NEIT2008-5D

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Techies and Librarians: Let’s get it together NEIT 2008 session 5D 5:00-6:00 Thursday, Nov.13 in the Rock Reading Room Convenors: Bill Knauer, Alex Ragone, Marion Stein Other participants: Elizabeth Clark, Valerie Fenton, Pamela Fitzgerald, Maggie Dixon, Angela Carstensen, Adele Bildersee, Christopher York, Ellen Baru, Rebecca Duvall, Angela Twist, Diane Neary, Lea Prendergast, Diane Del Priore, Jennie Lyons, Tracy Tong, Elizabeth Fernandez, Kathleen Ellis

The library is where kids use technology. Now many other places in the school use technology too but it really got started in the library.

We are feeling the tensions that have developed between the technology departments and the libraries. We need to remedy this situation and all work together for the benefit of the entire school. It is important to make the Administration aware of what’s involved in a viable technology program. Just having the hardware does not make it effective.

Tech directors need to understand the role of librarians and visa versa. Bill K. said that collaboration between the two is a ‘no brainer’. He said that he brings a concept from his Ti Quan Do teaching to his work as tech director namely; you check your ego at the door and bow to each other. Kathleen E. reminded us that librarians are relatively new to this conference and this is the first time that the ‘nuts and bolts’ have not dominated the conversation and we are now ready to move on to joint program planning. Alex said that at his school, the Tech dept. and the Librarians meet on a regular basis. He also said that the key to success was interpersonal relations.

Chris Y. asked a hard question: What’s so bad about having both areas in a combined department? It sounded threatening to some of us, myself included. But he has a point. He said to me later as a follow-up, the librarians didn’t take charge several years ago and now they are having to play ‘catch-up’ to the IT folks. He also pointed out that IT is really a complex of several parts: 1 Systems and equipment 2 Academic Technology 3 Support services. It is clear that the contentious area is # 2. We need to make sure that we are not creating redundancy here. No institution can afford that today. We need the Administration to commit to clarifying the roles of the two departments to avoid this.

Diane Neary said that formerly it was possible to teach the skills on an ‘as needed’ basis but that no longer works. Teachers are too protective of their time. They do not want to give up class time to allow the librarians to teach skills. This leads to the idea that we need to establish clear scope and sequence for the teaching of the necessary skills. We may be able to use the NYS Standards as a guide even if our schools are not bound by them. All teachers need to be aware of these requirements and ask themselves how they may demonstrate their integration of these skills into their courses of study. We all work in mission driven schools. Let's useour school’s mission statement to create the needed mandate.

It is important for librarians to be proactive. We need to come up with practical and specific ideas, form a committee to see how to move forward and engage the school administration.

Adele told about her parents’ technology sessions at which she taught parents how to use the various databases that their children are using for their research. It was very effective and there was some ‘trickle down’ effect to the students and teachers.

Bill K noted that the notion of the ‘digital native’ is really a ‘crock’. Yes, kids are comfortable with their computers and many of its applications but do they really know the difference between Google and Lexis-Nexis? Do they know how to use Google most efficiently? No, they do not. They need to be taught.

The last suggestion that came from this session was the idea of ‘The Grad at Grad’. What should our student look like when he/she is about to graduate? What skills should he have mastered in IT and IL? Angela C. conducted a survey of the graduates from the last 3 years at her school and then convened an additional session to discuss this topic. Her survey results confirmed that the skills that she has been teaching are serving her graduates well as they go on to college and university.

If any of you wish to add to this report or make corrections, please do so. This is a forum for all of us to share. Respectfully submitted, Marion M. Stein, Librarian at The Abraham Joshua Heschel High School