Schooliblit

Copyright Materials

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 16:56:26 GMT

ALA to launch copyright course. To stem the influx of peer-to-peer file-sharing lawsuits cropping up in schools, the American Library Association (ALA) plans to roll out a nationwide curriculum designed to help students navigate the murky waters of copyright law. [eSchool News Top Stories]
This looks like a good initiative. School librarians can certainly use some help with teaching students about intellectural property rights.

Collection Development Tool for Secondary Libraries

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 12:30:04 GMT

I have long been a fan of an excellent tool that has come across my desk every year, University Press Books Selected for Public and Secondary School Libraries. Published by the Association of American University Presses (AAUP), this free volume contains hundreds of books that have been reviewed and selected by representatives from the AASL and PLA divisions of ALA. I have always found material in these lists that would be valuable for high school students, especially those doing AP and IB level research, but they also give grade ranges from elementary on up.. I was thrilled, therefore, to see that this publication is now offered online at http://www.aaupnet.org/librarybooks.

A joint project of AAUP, AASL and PLA, this bibliography is a popular and trusted acquisitions resource. The almost 500 books listed in the 2004 edition include works on a wide variety of subjects -- Eskimo architecture, zinfandel, camembert, Spanish-language science fiction, The Simpsons, dragons, mummies and the American presidency to name only a few.
The selection committee was chaired by Ken W. Stewart of Blue Valley High School, Stilwell, Kan., for AASL and Rex Miller of the Petoskey (Mich.) Public Library for PLA.

[AASL Hotlinks, Sept. 2004]

Authoritative Sources

Sun, 29 Aug 2004 14:48:17 GMT

Wikipedia -- can open source be a good source?. Over on Web4Lib, there's been a bit of discussion based on this article, in which a school librarian says that Wikipedia, a popular online encyclopedia built by a community of web users, is not an authoritative source and is therefore untrustworthy.
Some of the questions raised on Web4Lib were: who makes the determination that a source is authoritative? How do they reach that conclusion? Can a community-built encyclopedia be equated with the latest World Book? Wikipedia is immensely popular at the community college where I work and students use it all the time. Do other librarians use/recommend/hate/revile this resource? [LISNews.com]
This is an interesting post because of the discussion. I agreed with the school librarian in the article until I read some of the comments to the LISNews post. I guess we need to carefully rethink our concept of authority.

Subject Headings, Keywords, or ??

Sun, 15 Aug 2004 21:33:35 GMT

Search Tool Hopes To Make Key Words Obsolete. A new search tool has eliminated the need for keyword searching. Blinkx recently launched a free beta version of its search application that uses self-learning algorithms to search the Web and a user's PC. [InternetWeek]

Weblogs for Literacy

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 21:55:14 GMT

David Huffaker's research, as documented in an article called "The Educated Blogger: Using Weblogs to Promote Literacy in the Classroom", in the online journal, First Monday, has received some coverage by the BBC. I'm glad to see weblogging getting some attention in terms of its educational potential.

Information Competency

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 21:46:30 GMT

Information Competency. If you have been following this weblog a long time, you might remember our reference to Topsy N. Smalley's webpage, topsy.org back in November 2003. Well, Topsy has been busy collecting information competency and information literacy resources, and has put them together on a page called Information Competency. The bulk of information is specific to California and information competency/literacy in community colleges, but also includes more general IL resources. It is regularly updated and certainly worth a look. --Stuart. [Information Literacy Weblog]

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 21:25:43 GMT

BILL'S BEST BOOKS: A Monthly Menu: August 2004 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE]

Forced Reading

Wed, 04 Aug 2004 23:22:43 GMT

Forced Reading. Hindustan Times - Juniors
Portuguese author Jose Saramago, a Nobel literature laureate, said Sunday he believed the world would be a better place if adults were forced to read children's books.... [ACHOCKABLOG]
I love this. You're right, Mr. Saramago. And young adult books are pretty good, too, since they tend to lay out the issues that our young people are dealing with.

Sun, 18 Jul 2004 15:23:43 GMT

Bill's Best Books: July 2004 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE]

Anybody Reading?

Mon, 12 Jul 2004 22:07:17 GMT

NEA reports decline in reading. A new research report from the National Endowment for the Arts finds a dramatic decline in book reading by U.S. adults. The steepest drop over the last decade was for the youngest adults (18-24). A 60-page pdf of Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America is available here, and the NEA's press release is here. [LISNews.com]
One of my sons pointed out the New York Times article about this report to me and commented on how sad it is. It's really very frightening because of what I believe are the implications for the ability of our young people to think criticially and creatively.