HVLA Member Spotlight: Laura Cain Rivara

Laura is currently a part time library assistant in the Friends Academy Kumar Wang Library and a graduate student at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science. 

As a young girl growing up on Long Island, Laura's grandfather, president of the Friends of the North Babylon public library, got her involved in their local library.  She participated in many of the library's reading programs and later, during  high school and college, worked there as a page.  Laura's technology education began at home with her father.  While building his own computer at home, Laura learned by his side and began to "tinker" with PCs.  She was introduced to the Mac while a student at F.I.T, where she earned her B.F.A. Half of her classes were hand skills (painting, drawing, etc) and the other half were software based (Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, etc).  After graduating, Laura taught art and set design to 6th through 12th graders at a New York City public school.  Although she enjoyed teaching, her early happy years in the library were always in the back of her mind.  Then, after six years of teaching in the Bronx and learning she was likely be transferred to a different school, the lure of the library returned.  She left teaching and enrolled in library school.  Friends Academy had an opening for a part time library assistant with strong technology skills and Laura was the ideal candidate.  Last fall was an exciting but hectic time for Laura.  She had not only just begun graduate school and a new job, she was about to get married!  When not working or studying  Laura surfs off of Long Island's south shore beaches and practices Tae kwon do, she holds a black belt!  After her years in a school with no library, Laura "loves the busy, lively, library at Friends and the daily interaction with the kids." She especially values her co-workers, each of whom "willingly share their knowledge and skills."  The HVLA list serve has been a great asset to Laura and she is looking forward to attending meetings in the future.

A Day in the life of a school library

A day in the life of a school library, Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Friends Academy, Kumar Wang Library

It’s 7:30 am and MaryAnn, archivist and middle school librarian unlocks the library as the first students begin arriving on campus.  Soon, almost all the junior classes’ 100 students have gathered in the large open main floor of the library.  Most of the desktop computers are already being used by students, many rushing to print work they need to hand in today.  Faculty advisors chat with their advisees and take attendance.    At 8:05 am the school day begins with a moment of silence.    Ms Carballo, junior advisor and college counselor, leads the weekly “College of the Week” game and several students and teachers make school announcements.   Two other members of the library staff who are junior advisors have also arrived.

At 8:15 am about 75 kids walk, race or stroll out of the library to their first class of the day, shouting and laughing all the way.  The rest must have a free because they are still hanging around looking for someone in their class who can help them with last night’s homework that isn’t quite done.  Carol is staffing the main desk, checking out textbooks and laptops while Judy is fixing the Xerox copier and coaxing a few seniors to sit down and get to work. 

By nine am library staff members Laurie and Laura arrive and the day is in full swing.  MaryAnn’s 7^th grade research class wanders in and heads downstairs to the Middle School Library area to work on their World Cultures papers.  Laura is uploading the latest student book reviews into our online catalog.    Judy is in the library lab with a ninth grade English class teaching them to find sources for an essay they will be writing on technology in schools.  Most of the students brought their own laptops and the others grab one from the library’s laptop cart.  By the end of the class the kids are loving ProQuest and have already found a few good articles for their essays.  A few ask if Judy can email the notes to them.  By mid-day Laura has put the notes onto the library’s portal page so the students can access them from home.  This works better than emailing them.

By 10:00am  the library is getting crowded again, students who are not playing a sport this spring head off to PE class and many other upper school students are free.  As usual, the freshman and sophomores settle in upstairs while the juniors and seniors head for their favorite tables on the main floor.  There is lots of milling around and it’s pretty noisy at the beginning of the block but five minutes into the period the library staff has cajoled most kids into a seat.  Any students still roaming around get the boot!

The first lunch serving has begun and for the next two hours there is a constant ebb and flow of students and teachers through the library.  So far today the circulation desk has checked about eighty textbooks out and in.   Several teachers have checked out DVDs for their classes, almost every seat is taken, a group of students have borrowed Flip cameras for a class project, every Calculus book is being used, one AP Gov book is missing and another section of the 7^th grade research class has come and gone.   It seems like every electrical outlet is being used by a student to charge their MacBook and every study carrel in the quiet reading area is occupied.  Teachers have started coming by to borrow audio books for spring break travels and Carol is meeting with a Follett sales rep about E- books.

By two pm everyone has had lunch.  Laura, who works part time and is a graduate library student, leaves and heads off to her class.  Mrs. Garry’s AP English class arrives to put up their annual display of reviews of their favorite books.  Laurie, who manages the school’s textbook program, is out of the building and Judy is staffing the main desk and deleting VHS tapes from the collection.   There is an eerie silence, where is everyone?  Crash, bang, three senior boys are chasing each other down the stairs.  Those junior girls who could not contain their laughter earlier are back again and rushing off to practice.  Another few moments of silence and here come the usual middle school kids who stay after school to do their homework before taking the late bus home.  It’s 5:30 pm, Carol’s day to lock up, everyone else is gone.  Three more days until spring break.   

April Book Club

Thanks to all who made it out to our rescheduled book club.  It was a lively and entertaining discussion.  With spring break around the corner we know you'll have plenty of time to read and hope you'll join us for our next book club.

Save the date...

Date/Time:
Tuesday, April 3rd at 5:30pm

Location:

Elisabeth Irwin High School

40 Charlton Street

(btwn 6th Ave & Varick)

What We're Reading:
Double by Jenny Valentine
Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Lessons Worth Sharing

TED is a nonprofit that began in 1984 and is devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. With two annual conferences a year based on 18 minute talks, TED brings together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, and Design. This morning, TED-Ed was launched and is a resource of short lessons designed to spark curiosity and promote further learning in and out of classrooms. You can read the entire announcement here, but here is an excerpt below. Do you or any of your teachers have lessons worth sharing?

One of the most thrilling developments at TED in the past few years has been seeing some of the world's best educators (in the broadest sense) reaching the size of audience that they deserve...And so the question we've been asking with increasing urgency the past couple years is: could we do something similar to TED Talks that would work better in schools? Something that would give teachers a useful new tool. And more than that, could we create a platform that would allow teachers to share their best lesson to a much wider audience?

15 months ago we hired Logan Smalley, a TED Fellow with a proven passion for teaching and technology,  and together we've spent a lot of time this past year listening to educators, and members of the TED community, and figuring out what TED could best offer.  Here is some of what we heard.
- Video does indeed have a powerful role to play in education.  
- It allows great lessons to be shared online with vastly bigger audiences.
- It allows teachers to show things that would be hard to show live in every class.
- It also can allow kids to learn at their own pace (hello, replay button).
- The best length for a video to be used in class is under 10 minutes.
- The best videos often use animation or other visualization techniques to deliver better explanations and more compelling narratives.

HOWEVER, none of this, for a moment, displaces the teacher. On the contrary, it amplifies teacher skills. It may also facilitate the ability for teachers to play to their strongest card:

- Teachers who are great instructors can create lessons that may be seen by thousands or millions, and, like a text-book, be reused year after year.
- Teachers who are great coaches can invite to their classrooms, via the web, and without cost, the perfect instructor to ignite interest in a topic or to meet a specific child's needs.

We also heard that the deepest desire of many teachers is not to prepare their students for an annual standardized test, but to inspire them to become life-long learners. And so, our vision gained clarity. TED should invite great teachers to help us create a new video collection, made up of short, memorable lessons. We should not try to recreate what Salman Khan of the Khan Academy and others are doing so brilliantly, namely to meticulously build up entire curricula on video. No. TED is known for its ability to evoke curiosity, wonder, and mind-shifting insight.  That should be our prime goal here. Short lessons that spark curiosity. That deliver memorable "aha" moments. That make learning thrilling. If we contribute just one iota to doing that, it would be a worthwhile project. 

 

TEDxNYED

TEDxEast 

Tech News

Here's a selection of articles and blog posts from the past week that might be of interest. Feel free to add other articles in the comments.

A Guide to Publishing in the Library Ebook Market
via The Digital Shift

Book Apps Aren't Going to Replace Children's Books, Part 1
via Small World Press

Are Ebooks Hitting a Plateau?
via Sites and Soundbytes

At San Francisco State Library, A Robot Will Happy to Find That Book For You
via The New York Times

Overdrive to Distribute Harry Potter Ebooks
via Library Journal

A Look into the Digital Lives of Teens
via Mind/Shift

Necessary Evil? Random House Triples Prices of Library Ebooks
via Tech Crunch

The Twitteraholic's Ultimate Guide to Tweets, Hashtags, and All Things Twitter
via The Edublogger

Literary Happenings NYC

Here's a selection of book related events happening over the next few weeks. Feel free to list any additional ones you might know about in the comments.

Silent Film Series: Rin-Tin-Tin in Clash of the Wolves
Sunday, March 4 @ BPL Central Library
Have you read Susan Orlean's Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend and wish you could see one of Rinty's original films? Brooklyn Public Library will be showing his ninth feature in this 1925 classic, which will be hosted by Ken Gordon.

Armchair/Shotgun
Monday, March 5 @ Greenlight Bookstore
With the advent of digital publishing, opportunities are arising for new and unusual formats, from 150-character short stories to not-quite-book-length articles. Brooklyn-based Armchair/Shotgun, a literary magazine available only on paper moderates this discussion on the changing shape of fiction and journalism from the writer’s conception of a piece to publication, distribution, and marketing.

New York Review of Science Fiction Readings
Tuesday, March 6 @ Soho Gallery of Digital Art
Created in 1989, these readings are held the first Tuesday of every month and have showcased some of the most prominent and upcoming authors in the genre. Their commitment is to provide a venue open to all works of speculative fiction, whether they be works of fantasy, magical realism, horror, or science fiction.

Edith Wharton and New York City
Wednesday, March 7 @ New York Society Library
Part of a series of lectures by Dr James Kraft and offered in conjunction with the current 2012 exhibition, this lecture traces Wharton's interest in New York City society through a reading of her principal New York books, a selection of her New York stories, and her autobiography. More great NYSL events here.

New York City Spelling Bee
Thursday, March 8 @ Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
Part of Geek Week NYC, this is a grownup spelling bee with all proceeds going to Housing Works, which benefits homeless New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS.


McSweeny's Presents Diane Williams, Ben Marcus, and Deb Olin Unferth
Monday, March 12 @ Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
Diane Williams will read from her new book of stories, Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty, with Ben Marcus (The Flame Alphabet) and Deb Olin Unferth (Revolution).

Irish Arts Center Book Day 2012
Friday, March 16
Irish Arts Center will kick off St Patrick's Day weekend with their second annual Book Day. Keep an eye out for Book Day volunteers handing out 10,000 works by Irish and Irish American authors, free, at subway stops and transportation hubs across all five boroughs. If you're interested in volunteering, you can contact Jen Browne at voluneer@irishartscenter.org You can also read more about World Book Day here. 

Fading Ads of Greenpoint Walking Tour
Sunday, March 18 @ Word Bookstore
Get a glimpse into Greenpoint’s history with a walking tour, led by author and photographer Frank Jump. His book, Fading Ads of New York City, is a study of time and space, and of mortality and living, as Jump’s campaign to capture the ads mirrors his own struggle with HIV. During the walking tour and book-signing, Jump will offer a glimpse into Greenpoint's commercial advertising history through remnant fading ads.

Downton Abbey
Now through March 31 @ Mid-Manhattan Library
Through the end of March the NYPL Mid-Manhattan Library Picture Collection will have an exhibition on display inspired by the show, highlighted with memorable quotes. The Picture Collection has well over one million circulating images filed under 12,000 different subject headings.  Whether you are researching the sinking of the Titanic, British soldier’s uniforms from World War I, photographic depictions of "weekends", or the daily life of servants and the upper class, we can help you with all of your visual resource needs.

Irma Black Award

Last week the four finalists for this year's Irma Black Award were announced and my students and I were thrilled. That's because it is 1st and 2nd graders who are the final judges for the award, which is given to an outstanding book for young children. This year's finalists are I Want My Hat Back, You Will Be My Friend, All the Way to America, and What Animals Really Like. Over the next six weeks, we will be reading and discussing each of these books, voting on their favorite, and on April 9 the winner will be named and given this year's award.

Beginning in 1972, Bank Street College of Education established the Irma Simonton Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature in honor of Irma Black, who was an influential teacher, editor, and author of more than twenty children's books, as well as non-fiction books for adults.  The award process begins with the children of Bank Street, where Irma Black spent part of her illustrious career. Students in the 4th and 5th grade are given 16 books to look through that have been determined by a group of librarians, teachers, and other committee members. These students eventually, narrow these 16 books down to 8, which are then given to the 3rd and 4th graders. These students then spend time reading and discussing the 8 semi-finalists, until the final four list is determined. At this point, registration is opened to schools all over the country and 1st and 2nd grade teachers and librarians can begin reading the books to their students. The fantastic Bank Street librarian and HVLA member, Lisa Von Drasek has an Irma Black Award Blog on School Library Journal's website, chronicling the whole process.

This is the first year that I am doing this with my students and I am extremely excited about it. The finalists were just announced on February 14, so we read our first book this week. Before this week, we began preparing by talking about other awards, who Irma Black was, looking at the semi-finalists, and reading last year's winner How Rocket Learned to Read. This week, I explained the process to them and thanks to Lisa's blog, got to show them great pictures of the kids at Bank Street, making it really come to life. We read our first book I Want My Hat Back and then gave them each a few minutes to write down some of their own thoughts about what they really liked about the book. Then we read it again and had a group discussion, sharing their thoughts on chart paper.

The kids are really excited about the process and taking it really seriously, with lots of thoughtful comments. It was wonderful to see how diverse their opinions were and how critically they were looking at the book. It's been a great way to encourage kids to explain the Why? behind their reasons for liking or not liking something in a book because in this case they feel like it really matters. I'm also looking forward to integrating math into this project because we are going to be collecting data and making bar graphs about the process to tie in with their classroom studies.

You can read in detail about the history of the award and the curriculum on Bank Street's website. You can participate by registering your school here.