Flickr

Interesting way to search for photos that are "within Creative Commons-licensed content" and are available to add to wikis or websites without worrying about copyright infringements. I quickly found several photos of Javanese rod puppets like the one I picked up in Soho last year. I also liked Carol's Animoto demonstration for displaying River's Puppetry Club puppets on the Library Home page. However, when I tried to create a video from some random photos the video image was cut off on the right.

School Library 2.0

"Say good-bye to your mother’s school library"
By Christopher Harris -- School Library Journal, 5/1/2006

The author could have left the word, "mother's" out of this article as unfortunately there are still many school libraries or library media centers that are not where they should be academically, philosophically and technologically. That's why courses like this are so important. I agree that now more than ever, information specialists have to promote themselves and advertise their "products and services". In my district 5 of the 7 elementary schools have no library support staff. This past year, due to negative budget votes, unmandated elementary library media specialists were once again brought up to the chopping block. Perhaps, if it were not for parental outcries, seven librarians could have been replaced by library aides.
Sometimes districts put the cart before the horse, installing new technologies with little thought of training or instruction. Librarians are given increased responsibilities with less support staff. Yet, we carry on and try our best to put our best foot forward. Having faculty, students and parents enthusiastically involved and engaged is a must. The power of Web 2.0 is tremendous and I hope to be able to implement some of these technologies in more effective ways in September.

"Weblogs in Education" Video

Will Richardson's video clip briefly summarized much of what was presented earlier in this morning's presentation. However, I was especially interested in the parent's comments about her ability to participate and become involved directly in her daughter's education. I have a small but growing Parenting Collection in my library and I allow parents to borrow books from our library media center's collection. Additionally I have current issues of parenting magazines in the main office waiting room with a sign informing them of the parenting collection in the LMC. It just seems like another way to get the parents involved in their child's education.