Lights, camera, Action!: Videos and QR Codes in the Library

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, and again, and again. Students LOVE visuals. We live in a world where items are judge by their covers, so they had better be the best covers ever otherwise students are not going to take the plunge and visit your site. This means they are going to miss loads of useful information all because it wasn't pretty. How can you remedy this situation? Videos and QR codes!!! 

VIDEOS:
Let's look some libraries that are already creating and posting videos via the YouTube (video channel site that allows people to upload videos and share with the world).

The Norman High School Library
The videos on this channel are mostly instructional videos. The videos on how to use GoogleDocs, and the Poetry for Students are the most helpful as they walk students through how to use various resources. The Poetry video also explains why relying heavily on Google instead of the resources the library is paying for is not always the best idea. While the videos are informative, they are not all that appealing to students. Dialogue in the videos is flat, and there are no videos created by students. You have actors, actress, directors, and producers in the making...let them help you.



The Unquiet Library
Great name right? This library has instructional videos as well as videos of student creation, mostly class projects. How to Export a Biblographic Data File from LRC to EasyBib is a great video to help students create work cited pages. Properly citing a work can be tricky as students are not always sure what format to use. The videos students would like the best would be Finding and Using Wikimedia Commons Images, Video Tutorial: Finding CC Images Using Compfight, and Finding Licensed Images in Advanced Flickr. Not all images on the web are for all to use, and students do not understand Copyright law. Heck, I don't quite understand the ins and outs of Copyright law.



Pikesville High School Library
This YouTube channel is a mixture of library event recaps and student projects. The video most helpful to students is the video about how to get financial aid. Financial aid is a quagmire of many different forms of aid, and ways to apply for it, so help is definitely needed. Remember to complete the FASFA form! Students will most likely view the Harlem Shake video as they probably have created two or three themselves.


Bonnie Branch Middle School Library
I've saved the best for last! The media specialist at this school has creative videos to remind students to bring back their overdue books, videos for reader's advisory, and some on research. Not to mention he has some very talented students helping him. The video titled Online Career Resources is extremely useful to students. The media specialist goes over how to search for books on a given topic, how limit a search, where the books would be located in the library, and various other helpful searching tips. I cannot pick a video that students will like the best because there are too many great videos. The first one I clicked on was the Frozen parody asking students bring back their overdue library books because I love me some Frozen, but there are many other great videos on this page. Students made their own Old Spice video reminding students to bring back their overdue books, a High School Musical, a Justin Bieber, and a T-Swift. These are some talented students.



If you are having trouble deciding what types of videos to post on your website, think about what your students and teachers need. Do they need research tips? Do they need book recommendations? Do they need to know how to complete a FASFA form? Do they need to know how to use your OPAC? Think about your most popular questions, and try to answer them using videos. Remember that you do not have to create your own videos, but make sure you cite your sources!

QR CODES:
Now lets talk about QR codes. They are everywhere! They look like square bar codes that can be read using a smartphone with a QR code reader. QR codes create easily accessible links to just about anything you want, and it is fairly simple. If you scan the above QR code, you will go to the generator I like to use. If you do not like it, simply do a Google search, or Bing if you prefer, for "qr code generator" to find one you like. If you do not have a QR Code reader, you can download one for free from your app store, or just search the Google.

You can use QR codes in the library many ways. They can be shelf talkers when shelf space is limited. If the book does not already have one, you can put QR codes on the books to link to the author's website or a book trailer. Here's a QR code for a teaser book trailer I created using Animoto (website for creating videos) for Rick Riordan's upcoming book, The Blood of Olympus. I would post this next to his other books so students know the last book is about to be released. Why this book? Riordan's books speak to many students as his characters are flawed, but their flaws do not stop them from doing great things. In fact, their flaws help them. Here is the synopsis for The Blood of Olympus from Goodreads (will talk about this site later):

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blood_of_Olympus

"Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over." 
I'm extremely excited to read this book! 



Most states have their own award list that students can nominate books for. Post reminders around the library with a QR code that takes scanners to the nominating site. Here's one I created for the 2015 Lone Star Award. My school's library was about to get the 2014 books in, so I created shelf talkers and a book display board featuring the new arrivals.

For library orientation, you can use QR codes like a scavenger hunt. The QR codes would contain the clues, and students would have to scan the codes to find out the next place to go. You could also do this for teaching students the Dewey Decimal System.

Go forth and create amazing videos and get creative with QR codes!

Brittany

The Blog Life

If you are new to the blog world like I am, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to find blogs you want to read. Once you have found said blogs, how do you go about reading them everyday? The good news there are multiple platforms where you can "store" the blogs you want to read called blog readers. Think of them as digital bookshelves or magazine racks. You can add the blogs you want to read to your platform of choice just like a book, and it will be there when you want to read it, easy peasy.

These are just some of the blog readers you can use to keep track of the blogs you want to follow. If you click on the pictures, you will be taken to the site. All of these platforms are free, fairly simple, and you can add whatever blog you want to follow. I went with Bloglovin' because of its simplicity. Newsblur's layout did not appeal to me, but I did like that I could "try it out" before I signed up for it. Digg Reader did not give me that option, so I could not explore its interface. Feedly was a very close second for me, but Bloglovin' won out because I could sign-in using my Facebook account. I'm all for not having to remember another blasted password. It will also post to my Facebook feed, so less work for me :). Once you have decided on the platform you wish to use, it is time to add blogs to your "shelf". Your platform will walk you through how to add them, and they will give you some suggestions to get you started should you not know of any you want to follow. Here are some that I follow to help you get started.

The Daring Librarian
Mr.Schu Reads
The Goddess of YA Literature
The Nerdy Book Club
School Library Journal Blogs
Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch

I like these blogs because they provide me with books to read, technology I can use, and help on my way to being a fabulous librarian.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
 

Now let's talk about Tumblr. Like Twitter and Facebook, Tumblr is a social network. It is also a microblog, as is Twitter. You can post things on your mind, images you find on the interwebs, or you can reblog something you have found while reading a blog. This platform is more visual than Facebook and Twitter, so students are more likely to use it. This means it is a great tool for your teacher/librarian toolbox. Added bonus, you can link your Facebook and Twitter accounts to Tumblr so it will post your activity to them. This means you can reach students who might only use Facebook and/or Twitter as their social network fix. As I stated earlier, I'm all for letting someone else, something else?, do the work for me. Ain't nobody got time for individually posting to multiple sites.

Since this platform is more visual, images are the preferred posting method of most library blogs I found on Tumblr. After visual posts, reviews and quotes came in as a popular posting method. If you have read my Facebook, Twitter, or Infographic posts, you know I advocate visuals as the primary posting method. Since most people scan their feeds, an image is going to catch the eye more than a lengthy written post. Also like Facebook and Twitter, you must use your Tumblr regularly for it to be an effective tool. Check out these library Tumblrs to help you get a handle on how to use Tumblr to increase traffic in your library.

Chapel Hill High School Library - uses mainly visual posts that catch the eye
Elmira High School Library - uses mainly visual posts that catch the eye
Montclair Elementary School - in active which is weird because the high school's Facebook page is amazing
The School Library Journal - always a great page to follow on any platform.

You can also follow me on Tumblr. My Tumblr is all of two days old as of this post, so it is a work in progress.

Happy blogging reading and Tumbling!

Brittany

Teens and Online Privacy

Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/easel.ly/all_easels/150751/onlineprivacy/image.jpg

The Pew Research team conducted a survey to see where teens (12-17) seek their online privacy advice. They conducted a phone survey and focus groups to gather their findings. From their research, they found that teens are aware and taking active steps to protect themselves online. 70% of those surveyed reported that they have sought advice from someone or somewhere in regards to protecting their privacy online. Of those students who sought assistance, asking a friend or parent were the top reported choices for advice with friends being 1% more likely than parents.Younger teens are more likely to seek advice from parents or teachers where as older teens are less likely to consult adults. This might be due to the age difference in their parents. Older teens will most likely have older parents who are less likely to have embraced technology or social medias.

"Male (age 18): 'Usually I’d just ask a friend. Parents are a no-go… My parents are pretty old school, like, they don’t really use the Internet. And teacher wise, I wouldn’t really want to ask my teachers. Also, I wouldn’t really think that they would know.'
Male (age 16): 'Parents, they don’t know how computers work. My dad does, but he doesn’t know how the Internet works…. And teachers, not really. I remember in my old school… We’d had a couple classes about Internet safety, but that was about it. I haven’t asked teachers specific questions about it.'”

Source: http://www.quickmeme.com/Parents-just-dont-understand

Many teens have the notion, whether they are aware of it or not, that adults cannot possibly understand new-fangled technology. I loved mesmerizing my students with my ability to accurately type words quickly without looking at the keyboard. They are even more impressed when they realized that I was looking at the projection screen, or sometimes them, while typing instead of my laptop screen. Aw simple pleasures. While they did have to teach me a few tricks from time-to-time, it was often me teaching them how something worked. Perhaps this should clue us teachers in that we need to let students know that you can teach an old dog new tricks. 

As with the survey done on app downloading, the area covered in the survey was California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. It would be interesting to see if the results would be similar with teens in other states. Teens in the Mid-West might not be as likely to seek assistance with online privacy since they are not a hot bed for technology. MIT and Cal Tech are both located in the surveyed area, so teens living here might be more willing to ask for help than teens who live in state with a greater population of sheep than people.

Over all, it is good to know that some teens are taking steps to protect themselves online. Hopefully more teens are doing the same since now so much of our lives are on the web.

Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Cortesi, S., Gasser, U., & Smith, A. (2013, August 15). Where Teens Seek Online Privacy Advice. Retrieved September 16, 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/08/15/where-teens-seek-online-privacy-advice/.

Mining PEW Progress: 6/150 pages

Brittany

Maps, Charts, and Infographics

A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the quote goes, but is it really? Can you really breakdown a complex concept into one simple easy to understand picture? The answer is yes. In my Facebook post I talked about memes, but today I want to give you the skinny on infographics. What is an infographic? I'm glad you asked. An infographic is a pictorial representation of information or data. Infographics can take large sums of data that can be hard to understand, especially to those who are not familiar with number crunching, and present it in a way that makes sense. In honor of Banned Book Week, September 21-27, check out this infographic on the most controversial books in America. 

How can you use them in the classroom? Infographics can be used by you the teacher or librarian to convey a concept, or students can use them to show understanding of a concept. There are many good already created infographics that you can use to help demonstrate the point you are trying to create. The Learning Network, a blog run by the New York Times, has some great resources gathered into one place for you to view/use. If you cannot find what you are looking for, then you should try your hand at creating your own infographic. There are free websites that will help you make your own infographics such as Easel.ly, Piktochart, and Infogr.am. I like Easel.ly and Piktochart the best because they seem to have more to options, but all are easy to use. I used Piktochart to create an infographic of a report I read on Teens and Mobile Apps Privacy published on the PEW Internet Research Project. I used a template, and it took me about 45 minutes to create because I got distracted watching Castle reruns on TNT.




As you can see from my snazzy infographic, some teens are taking measures to protect themselves when it comes to the apps they download and what information they choose to share. I find this news comforting because my students do not seem to concerned about what they share on their various social medias. Internet safety training each year gets more and more difficult as there are more and more ways for them to share every minute detail about their lives. The report itself is not long and fairly easy to digest, but an infographic makes the information visual. Since not all people learn by reading, having visual representations will reach those visual learners in your classroom.

If you are looking for a new way to have students demonstrate understanding, then infographics are for you! The three sites I mentioned previously all can be accessed using your Facebook, Google +, or Twitter (Infogr.am only) accounts, so they would not have to use an email address to create an account. The trick will be can they remember their passwords to any of their social media networks as most students do not log out of them (I know I don't, but I do remember my passwords!). Infographics can also be alternatives to PowerPoints or Prezis since some of these sites can do presentations too. For more information on having students create their own infographics, check out this blog post from The Learning Network.

Now it's your turn! Go forth and make infographics of your own. If you do, I'd like for you to post them, or a link to them, in the comments.

Mining PEW Progress: 3/150 pages

Brittany

Twitter Chatter

Last week's post was about the granddaddy of social media, Facebook. Facebook is yesterday's news as many new social medias have emerged as the popularity of social media took off with Facebook's success. Since we deal with children, adolescents, and/or young adults, it is important for us to stay abreast of the new technologies our patrons are using. In this spirit, this week's post is going to focus on Twitter.

Twitter is similar to Facebook in that you can post status, called "tweets" comprised of words, pictures, videos, and links to other information. You have followers, you follow people you are interested in, but most off all, you can escalate issues. How, you might ask? Hashtags #. Just about all social media sites use hashtags, but Twitter pioneered this technology. Adding hashtags is not all that different from adding a subject heading to a book. The hashtag makes the post searchable when looking for information on a certain issue. If enough people post using the same hashtag, then the issue is said to be "trending."

Let's look at some tweets from some people I follow:

Linda Braun @lbraun2000 - Youth Services Manager at the Seattle Public Library

Why did I not know this? RT @nic221: Insert Citations in Multiple Formats Easily with Google Docs. http://t.co/vxvnRIJ64s
— Linda W Braun (@lbraun2000) September 3, 2014

Why do I like this tweet? Properly citing sources can be a pain for even the experienced writer, not to mention the burgeoning writer. Anything that helps people navigate the nuances of properly citing a source is ok in my book.

Tony Vincent @tonyvincent - teacher and technology guru

Here are the apps I just mentioned for taking notes on an iPad at #2014AzTransition: http://t.co/FJsfrgmeOp pic.twitter.com/V3ZywkNhJl
— Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) August 25, 2014

This tweet takes you to a blog post by Mr. Vincent on note taking apps for the iPad. I plan on using it with my students this fall as I am teaching a success class for first generation college students. Note taking as always plagued students, just ask Professor Pauk creator of Cornell notes, and I am always looking for ways to make note taking simpler for students.

Buffy Hamilton @buffyjhamilton - librarian and teacher

Why Some Schools Are Selling All Their iPads - The Atlantic http://t.co/lYQQ3ZEtSV
— Buffy J. Hamilton (@buffyjhamilton) August 7, 2014

This tweet rang home with me because I have wondered just how useful the iPad is compared to a laptop. Like many of the students/teachers in the article, I see iPads as entertainment platforms and laptops as workstations.

The Daring Librarian @GwynethJones - click on her handle because her description of herself is fabulous!

I know this is an unpopular opinion - but I worry w/ this iPad frenzy (& I have 2 that I LOVE!) that kiddos will miss out on the basics.
— The Daring Librarian (@GwynethJones) September 1, 2014

A worry I have too, but I think Kathy Shrock's tweet (below) will help ameliorate this worry.

Jim Lerman @jimlerman - teacher, leader, networker, learner

Millions of historic images posted to Flickr | BBC News via @ChuckSherwood1 http://t.co/HMLWutHHwg
— Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) August 30, 2014

I taught U.S. History when I was in the classroom, so being able to access historic photos easily is wunderbar!

Kathy Schrock @kathyschrock - educational technologist

Start of a new series about literacies for the digital age on my @DiscoveryEd blog: http://t.co/psqVWP0P0p
— Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) September 1, 2014

We are all familiar with the phrase, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." With the number of technologies available to students, it is vitally important we are teaching students what is necessary to be successful in this century not last century.

Like some of these tweets? Click on their handles (what names are called in the Twittersphere), and read more of what they have to say! I have a Twitter account if you would like to follow me, my handle is @Hensley221B (I like BBC's Sherlock). Twitter can be a bit intimidating in the beginning, but once you get how it works, it is actually a great place to learn.

Happy Tweeting!

Brittany

How tech is changing reading at libraries | Marketplace.org

Check out this post on how technology is impacting libraries!

How tech is changing reading at libraries | Marketplace.org