Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Common Core Standards and Libraries

Thanks to Jean Parks, Librarian in the Appleton Area School District, for this link to library standards and the newly adopted Common Core Standards. 

I think the Common Core Standards are a good idea, and I like the information literacy components that are included.  How they will be implemented remains to be seen, but it is bound to be interesting.

A big shout out to Pam from my class who posted a great article today that I've forwarded to all my colleagues.  Again, good ideas and lots to think / talk about.  The article talks about restructuring libraries for today's users, and makes a lot of good points.  Changed but Still Critical: Brick and Mortar Libraries in the Digital Age.  I downloaded his free book because I liked the title.  Machines are the Easy Part , People are the Hard Part  I have only read a little bit of it, though it is a lot of very short mini essays.  I especially enjoyed hearing him say "don't advocate for libraries", something I learned on the Connecticut Library Association Executive Board in 1988 -- libraries are buildings, which don't do anything -- advocacy should focus on librarians, library staff, and library programs -- and maybe collections, but they don't DO anything, either, nor would they exist without staff. 

I am going to admit that I'm getting more comfortable with reading things on my tiny phone screen. . . but I don't want to give up print books just yet.  And there's no way to annotate PDFs that I could find.

On a completely different topic, but one which has generated a lot of interest among those living on the shores of Lake Michigan -- here's the story on the alewife die off.  Alewives

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Fortune Cookie

Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is the best.
Frank Zappa