Library InfoZone

Joyce Valenza has created a video – performed by some of her students – that tells us all about curation! What is “curation” and why is it important? It is being able to manage and organize information in such a way that it can be accessed by future generations of users. Students need to learn the skills of curating their own information, as well as how to use information curated by professionals, such as librarians. If you don’t believe me, see Joyce’s video!

The video and lyrics first appeared here  and here is Joyce’s blog post about curation.

Lyrics:

Curation, Curation Curation!

Curation, Curation. Curation!

Who day and night must aggregate the content, pull together knowledge, harness all the feeds

And who must make sense of media, tags, and text, keeping learners up to date, at school

Librarian, Librarian

Curation!

Librarian, Librarian,

Curation!

Who do we rely on for creative stuff

What’s best so we avoid the fluff?

Who must point the way to stuff that’s good enough

So we don’t miss the stuff that’s really buff!

The Network, the Network.  Curation!

The Network, the Network,  Curation!

At ten my three-ring notebook really held all my school stuff.

I know by now that binder can’t contain my research

The student, the student.  Curation!

The student, the student.  Curation!

And who does TL teach to curate with new tools,

So we can gather knowledge both in and out of school?

The learner, the learner! Curation!

The learner, the learner! Curation!

(Shift)

Curator, curator, build me a mash

Gather the feeds, so I can cache

Media, blog posts, and tweets that make sense

And mix me a perfect mash

Curator, curator, so much to read

Google exhausts me with more than I need

I’m seeking relevance, so I must plead

Let human touch intercede

For teacher let it be scholarly

Me, well, I want the feeds

To keep me current with fashion

Or causes for which I can take the lead

Curator, curator, give me new tools

So I can learn, curating rules

Livebinders, storify, scoop.it and sqworl

So many new research jewels

Please, please make it dynamic,

I don’t need the same old rehash

I rely on your knowledge and passion

To open the newsfeed sash!

Curator, curator, demonstrate mash

Use networking skills, to help us in school,

Through you we discover the big picture view

To manage new info search tools.

Starring:
Emma C.
Ben V.
Jordan S.
Dan M.
Jelli V.
Thanks to Monica Femovich
Song parody by  Joyce Kasman Valenza. Based on “Tradition” and “Matchmaker” from Fiddler on the Roof.
Music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.
Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial

 

There are many online resources for you to check out regarding the college application process. Here is one you may not have heard of yet, from Shmoop (more on them later): College 101: Guide to College and University Admissions. They have recommendations and help for the college essays, entrance tests, financial aid, and lots more. Add this site to your list!

I just read an article that accurately describes how important it is to be able to find, evaluate, and use information in a responsible, ethical way. “Save the children by fighting truthiness” is by the current Washington State Teacher of the Year, Teacher Librarian, Mark Ray. Below are some key exerpts:

According to Wikipedia, this term [truthiness], coined by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert, is “truth” that a person feels intuitively “from the gut” or that “feels right” without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts… Truthiness is a pox on our society. Trading conjecture for the confirmed and sound bites for the hard work of research, scholarship and attribution, truthiness is a laziness of the mind.

Reporters keep asking me, “Why do we need libraries and teacher librarians?” It’s simple. Among other things, librarians fight truthiness. And truthiness is bad for America. That makes libraries and librarians good for America. As a teacher librarian, my job is to ensure that students are effective users and producers of information and ideas… I teach digital citizenship and information literacy, which are about being safe, responsible, effective, informed and active as part of our society. These skills include both using and producing information with rigor, fidelity, fairness and purpose.

Getting to the truth has never been harder than it is today. The loss of libraries, teacher librarians and the ascendance of truthiness fundamentally hurts our nation. We are losing the expertise, resources and skills necessary to be informed voters and citizens. This is not about politics. All corners of the political and cultural debate contribute to our factually impaired fog. This is about fundamentally preparing our young people to be successful in work, college and life.

Truthiness is bad for America. And I have the facts to back that up.

 

This past week has been National Teen Read Week, and we celebrated by introducing our Nook Colors! The class of 2011 very graciously donated 6 Nook Colors to the Library (through the Technology Department), and we are very excited about lending them out and giving students a chance to choose which books to download onto them. We plan to get more Nooks in the future so that more students will be able to use this powerful tool. Highlighted by colorful balloons during lunch on Tuesday, we had a lottery for anyone who wanted to be the first to borrow them, and we had many students enter the drawing. We have some money so that each student who checks out the Nook may choose a book to download onto the device. If you would like to check out a Nook, come to the library and put your name on the waiting list!

In addition, if you are looking for some great books to read, check out the 2011 Teens’ Top Ten by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association). This is a “teen choice” list of books that came out in the last year, with the nominees and winners chosen by teens. “Nominators are members of teen book groups in sixteen school and public libraries around the country. Nominations are posted on Support Teen Literature Day during National Library Week (in April), and teens across the country vote on their favorite titles each year. Readers ages twelve to eighteen will vote online between Aug. 15 and Sept. 16; the winners will be announced during Teen Read Week” each year.

October has been declared by President Obama to be National Information Literacy Month. As an indication of how important this life-long learning skill is, the president says, “ Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation. ..  In addition to the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is equally important that our students are given the tools required to take advantage of the information available to them. The ability to seek, find, and decipher information can be applied to countless life decisions, whether financial, medical, educational, or technical.” Schools and school personnel know that one of the best places for students to learn these critical skills is in the school library. The school librarian, in conjunction with classroom teachers, is best positioned to help students develop these information skills that are necessary for a fully-functioning democracy.

In addition, Governor Deval Patrick has also issued a proclamation, declaring Information Literacy Month in the state of Massachusetts. The governor states “the importance of information literacy for economic prosperity, social cohesion, educational opportunity, and an enhanced quality of life.” No small benefits there!   MA information literacy month

I recently watched this short TED Talk about how search on the internet is becoming more personalized. The algorithms now look at things like which browser you’re using, which computer you’re on, where it is located, and what you have clicked on most recently. If you do a Google search for a topic, and your brother in another state does the same search, you will get different results.The speaker, Eli Pariser, former Executive Director of MoveOn.org, discusses how there used to be people who were the gatekeepers of information, especially journalists, who did their best to share multiple points of view. Then the internet arrived, with its flood of information, all of which was open and available to those who could wade through it. But now companies like Facebook and Google are customizing the information you get, based on the kinds of criteria stated above. There are no people who are determining what you see; only you do, based on what you’ve looked at before and where you are located. You get fewer contrary opinions and points of view; you keep seeing information from people who already agree with you. You become a less-educated and less-well-rounded citizen. Pariser says that instead of a balanced information diet, we are fed information junk food. He points out that we need the internet to connect us to different people and ideas in order to have a functioning democracy. We need to know the rules about what is filtered, and we need to have control over the information that is sent to us. So wherever you can, insist on receiving information from all sorts of people and places.

TED – Eli Pariser, Beware Online “Filter Bubbles”

Hello Hudson High School! Welcome back to a new year in the library! We have many exciting things planned, so be sure to stop by.

This first week most of the English classes have been coming in to check out books to read in class. We have put out lots of options, in both fiction and non-fiction.We received many new books right at the end of the last school year, as well as over the summer, so come browse and find something good to read! Notice also, that the fiction collection is now organized by genre, which should help you find books more easily in genres that you especially like.

To start off your research on the right foot, we thought we would share some helpful tips about how to search Google more effectively. There are ideas here from using Control-F, to mathematical functions, to safety tips. So as you begin searching for things online for your classes – or your hobbies and other interests – be sure to see which of these tips might help you find what you need faster, and more accurately.

Hi everyone, we’re almost there! Summer vacation will finally start in just a day and a half. Next winter, let’s not have quite so many snow days…

Keep your brain engaged, however, by continuing to read some great books. Be sure to check out the summer reading requirements here. See you at the end of August!

If you’re interested in knowing everything that we did this year, and what students learned and read, check out our annual report! (Link is in the left-hand column, or here.)

Hi everyone,

Please fill out the student survey (link is to the left where it says “Survey links”). We are doing a long-range plan for the future of our library and need your opinions!  It really does matter!

And teachers, please fill out the staff survey. The link was sent in an email. Let me know if you need me to send it again; I’d be happy to do so!