Mock Caldecott Award Panel

For the last few year (well, last ten+ years) I have facilitated Mock Caldecott Award panels with Dr. Mary Rycik's EDEC 323 Tradebooks and Technology with Literature students.  Each term we meet in the Instructional Resource Center to evaluate titles eligible for the Caldecott Award and select our winner. Titles selected for review by the student panel are recent additions to the library's juvenile collection; they are subject to terms and criteria established by the Association for Library Services for Children, American Library Association Medal committee.

Listening to the group discussion is always enlightening; they provide an interesting and fresh perspective to the process. I usually have a favorite among the titles selected for the panel; more often than not they are able to persuade me look more closely at a book I may have initially discounted. This group posted interesting questions about the process, including how people are selected to participate - and - if selection is more a matter of 'who you know' opposed to 'what you know.'  I offered School Library Journal's recent article The Givers: What it Takes to Serve on the Newbery, Caldecott Committees, by Shelley Diaz.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, by Peter Brown, was selected as this year's Mock Caldecott Award winner. The Dark, illustrated by Jon Klassen, was noted as an honor book. If interested, all of the titles considered today are located on the IRC Mock Caldecott Panels Pinterest board.

Follow IRC @ Ashland University Library's board Mock Caldecott Panels on Pinterest.

Weekly Reader

We are Never, Ever Getting Back Together (Probably)
"I was young when I fell in love, and like all those involved in youthful love affairs, I was filled with passion and idealism. I was sure that my love would defy the odds, and last forever. The object of my affection wasn't movie-star handsome or rich, but was intelligent, sophisticated, and noble. I knew when we met that our values were in alignment. In my undying devotion, I worried constantly about whether I was good enough; it never occurred to me to wonder if my love was good enough for me." -- Ingrid Steffensen, Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/15/14

Exactly How Many Students Take Online Courses?
"We know that online education went mainstream years ago. Academic leaders believe it will become even more prevalent in the coming years. But how many American students are taking at least one online course right now?" -- Steve Kolowich, Wired Campus, 1/16/14

Kindness is Possible
"Word association game time. First word: Academic. Chances are, “kindness” wasn’t the first thing that came to mind. (Indeed, much has been said and written about the abundance of just the opposite in academe: pettiness, to put it nicely.) But a new blog aims to change that. The Academic Kindness Tumblr is a place for students and professors to post random and not-so-random acts of kindness they’ve witnessed during their studies or work, to remind themselves and others that colleges and universities may not be so inhospitable after all." - Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 1/9/14

Weekly Reader

Private Distress
"Some private colleges that managed to weather the recession are finding new troubles.So they are announcing layoffs, cutting programs and more. Almost all of these small to mid-sized privates are tuition-dependent and lack large endowments. National declines in the number of traditional college-age population mean students just aren't showing up to privates, which are facing competition from public colleges that are more stable now than a few years ago and the reality that privates cannot afford to indefinitely lure students by cutting prices with generous financial aid packages. And this could become a huge problem."-- Ry Rivard, Inside Higher Ed News, 12/9/13

Speaking Up for the Creditless MOOC
"Last year I agreed to teach a public-speaking MOOC on the Coursera platform. I wasn’t a MOOC advocate, but I believe that the study of speech and rhetoric benefits individuals and society as a whole. I routinely offer speech workshops for civic and professional groups around Washington State. A MOOC on public speaking would allow me to run a speech workshop on a global scale." --Matt McGarrity, The Conversation | Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/12/13

The Great Stratification
"Imagine a diorama in an American Museum of Occupations showing the evolution of the professor. The exhibit starts in the early 1800s with an austere, black-suited man in a minister's collar, perhaps looking over the shoulder of a student at a rustic desk, with a Greek text open in front of him. In the next scene, from around 1900, he morphs into a pince-nez-wearing gentleman in starched collar and cravat, at a podium delivering a lecture." - Jeffrey J. Williams, The Chronicle Review, 12/2/13

4 Unconventional Ways the Internet Can Help You Land a Job
"With thousands of new people entering the job market daily, you need to tap every available resource to stand out. The internet can help you hack into the minds of potential employers, if you know where to look. While these days it's common knowledge to use sites like Twitter and LinkedIn to connect with potential employers, you can get a giant leg up on the competition if you get a little more creative with your World Wide Web use." -- Tessa Miller, Lifehacker, 12/9/13

The Ultimate Guide to the Invisible Web
"Search engines are, in a sense, the heartbeat of the internet; “googling” has become a part of everyday speech and is even recognized by Merriam-Webster as a grammatically correct verb. It’s a common misconception, however, that googling a search term will reveal every site out there that addresses your search. In fact, typical search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing actually access only a tiny fraction – estimated at 0.03% – of the internet. The sites that traditional searches yield are part of what’s known as the Surface Web, which is comprised of indexed pages that a search engine’s web crawlers are programmed to retrieve." -- Staff Writer, iLibrarian Blog, 11/11/13

Weekly Reader

The New ALA Code of Conduct
"I’ve mentioned on Twitter, but this should be formally announced on the blog as well: ALA now has a conference code of conduct. How it happened: The policy grew out of face-to-face and Twitter conversations a few months ago, with a highly collaborative (and fruitfully argumentative) Google doc draft that wound its way through ALA process – Counsel, the executive board, et cetera – to become a final statement." -- Andromeda Yelton, Across Divided Networks, 11/19/13

The Future of MOOCs
"According to the New York Times, 2012 was the year of the MOOC - a massive open online course. These courses are usually open access and free, and although they don’t usually offer course credit for participants some do offer certifications of completion. They can be attended by hundreds of thousands of students at the same time who interact in community forums surrounding course materials and resources. They offer amazing opportunities for those who lack the funding to attend traditional universities, especially those in developing nations. MOOCs have democratized learning and opened up education to the masses who may now attend and learn from quality courses at elite universities as if they were enrolled."-- Ellyssa Kroski, iLibrarian Blog, 11/19/13

Do You Really Want to be the Rules Sargent?
"I just can’t resist wading into the discussion started by Anthony Aycock about classroom management and its two subsequent replies, the first by Scott Hippensteel, who advocates that faculty should “be hard to get along with,” and Rob Jenkins’s subsequent response that “you don’t have to be a jerk” to be a good professor." -- David Evans, On Hiring, 11/19/13

Neville Longbottom is the Most Important Person in Harry Potter -- And Here's Why
"So here’s the thing: out of all your wizarding students and house elves and headmasters and Death Eaters and muggles and centaurs, there is really only one person who determines the course of the Harry Potter series. It’s Neville Longbottom." -- Emily Asher-Perrin, Tor.com, 11/19/13

Weekly Reader

Henry Rollins: Empowerment Through Libraries
"I have come to regard November as the older, harder man's October. I appreciate the early darkness and cooler temperatures. It puts my mind in a different place than October. It is a month for a quieter, slightly more subdued celebration of summer's death as winter tightens its grip." -- Henry Rollins, LA Weekly Blogs,11/14/13

New Survey, Same Engagement
"In its 15th year, the National Survey of Student Engagement launched a new model that takes an updated and more qualitative approach to measuring students’ participation in a variety of activities -- from studying to faculty interaction to cooperative learning -- that are thought to correlate with higher learning outcomes. Results show that while many students engage in such practices – and report better grades for it – many others, whether because of their major or their status as online or first-generation students, don’t." -- Allie Grasgreen, Inside Higher Ed News, 11/14/13

Two Activities that Influence the Climate for Learning
"My colleague Chuck Walker, a psychology professor at St. Bonaventure University (NY), shared a collection of instructional strategies that illustrate how the principles of positive psychology might be applied in the classroom."-- Maryellen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 11/13/13

5 Things You Must Stop Doing Today if You Want a Happier Career
"Working with mid-career professionals in major transition day after day for 10 years has given me a special window into what holds people back from building happy, fulfilling lives and careers they love. Speaking with a stranger, I can detect in under five minutes those hallmarks that reveal when an individual will not get unstuck, but will remain bogged down for all eternity in career mediocrity unless she steps up to embrace change in how she behaves, performs, and views her situation." -- Kathy Caprino, Forbes Leadership, 11/8/13

16 Creative Uses of Instagram Video
"Now that Instagram Video has reached the ripe old age of four months (about 600 years in Internet time), we're seeing mind-blowing, app-specific content on a daily basis. With just 15 seconds, you'd think it'd be difficult to create visually compelling videos, but more users are getting the hang of it every day." - Max Knoblauch, Mashable, 11/11/13

The Problem We're Afraid to Name
"In recent years, I’ve had to deal with parents much more frequently than I ever imagined I would have to as a college professor. One father even tried to blackmail me into giving his son easier work and higher grades so that he wouldn’t lose his football scholarship. I’m not alone: Many of my colleagues report hearing from parents more and more frequently in the past 10 years or so." -- Jill Silos-Rooney, The Conversation - Chronicle Blog, 11/11/13

Neil Gaiman: Literacy, Reading, Libraries

Neil Gaiman's lecture: Second annual The Reading Agency conference

Mr. Gaiman's words spoke to me as a reader, teacher, and librarian;  it was challenging to select only a snippet of content to feature with the video.

"Libraries are about Freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information." 

"I worry that here in the 21st Century people misunderstand what libraries are and the purpose of them. If you perceive a library as a shelf of books, it may seem antiquated or outdated in a word in which most, but not all, books in print exist digitally. But that is to fundamentally miss the point." -- Neil Gaiman, The Reading Agency, 10/14/13

Watch the video. Read the entire lecture here: Neil Gaiman, Reading & Obligation

Weekly Reader

Journey to Online Teaching: Developing a Virtual Teacher Sense
"This week my focus has been developing a virtual presence in the online course environment. In my face to face classroom on a Monday morning I can look across the tired faces and know I had better ramp up my excitement if I expect my students to get excited about what we are learning. In my face to face classroom at a glance I can see that 'Jonny' is lost but does not want anyone else to know. How do I take 17 years of ”Teacher Sense” and evolve into a Virtual 'Teacher Sense'?" -- Tom McLaughlin, Discovery Education, 11/2/13

States Demand That Colleges Show How Well Their Students Learn
"Some of the hallmarks of No Child Left Behind are creeping into higher education. The 2002 law was intended to hold elementary and secondary schools accountable for improving the academic achievement of all students. It has come to be reviled by many teachers for what they see as a narrowing of the curriculum to the material covered on standardized tests, and for punishing schools for their students' performance." -- Dan Berrett, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/29/13

Ready to Learn? The Key is Listening with Intention
"Listening and observing can be passive activities—in one ear and out the other, as our mothers used to say. Or they can be rich, active, intense experiences that lead to serious learning. The difference lies in our intention: the purpose and awareness with which we approach the occasion. Here’s how to make sure your intentions are good." - Annie Murphy Paul, Mind Shift, 10/29/13

How Google + Hangouts Can Enhance Podcasts
"Google+ Hangouts enable anyone to host a group video chat, and with the On Air component, anyone can record and stream live to their YouTube account. When I first joined Google+ on its second day of existence, Hangouts really stood out. While, let’s be honest, a lot of the functionality of Google’s own social network is similar to Facebook and Twitter, no other social network offers such a robust group video chat tool…for absolutely free." -- Mike Stenger, The Blog Herald, 10/29/13

Weekly Reader

'Librarians vs Search Engines' in UC Berkley Report
"New Chancellor Nicholas Dirks should spend more money on the library at the University of California, Berkeley, as its books, services and space will be more important than ever over the next two decades.So, at least, says a report this week from a faculty committee tasked by the previous chancellor, Robert Birgeneau, with figuring out the library's place on the university campus of the future." -- Steven E.F. Brown, Bay Area Biz Talk, 10/18/13

Learning from Experience: Why Personal Narratives Can Be Scholarly
"Pedagogical scholarship has been criticized for its focus on experience. A faculty member has an issue with students (say they aren't doing the reading), implements a solution (some sort of quizzing mechanism), and decides it works because the quiz scores are high. Thanks to the scholarship of teaching movement, these kinds of reports are pretty much gone from the literature. The goal has been to replace them with research—various forms of systematic inquiry." --  Maryellen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 10/16/13

Flipping the Library: Tips from Three Pros
"Through the use of innovative technologies and online resources, school libraries can now be available to students wherever—and whenever—they need them. “Flipped” or blended learning offers students the power of personalized instruction, through a mix of virtual and face-to-face interactions, at a student’s own pace. Embracing this concept is a must for student engagement and the future of the profession, say school librarians Joyce Valenza, Brenda Boyer, and Michelle Luhtala." -- Sarah Bayliss, The Digital Shift | SLJ, 10/21/13

Open Access Week 2013 Starts Today [10/21]
"Here at Prof Hacker we've published many posts about open access, “the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need.” -- George Williams, ProfHacker, 10/21/13

Open Access Week 2013: The Time for Reform is Now
"Today kicks off the sixth annual global Open Access Week. Open Access Week is at once a celebration and a call to action. Universities, libraries, organizations, and companies are hosting events all around the world to promote the ideals of open access: free, online availability of and unfettered access to scholarly works." -- Adi Kamdar, Electronic Frontier Foundation, 10/21/13

26 Tips for Overcoming Bloggers Block
"Have you struggled getting that blog idea written? While most of us aren’t immune to writer’s block, there are ways to work through the block until the words flow again. In this article, we’ll discuss 26 Tips, an A-Z guide for bloggers to overcome writer’s block and generate new ideas." -- Debbie Hemley, Social Media Examiner, 10/22/13

Turning a Page Inside a Rural One-Room Library
"There's one state highway running through Myrtle, Mo. It's a sleepy town in the Ozarks, population about 300. There's no bank or restaurant here, but enormous oak and persimmon trees loom over a small stone building right next to the road. Half of it is a post office; the other half, a one-room public library." -- Jennifer Davidson, NPR Arts & Life, 10/21/13

ALAO 2013: Conference App re-visited

Have you downloaded the ALAO 2013 conference app? It's free and filled with useful - and timely - information.  Learn more about our Keynote speaker Nancy Fried Foster, review the conference schedule, read more about the sessions, and follow ALAO and the conference hashtag #ALAO2013. New to the conference app is a video page featuring ALAO Interest Groups.

Interested? Here's how it works ...

1. Download YappBox to your mobile device (phone or tablet), it's a free app from the iTunes Store and Google Play.
2. Install the ALAO Conference app by visiting this page, http://my.yapp.us/3CCFY9 via your device.
3. OR - use the "Add a Yapp" function in YappBox and enter the code: 3CCFY9
4. OR - follow this link to send the link to your mobile device.
5. OR - Scan the QR Code

Once loaded on your device, updates will be automatically offered each time the app is accessed.

Weekly Reader

The Surprising Identity of Each Social Network
"Facebook boasts the largest and richest demographic, Twitter has a surprisingly young user network, and 68 percent of Instagram's users are women. Each social media platform has cultivated a unique identity thanks to the demographics of the people who participate in the network. Some platforms are preferred by young adults, who are most active in the evening, others by high-income professionals, who are posting throughout the workday." -- Nick Bolognia, Social Media Today, 10/15/13

Digital Badges in the Classroom
"The open badge movement has stemmed from the independent learning and massive open online course (MOOC) frameworks of empowering and motivating learners to complete noncredit academic work, either from a distance or at a self designated pace." -- Alan Reid and Denise Paster, Inside Higher Ed Career Advice, 10/11/13

A Refreshingly Simple Guide To Twitter for Teachers
"Teachers are on Twitter every minute of every day. There are daily hashtag chats where educators from around the globe collaborate, share interesting tidbits, and make lifelong connections never before possible. There are people with tens of thousands of followers who are viewed as thought and opinion leaders. It’s a minute-by-minute pulse of the education world. It’s exhausting. It’s overwhelming. It’s hard to imagine where to start." -- Jeff Dunn, Edudemic, 9/18/13

How to Archive Your Favorite Tweets
"We recently heard the great news that once again we can start using If This, Then That (IFTTT) to archive the tweets that we favorite. The problem is, how do you archive those tweets that were favorited during the period that IFTTT wasn’t working, or if you’re like me, you never started using IFTTT to begin with?"-- Skallerup Bessette, Prof Hacker, The Chronicle, 9/10/13.

Fostering the Reciprocity of Learning
"In the July 10, 2013 post, I shared some ideas about learning with students precipitated by an article that made an interesting distinction between “doing for” students and “learning with” students. The post generated some good responses and prompted Aron Reppmann, a philosophy professor at Trinity Christian College in Illinois, to send me an email. “I think you have your finger on something that’s often missed in debates about professors’ posture toward students: namely that to say that we learn with and from our students is not necessarily to say that we are always learning in the same way as our students.” -- Maryellen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 9/4/13

ALAO 2013: Registration Deadline

Registration Deadline:

October 14, 2013

39th Annual Academic Library Association of Ohio Conference 

University Center, Kent State University at Stark - North Canton, OH

October 25, 2013

Nancy Fried Foster, Senior Anthropologist at Ithaca S+R. Research, will present the conference keynote address "Changing Libraries by Design" focusing on collaborative library design incorporating information that is generated in the participatory design process. Dr. Foster's research interests include participatory design of library technologies and spaces. For almost ten years, Dr. Foster directed anthropological research at the University of Rochester’s River Campus Libraries.

The schedule-at-a-glance and preliminary program information, including session abstracts and posters, are available on the ALAO 2013 Conference web site.

Conference Registration information is available @ http://goo.gl/ePDUmS