Final assignment INF506 Evaluative report

Posted on January 24, 2016 by abond

“Ui mai ki ahau, ‘He aha te mea nui o te Ao?’
Māku e kī atu,
‘He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.’
If you were to ask me, ‘What is the most important thing in the world?’
I would reply,
‘It is people, it is people, it is people.’

Traditional Maori saying.

(“Glossary and Whakatauku,” 2009).

Evaluative statement

Social media is more than a collection of tools it is a way for people to connect with one another. People are finding that social media can enhance their lives, allowing them to participate in conversations and community no matter where in the world they are. Online participation is growing as wireless internet and mobile technologies develop and become cheaper and more accessible to the public. Social media is all about people connecting with people. David Lankes, Professor for New Librarianship at Syracuse University, challenges libraries to be “of the people”. When someone comes to a library (either in person or online) they must see an opportunity to contribute, to be an integral part of the community that is the library. Community members don’t support the library because they are satisfied customers but because they see the library as part of who they are (Lankes, 2012, p.37). Social media offers a way for libraries to connect with people and build community.

Library 2.0 is about participation and building community. Instead of providing collections and having our patrons come to the building to access them Library 2.0 takes the library out into the community and into the Internet environments through social media. The Internet has not only enabled libraries to be accessible 24/7 it has also allowed them to invite conversation and participation with patrons. Library 2.0 acknowledges that there are communities and conversations that would be enhanced by librarian participation and that this is a two way street. By identifying specific groups and catering for their needs online, libraries can build trust, partnership and good will (Bond, 2016a).

The appeal of social media tools for many librarians is that they are free and that their patrons are already using them. However, to create and maintain a social media presence takes time and planning. While the tool may be free the staff time involved in successful social media presence is not (Crawford, 2014, p.3). A first step is to find out what social media tools your patrons are using and how they are using them (Bond, 2015b). Are they residents or visitors to the platforms? Residents and visitors is a way to describe people’s participation and presence on social media (White, 2014). We can be a resident or visitor at any given time depending on our purpose. A ‘visitor’ simply uses a website without leaving any trace of themselves there whereas a ‘resident’ logs in, creates posts, interacts with others (White, 2014). It is possible to collect information from people and see where they are residents or visitors with the technologies they use (“Visitor and Resident Maps,” 2014). Libraries can be informed about where to invest time in social media once they know where their patrons are mostly resident.

By creating a way for people to feel connected to community and increasing their knowledge of other people, social media can bring reciprocity and feelings of trust (Young & Rossman, 2015, p. 21). This is where involvement in social media communities can be essential for libraries. People will share their experiences good and bad within their social media communities. If the message is negative it is important to know about it in order to respond and do something about it. Positive feedback also should be acknowledged. Social media has a broad reach with messages being passed on from one community to the next. A social media presence can build social capital for libraries, earned over time as people interact positively within the online community (Solomon, 2013, p.26).

Creating a plan around the social media tools patrons use and the content and the frequency of posts will assist libraries in developing communities on the Internet (Bond, 2015b). The plan should identify goals so that evaluation of progress can take place (Steiner, 2012, p. 56). Having a way to gauge success is helpful. Often social media tools have inbuilt statistics, page views, likes, retweets and so on that can be an indication of how well the social media strategy is working to build community.

When utilising social media an organisation needs to be develop a social media policy so that everyone involved will know what is expected and acceptable. This is especially true for school libraries which serve a wide range of people, some of whom are impressionable and vulnerable children. A social media policy which clearly articulates expectations, best practice, guidelines and procedures would assist in maintaining a healthy and respectful online community. Involving the people within the community in creating and reviewing the policy will ensure it is robust and respected (Bond, 2016b).

Public and University libraries have been at the forefront of using social media to develop dynamic online communities. By studying their use of the tools school libraries can utilise the best practices already formed and create successful communities of their own.

Reflective statement

It would be true to say that I enjoy participating in social media. I reside in Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and as a blogger. I found to my surprise that I enjoy creating content, interacting with others and participating in a variety of online communities. Before this course started I knew of a lot of social media tools and used them along the continuum of visitor through to resident. I was already using some of them at school. All teachers at my school blog using WordPress and I am expected to blog weekly about the library. I tweet about each blog post using hashtags to link in to the school social media accounts as well as some that relate to education – thus expanding the audience.

This course has shown that with planning and goal setting, my haphazard blogging and tweeting can actually do more than highlight what is happening in the library. In my first blog post for the course I expressed a desire to use social media to promote the work of our library (Bond, 2015a). I now see that social media offers more than the opportunity to broadcast to colleagues, parents and students about our services and resources. It has the potential to be a community with the people involved exchanging ideas, recommending books and participating in developing a positive school library culture. When there is a shift of focus from use of social media for marketing to that of community building, the library can help people share in research and learning (Young & Rossman, 2015, p. 22).

Social media is a long-term process of building relationships with individuals, rather than marketing to the masses. It is about creating personalized connections that allow for conversations between members of the library community. It helps to build good will and is faster and wider spread than word of mouth (Solomon, 2013, p. 191). I have learned that a key to building relationship with students, parents and colleagues is to listen to them. I want to find out what social media tools they are using and how they are using them. During the project I conducted for assignment 3 I made the mistake of assuming that because teachers of grade 7 were using Google + to communicate with their students that the students themselves were using that tool for discussion. As it turned out the use of Google + was to share and reinforce information from their classes and there was little interaction expected from the students.

I learned from that experience that I need to investigate thoroughly before committing to a social media tool. It is helpful to take some time to explore the functionality of the tool with the students so we use it effectively. I have recently started to use Pinterest more due to our school building project. I was saving pins of library designs. While discussing ideas for our “Love reading week” our Marketing Director, Jen Gokmen, showed me how to search Pinterest for specific topics, follow boards, and send messages.

Our school has a closed Facebook group for parents, staff and alumni and a twitter handle. The marketing office maintains and manages all school social media accounts. Our library team can post to the Facebook page and add the twitter handle to our tweets. An advantage to this is that people are able to see us as members of a wider school community as well as participants in the online communities of Facebook and Twitter. We can be active participants in building the online school community through existing channels rather than creating our own.

I will develop a plan that will give guidelines for how we use social media in the school library, which tools we will utilise and who is involved (Bell, 2012, p. 218). The plan will also need to have a goal, specific actions, frequency and possible subject matter, and a way to evaluate impact.

Our school does not at present have a social media policy. I will form a group to create one – this can be a professional learning community for the 2016 – 2017 academic year. A social media policy would give clear expectations, guidelines and procedures to protect everyone using social media and promote positive community building.

I have gained so much from participating in this course. I am passionate about using social media to enable our school library become a more “multidimensional socially connected space” (Young & Rossman, 2015, p. 22). The most important thing is the people and the community we create together.

References

Bell, S. (2012). Students tweet the darndest things about your library – and why you need to listen. Reference Services Review, 40(2), 217-220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00907321211228264

Bond, A. (2015a, November 22). Social networking – beginning INF506 [Blog post]. Retrieved from Wondering @ work website: https://abond.edublogs.org/2015/11/22/social-networking-beginning-inf506/

Bond, A. (2015b, December 12). Module 4.1 Building school library 2.0 [Blog post]. Retrieved from Wondering @ work website: https://abond.edublogs.org/2015/12/12/building-school-library-2-0/

Bond, A. (2016a, January 12). Module 5.2 5 reasons why school libraries should be using social media [Blog post]. Retrieved from Wondering @ work website: https://abond.edublogs.org/2016/01/12/5-reasons-why-school-libraries-should-be-using-social-media/

Bond, A. (2016b, January 21). Module 6.2 Developing a social media policy [Blog post]. Retrieved from Wondering @ work website: https://abond.edublogs.org/2016/01/21/developing-a-social-media-policy/

Crawford, W. (2014). Successful social networking in public libraries. Chicago: ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association.

Glossary and whakatauku. (2009, October 8). Retrieved January 23, 2016, from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/Glossary-and-whakatauki

Lankes, R. D. (2012). Expect more: Demanding better libraries for today’s complex world. San Bernardino: R. David Lankes.

Solomon, L. (2013). The librarian’s nitty-gritty guide to social media. Chicago: ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association.

Steiner, S. K. (2012). Strategic planning for social media in libraries. London: Facet.

Visitor and resident maps. (2014, May 7). Retrieved January 23, 2016, from https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/evaluating-digital-services/example-visitor-and-resident-maps

White, D. (2014, March 10). Visitor and residents [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOG3iThmRI

Young, S. W., & Rossman, D. (2015). Building library community through social media. Information Technology & Libraries, 34(1), 20-37. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database. (Accession No. 103786230)

Module 5.3 Developing a social networking strategy for our school library

Posted on January 16, 2016 by abond

Effective social networking takes time and planning (Solomon, 2013, p. 24). It is important to know what you want to achieve with the use of social media. Having measurable goals helps establish the purpose of the use of time and resources in maintaining a presence on social media (Ramsey & Vecchione, 2014, p. 76). Once the goal is established then it is possible to select the best social media tools for the purpose, create some steps to implement the plan and also have a way to measure success.

Istanbul International Community School (IICS) has just over 600 students ages ranging from 3 to 18 years old. It serves an expat community with families from all over the world. The library team has one Teacher Librarian and three assistants. Any social media strategy for the library has to be sustainable and realistic in terms of whom we are trying to reach and the amount of time required developing and maintaining our presence.

Jennifer Gokmen and Amanda Bond

Our school already has a closed Facebook group. This group is for parents and students of the school, alumni and friends of the school. It has a public twitter handle @iics1911. These social media tools are maintained by the school’s marketing team, headed up by Jennifer Gokmen. Jennifer monitors Facebook posts and actively retweets school related tweets. The main audience for the school twitter and Facebook accounts are the parents.

Instead of creating a separate Facebook page and dedicated twitter account I think it is a good idea to participate actively within the existing school accounts. Our library posts can add to the school social media presence while at the same time highlighting our programmes and services. We can be passionate partners in our wider school social media efforts (Ramsey & Vecchione, 2014, p. 78). Also since we will be using our personal twitter handles and Facebook accounts to complete the posts this will help our audience identify the library staff in the school, they will see us as professionals who communicate with pride about our work.

While we do have some parents as library members and regular borrowers we would like to communicate with our parents to show them the programmes and services we provide for our students and their families. The Pew report into parents’ views about libraries found that the majority of parents with children younger than 18 years of age feel that libraries are very important for the children as they develop as readers and researchers (Miller, Zickuhr, Rainie, & Purcell, 2013, p. 2). To have a goal that involves more “buzz about the library” (Solomon, 2013, p. 15) is appropriate. Social media will provide one way to spread news and build relationships (Burkhardt, 2010, p.10) with our parents.

The strategic plan should include the goal, who is involved, an assessment date, action items and how the goal will be measured (Steiner, 2012, p.56). Our social media strategy should include all these things and also have a desired frequency of posting. Below is a draft of a marketing strategy for our library using these ideas and guidelines.

Appendix Draft marketing strategy for IICS library

Goal

Increase parent and colleague awareness of library programmes and services

People involved

Teacher librarian and anyone in the library team who will commit to the goal.

Assessment date

End of the school year – June 2016

Action Items

Post to twitter daily about IICS library during the working week.
Use @iics1911 and #iicsreads #iicslib #love2read and/or #pypchat with each tweet.
Post once a week to Istanbul International Community School closed Facebook group about library matters and include relevant hashtag.
When posting to the library blog tweet using the hashtags above with the link to the blog post.
Retweet and share colleagues’ posts about the library.

Measures

Fill in Google Doc on Monday morning showing tweets, FB posts, retweets, favourites, likes and shares.
Anecdotal evidence from parents and colleagues about things seen on social media
Increased page views on Blog

Time frames

Start 18^th January and evaluate February 29^th (first Monday after the break) and April 25^th (first Monday after Spring break) to check and discuss progress.

References

Burkhardt, A. (2010). Social media: A guide for college and university libraries. College & Research Libraries News, 71(1), 10-24. Retrieved from ProQuest database. (Accession No. ISSN: 00990086)

Miller, C., Zickuhr, K., Rainie, L., & Purcell, K. (2013, May). Parents, children, libraries and reading. Retrieved from http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/05/01/parents-children-libraries-and-reading/

Ramsey, E., & Vecchione, A. (2014). Engaging library users through a social media strategy. Journal of Library Innovation, 5(2), 71-82. Retrieved from ProQuest AP Science database.

Solomon, L. (2013). The librarian’s nitty-gritty guide to social media. Chicago: ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association.

Steiner, S. K. (2012). Strategic planning for social media in libraries. London: Facet.

Module 4.1 Arizona State University as an example of Library 2.0

Posted on December 10, 2015 by abond

Arizona State University Library (ASUL) is developing web 2.0 platforms to make its services and resources known to the students and staff. The 4C’s of Web2.0 are described as connectivity, community, conversations and co-creation (Mootee, 2008).

Connectivity
There are so many ways to connect with ASUL: through their website, email and chat, Facebook and Twitter, the Library Minute and podcasts. ASUL is utilising many platforms to invite students to connect with its services and resources.

Conversations
With Facebook and Twitter accounts there are opportunities for conversation. The website also has instant messaging as part of the help desk and a feedback “We’re listening” page. There was one comment about the air conditioning not working in the private study rooms which was replied to explaining the air conditioning was being repaired and there were electric fans available at the issues desk (Arizona State University Library, 2015). One library minute ends with the question “Can we hear you now?” inviting students to communicate freely with library staff (Arizona State University, Tempe Campus, 2011).

Community
ASUL is creating community both online and face to face on campus. The website has links to all the online communities of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as others. The Library Minute is clearly appealing to the student body, “We want to be YOUR library,” (Arizona State University, Tempe Campus, 2011). The Library Minute videos show many user friendly features which include board games, meeting rooms and cafes (Arizona State University, Tempe Campus, 2014).

Content creation
The website carried an Instagram competition which is content creation by the students in collaboration with the library. The library minute and other podcasts show the library is involved in content creation. There are vodcasts of guest lectures and the library has its own YouTube channel.

ASUL is a great example of library 2.0 in its use of social media and web 2.0 tools to connect with its student body.

References

Arizona State University Library. (2015, September 18). We’re listening. Retrieved December 9, 2015, from https://lib.asu.edu/listening

Arizona State University, Tempe Campus (Producer). (2011, April 15). The social connection. The library minute. Podcast retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohyqXAhLgsM

Arizona State University, Tempe Campus. (2011, November 30). The library minute: study spaces. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from https://lib.asu.edu/librarychannel/library-minute

Arizona State University, Tempe Campus (Producer). (2013, August 1). Intro to ASU libraries 101. The library minute. Podcast retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpzDwCp7yo4

Arizona State University, Tempe Campus. (2014, September 17). The library minute, fun things to do in the libraries. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUAJv6Cck1I

Mootee, I. (2008, February 4). Web 2.0 and the 4 Cs [Blog post]. Retrieved from FutureLab website: http://www.futurelab.net/blog/2008/02/web-20-and-4-cs

ETL402 reflection – conversations and community

Posted on February 8, 2015 by abond

Two key words spring to mind as I reflect on my learning during this course –conversations and community.

In my first blog post for this course I recalled my first teaching position and how we taught Humanities using themed units, supported with class sets of 5 different novels, (Bond, 2014). I saw the value of including literature in the curriculum; however, I did understand how to help the students make connections between what they were reading in the novels to the concepts and content of the course. If I had the chance to do this again (and I will be working towards this at my school) I would create opportunities for conversations. As students read and engage with concepts and content, they need opportunities to discuss their understandings with each other and their teachers. This can be done through scaffolded discussions – literature circles, one to one conferencing, blog posts and comments, book trailers and reading journals. One of the roles of the teacher librarian (TL) is in helping students make connections through their reading.

An effective way to help students make connections with what they are reading is to use questioning. One skill I am developing as a result of the course is that of dialogic reading. The key to this form of reading aloud is the open-ended questions the teacher is asking, (Bond, 2015). Dialogic teaching is a method of asking questions. Open ended questions bring deeper engagement with the text, further understanding and learning conversations (Leland, Lewison, & Harste, 2013, p.19). Another role of the TL is creating these questions then modelling to colleagues how to use this skill to encourage students to have a dialogue with the books they read.

As students talk about what they are reading they begin to see themselves as being part of a community of readers. This can add to the motivation to read, (Leland, Lewison, & Harste, 2013, p.21). It surprises me is that many of my colleagues are not readers of children’s literature. The “Teachers as Readers” programme was developed in the UK to address this issue. The teachers involved were invited to read children’s literature then meet and discuss what they had read. One of the results was that they had more success at matching readers to texts and texts to readers, and thus increased the opportunity for children to enjoy reading and join the community of readers. TLs need to encourage the development of communities of readers. We need to read widely ourselves so we can match readers to texts, for students and colleagues alike. A key to a successful readers’ advisory programme is that you know the person you are making recommendations to and that you have read a lot of children’s literature, ( (Maatta, 2009, p. 87). One way I have found to broaden my knowledge of children’s literature is our Istanbul Librarians’ Book Chat meetings. We bring three books we have read from our collection to share each month. Our conversations broaden our knowledge of children’s literature and encourage us to continue to read from within our own collections.

This course confirmed the importance of literature in the curriculum and challenges me to further develop my role in the creating conversations about reading and story in my school community.

References

Bond, A. (2014, November 16). Literature across the curriculum: Initial thoughts [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://abond.edublogs.org/2014/11/16/literature-across-the-curriculum-initial-thoughts/

Bond, A. (2015, February 1). Forum post 2 Enjoying reading brings great rewards [Online forum post]. Retrieved from CSU forums website: http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=ETL402_201490_W_D_Sub10_forum

Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Bearne, E., & Goodwin, P. (2008). Exploring teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature. Cambridge Journal of Education, 8(4), 449-464. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database. (Accession No. AN 35484024)

Leland, C., Lewison, M., & Harste, J. C. (2013). Teaching children’s literature: It’s critical! New York: Routledge.

Maatta, S. L. (2009). A Few Good Books: Using Contemporary Reader’s Advisory Strategies to Connect Readers with Books. New York, USA: Neal-Schuman.

Reflection: Collections for the people, by the people

Posted on June 2, 2014 by abond

“Bad libraries only build collections. Good libraries build services (and a collection is only one of many). Great libraries build communities”, (Lankes, 2012, p. 33). Having almost completed this course I want to expand on this statement – great libraries not only build communities but they are built by communities. Community involvement in the library services, creating the collection, reflecting on the policies and participating in procedures places the ownership of the library right where it should be – in the hands of the people it serves.

Our library serves the staff, students and families of Istanbul International Community School. When we were considering budgeting for a balanced collection we were asked how realistic is it to use output measures e.g. use of resources as a basis for library budgets? I wondered whether instead of measuring resource use we look at the range of people using the resources (Bond, 2014a). Many of our students borrow DVDs for family fun nights. Parents come in and borrow resources for themselves, for younger children not at school yet and to supplement the resources their children borrow. Our whole school community uses our library collection and they should have a say in its development.

When I was reading about weeding it was suggested to involve colleagues and students in that process (Beilharz, 2006, n.p.). I must admit I cringed. My colleagues can be very critical of getting rid of resources no matter how tatty and irrelevant, and I had never asked students before. I had the chance to try working with a student that week. Anna age 5 understood our criteria and purpose and made great decisions on the resources (Bond, 2014c). That experience really did show me the value of including the community in collection management.

Consultation is time consuming so it has to be focussed. When we considered collection evaluation and its importance in showing where to place precious funds in order to maximize learning impact the time factor seemed the biggest barrier (Hughes-Hassell & Mancall, 2005, p.40). A focussed evaluation of one area can be achieved in limited time. Our International Languages collection, otherwise known as Mother Tongue books, certainly is one area in need of evaluation. Our school has many students who are learning in English language but for whom English is not their first language. Research is showing that the more years of education they have in their first language the better the students are at this language and the target (in our case, English) language (Skutnabb-Kangas & Phillipson, 2009). Our collection has been built around parent donations. I am only fluent in English language and so I need to consult with our community. I will need to create an evaluation guide for parent or student volunteers (Bond, 2014b) and then we can plan to develop this collection effectively together.

One of the enduring understandings I have from this course is that the collection is vital for the effective support of the teaching and learning in our school community AND the community has to contribute to collection’s vitality. For the people, by the people – this is what makes great library collections and great libraries.

References

Beilharz, R. (2006). Secret library business – part 2. Connections, 63. Retrieved from http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/issue_63/secret_library_business__part_2.html

Bond, A. (2014, April 1). Other techniques for collection measurement [Online forum post]. Retrieved from http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=ETL503_201430_W_D_Sub6_forum

Bond, A. (2014, May 4). Evaluation – making time for learning excellence [Blog post]. Retrieved from Wondering at work website: https://abond.edublogs.org/2014/05/04/evaluation-making-time-for-learning-excellence/

Bond, A. (2014, May 17). A prickly problem [Blog post]. Retrieved from Wondering at work website: https://abond.edublogs.org/2014/05/17/a-prickly-problem/

Hughes-Hassell, S., & Mancall, J. C. (2005). Collection management for youth: responding to the need. Chicago: ALA editions.

Lankes, R. D. (2013). Expect more: Demanding better libraries for today’s complex world. San Bernadino, CA: R. David Lankes.

Skutnabb-Kangas, T., Prof., & Phillipson, R., Prof. (2009, January). The language is the learning (Interview by C. Inugai-Dixon & A. Flory) [Transcript]. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from International Baccalaureate Organisation website: http://www.ibo.org/ibworld/jan09/languageisthelearning.cfm