School Library Management 2.0

[abeaman]

I'm teaching a school library management course this summer for the first time. I want to make this class "School Library Management 2.0" and talk a lot about integrating 2.0 tech into how we manage our libraries.
What 2.0 tools do you use on a regular basis to help you manage your library?

[Carolyn Foote]

The tool I probably use the most other than my web page is wikis.

I've used them to store links for particular assignments for teachers, for workshops, for tracking grant opportunities for our staff, for teacher projects, and for committee projects.

I also have been using blogs to communicate with staff, keep track of new web 2.0 tools, or share ideas.

And delicious is a great tool for librarians, of course!

Another new tool I've been using a lot is Jott.com. It lets you use your cell phone to notify yourself or others of information by email or text messaging.

Hope that helps! I'm a high school librarian, by the way.

[Joyce Valenza]

Yes, Carolyn,
We use wikis for so many tasks here too, including planning. We are also using them as pathfinder building tools. They allow students and teachers to contribute.

[abeaman]

Can you guys send me some links to your management wikis? I'd love to have some examples to share that will get my students thinking. I use them for instruction and for sharing resources, but I've never tried using them for management related tasks.

[Mary Schwander]

Although I'm just getting it going...how about PageFlakes? It's a "starter page" much like iGoogle where you can organize your RSS feeds, flakes (widgets), public bookmarks, etc.
As a HS librarian, I am creating a tab (page) for each subject area which will have relevant RSS feeds and widgets. Once I finish setting it up, I plan to invite teachers to have access so that they can add subject-specific components much like a Wiki.
One of my flakes is Delicious bookmarks: students and teachers just click on the drop-down menu to select their tag of choice.
Although I'm just starting out with this, I do see this as a great way to manage information.

[amspann]

Wikis, del.icio.us, LibraryThing and blogs are wonderful and I would put my vote in for these.

Any sort of RSS aggregator is great for staying current. I read my Bloglines everyday and it helps with stay current. I know others have migrated to Google Reader or use newsgator, so you may want to check these out.

Some sort of calendar system would be great as well, Google Calendar. I just read where someone has used Twitter to put out feeds of upcoming events for a public library and Google Calendar is a part of this. Could be used for a school library system as well. I'm looking into it.

Flickr is a great source to store photos and be able to post them to a blog.

Good luck. This would be a fun class to take. Angie

[guybrarian]

Good Question!

I use Delicious for bookmarks for myself and my student aide course, Google Calendar for reservations (AV, LABS and LIBRARY), senduit.com for file transfer, blogger and podcastpeople for blogs and vlogs, dreamweaver for web design, trackstar for teacher units, wikis for our own DYNIX help manual.

I'm in summer mode...so I can't remember any others!

[Richard Beaudry]

School Library Journal has an article that should help:

Say good-bye to your mother’s school library
By Christopher Harris -- School Library Journal, 5/1/2006

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6330755.html

Richard Beaudry

[Judi Moreillon]

I taught adolescent literature in the spring of 2006. Four small groups used wikis to collaboratively construct their contribitions to the Southwest Children's Literature Web site: http://storytrail.com/SWCL/pages/spr06.htm

These two groups used the wiki technology to its potential:

https://billythekid.pbwiki.com

https://themaze.pbwiki.com

These are adult-learner examples that could inspire your adult students. If I were serving in a school library or classroom, I would use wikis in this way with youth as well.

[Debra Warren]

Where are you teaching this class and is it offered online? I need something like this to help me.

Debra Warren
Berryville Middle School Library

[abeaman]

I'm teaching at Illinois State University in Normal, IL - and no, it's not online. Sorry!

[Peggy Milam Creighton]

I use my school blog to post current and future events in the school library. I have a link on our school website to my blog so that not just teachers, but also parents and students can access it as well.

I also use a wiki to collaboratively plan with others. Google docs is good for this.

My favorite all-purpose tool is igoogle. I customize my desktop so that I have digital sticky notes, weather, quotes, and other information right in front of me while I work.