Historical information confirmed using http://www.slais.ubc.ca. (Buell, 2009) (“Papyrus scroll,” 2008)

Historical information confirmed using http://www.history-magazine.com/libraries.html (“Library of Alexandria, Egypt,” 2008)

Historical information confirmed using http://www.history-magazine.com/libraries.html (Macdonald, n.d.) (“Benjamin Franklin,” 2009)

Historical information confirmed using http://www.slais.ubc.ca

Historical information confirmed using http://www.slais.ubc.ca (“Melvil Dewey,” 2009)

Historical information confirmed using http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html (“US States,” 2001-2009)

The internet was an unfriendly child used only by engineers, scientists, and… librarians. Historical information confirmed using http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html (History of OCLC,” 2008)

Information confirmed using http://www.blyberg.net/2006/01/09/11-reasons-20-exists-and-matters/

(Murray, 2000)

(Murray, 2000)

(Murray, 2000)

(Murray, 2000)

In addition to the aforementioned roles, librarians must now become experts in the use of new technologies. Whereas the focus of those roles had been adult-driven, the focus must now turn more toward being student-driven. To prepare students for their futures, they must be adept in a variety of technological tools. Too often the basics are overlooked: manners, safety, creativity, and empathy. Librarians must now strive to meet these basic needs at an early enough age so as to promote healthy habits.

Another concern with the amount of time students must spend on the internet is their lack of manners. Parents often do not understand what their children are involved in. Many of today’s parents lack the skills to raise their children with discipline and respect. Because of this you will find children who do not practice manners and safety online. NetSmartz is a company dedicated to this cause. Their home site is informative and is also broken down with links designed specifically to meet the needs of parents, teens, children, and law enforcement agencies. They offer workshops for parents and children to help them experience the internet together in a productive manner. They have also recently added a Facebook experience to be shared. Informed parents produce safe children.

(Murray, 2000) With the emergence of technological globalization comes a growing concern regarding the safety of children using the internet. Though it may be considered the responsibility of parents to teach their children safety, often parents are not adept themselves at what the internet is and what the potential hazards are. Through workshops and web-based resources, librarians can provide parents and students with the tools they need to protect themselves from being victimized on the internet. One source available to provide education on internet safety for children is located at http://www.kids.getnetwise.org.

As we help students develop the technology skills they will need in the future, we must take into account the numbers of hours they will spend in front of the computer screen. If these issues are not addressed, they will be hampered with a multitude of health issues. The attached stand alone presentation is designed to teach students how to make their workstations more user friendly. (This “Computer Ergonomics” presentation is one that I started preparing in another course. I feel quite passionate about the importance of the subject so I have included it here as an additional resource. The presentation is a stand alone so it is lengthy in its own right. I would not expect it to be viewed in its entirety here because of the time factor. When I put efforts into projects of this nature, I feel it should be as complete as possible. As it stands now, I plan to use it as an introduction with all of my technology units.)

(Murray, 2000) “Blended Schools” is an online tool which can be helpful in creating lessons to teach students research skills. It works similarly to Moodle except that there appears to be more room for creativity. I have set up a temporary account for use with this presentation. Click the icon above to visit Blended Schools at http://blendedschools.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp. for the login you may temporarily use “oe99.general” with “library” as the password. You are enrolled in 2 courses for browsing: 5th Grade Library Skills which includes research and literature enrichment and a “dummy” course used to display the possibilities of quizzing within the Blended Schools environment.

(Murray, 2000) (“GigaPan Epic,” 1999-2003) With globalization of technology growing at such a phenomenal rate, we need to stay on top of the “state of the art” technology. We do not need to own the equipment to expose them to it. Drooling can be good – as long as it is not on the keyboard!

(“Kindle 2,” 1999-2006) The future of the physical nature of libraries may also be on the verge of major changes. With advances like Kindle offered through Amazon.com books no longer need to be made of paper. This would be more environmentally friendly, but can you curl up with a good Kindle in bed?

I occasionally use this method to introduce lessons which I feel will be met with student resistance. It makes my point clear while opening their minds to the riches I have to offer them.

All About Explorers is a website specifically designed to help students understand the need the verify website validity. It is intentionally riddled with gross misinformation. Upon reading the Christopher Columbus article, students may not pick up on the wrong information until the third paragraph where “infomercials” and “toll-free number” are mentioned. Of course, by then they had already missed the incorrect birth year and birthplace. How many will notice the world map on the left which shows a wild travel route? On the website there is a teacher section which includes five lesson plans relating to internet research. The last lesson even includes the students researching the correct information and drafting an email to the site webmaster requesting the errors be fixed. By completing the lessons and the included “Treasure Hunt”, students will learn valuable lessons about appropriate online research techniques.

(Murray, 2000) Librarians need to set up and maintain a library web page. The site can be organized by subjects, like mathematics, science, and literature. Links from these pages may include instructor information as well as tutorial and informative sites. Research contests can be included along with book reviews posted by students with a rating system. Adding a blog would encourage patron interactions and provide ample opportunities for questions and suggestions. Another section which would be of value is a library policies and procedures section. Google Earth is a tool which can be used to create virtual field trips. The above link will open a virtual field trip I created for a previous course. I have included it here to display must be downloaded to your computer. It is available free at http://earth.google.com/. Instructions for using the field trip are displayed upon clicking on the green schoolhouse icon.

By the very nature of the job, librarians are collaborators; we are all about sharing and working together as a team. However, how many of our collaborative colleagues understand what we are offering? Historically speaking, very few. If you require the teacher to stay under the guise of providing necessary assignment information, they will benefit from the technology lessons you are providing to the students. This is a great way to spark teacher interest in new technological offerings without them realizing what you are up to.

(Murray, 2000) Many technology novices are intimidated by technology-based instruction because of its heavy reliance on technical language and the focus of “gurus” on the tools instead of the users. Librarians tend to be considered more approachable by staff so they must be more technology literate than others. They are a valuable resource in discovery what new technologies have to offer.

One of the easiest methods for encouraging the development of empathy in our students toward other cultures will be to allow them to engage in online collaborative efforts with ePals or cooperating classrooms.

Parents and students must develop a trust. One way to foster this skill is to sponsor free family activities which involve parents working with their children to accomplish a goal. The program pictured here is a “Bingo for Books”. Snack, play bingo and win books!

The library must become the center for activities promoting cooperation between students. To develop empathy, they need to first learn to work with peers within their physical world. This can begin with offline games like board games and then work into multiple person online or video games.

Allowing students to then work together on technology projects will help them develop the necessary skills for working with those they may not physically meet. “Alice” is a free 3-D animation software which teaches beginning computer programming skills. It is available from http://www.alice.org.

National Geographic has partnered with ePals to provide online collaborative projects which partnered classrooms may participate. Global SchoolNet is partnered with corporations such as the US Department of State and Google Education. It is similar to ePals in that it is designed to work under state standards and provides collaborative projects for cooperating classrooms. InterPals is another globally collaborative site though it is not as educationally based.

Once students are accustomed to working cooperatively with peers, they need to begin developing the ability to work with online partners. By communicating with their ePals, students will gain a sense of empathy in safe, healthy, and productive settings. Photo sharing sites can be helpful for the obvious reasons of being able to see who they are collaborating with. Sharing blogging topics will enable them to begin understanding the differences in the way we think. Students can then work into story developments, evaluations, and analyses. Students may independently (or in small groups) create stories with illustrations using MovieMaker, PowerPoint, Alice, or even simple Word documents. These stories can be shared with their global partners for evaluation. Global partners can complete story endings or illustrate their global partners’ stories. This would allow each group to see how each other thinks based on the information they are given. Collaborative groups would then be offered the opportunity to analyze the outcomes and offer constructive criticisms. Thus the birth of empathy.

A Metamorphic Prophecy: The changing roles of “Librarians” Denise M. Whiteman EDIM 507 Using Technology to Support Creativity Wilkes University 6 March 2009

A Metamorphic Prophecy: The changing roles of “Librarians” Abstract Since the beginning of recorded history, there has been a desire to store and preserve records in the matters of religion, government, and academics. When there is a presented need for this type of organization, there is also a need for someone to provide those services: librarians. The librarians of your own childhood have greatly evolved from those ladies with horn-rimmed glasses who wore buns and said “shhhh!” to information retrieval specialists. This change, in conjunction with emergent globalization of technologies, has caused the role of librarians to metamorphose into what has been termed “cybrarians” or “cyber-librarians”. This presentation is designed to inform about the history of libraries leading up to this change as well as proposing new directions for librarians in today’s globalized society.

A History of Libraries 3000 B.C. - Invention of Cuneiform Caretakers, scholars and scribes were among the first “librarians”, provoked into existence by the need for convenient storage, access, and preservation of clay tablets and papyri.

Ca 300 B.C. Under the reign of King Ptolemy I the Great Library of Alexandria was founded as a literary repository of the ancient world.

1638 The first American library was created with John Harvard’s book donation. 1731 Benjamin Franklin created the Library Company of Philadelphia, the first subscription library and predecessor of free public libraries.

19th Century Librarianship is finally acknowledged as an occupation and profession separate from general scholarship in recognition of the need for more specialized skills.

1876 Melvil Dewey develops a system of classification long awaited to organize library materials; the American Library Association is formed. 1821 & 1830 Charles Babbage invents the first Difference and Analytical Engines (aka computers).

1962 The internet is conceived of science and military parentage. Its purpose is to allow computers to share information via telephone lines. 1965 The internet is born when a Massachusetts computer connects to California.

In 1967 Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) began taming the unruly child by automating and networking their catalogs. In 1981, their legal name became OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.

2005 The term “Library 2.0” is coined as a response to the challenges posed by Web 2.0 technology use.

The insurgent globalization of technologies has caused the roles of librarians to change drastically.

Librarian = Teacher Librarians help students and teachers define their information needs, locate information in a variety of formats, analyze the information, and instruct on available applications.

Librarian = Instructional Partner Librarians collaborate with teachers to refine information retrieval assignments, encouraging those which foster the development of critical thinking skills.

Librarian = Information Specialist Librarians may not know all the answers, but they know how and where to find it. They provide leadership in the adoption and use of information technologies.

Librarian = Program Administrator Librarians manage their media and technology centers, introduce new technologies for information access, balance budgets between print and non-print resources, and manage the use of facilities and equipment.

A Cool Librarian Works Here!

Instruction: Netiquette and Safety Click us to visit NetSmartz and learn how kids can protect themselves online!

Instruction: Family Resources “Child Safety on the Information Highway” Click the information icon to Visit an excellent site for internet safety education.

Instruction: Computer Ergonomics Clicking on the picture above will start a stand alone presentation on the importance of ergonomics.

Librarians must refine their own research skills and transfer those skills to students and teachers. Instruction: Internet Navigators Visit BlendedSchools by clicking on the icon.

Librarians must find the most effective way to introduce electronic resources and technologies by “hooking” students with the COOL stuff. Instruction: Technology Innovators

Kindle 2 The libraries of the future?

Librarians must emphasize the importance of evaluating all material retrieved on the internet. Instruction: Information Retrieval Evaluation

How do we relay the importance of verifying a source’s validity? One way is to set our students up for FAILURE.

Click Me! Assign a common research topic: Christopher Columbus Provide this link: http://allaboutexplorers.com/explorers/columbus.html Provide a few basic questions which could typically be answered by such an article Sit back and enjoy the fun

Become Publishers Librarians must create and maintain web-based resources which will help students, teachers, administrators, and parents locate quality internet sites relevant to the curriculum.

Become Collaborators Provide the obvious with an added “sneak attack”!

Become Professional Development Providers Many technology novices are intimidated by technology-based instruction. Librarians have the expertise needed to provide encouragement and reassurance.

Now that we have addressed safety, creativity, and manners… what about empathy?

Family Activity Nights

Gaming Night for Teens

Controlled Collaborative Creativity Click Alice to visit “Alice”

Open Collaboration with Online Peers Global SchoolNet Clicking on the above icons will take you to the site.

Online Collaborative Projects Photo sharing sites Blogging topics Fairy Tale Parodies “Alice” animated stories Story element or illustration interpretations

References Benjamin Franklin. (5 March 2009). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 5, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin Buell, M. J., Gill, M. and von Dassow, E. (2009). The cuneiform inscriptions. University of Minnesota. From http://special.lib.umn.edu/rare/cuneiform/ Crawford, W. (2005-2009). 11 reasons why Library 2.0 exists and matters. From http://www.blyberg.net/2006/01/09/11-reasons-why-library-20-exists-and-matters/ Gardner, J. W. (15 April 2005). Reference librarianship in the Information Age. From http://www.slais.ubc.ca/COURSES/libr500/04-05-wt2/www/J_Gardner/history1.htm GigaPan Epic. (1999-2003). From http://www.gadgetmadness.com/ History of OCLC. (2008). OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. From http://www.oclc.org/us/en/about/history/default.htm Howe, W. (n.d.). A brief history of the internet. From http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html Kindle 2. (1999-2006). Amazon.com. From http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading- Generation/dp/B00154JDAI/ref=amb_link_83624371_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=cent er-1&pf_rd_r=198TZKGP4TYQD5XCFVRT&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=469942651&pf_rd_i=507846 Library of Alexandria, Egypt. (2008) MSN Encarta. From http://encarta.msn.com/media_461517470/library_of_alexandria_egypt.html

Macdonald, M. (n.d.). Harvard House & a brief history of  John Harvard of  Stratford-upon-Avon. Stratford- upon-Avon. From http://www.stratford-upon-avon.co.uk/soaharv.htm Manney, P. J. (2006). Empathy in the time of technology: How storytelling is the key to empathy. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from http://www.pj-manney.com/empathy Melvil Dewey. (27 February 2009). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 5, 2009), from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvil_Dewey Murray, J. (March/April 2000). Librarians evolving into cybrarians. MultiMedia Schools. From http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/mar00/murray.htm Papyrus scroll. (2008). MSN Encarta. From http://encarta.msn.com/media_461564629_761568636_-1_1/Papyrus_Scroll.html Rich, M. (2009, February 16). The future of reading: In the web age, library job gets update. The New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/books/16libr.html?_r=1&ref=books US States. (2001-2009). Enchanted Learning. From http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/massachusetts/ Zapletal, E. (Publisher) (October/November 2001). Survivor: The history of the library. History Magazine. From http://www.history-magazine.com/libraries.html