The first two days

One of the challenges of a new school year is checking out all of the textbooks.  In my new job, I just happen to be “in charge” of all the textbooks across the district, K-12.  In California, we are now bound by a law called the “Williams Act” which requires every school district to certify that every student has a standards-aligned textbook within the first eight weeks of the school year (which is a good).  So, the first two days of the school year have been making sure our textbook check out system is working – nudging the responsible parties to make sure the data in the system is correct and reminding library staff how it all works.   At our school sites, we are doing our best to get all of the textbooks checked out to all students in the first week.

Textbooks are just one of the things we do in school libraries so we can get on to the stuff that really matters! And doing the library stuff we love to do – connecting kids and teachers to books, teaching kids how to find the best information on the Internet, collaborating with teachers, and selecting new books!

In addition to this, it has been exciting to open up two new schools with new libraries and library staff – Clovis North Educational Center and Bud Rank Elementary.

Ridin’ for the Brand

In Clovis Unified, we are opening up our fifth high school – the Clovis North Broncos.  In celebration, our opening school year theme is “Ridin’ for the Brand.”  The administrators of the district (of which I am now considered) got together for the past two days at the “administrative charge” session – more than 100 people attended.  During this time, principles of leadership, district policies and district initiatives are discussed.

This year, in preparation for the charge session, we read the book Ridin’ for the Brand, the Power of Purposeful Leadership (2005) by Jim Whitt.  The book discusses the importance of purposeful leadership and starts out asking, “What is your purpose?”  The book is set in the year 2030 and a reporter goes out to the western land of Oklahoma where a reclusive CEO has experienced great success in the cattle business – their purpose is to “feed a hungry world.”  The story is told in a series of analogies by the CEO, who still rides a horse and works on the farm (even in 2030).  By the end of the book the CEO – Burns Marcus – uses a diamond to identify the four principles of successful business: purpose, partners, pioneers that lead to profit.  One part of the book discusses the importance of each member of the team to reach “Team Actualization” or “what happens when we contribute our singularly unique purposes to a common purposes to a common purpose – a greater cause.”  In another part of the book, the author states, “Managers understand the tangibles.  Leaders understand the intangibles.”

At the administrative charge session, we discussed our purpose (students),  and the importance of partnering with the various educational stakeholders – students, teachers, librarians, and parents.  We also celebrated our successes of the past year including a number of our schools meeting district, state and federal goals.

As I read this book, I couldn’t help but apply the principles in this book to the whole Web 2.0 movement.  As educators, we each individually have to define our purpose.  However, that purpose is not fully realized until others validate it through blog comments or in response to a podcast.  Partnering is a key part of 2.0 – using wikis, skypecasts, twitter friends, ning friends and blog rolls as well as sharing recent discoveries that increase student engagement.  Finally, those involved in the read-write web are certainly pioneers - challenging various teachers and administrators to embrace the best of what the web has to offer to the benefit of students.  The result is the “profit” or more engaged and enlightened students who become lifelong learners.

The book ends by asking the readers to consider these questions:

• Look back 30 years ago and describe what the world and your industry looked like.  What has changed in the past 30 years?
• Now, look 30 years into the future and describe what the world and your industry will look like.  What changes will take place in the next 30 years?
• What will you, as an individual, have to do to be part of the future you just described?

Library of the Future!

Michael Stephen’s post today about the “library of the future” really got me to thinking about how we think about spaces in libraries.  He shared this YouTube video from the Danish National Library project.

My blog reading then took me to Joyce Valenza’s post about videos shared in the TeacherLibrarian Ning which brought me to Teacher Tube where I found this video about the “library of the future” (I couldn’t figure out how to embed the video here).  Also thought provoking.

Powerful!

Michael Stephens over at Tame the Web posted a very powerful series of thoughts today and they have tremendous ramifications for all libraries.  Among several things, he said,  “Furthermore, the line between information tools, social software, games and productivity tools is thoroughly blurred by now. To expect that we can choose what part of the technology we will help patrons with is simply unrealistic.”

And for those of you who are participating in our School Library Learning 2.0 23 Things, let this be another encouragement to keep working through those 23 Things!  And, for those who have not yet started, join us today!  This stuff is important for the future of all of our libraries!

Michael ended his post encouraging all of us, “When you’re confronted with blogging instead of writing the “What’s New at the Library” newsletter, or asked to participate in a Learning 2.0 course as part of your job, or recruited to implement a game program for teens at the library, think about this post and about the “blurred lines” between information, play and social interaction.”