Fabulous Photo Fun with Big Huge Labs fd’s Flickr Toys!

This is the time of year that media specialists celebrate the year’s accomplishments and look ahead to promotional strategies for the upcoming year.  A free and fun Web 2.0 resource that can help you create eye-catching and visually appealing creations from your digital photos for these promotions is Big Huge Labs, Home of fd’s Flickr Toys.  You can upload your own photos or use Flickr photos (observing copyright, of course!) with this free Web 2.0 suite of applications.  If you choose to upload your own photos, you will need to sign up for a free account with Big Huge Labs, but you do not have to sign up for a Flickr account; if you already have a Flickr account, you  have the option of linking your Big Huge Labs account to your Flickr account.

This resource features a multitude of games, toys, and utilities to help you create catchy and memorable image-based creations.   Here are a few of my favorite applications: 

• MapMaker:  create a map of where you have been or where you are going!
  My Travels
  
  Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

    

   

   

   

• Matte:  add a touch of class with a museum style matte frame to your favorite photos.
  
  
• Jigsaw:  create a custom jigsaw style image from your own photos.  You also have the option to order and purchase a real jigsaw puzzle from your creation!  If your budget permits, this would be a great way to promote library activities!            

   

•  Badgemaker: Use this tool to create nametags, ID badges, or any type of identification document.  
    
  
•  Mosaic Maker:  This is my favorite “toy”!  You can create many kinds of mosaics using your own photos or Flickr photos.  What a wonderful way to highlight library activities!  

  There are many more “toys” and applications to help you tap into your creative side and make the most of your images.   Many of the applications lend themselves to library and book promotion, so surf on over and open up the Big Huge Labs toybox!
  

  Buffy Hamilton
  Media Specialist
  Creekview High School
  http://webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us/creekview-hs/mediacenter/
  http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/
  http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/ 

Summer Reading Suggestions

We all love to talk about books we’ve read, and at this time of year many of you may be dreaming about beach reading. Here are several titles related to children’s and young adult literature that I can recommend to you.

Most recently, I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, the current Caldecott Medal winner. Unlike the majority of Caldecotts from the past, this book is not for the usual picture-book crowd. I bought it for my 11-year-old nephew, and “pre-read” it for him. The intriguing format is somewhere between an intermediate children’s novel and a graphic novel. The story is about an orphaned Parisian boy, who lives in the city train station and minds the clocks. At first, I thought this novel was going to incorporate fantasy elements, but instead it is more of an adventure. I’m not sure if it would make a good read-aloud because of its small size, and the wonderful pictures are critical to the story. My nephew enjoyed it, as I did - and I believe this is one of those good “boy books” although girls will love it, too. It contains a significant amount of science and history from a curriculum point of view.

My second title is The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Like many of you, I began to hear about the controversial nature of this book as the movie was released around Christmas time. I love to read controversial titles to find out what the fussing is all about. I began by reading as many online reviews as I could find. For the first time, I appreciated the Amazon readers’ reviews for this purpose. So often, professional reviews give a rather elite and adult point of view, while many down-to-earth points of view could be found among the “amateur” ones. It was quite valuable to read the many different perspectives.

I found the book to be “un-put-downable” and quickly bought and read the final two in the trilogy. The storytelling is compelling and as I reader I found that I had to know how the outcome for the children in the story. From a collection development point of view, however, I have a very different opinion.

It’s true that the religious themes in these books are controversial - with the potential for conflict growing as the series develops. However, I found this angle to be uninteresting; the religious ideas are vague, confusing, and a little difficult to compare to standard religious ideas because of their fantastical presentation. I think most young people would barely notice this aspect of the book. On the other hand, I found elements of the story to be extremely frightening. The first book, in particular, has some terrifying scenes - so much so that I had to break my normal rule of not previewing the end of the story. Pullman’s effective characterization made me care deeply about the central character; then, he placed her in extreme danger, to the extent that I couldn’t bear not knowing if she and her companion would survive. While appropriate for an adult or for a YA audience, I found the books to be far too scary for the preteen crowd.

Finally, I thoroughly enjoyed the book March by Geraldine Brooks, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Although this is most definitely an adult’s novel, it develops the story of Mr. March, the father of the family in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. In it, we follow the Civil War misadventures of the rather heroic March and view the issues of the day through his eyes. The story is powerful, disturbing and told incredibly well. I especially like how his point of view is displaced by his wife’s (Marmee), during the period of his illness; she is given the opportunity to voice her opinions about his heroics, and we get to see the feminine side of the story. The excellent writing of this book led me to try Year of Wonders by the same author, another compelling work of historical fiction, and Eden’s Outcasts by John Matteson, a dual biography of Louisa May Alcott and her father, Bronson Alcott.

With a little time off just ahead, I hope you can look forward to catching up on some reading. These titles are all worthy of your precious leisure time - enjoy.

Mary Ann Fitzgerald

University of Georgia

Making Your Workstations Work

My media center has 1 dedicated “look-up station.” That may not sound very impressive, but 6 other computers serve as both look-up stations and workstations. My computers came with access to the library catalog, the Internet, and Microsoft Office. This year, I decided to add more resources to the workstations. Rather than making each workstation identical, I specialized the stations.

When you identify a potential software purchase, I recommend not getting bogged down thinking about how to purchase enough licenses for every computer. Instead, consider purchasing one copy for one workstation to determine the usefulness and demand for the software. If you find that one workstation is in high demand, you can always purchase more copies of the software on an existing workstation to make more options available.

As you consider your technology purchases, consider these possibilities:

1. Purchase 1 copy of software or 1 piece of equipment to begin.
2. List the software and equipment available next to each workstation to both publicize the resources available and to remind yourself of what is installed where.
3. Designate themes to each workstation. For example, a scanning station may include a scanner and have Adobe Photoshop Elements installed.

Some workstations to consider are:

1. A productivity workstation that includes both Microsoft Office and Microsoft Works. Students who only have access to Microsoft Works at home can update, print, or convert their documents. Although Microsoft has a Microsoft Works converter available for Microsoft Office, I have had very little success getting it to work and decided that $40 was worth saving me and my students some frustration.

2. A scanning station that includes a scanner and Adobe Photoshop Elements for scanning, editing, and printing photos or images used in projects.

3. A multimedia station that includes DVD, video, photo, and audio editing software. My choice was an iMac using the iLife programs that come preinstalled: iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto, and GarageBand.

4. A publishing workstation that includes Microsoft Publisher for pamphlets, newsletters, and other more complicated documents.

These are just a few examples of workstations. Based on your students’ needs, identify software and hardware that may benefit your students. Don’t be afraid to test out a new idea. By starting with one workstation, you can judge the results and build from there. Having workstations with a variety of software and equipment available to students will not only make them more productive, it will also improve their technology literacy skills by exposing them to a range of both software and hardware.

Craig Coleman (craig@justsaycheese.com)
Media Specialist, Mundy’s Mill Middle School, Clayton County, Georgia

May is…

Check out the fun events and celebrations of May on Susan Grigsby’s blog.

Look what I found!

Mole & Thomas, Photographers, Chicago, WWI era

 

I received an amazing photograph in an email recently.   It was a human Statue of Liberty made up of 18,000 soldiers taken at Fort Dodge in 1918 by Mole & Thomas.   The first thing I did was go to SNOPES and check it out.  Please take the time to read this entry for a truly interesting art form used to sell war bonds during World War I!  Of course, the next thing I did was to look in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division for other photographs by Mole & Thomas.  There they were – including three taken at military bases in Georgia!  Follow the links in order to be able to see more details.

                                                               

Here are two from the LOC….do some searching yourself for more!

 

Human Statue of Liberty; 18,000 officers and men at Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Ia.; Col. Wm. Newman, commanding; Col. Rush S. Wells, directing; 1918.

 

Machine Gun Insignia; Machine Gun Training Center; 22500 officers and men, 600 machine guns; Camp Hancock, Augusta, Ga.; Brig. Gen. Oliver Edwards, commanding; Lt. Col. E.P. Pierson, directing; 1918.

 

Click here for other “people pictures.”

Somewhat Controversial Topics and How We Deal With Them

There are many issues that we face as school library media specialists where decisions must be made based upon our convictions and passions. I’m thinking of things such as how we develop and administer our reading incentive programs (AR, RC, etc.), our procedures for informing faculty of proper copyright law compliance, processes for purchasing and organizing foreign language materials in an English-speaking society, or “do you tell Johnny’s parents the name of the overdue book he has out?” The policies and procedures we develop to address such issues are often open to our own individual philosophies regarding the matter (in the absence of state or system mandates).

Over the course of the next several months, I will present “burning” issues of major interest to all of us and present a variety of opinions on how these issues might be addressed in your media program. While the decision of how to handle these issues is sometimes left to the discretion of the LMS, there is some measure of research and publication on the topics that might provide insight into how others address those specific situations. I will share some findings on the following topics:

1. Should classroom experience be required in order to become a school library media specialist?
2. Should all materials in a foreign language be shelved together based on the language (such as all Spanish), and should funds be budgeted to purchase materials in that language for students who are in the school speaking only that language? Or, should students be able to access materials written in English only in an effort to have them adapt to English more quickly and be less dependent upon their native language?
3. What is the best way to introduce/reinforce copyright compliance among faculty and students?
4. In schools where fixed scheduling is practiced, what steps can be taken to convince the administration to move toward flexible, or “flix,” scheduling in the LMC?
5. What is the best plan for implementing and administering a reading incentive program in the schools; what role should the LMS play in this program administration? How should these books be organized within the collection?
6. Should we follow the ALA position that parents should not be informed of titles their children have checked out due to privacy laws? Or, is there a time when parents should know about what their children are reading?
7. Should media specialists who are provisionally certified be hired, or should only the fully certified candidates be hired?
8. When the Principal requests that you remove a book from the collection, and due process using the system Reconsideration Policy has not been followed, should the LMS remove the item without hesitation?

These are a few issues we discuss in my Administration course and students research these topics with oftentimes very interesting findings! Over the next few months, I’ll report on one of these topics each month and encourage you to respond to the postings with thoughts and “position statements” of your own. I look forward to presenting, and hearing, interesting dialog on these topics!

Phyllis R. Snipes, Assistant Professor

University of West Georgia

Happy Poetry Month!

Making Connections through Poetry  http://www.loc.gov/teachers/history/

Looking for ways to combine primary sources and poetry?

A new activity from the Library of congress, Making Connections through Poetry: Finding the Heart in History, allows students to review and analyze primary sources and then synthesize the information and create poetry based on what they have learned. They can create “found poetry” from selected documents on many topics….or they can write a poem to accompany an image.

Students can print out their poems and the primary sources on which they are based and teachers can compile the poems and make chapter books that can be shared with students, other teachers and parents.

This is ready to use…the images & documents have been selected for you!  Take a look!  Try something new!

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Vote in ALA Elections!

There are only a few days left to cast your vote in the AASL and ALA 2008 elections! Voting will close on Thursday, April 24th.

As of 4/15 only 23% of AASL eligible voters had cost their vote in the ALA election. If you are a ALA member, you need to vote! This is the time to make the presence of school librarians stronger in ALA. There is even an AASL member and school librarian running for President of ALA. In order to have a stronger voice in ALA it is important for AASL members to vote and elect school library people to these important roles.

Voting is very easy-go to:https://www.alavote.org/2008/

If you are an ALA member you should have received a logon and password through email. Don’t know who to vote for and don’t want to read all those long bios? Here is a listing of those candidates that are either AASL members or members of other school/youth divisions: http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aboutaasl/aaslgovernance/aaslelections/general.cfm

Melissa P. Johnston, Silver City Elementary

Charting the Future for P-16 Information Literacy Collaboration

Hello GLMA folks!

Since this is my first post as a guest blogger, I’ll use it to introduce myself and explain why I’m here. I’m Nadine Cohen, a reference and instruction librarian at the University of Georgia, with a mission to collaborate with school and public librarians to embed information literacy in Georgia’s education curriculum, from pre-school to college. My mission is born out of the frustration I sometimes feel with my teaching. I employ all the current pedagogical goodies - active learning exercises, peer teaching, group work, etc. but I’m not happy with the level of learning taking place. Most of the students come to UGA with few or no information literacy skills, are overwhelmed by the academic databases in GALILEO, and don’t understand why good research isn’t one-stop-shopping in Google. There’s just too much to teach them in too little time and no amount of good teaching practice can make up for that. Why are most freshman coming to UGA with such poor information literacy skills? And even worse, why are so many leaving as seniors in pretty much the same shape? What can be done to fix the problem?

In the winter of 2005 I decided to call a media specialist to get another perspective on the issue. Not knowing any, I arbitrarily called a local high school and, to my great good fortune, stumbled upon the irrepressible Mindy Doler at North Oconee High. For every frustration I described, she replied “I know, me too!” Our problems were identical – underprepared entering students, not enough teaching opportunities to get them up to speed, and teaching faculty and administrators who don’t realize we’ve got an information literacy problem on our hands. The conversation went the same way with Lindy Pals at Jefferson Middle and Sharon Mitchell at Benton Elementary. We discovered that our information literacy teaching methods and objectives were complementary, and in a perfect world where we could spend enough instruction time with every student, we would produce competent researchers at every grade level.

It became clear to us all that the problem doesn’t lie with us or the students, it lies in the lack of a systematic, P-16 information literacy program in Georgia, one that teaches students research skills in manageable increments with lots of built-in reinforcement. And one that is embedded in the curriculum and tied into the Georgia Performance Standards so that teachers can appreciate how information literacy will enhance their lesson plans and even improve student test scores.

Creating that program and finding partners to work with us on implementation is the next step. In my future posts I’ll describe the efforts that are currently underway. If you want to be involved, come to the GLMA Summer Institute in Macon in June, and attend the meeting of the task force called “Charting a Course to Improve Information Literacy in GA through Organizational Collaboration”. And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me! My email address is ncohen@uga.edu.

2 Million Minutes

This relatively new video (watch the trailer and link to the blog through the web site) has been getting a lot of press, including a mention in Time Magazine in a story about reforms needed in education. The back story is that the creator of the video, who made his mega millions in the world of high tech, decided to make a video highlighting what he sees as critical issues for high school education in the US. He bases many of his ideas on The World is Flat. (Aside, have you seen the web site WikiSummaries? That’s a new one to me-and The World is Flat is there!)

2 Million Minutes follows 6 high school students-2 in the US, 2 in China and 2 in India–and compares their experiences for the two million minutes they’ll spend in high school. I was so interested just from watching the trailer that I spent the $25 to buy my personal use copy (a school version is $100). I’ve shown it to several faculty colleagues. Everybody agrees that this is the PERFECT title but some have hated it and some have loved it-nobody was left indifferent.

As media specialists, one of our roles is to try to work for change in our schools. I love the professional learning community idea (even though I know it doesn’t always live up to the ideal). This video would be a great tool to use to start a dialog about some big issues we’re all facing.  I’m really interested in anything we can do to help our students develop global perspectives.

If you’ve seen the entire video I’d love to see your comments.

Have a great spring weekend,

Judi Repman

Georgia Southern