Sparking a Canadian Conversation on School Libraries 2.0

1. Sparking a Canadian Conversation on School Libraries 2.0 Marlene Asselin Ray Doiron Treasure Mountain, Canada Edmonton, Alberta June 3, 2010

2. Assumptions… • You have read Towards a Transformative Pedagogy for School Libraries 2.0 at SLW Vol. 14:2http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/ • I am to take some of these ideas and develop your conversations about school libraries.

3. School Libraries Worldwide • Visit School Libraries Worldwide Volume 14 Number 2 – July 2008 http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/

4. Marlene & Ray • Tend to address school librarianship through a literacy lens. • We build our rationale for strong SLs by linking literacy (literacies) & libraries. • Tend to speak to colleagues in wider communities - beyond school libraries. • Tend to challenge our school library colleagues to read, engage in and disseminate research – we “teach” research but we never “do” research. • Tend to draw upon research from contexts beyond the SL context.

5. Background to this work…. • Rapid pace of change spurred by burgeoning digital technologies • Youth • Literacy • Learning • “new learners’ are entering our schools and school libraries in growing numbers and teacher-librarians are seeking ways to transform school libraries into effective and engaging digital learning environments. • We need to draw on our traditional leadership in building collaborative teaching and learning activities in order to engage students in new learning environments which harness their innate interests in new technologies and connect their in-school and out-of-school literacy practices.

6. Purpose • Explore current research and emerging notions of school libraries 2.0 • Web 2.0 • Library 2.0 • Pedagogy 2.0 • Critically question some long-held tenets • Create new research-based vision

7. New Learners, New Literacies, New Libraries • Our work exploring • Who are the learners of the Net Generation? • What are the literacies needed by the new learners? • How do we teach the new learners? • Our process: (See our wiki: http://asselindoiron.pbworks.com/ ) • Interviews with youth in Canada and Switzerland. http://asselindoiron.pbworks.com/Kaitlyn • Observations of trends in types/uses of new media. • Literature reviews (Net Generation; new literacies; learning in digital environments). • Workshops, keynotes, discussions/conversations with colleagues in Canada, the USA, and Europe. • Take the issues to our school library colleagues as Guest Co-Editors of SLW (See SLW blog http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/

8. Our Process • Call for manuscripts • Internal and external contributors • Determining mode of publication • Structuring the content • Critical concepts • Diverse contexts • Creative expressions

9. Points from the Process 1 • Perception of critical literacy • not simply a matter of advocating for a larger role for school libraries in building information literacy, but a call for a fundamental shift in our understanding of the pervasive nature of technology and how we must arm our students with a wider range of technical and critical skills in order to cope and flourish in a new learning landscape.

10. Points from the Process 2 • Wariness to notion of “new learners” • We must first of all recognize and respect the new learner’s relationship with technology and along with them embrace their new learning experiences/expectations. We can respond to new understandings of how knowledge is constructed in a global learning context and become learners along with them.

11. Points from the Process 3 • Narrow definition of major role of SL • there are multiple literacies and multi-modal uses of literacies expected of learners today. • Our research would suggest that many of our youth are trying to co-exist and function within this world in their out-of-school experiences; it is schools that have narrowed the definition of literacy and school libraries who have narrowed it to information literacy that may be failing to help our youth thrive in the future.

12. Points from the Process 4 • Concern for lack of a model • A frustration --- No one seems to have yet shown us the model for new school libraries. • It gives us reason to ask have we been mistaken in trying to describe one vision for a school library and then setting out to create replicas of that vision around the world? • …no two libraries are exactly alike and maybe this is closer to the idea of school library 2.0.

13. Towards a vision for school libraries 2.0 • Asselin/Doiron working definition……. A school library • is uniquely created by its users, • from the resources/tools at hand and at a distance • which can be called upon to support the construction and dissemination of new knowledge • by the active users of that library. • It is a holistic vision of a virtual and a physical space, • accessible 24/7 and • housing the learning tools needed for a wide range of teaching and learning experiences. • It is an open source, open access environment, a social space where users gather virtually and physically to find multiple types of resources and create strongly visual, multimedia representations of their new understandings. (Asselin & Doiron, 2008)

14. Challenges • The time is now for a broad, open conversation about the future of school libraries. We ignore these issues at our own peril. • Moving away from “information behaviours” towards knowledge creation & distribution. • Think critically; think locally, but act globally. • Create vision of one Worldwide School Library… • guided by principles of equity, inclusion, and social justice, • where our local libraries are nodes in this worldwide network and • our students connect within and throughout that network as global learners.

15. Beginning the Conversation • How our Grad students said it…. (View the Mash-up) • Introduce the blog here http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/ • Topics for discussion: • How can the SL bridge in-school & out-of-school literacies? • How can we achieve a 24/7 SL? • How does “Think locally, act globally” affect how SLs operate? • How do we deliver the SL to the desktops and laptops of students and educators?