I think you hit the nail on the head when you talk about library services being about "USER DRIVEN NEEDS." Certainly at FSU what we're learning is that we have to reach out to the customers and meet their needs where they are; it's not just about waiting for them to walk into the library and hoping they like what we already have.
There are certainly many positive results to using Web 2.0 technology in the library. Have you ever run across any drawbacks? You mention that your school blocks Facebook and MySpace. Do you feel this is a necessary protection against sexual predators, cyberstalkers, cyberbullies, etc.?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I do not feel that blocking fb, etc. is a necessary protection against predators, stalkers, and or bullies. I support the blocking of fb at our school because our computer use is limited- and I could not condone a student updating their fb account while another was waiting to use a computer to finish a paper or work on a research assignment. I'm sure that our administration feels that we are somehow protecting our students from the crazies in social networking land- but I strongly believe that we should be teaching our students how to use these services reponsibly, not simply blocking access to them.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of class blogs (for example: http://donahue10poetry.blogspot.com/) - where teachers pose questions & links, and students participate in the discussion. I occasionally have students who are unable to sign up for a Google Account because they do not have their own email. I usually set up a gmail account for them and thus create a Google Account. Next year, our students will have Moodle accounts and will be able to access class blogs & online discussions via Moodle.
I imagine that I might feel differently about web 2.0 tools if I was a middle school or elementary school librarian- but because our students are young adults, we are not worried about them interacting with the rest of the world as some younger grade teachers are. Once again, I think it is our job to teach them how to use these tools reponsibly, safely, and ethically.