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BlogJunction

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Web 2.0, groups
New WebJunction group: Google Wave for Libraries
January 22nd, 2010 | Permalink | Comment?

Kudos to WebJunction member David Mattison for starting Group: Google Wave for Libraries.

David says, “Google Wave is a collaborative, instant messaging service which began in a preview (alpha) edition in 2009. Google Wave may change the very face of virtual reference. This group is for libraries/librarians and others who wish to connect with one another outside of Wave and share ideas, projects and tools about and for Wave”.

And he’s already started 3 great discussions: Google Wave Resources, Books about Google Wave, and Are you Waving?

Stop on by the new group or browse other WebJunction Groups.
Online Collaboration, groups
Build reading energy with StoryTubes
December 21st, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

With kids out of school and at the library these next few weeks, there’s no better time to be gearing up for StoryTubes. Entries for the third annual contest will be accepted for the public library sponsored “two-minute or shorter” my favorite book online contest on January 20. The contest is open to all, with prize awards available to young people, K-12.

WebJunction’s StoryTubes group has been following the project over the years but we were so pleased to see StoryTubes win the well-deserved PLA Polaris Innovation in Technology John Iliff Award in 2009. Alan Harkness, chair of the PLA award jury said that the StoryTubes project was chosen for the prize because it “captured the essence of using technology in an innovative way to tie back into a core business function of public libraries: sharing the joy of reading.”

“The StoryTubes project gave local kids a means to use technology they were interested in to talk about stories. The way that this project brought the community together to vote on the videos the children made was quite original and easily replicated in libraries everywhere.”

Project participants have more than doubled across the nation each year as more young people and educators are discovering the creative magic of matching kids’ love of reading with their interest in technology.

Visit the StoryTubes site to hear how the project has impacted reading efforts in schools and libraries around the country and then download materials to promote in your own community. And be sure to join the WebJunction group if you’re a StoryTubes librarian!
Online Learning, Staff Training, groups
Twelve-year Study Confirms Online Learning Works
September 2nd, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

It’s one thing to experience the effectiveness of learning online with others, but quite another to have a Department of Education study confirm that experience. What foresight (bless ‘em) to start the study back in 1996 and what an exciting time to benefit from the research! As the New York Times post quotes:

“We are at an inflection point in online education,” said Philip R. Regier, the dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program.

The Department of Education’s meta-analysis of studies (see full report) between 1996 and 2008 compare online with in-person learning looking at the tested performance of students. The studies showed that “blended” instruction (combining elements of online and face-to-face instruction) was better than both face to face instruction or instruction conducted wholly online, but additionally that instruction conducted wholly on line was more effective than face to face instruction only.

As a parent of elementary school-aged kids, I’m of course hopeful that this research will impact some of the decisions made by funders and policy makers, especially in light of all the work going into broadband and technology stimulus work. And too, I hope that we can do a better job training our teachers, parents and of course librarians to support the learning needs and methods of all.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how proud I am to see the study confirms some of the findings in research published way back in March 2007 by my WebJunction colleagues in the Blended Learning Guide. And also worthy of WJ gold stars is the forward thinking revealed in the resources posted in the new Group: Social Learning for Staff Development. Here’s to the days ahead, beyond the “inflection point” of online learning!
Community Building, Webinar, groups
Webinar and Group: Living Libraries, Understanding Diversity
July 17th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

Join us for a free webinar next Wednesday, July 22: Living Library Project: Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover. The Living Library is a unique event that brings together people who have special interests, beliefs or experiences to speak with people from different backgrounds and share their personal story. In this innovative program participants can “check out” Living Books for a personal conversation. Both the Bainbridge Island and Santa Monica Public Libraries executed two successful Living Library events. The Bainbridge Island event covered such diverse experiences as life as a quadriplegic, a female police officer, a young gay man and an atheist. Santa Monica Public Library’s Living Books included a fat activist, a formerly homeless person, an ex-gangmember and a nudist. Join us for a free webinar with leads from these projects: Rebecca Judd from the Bainbridge Island (WA) branch of the Kitsap Regional Library System, and Julie MacDonald and Rachel Foyt from the Santa Monica Public Library in Santa Monica (CA). Hear how they planned and implemented the project in their libraries, and find out how you can create a Living Library in your community. For more information on the project see this BlogJunction post from last fall, listen to an interview with Ulla Brohed as she discusses the Malmö Living Library in Sweden, and explore Living Library documents from the Olympia Timberland Library. You won’t want to miss this one!

View the webinar archive »
Visit the new Group »
ALA2009, Online Collaboration, Online Learning, Staff Training, groups
Tweeting the way to staff learning
July 14th, 2009 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Michael Porter and I gave a presentation on Social Learning for Staff Development where we explored the concepts of serendipitous, targeted serendipity and designed learning using social networking tools.

Humans are social animals and are most engaged in learning when there is social interaction. So how could we present on a topic like this without expanding the presentation environment to allow for social learning about social learning? Even though we had the constraints of a linear lecture-type setup, we asked the participants to break up into groups, take up pen and post-it and start brainstorming challenges and ideas about how they could integrate social networking tools into their staff development programs.

I had intended to bring the groups back together to share what they had each come up with, but the room was so abuzz with social learning energy that I didn’t want to interrupt. So, I started a group on WebJunction to keep the ideas flowing. The notes from the ALA brainstorm are incorporated there as a launch pad for carrying on the conversation.
News, WebJunction Staff, groups
WebJunction meets United Arab Emirates
July 6th, 2009 | Permalink | 1 Comment

There’s a new group on WebJunction created by and for UAE School Librarians. The group’s creator describes it as a “resource and information sharing group for school librarians working in English medium schools in the United Arab Emirates.” Welcome to all the UAE librarians…19 of you became WJ members in June!

Visit the group »
See all Groups »

And with UAE in the group spotlight, what better time to share some exciting news about WebJunction staffer, Zola Maddison. She has accepted an offer to serve as the Coordinator of the Learning Enhancement Center at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. While all in the WebJunction family, members, partners and staff, will miss her greatly, we’re excited for this new chapter in Zola’s career and we know that she’ll remain an active member on the site! Zola has this to share:

As many of you know, I’ve been interested in global libraries for a long time. While I can’t remember a time I didn’t have the travel bug, I think this cross-section of interests really grew from my experiences as a foreign exchange student in Indonesia during Suharto’s regime. That was where I first saw information access as a means of political power (and if you’re ever having a hard time falling asleep, you can read my article on the topic). While I was in “library school,” I concurrently completed a certificate in International Development, Policy and Management. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to work with libraries across the US, Canada, South Africa and Guatemala.

I am incredibly excited about this opportunity, but am equally sad to leave my WebJunction family. I hope you’ll keep me connected through WebJunction (zmaddison).

Zola joined WebJunction about two years ago as a Special Projects Coordinator and quickly moved into her current role as a Partner Services Consultant. She has been working with our State Library partners since November 2007 has led efforts to showcase our partners as thought leaders in the e-learning and online community space.

Throughout her time here, Zola’s interest in working with international libraries has also been apparent as she presented at the IFLA conference in South Africa, received sponsorship for the ALA Emerging Leaders program from the International Relations Round Table, and onboarded WebJunction’s first international partner, BC Libraries.

If you’re attending ALA, be sure to stop and congratulate her, and know that we won’t let her stray far from the WebJunction fold! I’ve already got her on my list of prospective webinar presenters…I see a session on international librarianship coming soon!
groups
WJ Group: Bibliotecarios de América Latina
May 29th, 2009 | Permalink | 2 Comments

Hats off this week to Lucia Shelton for getting the new WebJunction group, Bibliotecarios de América Latina, up and running. It’s another fine example of leveraging the WJ Groups tool to build a community on the site, this one especailly for Spanish or Portuguese speaking librarians in Latin America. Lucia’s part of the Latin America and the Caribbean team at OCLC and she’s done an excellent job of welcoming folks to the group. Viva la WebJunction internationale!
Sustainability, groups
WebJunction Featured Group: Green Libraries
May 20th, 2009 | Permalink | 2 Comments

A new group sprouted this week on WebJunction focused on Green Libraries. It looks like WJ members Tara Matsuzaki and Sue Kent got the ball rolling! Sue posted an outstanding list of green accomplishments that she and her West Vancouver Memorial Library colleagues shared at the recent BC Library Conference.

I’d like to also take the opportunity to welcome to the WJ fold the brand new WebJunction-British Columbia community, the first WebJunction learning community created for libraries outside the United States!

Come share your green strategies with this new group, browse other WJ Groups, and also welcome our British Columbia colleagues!
Blogging, groups
WebJunction Featured Group: WordPress (wp4lib)
May 4th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?
We’re showcasing a not-so-new group in the WJGroup (#WJGroup on Twitter) spotlight this week because WebJunction member Laura Crossett deserves some public gold stars for starting what’s become the fastest growing group on WebJunction: WordPress for Librarians.

See more about groups on WebJunction or dive in and join the 40+ members of the the WordPress for Librarians group.
- Do you have WordPress training materials to share? Add your documents to augment Laura’s
- Do you want to know how and what WordPress can do for your library’s web presence? Join in the discussions or start your own!
If you are interested in taking charge of your own group on WebJunction, (like Laura has!), we can help you customize your group and grant you permission to design and moderate what goes on there. If you have an idea for a custom “supergroup” contact Jennifer Peterson on WebJunction.
Community Building, MaintainIT, Tech, Webinar, groups
Webinar to Celebrate the MaintainIT Cookbooks
April 21st, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

It’s not too late to register for tomorrow’s Cookbook Celebration webinar with friends and contributors from the Maintain IT project. Why the celebration? Well, Sarah Washburn explains it best in her MaintainIT blog post earlier this month, to mark a time of transition for the project:

While grants have explicit start and end dates, the work we do at TechSoup to support libraries does not. TechSoup’s MaintainIT Project was funded by a 3-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that ended last month. It’s hard to believe that three years have passed, but March 31 just came and went, because nothing really changed for us behind the scenes of MaintainIT. And nothing much will, really…We’re continuing to support libraries and we’ll continue to share stories from libraries, so please stay in touch.

And we here at WebJunction would like to invite you to join the celebration as we honor the over 400 Cookbook contributors, share lessons learned from the project, and to let you know that the Cookbooks are alive and well on WebJunction. In addition to all three MaintainIT Cookbooks, WebJunction is home to the Cookbook Contributors Group, the collaborative group who uses and updates the Cookbooks.

You’re encouraged to join the group if you’re responsible for buying, supporting or maintaining your library’s technology, so you can continue to share your experiences, solutions and challenges with others. And we’re excited to provide a number of ways for folks to update and build upon the Cookbooks over time.

Please join tomorrow’s virtual celebration, where you’ll get top technology tips from library technology experts, hear what MaintainIT Project staff learned from their many conversations and library travels around the country, and learn more about how you can keep the Cookbook community alive on WebJunction.

In these tough times, there’s little more important than recognizing the efforts of so many people committed to sustaining strong and relevant technologies in our libraries, who have taken the time to share their experience and expertise so that all libraries might benefit. Here’s to all who have stopped “reinventing the wheel”!

Register for the webinar »
groups
Group Update: Does your PAC have Impact?
April 17th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

Here’s an update from the “Does your PAC have Impact?” group and the research team led by Mike Crandall and Karen E. Fisher of The University of Washington Information School. With support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the team is examining the impact of free access to computers and the Internet on the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.
The research methods include a web survey hosted on the web sites of 636 randomly selected library systems, over 1100 telephone surveys, and four case study visits conducted at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland; the Blair Public Library in Fayetteville, Arkansas; the Oakland Public Library in California; and the Marshalltown Public Library in Iowa. The research overview posted to the group this week notes:

Through our replicable, transportable, and triangulated methodology, we will identify measurable indicators of the social, economic, personal, and/or professional impact of free access to computers, the Internet, and related services at public libraries, and of negative impact where service is weak or absent.

The project will begin sharing the results and initial analysis this summer and in this current economic climate, libraries and policy makers will certainly leverage this valuable research to demonstrate the impact of libraries and the access they provide to today’s technology.

Mike Crandall posted this exciting update in the group’s discussions:

So far we’ve completed field visits to Baltimore and Fayetteville, Arkansas, with Oakland and Marshalltown, Iowa to come in the next month. The web survey has been rolled out to 20 libraries for the first two week period (starting this week) and will be in several hundred more libraries in subsequent two week periods through June. The national telephone survey should start hitting patrons sometime in the next week. Thanks to all of you for your tremendous support for this work!!!
groups
Groups on WebJunction
April 17th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

Did you know WebJunction members have created nearly 100 groups since the launch of our new social learning platform last August? We’ve created a new page to collect all the groups created on WebJunction’s Central site and you’ll find that additional groups have been created on WebJunction Partner sites. Just plug “group” in search and browse all groups under the Groups tab. We’ll be using this new BlogJunction Groups category to keep you informed about groups on WebJunction.

Group Basics

Groups are fun and easy, but if you need help creating your own group or joining one of the existing groups, the WebJunction User Guide covers all the basics for creating, joining and inviting others to your groups.

What Makes a Good Group?

Groups help you connect and share resources and discussion with colleagues around a common interest. While the WebJunction site covers a variety of topic areas, groups allow you to specialize within these topic areas. For example, you can connect with colleagues who are:

* Interested in a specialty not addressed in a topic area
* In a certain geographical locale
* Working on a project together
* Enrolled in a common course, to share as a learning cohort
* Attending a conference
* Alumni of an LIS institution
* A staff cohort for a library system or branch

Before you create a new group, determine if your interest is already covered in an existing topic page by browsing or searching the site. If you find an existing topic, share your documents and discussions there. Or to see if there’s a group to match your interests, browse the Groups list, and if you don’t see one to match your needs, we’ll look forward to seeing your new group on WebJunction!