Cataloging

The idea of taking a class on cataloging brought back all of my memories of the hours spent in the cataloging lab at Simmons during my first class on cataloging. In 2007 they opened a new renovated library, so it doesn't even exist any more...boy that makes me feel old. I have to admit I was surprised when I got my first “real” library job and discovered that most people don’t really catalog but rather copy things that others have cataloged. The only time that I actually had to originally catalog was when we acquired some unusual item that no one had cataloged anywhere else yet.

When I started working in a school the copy cataloging was a matter of necessity, there just was no time to even think about cataloging or process books for that matter so normally all of the new books came with a disk which would import nicely into the circulation software. With a little tweaking these records were pretty good. For my teachers I assign class tags so that they can search for resources that cover topics covered in for example “World History II”, Some vendors provide better records than others and some use Sears Headings instead of Library Congress, so all of those would need to be changed. Eventually I began looking to the internet. For most common items I use CWMARS. For the unusual I use Sunlink which is comprised of the school libraries in the entire state of Florida. It contains lots of unusual items that school libraries tend to have in their collections. I have found Library of Congress to be useful as well although I do find their website to be somewhat difficult to navigate and I don’t always find what I am looking for.

This week’s reading from “Catalog It” by Kaplan and Reiding has been a great refresher. I ordered it through the library system for this class but will purchase a copy because I think it will be a good resource to keep on hand and is a nice compliment to the four big green books of Dewey that I now own. I liked the Genesse Valley resource and when looking for it on the net stumbled across this link
http://www.caclibrary.org/Cataloging.htm
Which lists a whole bunch of sites to use for cataloging. I also like to use Auburn University's page
for a quick listing of Marc tags for when I need to quickly look up what a particular tag is.

So far this has been a nice trip down cataloging lane. I am re-learning some of the things that I have forgotten and it is so much less stressful knowing that I am not going to be sitting in a library with an item in my hand and a blank screen in front of me. Now I know that I need to know how and why it all works and the basics but that there are a lot of resources out there to help.

Online Safety

This week’s topic was Internet Safety. I chose to concentrate on a popular topic these days, Cyber bullying. Cyber bullying has most recently been in the news because of the case of Pheobe Prince in Massachusetts. There have been many articles such as “Sticks and Stones” in Time Magazine in the media about online bullying and the need for parents to be more informed.

I compiled a list of resources for parents; websites, articles, and multimedia. Parents need to be educated on what cyber bullying is, how they can help their children cope and prevent it and how they can become more informed about their children’s online presence.


Websites
Wired Safety

The site claims to be the world’s largest online safety and help group; it is headed by Parry Aftab, author of The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace. The website provides education, resources and even one on one assistance to victims of cyber crimes and harassment.

Netsmartz
This comprehensive site contains tips for parents as well presentations. There is a lot of information including statistics, news and definitions. The “Real Life stories” really brought the topic home.

Education.com

A site that is dedicated to providing parents with quality information they need. It has an excellent resource list which is divided into a number of topics with questions on each. The links provide easily understood tips and a link to the article where the information originated from.

Articles

“Tips to help when your child is being bullied online” by Christine Loftus

Explains what cyber bullying is and provides 6 tips to help protect your teen against cyber bullying

“Cyber Bullying Quick Reference Guide for Parents” by Patti Agatston

This article describes how bullying happens and why it is not okay

Also defines Cyber bullying and provides a list of warning signs. Helpful tips for prevention and intervention are included as well

“Parent Guide to Cyber Bullying and Cyber Threats” by The Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use

A 14 page article which provides in depth information on cyber bullying. The causes are described as well as the various roles that teenagers take on when they are online.

Parents are encouraged to stay involved and given tips of how to prevent their child from being bullied and what to do if their child is the bully.

Multimedia

Let’s Fight it Together

This heart wrenching video shows what cyber bullying is like first hand. It follows an English boy through his days as he is bullied using many different types of cyber tools. It was striking how technology has made it easy for bullies to follow students anywhere. The site contains resources, teachers guide and lessons.

Cyber bullying Resources

A collection of articles, worksheets, activities, quizzes, family contracts and pod casts to assist with the prevention and addressing of cyber bullying. A informative collection of resources for parents.

Notebook: Cyberbullies by Katie Couric

This segment describes the results of cyber bullying and includes tips for parents on how to help prevent bullying. The most important was to have dialog with your children and to know what they are doing online.

For the presentation I chose to create a Glogster of resources for students to use as a type of web quest to explore the topic of cyber bullying. My idea was to not only use it as a web quest type of activity with a class, but also to put it on the library website. In that way it can be a resource they are able to come back to later for further exploration or when they have specific questions. Several of the sites contain vast amounts of different resources far too much for students to absorb at one glance.

Professional Deelopment

This week's assignment was to create a professional development plan and presentation. I chose to follow the organization of this class and developed a 5 workshop series on web 2.0 tools and applications. I attempted to show teachers the basics of each of the tools as well as some examples of uses in the classroom or on way that can help them to organize. I think the workshops cover a lot of tools and it will probably be necessary to do some follow up workshops on specific tools for the teachers that use them and then want to do more. I don't think that all of the teacher will like each tools but I hope by presenting so many different options that everyone will be able to find something that works for them and is applicable to a current topic or lesson.

Web 2.0 Tools and the Curriculum

A 5 workshop series

Introduction to Blogs and Wikis
In this hands on workshop teachers will develop the beginnings of their own blog and wiki. The workshop will cover an introduction to blogs and wikis as well as concrete examples of their use in the classroom and lessons. Additional topics include; a discussion and demo of Wikipedia and it’s educational application., Internet safety and ethics and the choices for access will be discussed, as well as the various free online options and the pros and cons of each.

Help me Organize my Stuff!..and be able to find it
In this workshop we will explore all of the  online tols out there to help us keep track of all of out stuff plus a lot of them have great potential. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to keep up on what is new at the sites or blogs we read most often? Setup an RSS feed. Have pictures or even books o keep track of? Try Flickr or Shelfari. Want to collect all of those great links you come across or have your students use specific ones fr an assignment? Try Delicious. We will explore these applications and more as we take a look at all the tools to make it easier to keep track of everything

Apps you don’t need an i-phone for!
Online applications are easy to use and many are free. Discover applications which can convert any type of file, create word posters, enable multiple people to work on one document, from home. Develop online tutorials and discover web links. Create surveys, photo albums, and brainstorm. Even create a talking avatar of a character or a professional looking movie. The possibilities are endless. This workshop will introduce you to the multitude of tools out there, provide ideas for using each within the curriculum and provide resources for locating more.

Online Multimedia- How to find it and create it. It’s easier than you think…
Youtube in school? There are some treasures to be found. If not than Ted or Teacher tube. Explore free video sites on the web. If video isn’t your thing than how about audio? Discover tools to create your own pod casts and explore ways to locate ones others have created. Even explore an online radio station which chooses the next song based on what you like.

Now what do I do with all this new stuff?.
Use it! In this last workshop we will talk about lessons. Great resources for lessons, ones we have done, ones we have heard about and begin to figure out how to use all these tools with students. Bring along a lesson that you would like to integrate technology into or one that you would just like to do some thing different with. Not all of the tools we learned about are for students but a lot can be used for fun applicable assessments that are interesting and less time consuming to grade.