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