Who knew we had our own day?

Happy Book Lovers Day! Kick back and relax with a good book. What are you reading? #ReadNYPL http://t.co/dgQEE2NX9P
— NY Public Library (@nypl) August 9, 2013

I am wearing my Unshelved "Guess What I'm Reading" tee shirt -- which makes it the second time that I've worn it appropriately but without forethought -- I  got a pin from co-creator of Unshelved Bill Barnes at the American Library Association conference for this shirt. "We're giving them to everyone wearing Unshelved merchandise," he said. I had to look down to see what I was wearing.  I have found the shirt to be a good conversation starter, even away from the ALA Convention floor.  What am I reading?  Right this second,  a lot of online news stories, following links from Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn -- magpie reading, attracted by headlines instead of shiny objects.

I've read a lot of mysteries this summer -- my favorite form of "take me away" reading -- including the White House Chef series by Julie Hyzy.  I also participated in my public library's summer reading program for adults, which required that you read a book a week. Five of the eight books had to be different genres or types of books.  I appreciate being forced to consider life beyond the new mystery shelf, and read:

•  a surrelistic fiction YA book by David Levithan called Every Day, about a boy who wakes up each day in a different body, which presents serious ethical and practical issues when he falls in love with the girlfriend of a body he's is occupying one day
• my book club's pick for July, Good Poems by Garrison Keillor, which provided an interesting discussion as everyone read aloud their favorite(s) from the book
• A Hidden Truth by Judith Miller, about a woman moving to the Amana Colonies that her mother had left.  It was an interesting subject, though the characters were a little underdeveloped, even for romance.[Christian historical romance -- 3 genres in one!]    That took me to a whole collection of Christian fiction about Amish people-- there seem to be a large number of them, just on the new book shelf.  The ones I read varied in quality, but I liked Barbara Cameron's Quilts of Lancaster County series. The first one was the best of the three, but of course I had to find out what happened next.
• I finally read John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (realistic fiction, YA) which I had put off reading because I thought it would be too sad.  When the characters meet in a cancer support group, it doesn't seem fated to end happily -- and there's the title, if you needed more clues.  It is, however, a brilliant book, and probably Green's best.  Passages and scenes from the book stuck with me for weeks and yes, I both laughed and cried.  There are a lot of YA books about early death, and love, and friendship, but this one is exceptionally both realistic and filled with interesting, quirky characters.  Even the parents are not as throwaway as is usual in the genre.  I recommend that you read it -- on a bright, sunny day, when you have neither had nor anticipate bad news.
• Of course,  I read a whole bunch of mysteries, including the new one by Donna Andrews, Hen of the Baskervilles.  This was not the strongest of the series, but I recommend the series, beginning with Murder With Peacocks. The characters and the laugh aloud scenes are the strength of the books.
• What am I reading today?  Hearse and Buggy by Laura Bradford, which fell off the new book shelf into my hands, the One Year Bible, and my next book club book, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank. 
  And I have a stack of new library books on my desk. . . .

If my summer reading is too summery for your tastes, the Internet Public Library linked to  25 web sites that have book reviews of literature and which sound entertaining in their own right.  I also like Shelf Awareness from the Independent Booksellers, which covers mostly new books, and Poem-A-Day, for a quick read each and every day via now old fashioned e-mail.  And for you cutting edge folks, I'm sure you are aware  the New York Times has a list of best selling ebooks.  

What are you reading on Book Lover's Day?

Follow up

Here's the follow up to the social media interview -- and, notice, they've used yet another media outlet and promoted it on Facebook (at least, that's where I found it).

Behind the scenes of Earnhardt's AMA, @TeamHendrick takeover

Personal? Professional? Professional Social Media Agent?

I struggle with the relationships between the personal and the professional in online life.  I have tried to keep my professional contacts in Linked In, and my personal contacts on Facebook.  I know that some people have set up separate accounts, but that doesn't seem practical to me.  I did that with email, and ended up with nine email accounts, and the compartmentalization was, in the end, not helpful.  My social networks have a lot of overlap, but the categories do hold up, as much as possible in our complex world.  My Twitter feed, however, is a totally random collection of things I'm interested in and things I like and people I think are entertaining.  I think the conflation of the personal and professional is inevitable, in part because it is easier -- and the technology itself encourages consolidation.

Today, I'm turning to the use of social media in an area which is of interest to me, but not a part of my professional purview -- beyond the unimpeachable fact that librarians are interested in everything -- sports marketing.

NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt, Jr., today did two chat activities, one on Reddit, and one on Twitter, to demonstrate the use of his employer's "new Digital Dashboard social media command center".   What interested me, beyond the content, was not only the interactive use of social media, which is not new, but both the high tech center, and the other media forms used by Dale Jr.'s publicity people to publish the content on the web afterwards.

http://www.hendrickmotorsports.com/news/article/2013/08/06/Earnhardt-chats-with-fans-via-Reddit-AMA-TeamHendrick-takeover

Check out the photos of the command center -- it's pretty impressive. There are photos on the team twitter feed @TeamHendrick #DashChat.   This project used twitter.com, twitter pics, reddit.com (the NASCAR subreddit),  a photo site called imgur, and a site called Storyify, used by his publicity person to create a complete list of the answered questions with photos and comments. It might be the type of project a library could do, even without the high tech command center.

I can see possibilities for using the Storyify and Imgur tools to create materials for classes or other educational applications.  I also find the process fascinating -- taking a celebrity who is famously not on Twitter and having him use social media to interact with fans in a controlled environment. For peeks behind the mirror, you can follow his publicity people @MikeDavis88 and @MikeHoag88.  Mr. Earnhardt got into social media early (back in the My Space days),and encouraged NASCAR to use the web more effectively.  He owns a television/film production company, and his staff maintains a set of web sites, two Facebook pages, and a podcast.  You'll notice, however, that it takes a complete team of public relations people to maintain all of these web outlets.  http://www.dalejr.com.  On this week's podcast, Mr. Earnhardt said that he gave up maintaining a social media page himself because it "became like a small child." Mr. Davis, himself a father, pointed out that an actual small child probably is more work.  However, I understand the analogy.

On another social media front, on Linked In today I saw, in my news feed, a question and discussion about how to learn social media platforms.  One person posted a New York Times article from last March with a list of classes -- credit and non-credit, many requiring tuition -- available for people wanting to become certified in social media.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/education/digital-skills-can-be-quickly-acquired.html?pagewanted=all  I was happy to see that I already know how to use most of the media listed, though, of course, I'm sure more things have been added to the social media universe in the last five months.  I did find both the question and the answer interesting -- do we all need social media certification if we need to be our own publicity agents?  Has anyone done time/benefit analyses on the use of social media?  At what point does it take too much time?  For an individual?  For an institution?

My personal feeling is that there needs to be a balance between the time spent and the benefits, and one way to maximize benefits is  to pick one or two sites and types of communication to focus on, and do them really well.  Unless and until you are earning $23 million a year...

That's a lot of text without pictures, especially if you didn't follow the links [hint:  follow the links!].  Here are some photographs far from the racetrack or the computer screen:

Basking in the sun on the special turtle raft

Waterway through the wetlands

Prairie flowers

Beach Cat

Summer time, and living is not necessarily online.  I had the opportunity to be at my friends' beach house while caring for their cat.    A very special cat,  a cat that prefers the outdoors -- on a leash.  (She would probably forgo the leash, but she doesn't keep the same eye out for raptors and other predators that I do).  

Surveying the Lake

Lake Michigan shoreline

e-books

When I first got my iPhone, I thought "I'll never be able to read on that tiny screen,", but that was then, and this is now.  As I spent more time with the phone (yes, perhaps too much time, my friends), I got more used to reading even pieces longer than a tweet or Facebook note on the screen.  I got better and better at the tiny keyboard, too, thanks in part to my totally nerdy subscription to the New York Times Crossword Puzzles. 

The New York Times, the New Yorker and Sports Illustrated provided copies of the electronic versions to their print subscribers, and I downloaded them, for those times when you need something to read and don't have a book with you.  I usually read them in  print, but I've read several articles and even whole special issues of the New Yorker on the phone.[And you get extra cartoons!  Don't tell the marketing people how easily I'm swayed]

McCormick Place Chicago

I downloaded all the library ebook software, so I could practice checking out a book and be able to describe the process to my online clients.  However, I had not read a whole book online until I was headed to Chicago for the ALA conference.  Yes, taking books along to ALA is a coals to Newcastle experience, since you will come home buried in ARCs and free books and sample books. . . but my thought was -- I'll be in Chicago, I'll be commuting on the El, and I won't want to carry a book, so I should download some library books.  I borrowed three and finished one -- when the others returned themselves [Bonus!  No fines]  I realized I should have prioritized my reading by due date, not that I do that with print books, either. [You can't renew them, per se, but you can borrow them again if there's not a waiting list;  I chose to let these two go.]

ALA Exhibit floor

While I didn't read a lot in the city -- too many people to see, things to do, ARCs to collect -- I did find that ebooks are perfect for camping.  The phone is lightweight and provides its own light, and I finished my first complete library ebook.  I was trying to read in different genres for my public library's adult summer reading game, so I read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn.  I didn't like it as well as Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, but parts of it were very funny.  http://dbooks.wplc.info/ContentDetails.htm?ID=9A579CF9-EEB3-4936-97CB-25DECD5CED78

Point Beach State Park

In addition, I have sent a Kindle book to a friend as a present (not without a lot of discussion with Amazon customer service, enough that I don't plan to try that again) which she did get a few months after the intended occasion.  Today, I gave in to the iTunes advertising and bought two books [for just $3.99!! see note above]  I did follow the rule that says "if you wouldn't buy it at full price, don't buy it on sale."  Maybe now I'll finally read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which has been recommended to me by a surprisingly varied group of people. 

I still prefer print books.  I love the library new book shelf, from which I plucked seven books from two different libraries today. I like being surrounded by books, though I admit I'm in the public library today mostly to take advantage of the air conditioning.  I don't think beach or bathtub reading works as well with a screen.  [Though for your beach and ebook reader fans, try putting your reader in a self closing plastic bag].  I charge my phone at night, and I don't really want it in bed with me, if I'm not in a tent.  And I now know I should check ebooks out one at a time, because I forget they are there (less likely with the stack of print books from the library).  I'm only a partial convert, but I do see the appeal. 

Do you read ebooks?  Do you borrow them from the library?  What makes them more or less appealing than print?  Have you read any truly interactive books, like The 39 Steps? 

A selection of fascinating ebook innovations

Point Beach Driftwood

Does our society value children and education?

Teachers and school supplies

This article reports survey results for how much teachers spend on supplies for their classrooms and students, on average, each year.

First Lady Laura Bush did champion a tax deduction for teachers, of $250.00, to help offset this cost;  most teachers have spent that much before the first week of school, but I do appreciate the effort.

Many communities have school supply drives to help with this problem as well, and there are many generous individual and corporate donors to those drives, which also helps.

However, as you will see from the article,  the cost to teachers is still enormous.  And as school district budgets are cut, the cost to teachers will increase -- or they, and their students, will go without supplies like pencils and crayons and facial tissue -- the latter is a real issue in flu and cold season, as I think you can imagine.

I worked with teachers who had to have their classrom supplies -- including furniture and cartons of books -- delivered each school year by friends or relatives with trucks.  Everyone has their own decorations -- bulletin board borders, inspirational posters, and educational sayings.  Elementary teachers have more things -- high school teachers have more books, maps, and sometimes their own technological equipment.  I knew an elementary teacher whose classroom was alive with "reading spaces" including a play house and a claw foot bathtub filled with cushions.  Every August, they unpack all this stuff, create their classroom environment, and, every June pack it up, take it home, and repeat the process the next school year.  

I've been asked what the right amount of money per child is to run an adequate school system.  It's a fair question, but it doesn't have an easy answer.  I tend to think in terms of what children need in their school environment.   The list is long, and expensive.  People and technology, and the costs of special education, drive the budget, but there are also a lot of expenses for infrastructure, facilities, and equipment.

A partial list for the ideal school.  (feel free to add to this, in your mind or the comments)

*  Caring, qualified teachers, paraprofessionals, and support staff.
*  A clean and safe environment with age appropriate furniture and equipment
*  Technology and equipment, including computers and tablets, as well as smart blackboards, projection equipment, lab equipment, athletic equipment, musical instruments. . . . 
*  A school library with up to date physical and electronic collections, and a qualified teacher/librarian teaching information literacy skills
* An outdoor play area, and a gym
* A space large enough for the whole school for performances and visiting lecturers
* A garden, and a commitment to healthy food in a well staffed cafeteria or lunchroom
* Safe transportation to and from school
* Adequate supplies
* A budget for field trips and equipment for experiential learning outside the classroom

Most teachers now have computers on their desks, though I had one that took 45 minutes to boot up at one school where I worked, and most teachers also have telephones in their classrooms -- these seemingly basic bits of technology, which also have safety implications, are fairly recent additions to some classrooms.

Some communities are able to go beyond my basic list -- some are not even meeting those standards.  The more social services the school is asked to provide, and the more needy or at risk the student population, the higher the cost.  Grant writing and fund raising take time and skill -- where there are inadequate physical resources, there are often also inadequate human resources -- no one has the time or the skill to work with the complex application processes for grant funding.  Most grants also require a plan to continue the program beyond the grant period, and that, too, may not be possible in the most needy environments.

The problem is a complex one, and it is influenced by many larger societal problems, so the solution also needs to be multi-faceted and complex.

I think the first step is making children and education a priority in our society -- recognizing that a 19th Century Calendar,  mid-20th Century buildings, and a curriculum that has been tweaked but not fundamentally re-thought is not going to prepare our children for competitive life in the 21st Century.
I would caution against looking only at test scores and rote learning --- that's not playing to our historic strengths of innovation and individualism, which need to be nurtured.

Does our society really value children and education?


What do you think?

I try to keep this blog focused on professional issues and idea, but sometimes the personal creeps in. .  .  I'm walking on an American Cancer Society Relay team, and I'd like to provide more opportunities for people to support our team.  Thanks for considering this, in a world where there are a lot of needs and opportunities of this sort.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/lakeshorelibrarian

What do you think about the overlap among the personal, political and professional in social media, especially considering the current controversary in the NFL?

 

48 Hour Film 2013 Trailer St. Louis

 Check out the latest production from Mole Man Movies -- the trailer is from their entry in the 48 hour film festival in St. Louis -- where teams are given a theme and have 48 hour to write, shoot, edit and produce a film, including original music.  This year's theme as Mistaken Identity

Books to read on snowy days

Thinking of summer on a snowy day. . . 

I love the Unshelved cartoon -- a very funny and true look at library life.  On Fridays, they publish book reviews, one of which is the cartoon for the day.

Today's cartoon caught my eye because I loved Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle as a child.  One of the excellent adventures of my summer camp days was searching through the collection of old, donated books in the giant barn we used for rainy day activities.  The original Camp Fire Girls series from the turn of the 20th Century were there, as were the stories of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. Rest hours and rainy days were transformed through that collection, which was obviously donated and a very random collection -- I loved the treasure hunt through the dusty books.

Unshelved Friday February 8 2013

 

 This is the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle I remember, but she's been updated  -- so look for the revised editions.

Powell's Bookstore in Portland, OR, has a great newsletter.  I've found books there I wouldn't have found anywhere else.  This is the list of both the customer's favorites of the year, plus the top fifty staff picks. I hope the snow storm doesn't last long enough for you to read all of them -- and I'm personally looking forward to reading on the beach.

2013 Puddly Awards Powell's Book Store

Random picture of the day -- early summer in Ireland.

Dunluce Castle County Antrim, Northern Ireland

The Romance of Snow: A Wisconsin Photo Essay

Is snow romantic?

Watching snow fall is romantic, especially if you can do so in a location like Starved Rock State Park's lodge by the giant fireplace.  Watching the snow fall lazily towards the river, as I did one November day, is lovely.  Starved Rock State Park. Click on Seasons  

The snow falling outside my window right now is very beautiful, since my view is entirely of my giant fir tree and the swirling snow.   And the snow on cedars -- my neighbor's favorite plant -- is picturesque.

Playing in the snow can be lots of fun.  Especially if you are in a beautiful environment, like a  Wisconsin State Park   or in Door County, Wisconsin or in  Crested Butte, Colorado

Shoveling snow, however, while undoubtedly excellent aerobic exercise, is a little different from the romantic vision of snow. 

A long way to go

 

 

 

 

Here we see the driveway halfway done, but, turning around. . .still a way to go, including the dreaded end of the driveway "plow snow".  While it is illegal to put your snow in the street, the plow can and will put the plow snow in your driveway -- and it will be compacted and full of ice chunks -- the bane of all those who use shovels or snow blowers.

Plow Snow

Plow snow: the closeup

Half the sidewalk

Remember the part about good exercise?  It is that, and you are well advised to remember what they told you in gym class about lifting with your legs, and not your back.  It is also true that there are many kinds of snow.  Today's snow was not too wet and therefore not too heavy.  The heavy wet snow is called "heart attack snow" for a reason.  

Sidewalk done

 Here are the "after" pictures:

 

Just as it begins to snow again. . . . 

It is lovely to watch the snow fall, and the second round of snow was the lightweight snow that sparkles as it falls, the star of many a moonlight on snow photograph.  It did not take very long for me to remove those final two inches

 I know that we cannot afford another drought year, and that we need the snow.  It is beautiful, as it falls, and when it is newly on the ground.  It will be good for all those "playing in the snow" businesses in this tourism dependent state, and  I enjoyed spending a lot of the day outside, and enjoyed the exercise.  You have to think about something while you're shoveling, and taking pictures is a good reason for a little rest break, so I worked on this post as I worked in the snow.  

What does winter mean to you?  Here are a few additional thoughts on Winter from Poets.org

Proud to be a Citizen of these United States

It made me cry, and it made me proud.  Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) quoted George Washington as saying the swearing in of the first President was not the test of the new county -- the swearing in of the second President would be.  We now have our 44th President and have completed our 57th Inauguration -- and we should be proud of our country and its structure as we move ahead, facing challenges and  looking for solutions  in our collective national life.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/InaugurationCe

The ceremony was impressive, far more than the sum of its parts, showing the unity and diversity of our country.   As is appropriate for the occasion, it was the United States at its very best.

If you did not have an opportunity to watch the Inauguration live, watch the video, not the summaries.  If not the whole four hours, at least the speech.  I appreciated the President's speech -- especially its historical references -- and liked it better for its careful, understated nature.  It would be a pleasure to teach, because there are many important historical references that students would have to search for and figure out. 

Here is the Inaugural Poem by Richard Blanco:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june13/inaugpoem_01-21.html

And this was my favorite quote, (as illustrated and Tweeted by the White House)
https://twitter.com/whitehouse/status/293409419792900096/photo/1 it is also picture 17 in the White House photostream here http://www.whitehouse.gov/inauguration-2013 in the section "Your Voices at the Inauguration".

"With passion & dedication, let us answer the call of history & carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom" 

                         - -  Barack H. Obama, 2nd Inaugural Address, January 21, 2013

Every child ready to read

This video was part of the answer to a question I was asked today, and it gave me the opportunity to watch it again.  It was written and produced by my friend Faith, and it is a must see for all parents and library advocates.  Grandparents, aunts, uncles, babysitters and big brothers and sisters, too!

Happy New Year

A new year;  a time for resolutions and thinking in images of newness -- like a blank book or an unfilled calendar.  2013.  Remember what a fuss was made about the new century?  And now we're well into its second decade.  A lot of challenges still ahead -- and a lot of ideas to explore.  One of my resolutions is to be a better (or at least, more frequent) blogger.

Happy New Year!

Identity: Are you what you read? Or collect?

I had the great good fortune to hear live music -- and to sing along -- at the Fox Valley Folk Festival over Labor Day weekend.  A friend of mine, excited about a wonderful performing group new to the Festival exclaims: "Maybe they're on Freegal!  If not, then iTunes."

I still own record albums.  I don't own a turntable, just the records.  I listen to CDs and yes, as much memory as is available on my phone is devoted to iTunes.  I kept the albums for their history, though I understand some people are collecting vinyl again.  [Matt Watroba, a singer from Detroit, talking about albums, said "for you young people in the audience, those are those big black CDs you find in the attic sometimes."]

Mark Dvorak

There are also a lot of books in my living room, some older, some much more recent.  When I lived with my sister in  Chicago, she made several pointed comments about people who always buy books and never buy bookcases.   I bought bookcases. I try to read a lot of library books, but I still buy books.  It used to be a common thing to look at people's record collections or bookshelves for clues to their identity, their history, or to find common ground.  I have a bookcase that's just CD size (though bookcase height), and one brother-in-law who has his whole CD collection also on display, but we both have music we've bought online access only on our digital players.   How do we get those vital personality clues in the electronic world?  The continuing existence of physical books, CDs, DVDs, albums on display are a clue by themselves, either of age or of inclination.  Do electronic devices offer the same kind of footprint?  They do, but to whom is that visible?  How well do you have to know someone before they share their iPOD or smartphone?  I share things on my phone often -- photos, web sites -- but I don't offer to let people page through my 13 folders of apps -- nor has anyone asked to do so.


Obviously, people displayed their best or favorite books in their living rooms, and may have more and different books in non-public spaces.  Library books were never visible, unless you were actually reading them.  I belong to Goodreads, a social networking site for book lovers, so my friends can see not only the books I have read, but also those on my (ever growing) "to read" list.  It also includes author posts and blogs, and book reviews.  e.g. Laurie Halse Anderson's Blog on writing and blogging.  It's interesting to read people's reviews, but neither my friends, nor I, nor all my favorite authors, post often and, of course, not everyone has even signed up.  It is both more information  -- and more accessible -- and less so.

Of course, we still  have older technology available to us.  Another sister started sending email pictures of her newborn when she realized that more than half of the family is not on Facebook.  It does not seem so long ago that we were coaxing staff to learn then new email technology with just that lure "you could see pictures of your grandchildren."   This week, I received two handwritten thank you notes for graduation presents I sent to a high school and a college graduate, respectively. It is still exciting to get mail, especially personal mail, and I'm told my youngest niece also likes physical mail.   If you want to know what your friends and acquaintances are reading -- you could ask, even start a conversation.  Anita Silvey, former editor of The Horn Book Magazine, once said that she thought heaven would be people sitting around under trees, talking about books.  What have you been reading lately?

ebooks, ereaders and book suggestions

This newsletter was posted on Facebook by Islandtime Books and More -- an amazing independent bookstore on Washington Island in Wisconsin's Door County.  It is published for the book industry, but you can also sign up for a reader's edition, which is a twice weekly collection of book reviews.

Librarians and independent booksellers are often the best source of recommendations for books to read.  I am not going to talk about the length of my "to read" list on Goodreads -- but it is a long one.  I added to it today at another independent bookstore, Oshkosh's Apple Blossom Books, buying one book and adding another to my list -- which is showing restraint, really. 

I clicked on Shelf Awareness to follow the post on "Indie Booksellers as Agents of Social Change," but I read on to find most of the issue devoted to ebooks and ebook readers, not just here but internationally.  Of course, then I had to click on the "Readers" tab so I could add a few more books to my list.  Then I signed up to get the newsletter every day. 

Northport Pier headed towards Washington Island

Returning Ferry

Swans in Jackson Harbor, Washington Island, WI

Learning through folk songs

I had the great good fortune to attend Milwaukee's Irish Fest last weekend.  The event included all the joys of summer festivals -- food (including corn on the cob on a stick and a lot of variations on corned beef and potato themes),  people watching (most of them dressed in green), spectacle (tug of war, Celtic Canines),  culture (genealogy and Gaelic lessons) and amazing music.

 It is held on Milwaukee's Summer Fest grounds,  an ideal location for a summer music festival.  Some of the stages are set under the highway overpass, so I was able to send my nephew  pictures that included two of his favorite things:  acoustic speakers and bridges [he's studying Architectural Engineering] 










It is an impressive display of Irish-American Culture, and includes musicians from Ireland as well as the Irish Diaspora  -- this year's theme was the relationship to Bluegrass music, so there were a lot of banjos!. 

The stories told in folk songs and popular tales are always interesting to me, and, I think, educational.  This year, in addition to the songs I've heard often about leaving Ireland, I heard a few that were new to me  -- two about Irish soldiers fighting for the North in the American Civil War, and one written about tenement life in New York City near the turn of the twentieth century. 

What struck me in these songs was that they told a key but small part of United States history, and that it is very important that we as a community and a nation remember that we are all immigrants. 

With the exception of Native Americans, many of whom also experienced forced migration and relocation to other parts of our vast country, all of our ancestors came to the United States from somewhere else.  Not all driven by poverty, but most driven and shaped by events beyond their control.

The American Folklore Theater in Fish Creek, WI, is just finishing their outdoor season this week.  They do original musicals, usually with Wisconsin themes.  This year featured an historical musical, Victory Farm, about World War II German prisoners of war who are sent to work on a Door County cherry farm.  Their presence provokes complex reactions for the German-American farm wife and daughter who are struggling to get in the cherry harvest -- after the death of the head of their family in the war. 

It's a great play, and I hope it will be performed often.  It has its lighthearted musical moments as well -- the company is known for their comedy -- but that is not what I remember most clearly about it.  The indelible impression at the end of the play is of the humanity all the characters share -- including their love of music, family, and home.

Did you attend any cultural events this summer that celebrated different strands of our culture contributed by "hyphenated Americans"?  What's your favorite food -- and how did it become part of our culture?  My heritage is Irish, Scots, Welsh, English, and Canadian, but I would have long ago starved to death if it were not for the contributions of Italian and Mexican Americans to our food heritage.

People have used a lot of metaphors for our collective culture here in the United States, but I like to think of it as a tapestry -- where each strand of different colored thread contributes to the whole picture -- and enhances the colors that are its neighbors.

"They're playing Scrabble!"

"Can you please get the dictionary unblocked," our student assistant implores, waving his iPhone for emphasis.  "They're playing Scrabble online all over the school!"  Access to the the wireless networks, faster computers, and more liberal technology policies in general are his thing.  "I've already filled out the form to unblock Merriam-Webster online," I say, " last week, when I posted it as a source for 'Word of the Week.'  It has word games on the site, so it was blocked for that."  "I'm telling you, Scrabble is the new big thing.  People are arguing about it in class!"  "I believe you," I say. "That's great." He is still waving his iPhone.  "That's what students are doing with their wireless access.  Learning vocabulary.  Arguing about Scrabble!"
"I'm on your side," I say.

That was two years ago, when I was working part time in a high school library.  The school district had just installed wireless access in all the schools, and decided to allow high school students to have their phones with them to use between classes and and during free hours.  

The two most common issues discussed in schools seemed to me to be "why don't we have enough computers for everyone" and "how can we keep them off their cell phones?"  I see a relationship between the two problems, and a solution -- but the solution requires trust. 

Optical illusion

Trust, and education -- on ethical behavior, appropriate use of technology, and respect.  It also requires an even larger infrastructure and equipment expenditure, in wireless wiring and server capacity, and in portable devices for students who don't have their own.  It is not an inconsiderable expense.

There are risks, as well -- will students use technology to cheat?  Will there be an increase in cyber-bullying?   What will happen if the students know things that their teachers don't?

In this American Libraries article, "A Tale of Two Students," the authors assume that students in a technology rich environment have an advantage over students in a less technology laden environment. I agree with them.  I was concerned to see that the first two people who commented didn't agree, and even made fun of the authors' list of technology applications. 

Why?  Why does technology seem to inspire contempt or fear?  Is it just the exponential growth in technology, so that it is hard to keep up and hard to understand?  Have the dangers been exaggerated?

Spring Thaw, Peninsula State Park

When I first began teaching faculty about the Internet,  I used to say "It's a tool.  Like fire."  Yes, there are dangers, but, equally, there are amazing possibilities.  And it is possible to learn to use it safely. 

It is also now an integral part of our lives, especially our business lives.  It is not possible to conduct a job search without using technology, and there are few jobs without some computer applications.  Even the local coffee shop uses a computerized cash register, and  the newest restaurant in my small town presents your credit card bill on an iPAD and emails you the receipt. 

The research on both cyberbullying and cheating is new and incomplete.  A recent report says that cyberbullying may not be as widespread as previously reported "Researchers: Cyberbullying Not as Widespread, Common as Believed"  [Click on "the research" link in the article to read the original study].  In his review of the literature on cheating in an online environment, "A New Honesty for a New Game: Distinguishing Cheating from Learning in a Web-Based Testing Environment," the author suggests that we many have to look at how we assess learning and make changes based on the online environment, rather than trying to make the new environment conform to our ideas formed in a different environment.  [Turner, Charles C. "A New Honesty For A New Game: Distinguishing Cheating From Learning In A Web-Based Testing Environment." Journal Of Political Science Education 1.2 (2005): 163-174. Education Research Complete. Web. 15 Aug. 2012.]

I believe in teaching students to use technology effectively and ethically, and making it as available to them as possible.  The only thing we know for sure about the future of education is that we are living with rapid change, and that we have to somehow prepare students for a new and evolving world.  They need to know, not how to use a specific type of hardware or software, but how to approach learning and adapting to new technologies quickly.  They need to have basic knowledge of all the traditional subjects -- but they need to be able to find, evaluate, and apply new knowledge across disciplines.  A system firmly rooted in 19th Century models is not going to work, and the best teachers and administrators know that, and are working to find models of change that will work for our students.

A box of rocks invites creativity at Edgewood Galleries outdoor sculpture garden.

How can we create an environment and an infrastructure that provides the opportunity for education to all students?  How can we convince people that an educated workforce and voting public is important to everyone in our society -- even though there is a cost associated with high quality education? 

We have some ideas about where we need to go:    Education for Life and Work:  Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century.  We need a lot of innovative and risk-taking ideas about how to get there -- and we need to trust both our educators and our students. 

Shadows on the sand

An alumna returns to. . . the library, of course

Writing from study carrel 5749A, Northwestern University Library, 5th Floor South (aka "5 Green"). 

The approach from the South, gardens beside the Deering Library

Actually, the student assistant who gave me my computer password wrote "alumni" on her form, so that's what I entered on my guest log in as well;  so today I am a collective noun.  Probably I am representative of the group, since I came seeking both nostalgia and inspiration -- and to see what has changed.

Approach from the north -- the new library and the Deering Library

South Tower Stacks

Study Carrel

The carpet on the 5th floor is still green, though I'm happy to say that it is not the same carpet that was here when I was in school.  It also appears to be ecologically green, in that it is made up of replaceable squares, though I imagine that is true in the 'red' and 'gold' towers as well.  There is no west tower -- don't look for it -- though in the imaginations of those devising pledge pranks, it has blue carpet. 

North (Gold) Tower

 Digression. . . it's an art form.  It has taken me several hours to get from the first floor to the fifth, in part because I was taking photos, and in part because I allowed myself to be distracted by the "new acquisitions alcove."  That has an element of nostalgia, too -- I loved the new book display (then in a different location) as an undergraduate, and I loved the new book shelf in UNC's Library School library -- and I like the new book section of my public library.  The appeal is it's a library in miniature -- all the subjects, in manageable numbers.  Northwestern does not keep its dust jackets nor wrap its books in plastic, but they have used the book jackets to market the new books, so you find the book near its cover on the shelves.  After all, a lot of money goes into book marketing and design -- why not use it? 

New Acquisitions Alcove

New books!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am drawn in, and I find a lot of books that I am interested in.  Actually, I'd like to read most of them, but I make a selection.  Then I sit down in the comfy chairs and read the introductions to see if they are actually as interesting as those cover artists and title writers suggested.  They are, and I copy the ISBN numbers into Goodreads,  to my "to-read" shelf, which has a lot of books on it already. I love the search and scan features of the web site, since I've spent a lifetime copying ISBN numbers on the edges of bookmarks and other pieces of scrap paper in lots of book stores.   I'm proud of my use of technology and that I was actually able to move on -- to lunch at the Plaza Cafe (a brilliant re-imagining of space that had been intended as a 2nd entrance to the library but which never worked for that purpose.   In  part, staffing two entrances was a problem, and in part because, with only one building to the east of the library, there was no natural foot traffic from that direction.)

Plaza garden (a replacement for the original fountain and an end, I hope, to leaks into the library)

One of the many interesting things that Jonathan Kozol said about libraries in his article:  The Other America: giving our poorest children the same opportunities as our richest,  is that they should be beautiful, and inviting.  He goes on to say that most school libraries are not either one in our poorer schools.  I came to

Now the Cultural Center, this was Chicago's Central Library 

Northwestern as a scholarship student, but my Chicago Public Schools had decent libraries, and teacher-librarians.  Furthermore, I came from a family that valued education above all else.  I was taken to the Chicago Public Library at a young age, and had the great good fortune to have a sixth grade teacher and a public librarian who introduced us to the basics of research through a series of weekly lessons.  To complete our final project, we had to take ourselves to Chicago's Central Library (then on Michigan Avenue).  We learned a lot about research, but we also learned that an amazing piece of architecture, dedicated to books and learning, belonged to us.

I have now whiled away a lot of time here at the library -- enjoying the pleasure of reading and thinking about new ideas -- learning for its own sake.  I will return, at least in this space,  to the library to discuss what is the same and what is different -- and what important lessons lurk in the Kozol article.

First floor learning commons:  where the card catalog once stood