We don't yet have the Amazon Kindle, or anything similar in terms of price range or range of available, easily downloadable e-books in Australia.
It was amusing to read of the recent contretemps in the US, where Kindle owners found that the copy of 1984 which they had bought and downloaded had been erased (and a refund credited to their account). The Amazon version is that it was an illegal download. It is disquieting, however, to think of the 'digital tether' /sense of burglary (and consequent extremely poor publicity) involved in this. Read more in this NY Times article and the NY Times tech blogger also commented here.
Oh, and since 1984 is out of copyright in many countries, free e-books of it are not hard to find. Lookee here, for instance. Various formats for various devices, including a plain ole computer (eg. pdf). It's also interesting to note that the setup of the Kindle is such that whatever you have on your Kindle you can't lend, as you might lend a physical book (or can lend, if you have an e-book in a shareable format such as .pdf).
And that the book involved should be George Orwell's 1984? There's something deliciously ironic about that, isn't there?
Cheers
Ruth
Friday, July 31, 2009
The happy life of teacher librarians: Pollyanna
It's a long time since I read Pollyanna, but when I was thinking about this blog entry, it came to mind. In particular, her 'glad game'. Do you remember her glad game? Faced with a grim life in a grim aunt's house, she looked for the sunny side in everything. Not a bad half-full glass philosophy, but even as a kid, when I reached the bit where she was fraffly cheerful that she was given crutches in a charity bundle, cheerful/glad because she DIDN'T need them, I think I did twitch and feel momentarily queasy....
Anyway, during the recent holidays, when we were absent, the library appears to have had some visitors. Four legged. Judging by the size of their mementoes, they're either extremely uncomfortable mice or rather small possums. So we think a rat or two, maybe. Given that the school's in a semi-rural area, mostly surrounded by paddocks, wildlife can happen. But it's not what we like. So some baits were laid.
The school was built in the 1970s, when the Department of Education laid durable mid green lino and durable mid green carpet. And here's the glad game, coming at you....
...when Templeton (actually no, I wouldn't want to be killing off Templeton, because he did help Wilbur and Charlotte) - when Monsieur Rat went scuttling about in our lino-floored tea area, he found the baits. They're green, too. So hey, on the downside, we've got a rat (until the baits work), but oh glad oh happy, the baits are greenish....so those mementoes, reflecting the scientific principle that what goes in must come out, are also greenish, and blend in with the lino....!!
The glass is half full! (and will stay that way, unless Monsieur Rat, who's probably feeling rather unwell round about now, crawls into a wall cavity before expiring. If he does that, his memory won't be green, but it will be With Us for some time, at least until the corpse has disintegrated sufficiently...) (it's happened before, and it takes longer than you would wish).
Ah, the happy life of teacher librarians. You don't have to notice the rat poo unless you choose to do so! Green is good!
Cheers
Ruth
Anyway, during the recent holidays, when we were absent, the library appears to have had some visitors. Four legged. Judging by the size of their mementoes, they're either extremely uncomfortable mice or rather small possums. So we think a rat or two, maybe. Given that the school's in a semi-rural area, mostly surrounded by paddocks, wildlife can happen. But it's not what we like. So some baits were laid.
The school was built in the 1970s, when the Department of Education laid durable mid green lino and durable mid green carpet. And here's the glad game, coming at you....
...when Templeton (actually no, I wouldn't want to be killing off Templeton, because he did help Wilbur and Charlotte) - when Monsieur Rat went scuttling about in our lino-floored tea area, he found the baits. They're green, too. So hey, on the downside, we've got a rat (until the baits work), but oh glad oh happy, the baits are greenish....so those mementoes, reflecting the scientific principle that what goes in must come out, are also greenish, and blend in with the lino....!!
The glass is half full! (and will stay that way, unless Monsieur Rat, who's probably feeling rather unwell round about now, crawls into a wall cavity before expiring. If he does that, his memory won't be green, but it will be With Us for some time, at least until the corpse has disintegrated sufficiently...) (it's happened before, and it takes longer than you would wish).
Ah, the happy life of teacher librarians. You don't have to notice the rat poo unless you choose to do so! Green is good!
Cheers
Ruth
Thursday, July 30, 2009
If you like this blog (or another school library one)....
...then you might like to toddle over here and see if you feel inspired. It would be fraffly encouraging to 'umble blogwriters, toiling away to bring the light of knowledge etc to the world. Or in the case of this particular blog, hoping to entertain and inform you while entertaining and informing myself with the happy life of teacher librarians.
Cheers
Ruth
Cheers
Ruth
Trailer: Coraline
From the book by Neil Gaiman, Coraline is almost in Australian cinemas - not one for small children...
You Tube url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js7wxoqeVK0
Australian release date, according to the IMDB, is 6 August 2009.
Official website: http://coraline.com/
Read Roger Ebert's review here (he's my favourite go-to online film reviewer).
Cheers, Ruth
You Tube url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js7wxoqeVK0
Australian release date, according to the IMDB, is 6 August 2009.
Official website: http://coraline.com/
Read Roger Ebert's review here (he's my favourite go-to online film reviewer).
Cheers, Ruth
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Privacy, Facebook and student naivety
Presenting a session on Internet Security Issues at our school's Crossroads program recently, I remarked to the Year 11 students that if my dad had done something extremely foolish when he was a teenager, it might, maybe have made it to radio and newspapers. If I had done ditto, you can add television to the mix. Still large corp. media outlets, though, not necessarily aware of or able to capture an individual life easily or quickly.
Now, if they do something extremely foolish, it can land on YouTube via a mobile/cell phone, or on Twitter, within seconds. Such is the changed world they need to take account of. Their foolishness can be far more readily found by potential employers doing a bit of googling than would have been possible ten, twenty, more years ago.
A recent NY Times article discusses the change Facebook has made, so that ALL status messages are now by default, PUBLIC - ie available for anyone to see - unless the Facebook user actively chooses otherwise. Default is public. Private requires action. Previously, the default setting has been 'private'.
How many students will make the change? Or care? How many should? More than will. I find students interestingly (expectedly?) naive about such things, far more trusting than they should be. It's part of being young and bulletproof, maybe. I regularly discuss internet privacy issues with students informally, as well as on the more formal occasions such as offered by the Crossroads program. The school system in which I work has, at present, blocked social networking sites such as Facebook so they aren't available when logging in at school, but students are certainly using these outside school hours - and I know that there are schools/systems where social networking sites are used in educational contexts.
How aware will students be that something they don't mean to be public may have legal implications? Unintended and possibly serious consequences? A whole scale of possibilities, from the agonies of social embarrassment to active/passive cyber-bullying to legal action for libel?
Given that the new social media are new to parents and teachers, the responsibility for understanding the implications of this - and conveying wise advice - is shared by home and school. But do parents and teachers understand and convey? And, if they don't, how bitter might be the lessons some of our kids learn from unexpected experience?
Cheers
Ruth
Now, if they do something extremely foolish, it can land on YouTube via a mobile/cell phone, or on Twitter, within seconds. Such is the changed world they need to take account of. Their foolishness can be far more readily found by potential employers doing a bit of googling than would have been possible ten, twenty, more years ago.
A recent NY Times article discusses the change Facebook has made, so that ALL status messages are now by default, PUBLIC - ie available for anyone to see - unless the Facebook user actively chooses otherwise. Default is public. Private requires action. Previously, the default setting has been 'private'.
How many students will make the change? Or care? How many should? More than will. I find students interestingly (expectedly?) naive about such things, far more trusting than they should be. It's part of being young and bulletproof, maybe. I regularly discuss internet privacy issues with students informally, as well as on the more formal occasions such as offered by the Crossroads program. The school system in which I work has, at present, blocked social networking sites such as Facebook so they aren't available when logging in at school, but students are certainly using these outside school hours - and I know that there are schools/systems where social networking sites are used in educational contexts.
How aware will students be that something they don't mean to be public may have legal implications? Unintended and possibly serious consequences? A whole scale of possibilities, from the agonies of social embarrassment to active/passive cyber-bullying to legal action for libel?
Given that the new social media are new to parents and teachers, the responsibility for understanding the implications of this - and conveying wise advice - is shared by home and school. But do parents and teachers understand and convey? And, if they don't, how bitter might be the lessons some of our kids learn from unexpected experience?
Cheers
Ruth
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Trailer: Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland, with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter - here's a teaser trailer:
YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7j7b-iLPU4&feature=player_embedded
According to the IMDB the Australian release date is 11 March 2010, so only a few days later than the US one.
Official website: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/ (but darn that ticking is VERY ANNOYING and kinda doesn't make you want to stay and sigh over the lush illustrations...)
Our admittedly a tad vintage (but not shabby) and classically illustrated (the original Tenniel ones) hardback of Alice in Wonderland has been finding a few friends recently.
Cheers
Ruth
YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7j7b-iLPU4&feature=player_embedded
According to the IMDB the Australian release date is 11 March 2010, so only a few days later than the US one.
Official website: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/ (but darn that ticking is VERY ANNOYING and kinda doesn't make you want to stay and sigh over the lush illustrations...)
Our admittedly a tad vintage (but not shabby) and classically illustrated (the original Tenniel ones) hardback of Alice in Wonderland has been finding a few friends recently.
Cheers
Ruth
Monday, July 27, 2009
Childhood favourites
What did you read, when you were a school student, either in primary school or secondary school? Shane Symonds over at his TL blog had an interesting entry about what kids are reading now, and what he remembers reading when he was a kid: I remember reading Willard Price, Biggles, the Hardy Boys and the Three Investigators, he wrote. One point he made was about the amazing amount of choice kids have now.
Set me to thinking about what I read when I was a child. I hope you'll add your input in the comments - I'd like this entry and its comments to be a collective venture, representing more memories than just my own.
Although I've been a reader/bookworm from a very young age, my reading memories probably start in primary school. I know we had many Ladybird books, and some of the pictures are with me still. I remember authors, and series, and Puffins, which seemed to be the publishing house producing lots of what I read then. They published the editions I read of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods series, for example. I read my mother's copies of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, and gradually accumulated my own; it was probably her copy of Daddy Long Legs I read, and its sequel, Dear Enemy. C.S. Lewis' Narnia series was another I read all through, and more Enid Blytons than I can count or remember. I never quite got into Alice in Wonderland, but had all four books in the Little Women series, and tracked down Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom, rather less well-known Louisa M. Alcott books. Mary Poppins and The Borrowers, all of them. At one stage I was at a school that had lots of the colour fairy books by Andrew Lang - the Green Fairy Book and Blue Fairy Book and I think he got into some rather more obscure colours after he'd used up the obvious ones (?Aqua ?Chartreuse - not chartreuse!). One local library near us had all, or nearly all the Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum - not just the well known first, but also Ozma of Oz and The Patchwork Girl of Oz and others. Read those. My sister and I read Noel Streatfeild books, particularly the Gemma series but also the others; and all the Chalet School books by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer. Elizabeth Enright's books gave me a view of life in America. Winnie the Pooh is a given, and The Wind in the Willows. The entire series of Swallows and Amazons. Leon Garfield's versions of the past, and Joan Aiken's historical fantasy books.
There were single titles too, lest I sound series-obsessed. Children of the Oregon Trail. The Silver Sword. The Endless Steppe, in which the privations were terribly real. The Diary of Anne Frank, although I didn't find it all that interesting and much preferred The Footsteps of Anne Frank for its biographical account, to her first person voice. Elizabeth Goudge's children's books, and on into her adult titles. The Swish of the Curtain by Brown. The Far-Distant Oxus by Hull and Whitlock.
Longtime Passing and Pastures of the Blue Crane by Hesba Brinsmead were from my high school years, as were Mary Stolz books, particularly The Seagulls Woke Me and The Organdy Cupcakes. In both primary and high school I read the excellent historical novels of Rosemary Sutcliff, Henry Treece and Cynthia Hartnett, and D.K. Broster's Jacobite trilogy beginning with The Flight of the Heron. Sometime in high school my mother started me on Georgette Heyer with These Old Shades, and Arabella, and they remain favourites. The teenage girls of Fifteen and Seventeeth Summer seemed so real (I discovered recently that sometimes you can't go back, when I tried rereading one of those).
My memories start blending into what I read later and still keep on my shelves, at home or school or both. Robin McKinley is a teacher librarian's discovery in the 1980s, since I was an adult when it was published, and I'm not sure if I read The Dark is Rising books first as adult or child. Likewise The Wizard of Earthsea.
I'll admit to scooting over to the children's lit bookshelves at home to add to this list; and yet what's there is a fraction of what this voracious reader worked her way through at the school library and local library in my childhood and adolescence. There were so many more books than I can remember or recall. I note my enthusiasm for reading through authors/series, and that this is still popular with kids, even if the preferred authors/series have changed (maybe now they're also easier to remember than single books). I note how few of the books I have at school, or lend, are ones I read as a child. A lot of the above could be characterised as 'girls' books', too.
And thinking of my own work at school now as a teacher librarian, I wonder how many of the loans we do will be books that 'stick'? I don't know that this is the most important thing. Some will, because they do, for their individual impact on a specific child or because (eg. Harry Potter or Twilight) they have become social phenomena of unforgettable size. But many won't; and yet isn't the most important thing the fact that we are encouraging them to read, to voyage in stories and take from them what they will for entertainment and to inform their lives in ways we may never know?
Try this: whether or not you choose to leave it as a comment, write down ten authors/books you remember reading as a child; give each a brief comment on what you liked/why you liked them.
Cheers
Ruth
PS for another view, here's NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's recent list of the best children's books ever. He got over 2,000 comments (read them here) and wrote a response to that here. All of which gives you a bunch of ideas from many people on what are the best children's books. In their opinion/s, many and varied. In a reader's comment on his reponse, one person wrote: It would be magical to regain the joy I found in books when I was ten years old. But you really can’t go home again. Not always, as a grown-up. But sometimes, yourself. And sometimes when reading/sharing books with kids.
Set me to thinking about what I read when I was a child. I hope you'll add your input in the comments - I'd like this entry and its comments to be a collective venture, representing more memories than just my own.
Although I've been a reader/bookworm from a very young age, my reading memories probably start in primary school. I know we had many Ladybird books, and some of the pictures are with me still. I remember authors, and series, and Puffins, which seemed to be the publishing house producing lots of what I read then. They published the editions I read of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods series, for example. I read my mother's copies of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, and gradually accumulated my own; it was probably her copy of Daddy Long Legs I read, and its sequel, Dear Enemy. C.S. Lewis' Narnia series was another I read all through, and more Enid Blytons than I can count or remember. I never quite got into Alice in Wonderland, but had all four books in the Little Women series, and tracked down Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom, rather less well-known Louisa M. Alcott books. Mary Poppins and The Borrowers, all of them. At one stage I was at a school that had lots of the colour fairy books by Andrew Lang - the Green Fairy Book and Blue Fairy Book and I think he got into some rather more obscure colours after he'd used up the obvious ones (?Aqua ?Chartreuse - not chartreuse!). One local library near us had all, or nearly all the Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum - not just the well known first, but also Ozma of Oz and The Patchwork Girl of Oz and others. Read those. My sister and I read Noel Streatfeild books, particularly the Gemma series but also the others; and all the Chalet School books by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer. Elizabeth Enright's books gave me a view of life in America. Winnie the Pooh is a given, and The Wind in the Willows. The entire series of Swallows and Amazons. Leon Garfield's versions of the past, and Joan Aiken's historical fantasy books.
There were single titles too, lest I sound series-obsessed. Children of the Oregon Trail. The Silver Sword. The Endless Steppe, in which the privations were terribly real. The Diary of Anne Frank, although I didn't find it all that interesting and much preferred The Footsteps of Anne Frank for its biographical account, to her first person voice. Elizabeth Goudge's children's books, and on into her adult titles. The Swish of the Curtain by Brown. The Far-Distant Oxus by Hull and Whitlock.
Longtime Passing and Pastures of the Blue Crane by Hesba Brinsmead were from my high school years, as were Mary Stolz books, particularly The Seagulls Woke Me and The Organdy Cupcakes. In both primary and high school I read the excellent historical novels of Rosemary Sutcliff, Henry Treece and Cynthia Hartnett, and D.K. Broster's Jacobite trilogy beginning with The Flight of the Heron. Sometime in high school my mother started me on Georgette Heyer with These Old Shades, and Arabella, and they remain favourites. The teenage girls of Fifteen and Seventeeth Summer seemed so real (I discovered recently that sometimes you can't go back, when I tried rereading one of those).
My memories start blending into what I read later and still keep on my shelves, at home or school or both. Robin McKinley is a teacher librarian's discovery in the 1980s, since I was an adult when it was published, and I'm not sure if I read The Dark is Rising books first as adult or child. Likewise The Wizard of Earthsea.
I'll admit to scooting over to the children's lit bookshelves at home to add to this list; and yet what's there is a fraction of what this voracious reader worked her way through at the school library and local library in my childhood and adolescence. There were so many more books than I can remember or recall. I note my enthusiasm for reading through authors/series, and that this is still popular with kids, even if the preferred authors/series have changed (maybe now they're also easier to remember than single books). I note how few of the books I have at school, or lend, are ones I read as a child. A lot of the above could be characterised as 'girls' books', too.
And thinking of my own work at school now as a teacher librarian, I wonder how many of the loans we do will be books that 'stick'? I don't know that this is the most important thing. Some will, because they do, for their individual impact on a specific child or because (eg. Harry Potter or Twilight) they have become social phenomena of unforgettable size. But many won't; and yet isn't the most important thing the fact that we are encouraging them to read, to voyage in stories and take from them what they will for entertainment and to inform their lives in ways we may never know?
Try this: whether or not you choose to leave it as a comment, write down ten authors/books you remember reading as a child; give each a brief comment on what you liked/why you liked them.
Cheers
Ruth
PS for another view, here's NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's recent list of the best children's books ever. He got over 2,000 comments (read them here) and wrote a response to that here. All of which gives you a bunch of ideas from many people on what are the best children's books. In their opinion/s, many and varied. In a reader's comment on his reponse, one person wrote: It would be magical to regain the joy I found in books when I was ten years old. But you really can’t go home again. Not always, as a grown-up. But sometimes, yourself. And sometimes when reading/sharing books with kids.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
E-books and libraries as 'dreaming space'
Although her most frequent topic is architecture and the built environment, Elizabeth Farrelly's article from the Sydney Morning Herald on 16 July, Judge a book by the distance it covers, ranges over ebooks, the Kindle (which you can't get in Australia, as she points out) and the future of libraries. Worth reading.
Oh, and hop over and read it promptly, as the SMH archive isn't indefinite and reading free is only for a couple of weeks after publication. Sigh.
Cheers
Ruth
Oh, and hop over and read it promptly, as the SMH archive isn't indefinite and reading free is only for a couple of weeks after publication. Sigh.
Cheers
Ruth
Friday, July 17, 2009
E-books article: references
Just nipping in from holidays to give you some links. Earlier this year, ASLA NSW asked me to write an article on e-books, and if you are a member, your August 2009 edition of info@aslansw features E-books: Trading Ink for Pixels, or Devices and Desires by yours truly.
While I can't put the whole piece here (wouldn't be fair), here's the final paragraph:
For those who may come visiting this blog as a result (hello!), or who may really not wish to type in the references provided at the end of the article from their print copy (members can read it online in .pdf form), here they are, live and ready to click:
References
If you only read one article on e-books, read this one:
Steven Johnson: How the E-book will change the way we read and write
Cheers, Ruth
While I can't put the whole piece here (wouldn't be fair), here's the final paragraph:
It isn’t just about what we of longer memories and older bones may think is the ‘right’ technology, but about ways of connecting our students with reading. Stories. Narratives. Language. The blueprint of our minds. “We read to know we are not alone,” says a character in the film Shadowlands. There are plenty of articles online about committed print book readers who found their mind changed by the experience of a Kindle, for example. An e-book isn't the end of the world, or the last straw, or anything like it. It's a story in a different format. A chance to read. A fishing opportunity to catch another reader. The world we grew up in, before we became teacher librarians, is changing all the time. We have a responsibility to encourage our students to read in any way we can, to develop their skill and understanding of the world around them through all the technologies we can harness to that purpose.
(In case you feel tempted, can I remind you that this, as is the case with this whole blog, is © copyright?).
For those who may come visiting this blog as a result (hello!), or who may really not wish to type in the references provided at the end of the article from their print copy (members can read it online in .pdf form), here they are, live and ready to click:
References
If you only read one article on e-books, read this one:
Steven Johnson: How the E-book will change the way we read and write
- Amazon
- Angry Robot Books
- DailyLit
- Dymocks
- Google Book Search
- Harlequin
- HarperCollins launches global e-book program for J.R.R. Tolkien
- Stephenie Meyer: Midnight Sun
- Project Gutenberg
- Motoko Rich: Book Fair Buzz is not contained between 2 covers
- Suvudu Free Book Library
- The World Ebook Fair
- Carlos Ruiz Zafón: Carlos Ruiz Zafón: Step inside Barcelona's Secret Library
In researching the article, there was SO MUCH material that could have been included (if there was an infinte word count, which there wasn't). And after I'd submitted it, I kept finding more and more articles/info/discussions on e-books. Very much in the news, right now. I don't pretend to be an expert, but an interested amateur with a particular (school library) perspective.
Cheers, Ruth
Friday, July 10, 2009
Happy Winter Holidays!
After a busy term, it's time for a two week break. Hurrah, hurray, and may the swine flu not find you, or me.
My holiday reading pile includes The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and Little, Big; I've been meaning to read the Maximum Ride series in the hols, and the Tithe series, and Mortal Instruments (City of Bones etc) and they're ALWAYS out. Maybe next time.
I might come in to paint a few more words on the entrance wall. I'll tell you about it after the hols.
Thank you in particular to those who've provided thought-provoking (and/or appreciative!) comments, extra links, and shared ideas over this term, to help make this blog even more useful.
Hurrah for the happy life of teacher librarians ON HOLIDAYS!
Back in a fortnight!
Cheers, Ruth
My holiday reading pile includes The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and Little, Big; I've been meaning to read the Maximum Ride series in the hols, and the Tithe series, and Mortal Instruments (City of Bones etc) and they're ALWAYS out. Maybe next time.
I might come in to paint a few more words on the entrance wall. I'll tell you about it after the hols.
Thank you in particular to those who've provided thought-provoking (and/or appreciative!) comments, extra links, and shared ideas over this term, to help make this blog even more useful.
Hurrah for the happy life of teacher librarians ON HOLIDAYS!
Back in a fortnight!
Cheers, Ruth
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The happy life of teacher librarians: what sort of a teacher librarian do you think I am?
A bright faced year seven boy brandishes the latest Skulduggery Pleasant book (book 3) at me: "Miss, this was SO GOOD I've just finished it and I've started reading it all over again!"
Ah, the happy life of teacher librarians.
Later that day, a year 9 girl comes in during an afternoon class time. "Miss, do you have the second book in the Private series?" We establish it's by Kate Brian, and that we only have book 1. A small amount of googling and amazoning establishes that there are nine more.
"NINE?" I say in mock horror.
"That's great," she says enthusiastically. "You'll need to get the rest then, Miss, won't you?"
"What sort of teacher librarian do you think I am, a sucker who will buy eight more books for you?"
She is unperturbed by my tone and says cheerfully, grinning at me, "Yes, Miss, of course you're one of those."
"You're an expensive reader, you are," I mutter as I ring up my favourite local independent bookshop, and put them on speakerphone. Yes, they can get me the rest of the series. "X thinks we need all of them," I say glumly.
The bookseller, having also picked up the tone of this conversation, says, "We love X."
"Love you too," says X, and I hang up. "When will they be in?" she enquires.
"Come and see me next term." I write out a post it note for my Reservations noticeboard, with her name and the series name.
"Thanks, Miss! That's great! I love it that you'll buy any book I want."
"I'm not quite sure it works exactly like that..."
"It did today!"
To tide her over, we find Moby Clique, and a couple more, and she heads off well pleased with her visit to the library.
The happy life of teacher librarians: being a sucker may not be a bad thing....
Cheers, Ruth
PS. They weren't vastly expensive books, I should add - will cost under $100, I think. And I was fortunate to receive some funds from the P&C earlier this term. Sometimes I couldn't do this quite as lavishly, but when you can... I'd only bought the first in the series to suss out how popular it was, and it's finding friends...
.
Ah, the happy life of teacher librarians.
Later that day, a year 9 girl comes in during an afternoon class time. "Miss, do you have the second book in the Private series?" We establish it's by Kate Brian, and that we only have book 1. A small amount of googling and amazoning establishes that there are nine more.
"NINE?" I say in mock horror.
"That's great," she says enthusiastically. "You'll need to get the rest then, Miss, won't you?"
"What sort of teacher librarian do you think I am, a sucker who will buy eight more books for you?"
She is unperturbed by my tone and says cheerfully, grinning at me, "Yes, Miss, of course you're one of those."
"You're an expensive reader, you are," I mutter as I ring up my favourite local independent bookshop, and put them on speakerphone. Yes, they can get me the rest of the series. "X thinks we need all of them," I say glumly.
The bookseller, having also picked up the tone of this conversation, says, "We love X."
"Love you too," says X, and I hang up. "When will they be in?" she enquires.
"Come and see me next term." I write out a post it note for my Reservations noticeboard, with her name and the series name.
"Thanks, Miss! That's great! I love it that you'll buy any book I want."
"I'm not quite sure it works exactly like that..."
"It did today!"
To tide her over, we find Moby Clique, and a couple more, and she heads off well pleased with her visit to the library.
The happy life of teacher librarians: being a sucker may not be a bad thing....
Cheers, Ruth
PS. They weren't vastly expensive books, I should add - will cost under $100, I think. And I was fortunate to receive some funds from the P&C earlier this term. Sometimes I couldn't do this quite as lavishly, but when you can... I'd only bought the first in the series to suss out how popular it was, and it's finding friends...
.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Is listening to an audiobook 'reading'?
I listen to audiobooks every day in the car while commuting (weekdays) or going from here to there and back again (as can happen any day of the week). Favourites include the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series, the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse series, Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant books as read by Rupert Degas, William Hope and Laurel Lefkow's brilliant reading of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife. Robin McKinley's Sunshine. Bill Bryson travel books.
So, mostly popular fiction/nonfiction (well, I am driving) and favourites have been listened to more than once. I've pretty much given up listening to the radio (it was ABC702) in favour of stories/audiobooks. I've come across a few duds, too - whether the narrator just didn't rock my socks, or the book just didn't grab me.... Mostly, but not always, they are books I've already read in 'book' aka print form.
In my waiting list is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and I think the very respectable English lady narrator (you can hear a sample of it over on Audible.com) will add a delicious po-faced layer to this mashup of Austen. And I haven't read the print book yet.
Enough about me. Except to say, it didn't occur to me that this isn't 'reading'. Then I read this literary agent's blog entry, and saw the poll results (pretty much even when I saw it) and read through the many comments. Lots of folks saying yes, but lots saying no: although I'm not sure all the reasons they put forward are sufficient to confirm their case.
Setting aside the issues related to the disabled (eg. the blind, and even then there seems to be a braille vs audio argument going on) and abridged/unabridged (I generally go for unabridged, for myself) the comments range over an interesting assortment of interpretations of what 'reading' is, how it works, and how listening and reading may be perceived as different things. Certainly, when I'm listening to a book, I'm aware that the narrator is adding in voice/tone/pausing that may vary from what my eyes give my brain if I'm reading the print book. On the other hand, William Hope's worldweary "It was a routine day in October..", or Laurel Lefkow's interpretation of Clare from The Time Traveler's Wife have both given me these characters as characters, and told me the story in a way that is every bit as rich as reading the print book - not the same, but not a lesser experience. There is an immediacy given to you by the voice.
Another line of argument agin is that reading a print book is a single-focus activity, while audiobooks are often (but not necessarily always) listened to in a multi-tasking environment - driving, housework, exercise etc which may involve divided attention and therefore less attention to the text. Although anyone who's plodded/strode/jogged away on a treadmill, for example, is unlikely to have too much of their brain space being occupied by that activity, leaving plenty to attend to the text.
There are free audiobooks around on the net, of varying quality, but they are a resource to which I can point the kids at school for another 'take' on those books (usually classics/out of copyright). I'm still thinking out how to make audiobooks more available to my students, because I'd like to. Certainly, there are schools with audiobooks in their school library collections (cost and management are two issues that need solving). Some lend students with learning problems the audiobook and print book together, so they can read it more effectively. With player options so cheap, at entry level, and player possibilities (including mobile phones and MP3 players) so very often in the possession of students, and so portable, it's an area for investigation.
For now, I'm still puzzling over the idea that the transformation of reading, eyes-words-brain, is to so many people a 'better' thing than hearing the same words, spoken words-brain. Isn't it just the same, but different?
Final note: my audiobook experience has been marred by the problem with rights (and I'm sure this will be an e-book issue, too). The range available here in Australia is smaller than overseas, and a lot more expensive. In the area of digital downloads, many many popular works seem to be 'unavailable to this geographic area' - I've had to get hold of a couple of faves through overseas contacts, or laboriously upload the CDs I can buy, when I can't buy a digital download. As a consumer, I'm bewildered by the idea that when there IS an EXISTING audio recording of a book, authors/agents/publishers are not acting to make these available to consumers so we can buy them and they can make an income. Search Audible.com when logged in and identified as being from Australia, and you have far fewer choices than if you're not logged in and are just searching as though you were, say, an American reader. Digital downloads make so much sense - no postage, directly installed, cheaper than CDs - and yet there are titles where you can buy a CD, but not a digital download. And plenty of titles where you can't buy either.
So, mostly popular fiction/nonfiction (well, I am driving) and favourites have been listened to more than once. I've pretty much given up listening to the radio (it was ABC702) in favour of stories/audiobooks. I've come across a few duds, too - whether the narrator just didn't rock my socks, or the book just didn't grab me.... Mostly, but not always, they are books I've already read in 'book' aka print form.
In my waiting list is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and I think the very respectable English lady narrator (you can hear a sample of it over on Audible.com) will add a delicious po-faced layer to this mashup of Austen. And I haven't read the print book yet.
Enough about me. Except to say, it didn't occur to me that this isn't 'reading'. Then I read this literary agent's blog entry, and saw the poll results (pretty much even when I saw it) and read through the many comments. Lots of folks saying yes, but lots saying no: although I'm not sure all the reasons they put forward are sufficient to confirm their case.
Setting aside the issues related to the disabled (eg. the blind, and even then there seems to be a braille vs audio argument going on) and abridged/unabridged (I generally go for unabridged, for myself) the comments range over an interesting assortment of interpretations of what 'reading' is, how it works, and how listening and reading may be perceived as different things. Certainly, when I'm listening to a book, I'm aware that the narrator is adding in voice/tone/pausing that may vary from what my eyes give my brain if I'm reading the print book. On the other hand, William Hope's worldweary "It was a routine day in October..", or Laurel Lefkow's interpretation of Clare from The Time Traveler's Wife have both given me these characters as characters, and told me the story in a way that is every bit as rich as reading the print book - not the same, but not a lesser experience. There is an immediacy given to you by the voice.
Another line of argument agin is that reading a print book is a single-focus activity, while audiobooks are often (but not necessarily always) listened to in a multi-tasking environment - driving, housework, exercise etc which may involve divided attention and therefore less attention to the text. Although anyone who's plodded/strode/jogged away on a treadmill, for example, is unlikely to have too much of their brain space being occupied by that activity, leaving plenty to attend to the text.
There are free audiobooks around on the net, of varying quality, but they are a resource to which I can point the kids at school for another 'take' on those books (usually classics/out of copyright). I'm still thinking out how to make audiobooks more available to my students, because I'd like to. Certainly, there are schools with audiobooks in their school library collections (cost and management are two issues that need solving). Some lend students with learning problems the audiobook and print book together, so they can read it more effectively. With player options so cheap, at entry level, and player possibilities (including mobile phones and MP3 players) so very often in the possession of students, and so portable, it's an area for investigation.
For now, I'm still puzzling over the idea that the transformation of reading, eyes-words-brain, is to so many people a 'better' thing than hearing the same words, spoken words-brain. Isn't it just the same, but different?
Final note: my audiobook experience has been marred by the problem with rights (and I'm sure this will be an e-book issue, too). The range available here in Australia is smaller than overseas, and a lot more expensive. In the area of digital downloads, many many popular works seem to be 'unavailable to this geographic area' - I've had to get hold of a couple of faves through overseas contacts, or laboriously upload the CDs I can buy, when I can't buy a digital download. As a consumer, I'm bewildered by the idea that when there IS an EXISTING audio recording of a book, authors/agents/publishers are not acting to make these available to consumers so we can buy them and they can make an income. Search Audible.com when logged in and identified as being from Australia, and you have far fewer choices than if you're not logged in and are just searching as though you were, say, an American reader. Digital downloads make so much sense - no postage, directly installed, cheaper than CDs - and yet there are titles where you can buy a CD, but not a digital download. And plenty of titles where you can't buy either.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The human strengths of libraries
From this wise, thought-provoking blog entry by Kathryn Greenhill:
I think our strengths over large ubiquitous sites like Amazon, Google and Wikipedia are – or should be:
I love how blog entries like this one from Kathryn Greenhill help me to think about my work, and how to do it better. Go read the whole thing.
Cheers
Ruth
I think our strengths over large ubiquitous sites like Amazon, Google and Wikipedia are – or should be:
- our deep, human knowledge of the people in our community who use us
- our deep, human knowledge of people in our community who do not use us
- our deep, human knowledge of the specific information resources needed by our community
- our deep, human knowledge of how our community wants to find and discover information
- our deep, human knowledge of locally produced information
- our human ability to provide many different services to the same individual by our knowledge of them as people
- our human ability to anticipate desires and to delight our local community
- our buildings as a social hub for our local community
I love how blog entries like this one from Kathryn Greenhill help me to think about my work, and how to do it better. Go read the whole thing.
Cheers
Ruth
Monday, July 6, 2009
School Library Annual Report
Given that there are inevitable differences between a private school in another country and a government school in Oz, nevertheless there is food for thought in Dianne McKenzie's annual report for her school in Hong Kong. Blog entry is here, including a ten point rationale; link to the annual report is here. Whether or not you launch full-fledged into this, just going through the thinking/writing process for yourself would be a useful exercise and a way to begin.
Right now, we're in the middle of our school year: not, perhaps, a bad time at all to take stock of progress so far and make plans for the second half of the school year. I know we've achieved some things we planned, AND some things we didn't plan but ran with anyway (flexible is good); and still have things to do. It's good to reflect on achievements, consider the things that didn't work so well, and move on forward.
Cheers
Ruth
Right now, we're in the middle of our school year: not, perhaps, a bad time at all to take stock of progress so far and make plans for the second half of the school year. I know we've achieved some things we planned, AND some things we didn't plan but ran with anyway (flexible is good); and still have things to do. It's good to reflect on achievements, consider the things that didn't work so well, and move on forward.
Cheers
Ruth
Friday, July 3, 2009
The happy life of teacher librarians: lunchtime today
WHEN IT'S WINDY AND COLD OUTSIDE AND THE LIBRARY HAS WHAT FEELS LIKE 150 MAYBE 200 STUDENTS IN IT WITH A TL AND A CLERICAL AND YOU ARE HOLIDAY BORROWING AND FINDING BOOKS AND ISSUING DOUBLE BORROWING PASSES AND YOU'RE SAYING, "George, don't do that*" EVERY COUPLE OF MINUTES AND DID I MENTION THE WIND THAT SETS THE KIDS OFF INTO LALA LAND BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WIND DOES TO CHILDREN AND YOU HOPE THEY'RE NOT DOING THE WRONG THING ON THE COMPUTERS BUT WHEN YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO HELP THE KID WHO WANTS A BOOK TO READ OR NEEDS INFORMATION FOR AN ASSIGNMENT OR GO DEAL WITH THE 'NAUGHTIES BUT NOT UTTERLY APPALLING AND MAYBE THEY'RE NOT DOING THE WRONG THING' ONES...AND SO YOU CHOOSE VIRTUE OVER POSSIBLE EVIL BUT THERE ARE KIDS EVERYWHERE AND ONE WHO NEEDS NURTURING NEEDS A CUP OF HOT CHOCOLATE BECAUSE RIGHT NOW THAT'S ALL YOU CAN PRESCRIBE AND THEN THAT ONE + THEIR SYMPATHETIC FRIENDS SIT ON THE FLOOR ON AND JUST OUTSIDE YOUR OFFICE BECAUSE MAYBE IT REPRESENTS SOME KIND OF SAFETY OR COMFORT BUT HEY, MAYBE IT'S CONVENIENCE AND ANYWAY THE HOT CHOCOLATE SEEMS TO BE WORKING WHEN YOU HAVE A MOMENT TO GLANCE OVER THERE AND MISS, I'VE READ TWILIGHT AND LIKE ADVENTURY THINGS, WHAT CAN YOU SUGGEST, I'LL BE ON A LONG LONG PLANE FLIGHT TO ITALY NEXT WEEK AND WANT TO READ AND SO YOU TRY NOT TO BE JEALOUS AND TO FIND GOOD THINGS THAT YOU HAVE IN STOCK AS OPPOSED TO THE MANY GOOD THINGS YOU'VE ALREADY SOLD/LENT TO OTHER STUDENTS AND ONE OF HER PALS COMES ALONG AND ADDS RECOMMENDATIONS TOO SOME OF WHICH ARE OUT BUT THANKS BE YOU FIND SOME PROSPECTS AND SHE HAPPILY GETS A DOUBLE BORROWING CARD AND BORROWS SEVEN BOOKS AND YOU HOPE THEY COME BACK FROM ITALY AND IS THAT TRIUMVIRATE OF (A) INTERMITTENTLY OBNOXIOUS AND (B)INTERMITTENTLY CHARMING YEAR 10 BOYS BEING (A) OR (B) TODAY AND IF THEY'RE BEING (A), WELL THEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT OR IS IT NOT QUITE APPALLING ENOUGH GIVEN WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON, AND MORE KIDS COME TO BORROW SO BOTH OF YOU ARE RUNNING HOT WITH THAT AND HANDING OUT HOLIDAY BORROWING BOOKMARKS AND MISS CAN YOU FIND THE FIRST BOOK IN THIS VAMPIRE SERIES AND WHERE IS THIS OTHER BOOK AND DO YOU HAVE THAT AND CAN I BORROW SOME SCRAP PAPER AND MAY I BORROW A TISSUE PLEASE (NO NO, YOU MAY HAVE EVERY TISSUE YOU NEED) AND I NEED TO BORROW SOME SCISSORS AND MISS WHY IS MY COMPUTER BEEPING AND BEEPING AND MISS DID I SHOW YOU THE MANGA PICTURE MY BOY DREW OF ME AND HIM BUT IT'S ON MY MOBILE PHONE AND THEY'RE NOT ALLOWED BUT CAN I SHOW YOU LOOK HE'S GOTH TOO AND THAT'S A GUINEA PIG ON HIS SHOULDER BECAUSE HE HAS THREE AND THAT'S HOW HE DRAWS ME I THINK IT'S A HEART THERE TOO MISS AND A HEAD TEACHER COMES IN TO BORROW A DVD AND REMARKS THAT IT SEEMS QUITE BUSY IN HERE AND OFF SHE GOES AND YOU CHECK TO SEE THAT THE HOT CHOCOLATE STILL SEEMS TO BE WORKING BUT YOU'D RATHER NOT HAVE TO STEP QUITE SO CAREFULLY OVER THOSE KIDS TO ANSWER YOUR PHONE WHICH IS RINGING AGAIN AND DID I MENTION THE DOZENS OR HUNDREDS OF KIDS IN THE LIBRARY AND THE WIND?
Some days, you know for sure that you've earned your salary. Don't you? My clerical assistant earned hers too, for sure and certain.
My first lunchtime at this school, two timid kids came to the library during the entire forty minute lunch break. The next day, not many more. Nah. I don't want the old days back. Just enough of me to survive lunchtimes like today's!
The happy life of teacher librarians!
Cheers, Ruth
PS. It is now the weekend.
*see this blog entry for the Joyce Grenfell monologue...
Some days, you know for sure that you've earned your salary. Don't you? My clerical assistant earned hers too, for sure and certain.
My first lunchtime at this school, two timid kids came to the library during the entire forty minute lunch break. The next day, not many more. Nah. I don't want the old days back. Just enough of me to survive lunchtimes like today's!
The happy life of teacher librarians!
Cheers, Ruth
PS. It is now the weekend.
*see this blog entry for the Joyce Grenfell monologue...
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The future of libraries
While it's written from the point of view of academic and public libraries more than school ones, Kathryn Greenhill's blog entry here has a lot of food for thought on the future of libraries, synthesizing input from a number of sources. (She's one of the authors of the Darien Statements I blogged about a few days ago).
If you don't follow her blog, Librarians Matter, I'd recommend it - it's over on the right in my blog roll, so when you come by to read Skerricks, you can check out what's on other blogs of related interest too.
Cheers, Ruth
If you don't follow her blog, Librarians Matter, I'd recommend it - it's over on the right in my blog roll, so when you come by to read Skerricks, you can check out what's on other blogs of related interest too.
Cheers, Ruth
2009 ABIA Awards
As helpfully posted to one of the teacher librarian email lists to which I belong, the 2009 ABIA (Australian Book Industry Awards).
Shaun Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia was among the winners. Gad I love that book! (follow that link to read more AND go to an extract). It's been great sharing it with kids during our roll call class reading visits this term. Hope it wins the CBCA book of the year award (it's a nominee).
Cheers, Ruth
Shaun Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia was among the winners. Gad I love that book! (follow that link to read more AND go to an extract). It's been great sharing it with kids during our roll call class reading visits this term. Hope it wins the CBCA book of the year award (it's a nominee).
Cheers, Ruth
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The happy life of teacher librarians: shoes off...
We've been working on making the library more comfortable, with the reading lounge and floor cushions (as previously blogged).
Side effect?
In comes a class, they settle in corners and on the floor with cushions.
And for some, off come the shoes (not because we've told them to do this).
It's lovely, as a sign of them being comfortable. Maybe it's partly a habit from home, take your shoes off before you sit on the sofa. We do have a feet-off policy on the soft chairs etc, to have room for more kids and so grubby shoes don't cause extra cleaning.... but it is also a measure of success (as is their quiet absorption once they settle to read, the kids you can see who are getting lost in their reading). It's happening a lot more than it did, before the floor cushions and reading lounge.
...but as the kids tumble in, and settle to read, you kinda sorta hope that it wasn't a particularly energetic PE prac lesson they had last period.... you know? (she grins).
Side effect?
In comes a class, they settle in corners and on the floor with cushions.
And for some, off come the shoes (not because we've told them to do this).
It's lovely, as a sign of them being comfortable. Maybe it's partly a habit from home, take your shoes off before you sit on the sofa. We do have a feet-off policy on the soft chairs etc, to have room for more kids and so grubby shoes don't cause extra cleaning.... but it is also a measure of success (as is their quiet absorption once they settle to read, the kids you can see who are getting lost in their reading). It's happening a lot more than it did, before the floor cushions and reading lounge.
...but as the kids tumble in, and settle to read, you kinda sorta hope that it wasn't a particularly energetic PE prac lesson they had last period.... you know? (she grins).
The happy life of teacher librarians: Comment from an ex-student
From 2002 to 2007, I was a year adviser, responsible for a year group cohort that began with about 210 students in year 7 and ended with about 120 in year 12. As anyone who's been a year adviser knows, it takes energy and imagination and patience and persistence and a decent dollop of faith (not always justified, but often enough to keep you going) and time. And many other things.
We did a whole lot of stuff for and with the kids, my fellow year adviser and I. Some they saw - camps and formals and solving of problems, events and activities and fundraising and Being There (so you could be told why The World/The Boyfriend/That Teacher was Daft/Stupid/Cool/Driving Me Nuts. Etc). Some they didn't - revamped procedures and paperwork, so many plans and phone calls and interviews and discussions and (oh-I-don't-miss-it!) writing summative report comments. But that's the nature of the job.
Last week, one of my cherubs came back to school to speak at a presentation assembly for students who've earned high awards. The cherub, a young woman of considerable achievements on her own account and for the community, particularly young people, came by to say hello, and we had a chat and a catchup.
What I didn't hear till later was what she'd said to a colleague. She'd looked at the library, and all we've done to re-imagine it in the last couple of years (check the dates when I was a year adviser...and it's not coincidence that I started this blog in 2008) and she said to my colleague, "Looking at the library, and how much it's changed, I could see just how much time and effort Miss put into our year group."
I didn't neglect the library, while I was a year adviser, not at all - but it's true that I have more time and energy to give it now than I did then. It's true as well that each thing we do as teachers adds to our 'stuff' and enriches the next thing we do, and the one after. So some of what I learned, being a year adviser, undoubtedly feeds into work I've done in the library since then. No experience wasted!
Isn't that a lovely compliment? I thought so. And appreciated her taking the time and thought to say it, and my colleague for passing it on. I learned lots, being a year adviser, had some great times with the kids; but am happy, at the moment, to be able to give my energy to the work of the library, helping kids in this way.
It's such fun passing on compliments - I love having the opportunity to do that for colleagues and kids. Try it, if you can.
Cheers, Ruth
We did a whole lot of stuff for and with the kids, my fellow year adviser and I. Some they saw - camps and formals and solving of problems, events and activities and fundraising and Being There (so you could be told why The World/The Boyfriend/That Teacher was Daft/Stupid/Cool/Driving Me Nuts. Etc). Some they didn't - revamped procedures and paperwork, so many plans and phone calls and interviews and discussions and (oh-I-don't-miss-it!) writing summative report comments. But that's the nature of the job.
Last week, one of my cherubs came back to school to speak at a presentation assembly for students who've earned high awards. The cherub, a young woman of considerable achievements on her own account and for the community, particularly young people, came by to say hello, and we had a chat and a catchup.
What I didn't hear till later was what she'd said to a colleague. She'd looked at the library, and all we've done to re-imagine it in the last couple of years (check the dates when I was a year adviser...and it's not coincidence that I started this blog in 2008) and she said to my colleague, "Looking at the library, and how much it's changed, I could see just how much time and effort Miss put into our year group."
I didn't neglect the library, while I was a year adviser, not at all - but it's true that I have more time and energy to give it now than I did then. It's true as well that each thing we do as teachers adds to our 'stuff' and enriches the next thing we do, and the one after. So some of what I learned, being a year adviser, undoubtedly feeds into work I've done in the library since then. No experience wasted!
Isn't that a lovely compliment? I thought so. And appreciated her taking the time and thought to say it, and my colleague for passing it on. I learned lots, being a year adviser, had some great times with the kids; but am happy, at the moment, to be able to give my energy to the work of the library, helping kids in this way.
It's such fun passing on compliments - I love having the opportunity to do that for colleagues and kids. Try it, if you can.
Cheers, Ruth
DIY inservice on culling/weeding
The CREW method - Continuous Review, Evaluation and Weeding - is one way to keep your collection current, your shelves appealing and your library effective. If it's a while since you thought in depth about your collection development procedures in relation to weeding - or if you just want an update - then try the CREW: A Weeding Manual for Libraries. Bunch of good ideas there to think about and apply in your library. I've been culling away at our collection this last while, and the shelves look the better for it.
Shane at Bundy High had some good thoughts about culling recently - read more here.
Cheers, Ruth
Shane at Bundy High had some good thoughts about culling recently - read more here.
Cheers, Ruth
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