordinator for FAS Learning Technologies greeted me, I was surprised to find she was an attractive, energetic woman with a way-cool demeanor.  We instantly got along as we talked about playing games like World of Warcraft, Asheron’s Call and Guitar Hero II.  I admit that I had a stereotypical image of what the scientists might be like after reading their profile on the webpage (since they described themselves as the predecessors of the atomic scientists having worked on the Manhattan Project).  My expectation was to meet people like my undergraduate Chemistry Professor–eccentric, introverted with coke-bottle glasses, pocket protector and gingivitis.  Instead, Sachin Patil and Adam Burrowbridge, the Research Associates, looked like they could have walked off the cover of GQ Magazine.  And although I had never met Michelle Roper, I’m positive that she is just as lovely in person as she is over the phone.  In fact, I was embarassed that I was the one with the glasses, a geeky personality and loud laugh.  Had they decided that I was just a children’s librarian that had nothing to do with their research world, they wouldn’t have given the time or day.  Instead, they were delightful, and patient, helping me understand, in layman terms, different aspects of their project.  

Sachin flew around on Second Life, Discover Babylon, showing me how he was reconstructing the city of Uruk (ancient Iraq) from blueprints.  I had to tell myself to overlook the cosmetic interface and forget that he was flying around in a cartoon body.  I found it challenging not to be overly-conscious and move past it, even though I had been in a multi-user virtual environment before 7 years ago when I played Asheron’s Call.  Second Life is not a game but the Internet in a different skin.  Amy described it very clearly to me that it was a wikipedia of MMOs (Massive Multiplayer Online) worlds.  Once I suspended my disbelief, something amazing happened.  I saw the beauty of the technology–that it rolled everything into one–IMing, emailing, podcasting, videostreaming, weblinking (Web 2.0 features) into one.  I finally understood what all the rage was about!  It was truly the internet in its next evolutionary stage.  And a great platform to ally ourselves with other open-minded, public-serving organizations.

At the end of my visit, toting my dictionary of computer terms,  and enlightened by my new-found friends, I left the building with renewed hope for my committee.  The scientists sensed my desperation to help them and invited my committee to become part of their focus group.  And I  became an FAS groupie that day, fueled by their desire to bring learning to the world and their mission for public good.  Thank you FAS.  You rock!

For more information about the FAS and its Learning Technologies Initiatives, visit http://www.fas.org

As Priority Consultant for ALSC Priority Group V, Projects and Research, my role is to promote, encourage and support projects, activities and research relating to our division of the American Library Association. I’m responsible for four committees and one discussion group. Here’s what they’re doing:

• The Collections of Children’s Books for Adult Research Discussion Group provides a forum for the discussion and study of specific collections of children’s materials in terms of their research value. New co-conveners, including Sylvia and Kenneth Marantz, founders of the Children’s Literature Database and collectors of picture books for 40 years, promise to breathe new life and focus into the group. Since they overlap with the National Planning of Special Collections committee, they will be in contact by sitting in on meetings and making suggestions to the committee.
• National Planning of Special Collections Committee is working on a program for Annual in 2008 entitled, “Using the Past to Create the Future,” and is developing and promoting their new wiki by posting to listservs.
• The Oral History Committee is tackling the many issues involved in interviewing past ALSC Presidents and Distinguished Service Award recipients. They have secured an approved release/permission form including one for an estate representative to sign if the interviewee is deceased. Permissions must be obtained from past interviewees, interviews must be transcribed and edited, a disclaimer to cover factual errors is being written, and more interviews are being scheduled. Brief biographies of interviewees and interviewers will be written. Publication is planned on the members-only ALSC website and in Children and Libraries as the interviews are completed. As if this wasn’t enough, the committee is also planning a program for Annual 2009.
• Publications Committee has reviewed a publication from the Intellectual Freedom Committee about censorship, and has several suggestions for updating it. If the IF Committee will rework it and it meets with Publication’s approval, they will take it to the Board at Midwinter.
• Research and Development Committee is continuing its successful columns in Children and Libraries, and planning its program for Annual 2008 on constructing and using effective surveys. There will be practical tips by a panel of experts and interactive small groups.

So that’s what’s happening in Group V. I’ll post updates as they become available.

~written and submitted by Diane Janoff, ALSC Priority Group V (Projects and Research) Consultant