How Do Librarians Manage Information and Teach Information Despite Limited Time, Limited Staff and Information Overload?

I wonder, as I try to absorb our assigned reading, what profession I have gotten myself into. How on earth can you be all things to all people? The concept that keeps jumping out at me seems to be the idea of collaboration. Collaboration, used effectively, can help librarians reach the lofty goals we have set for ourselves.
Students, teachers, administrators and librarians need to collaborate in order to make the library, and the librarian, relevant. According to Empowering Learners, Chp 2, the librarian should be the facilitator for collaboration between all learning communities. Everyone is an active participant in collaboration efforts, so the librarian is one part of the process. Shared participation requires shared effort. The librarian can provide the "push" in a general direction, then hopefully students and/or teachers will take on the task of futher learning. To know the right direction, of course, is the librarians' job. Know your curriculum, know your GLE's, know your students and know your teachers and support them through selection of materials, access to the library, training of technology and how to use online resources (Woolls, Chp. 10). Librarians are able to see "the big picture" without bias, so they are in the best position to see opportunities for collaboration within the school. As Woolls explains, librarians are poised to blend the media center and classroom activities. Librarians need to show teachers how knew methods to teach (especially technology) can be useful and less time consuming. Anticipating needs and being there to serve that need before the patron realizes what he/she needs is a goal for all librarians. Once that need is met, hopefully the patron will take the ball and run with it (however, librarians will still be there to guide when necessary).
To be facilitators of collaboration, librarians need to spend TIME assessing needs. Again, know your curriculum. It's the beginning of helping students and teachers achieve their goals. Then ask them what they need to help fill any areas that are lacking. If a teacher feels he/she is weak in an area, help make him/her feel confident. Find a website, teach an appliction, draw attention to a technological device that will support the goal. Two reading assignments described the problems of accessing websites. Find ways to unblock them (if appropriate), or find appropriate sites teachers can use. Be an advocate for free access, according to Richard Byrne. Learn how to be a champion for teachers' and students' right to information. The more librarians do for their school community, the more they will do for their librarian. Hopefully, with shared resposibilities, the workload for the librarian can be lessened.

"School Library Web Presence Seminar"
A great introduction to why and how to do it! But really overwhelming for a newbie, although several people were supportive of my type. I heard many urging to just start small. Maybe I will explore the concept of a wiki, which most seem to feel was the easiest to attempt. If I start a project like this, I may use a subject I am more familiar with - dog grooming, for instance - to get started. I need to get on each of these librarians websites to look around.

BLOGS
BOB SPRANKLE "Bit by Bit" May 12, 2011 "Let's Have Lunch"
Bob discusses how his free lunch time turned into a learning lunch time when students asked about the Khan Academy videos. These kids happened to be 3rd graders, so Bob steered them to "TED," and a discussion group formed, meeting in the library. The group was self-driven, finding videos at home to watch, watching one as a group the following day, and holding a discussion which Bob found was focused, personal, relevant, connected to the world around them, independent and evaluative. Videos should be reviewed first by the teacher (or librarian) before a group viewing, and Bob gives a link to a spreadsheet listing subjects and authors of "TED" talks: https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pjGlYH-8AK8ffDa602bYlXg&gid=o

LARRY FERLAZZO "A Few Simple Ways to Intoduce Reluctant Colleagues to Technology" 11-9-09
or "Do I Want to be Right or Do I Want to be Effective?"
First, before introducing a technology, build a relationship that accesses
needs. What frustrates them? What do they want to accomplish? Then find a technology that stresses two things: how does it help the teacher make his/her job easier and simplier; how does it add to student learning.
Technologies that may fit the criteria: computer projector; document camera, tools to create students work that can be viewed by a wide audience (Quiet Write, My Open Letter, Freedom Share, Crocodoc, Library Thing);Etherpad for a platform for collaboration. I went to a couple of these places and found myself wanting to use them, so I found a great source of information for a beginning for me, the newbie.

LM-NET
Liz Manguno July 8, 2011
Questions about collaborating with staff, staff development and collection building were answered by a host of people with some great ideas. One idea that has been suggested before- a wiki for collaboration. Also attend teacher meetings; document all collaboration to use for evaluation purposes; collaborate small, and your success will promote other collaborations which can grow. Staff development ideas included orientation for new teachers and paras; "Tech Tuesdays" for inservice teaching of websites or applications like twitter; how to use technologies like smartboard or laptops. Collection development ideas included matching books/websites to standards using Follett's titlewave; letting teachers take catelogues and circle what they feel will support their curriculum; asking questions at teacher meetings.

Christopher Young "K-8 shelving advice" July 7, 2011
Lots of advice on how to separate books by genre, non-fiction and fiction, and even age appropriateness. Nobody suggested shelving fiction all together, of letting kids go wherever they wanted or check out anything they wanted. Everyone had a system that "defined" the book in one way or the other. Interesting.

Pamela Thompson "Moonglass"
This was a book review (no comments or question) of the Book Moonglass by Jessie Kirby. It is her first novel and Pam highly recommends it for 12 and up. Themes include romance and mystery and contains nothing objectionable.
Learned that Pam's blog is now featured on Texas Library Association website. Good to have another review source I could look at. She's on blogspot. http://booksbypamelathompson.blogspot.com/

PODCAST: CYA 8-3-11
Book this podcast is Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy by Albert Marrin. He's a well respected author of historical nonfiction books (written over 40). This book covers the event, and events before and after, of the Triangle Fire. The author does a good job of detaling the emmigration situation in the sweatshops, the fire, and the uprising of support for changes in womens' working conditions in sweatshops. Most of the reviewers thought the book was well-written and the format with photos and text very appealing, but the book had limited interest appeal (more suited for research than just to read for enjoyment).