INF505 Activity 5: website evaluation

Description of activity
For this activity I evaluated two library websites, one for children and one for teens.  To conduct the evaluation, I used aspects of Mathew’s (2009) ten web design features for libraries and Lazaris’ (2009) tips for designing websites for children.  I conducted two evaluations as the features appropriate for each of these groups are varied.  I also looked at these websites in terms of how the library can use their children and youth websites to support the information needs and behaviours of their users.

The two websites I evaluated were:
Children: Newcastle Region Library http://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/services/newcastle_library/Just_for_kids

Youth: Sunshine Coast Libraries
http://library.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/sitePage.cfm?code=teens

What did you learn? How was this relevant to your professional practice as a librarian for children/young adults?
From conducting this evaluation and looking at what makes a good library website for children and youth, I learned skills applicable to my professional practice.  A key element of website design that I learned was the necessity of library websites and pages these days to be mobile-friendly.  Both websites I evaluated were not easily adaptable to smaller screens of mobiles and tablets, which means patrons are less likely to use them (Mathews, 2009). As a children’s and youth librarian, I would need to ensure that our website had appropriate pages for these groups to locate information and resources relevant to their needs and enhance the attractiveness of these sites in terms of design.  Evaluating other libraries’ websites allows me to pick and choose the elements that would work best in my situation.

I also deepened my understanding of the information search patterns of young people and extrapolated ideas on how libraries (both school and public) can support young users in searching, locating and evaluating information for their needs, either educational or personal.  Shenton and Dixon’s (2003) article was particularly useful in this as it led me to further research the topic for my own interest.

Discussion
Many parents often send their children and teens to libraries to find information for school assignments, so libraries need to have a well-developed set of resources to assist young people in finding quality resources both online and in the library.  Library websites targeted to children and teens are a useful way of doing this.

In terms of assisting children and youth locate resources to meet their educational and leisure information needs, libraries can develop a digital library which includes a collection of resources gathered for a particular group and organised for easy retrieval (Large, Nesset & Beheshti, 2008, p. 153).  These specific digital libraries can support children and youth in their information seeking better than the wider library website. In particular, children and teens are at different stages of cognitive development (Large, et al. 2008) and also have slightly differing information needs and preferred search tools.

References
Large, A., Nesset, V. & Beheshti, J. (2008). Children as information seekers: What researchers tell us, New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, 14(2), 121-140. doi: 10.1080/13614540902812631

Lazaris, L. (2009, November 27). Designing websites for kids: Trends and best practices, Smashing Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/11/27/designing-websites-for-kids-trends-and-best-practices/

Mathews, B. (2009). Web design matters. Library Journal, 134(3), 24

Shenton, A.K. & Dixon, P. (2003). Models of young people’s information seeking. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 35(5), 5-22 doi: 10.1177/096100060303500102

INF505 Activity 4: Young people's book awards

Description of activity
For this activity, I reviewed a KOALA shortlisted book, Extra Time by Morris Gleitzman.  This book is shortlisted in the KOALA awards (Kids Own Australian Literature Awards) category of fiction for younger readers.  My review is aimed at librarians, parents and teachers rather than children.
The review can be found at:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/948859409?book_show_action=false

What did you learn? How was this relevant to your professional practice as a librarian for children/young adults?
My first step when completing this activity was to discover the elements of a successful children’s book review.  I felt this was important in a professional sense as children and young adults librarians need to be able to relate the quality and relevance of books both to children and their parents.  By writing a book review, I was able to articulate features of books that might appeal to children (and their parents); for example, setting, characters, humour, themes, length, etc.

Were any gaps in your knowledge revealed? How might you fill these gaps?
From looking at just the KOALA website, I became aware that there are more children’s book awards than I previously knew about.  By following the shortlists and announcement of winners in these book awards, I will more easily be able to find quality children’s literature.

Discussion of topic: young people’s book awards
Young people’s book awards not only provide acclaim and increased sales for the author, they also are useful as a collection selection tool (Hateley, 2012, p.191).  In fact, many libraries have written into their collection development policy that awarded books are one of the criteria for selection.  By privileging books that are recognised by book awards, librarians need to be aware of how the awards are judged and by whom.

Children’s literature is designed to entertain and socialise young readers to the national identity (Hateley, 2012, p. 193) and so Australian book awards are useful in finding appropriate resources to do this.  In Australia, book awards for children and youth include the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) awards which are selected and judged by a panel of experts from fields such as teachers, librarians, publishers and academics.  The books which win these awards are considered to have literary merit and popularity is not an important factor (Macleod, 2011, p.33).

The CBCA also has developed young people’s book awards which children and youth themselves can vote for.  These are run through the state branches, are often voluntary and provide no financial reward.  The New South Wales’ version is called KOALA: Kid’s Own Australian Literature Awards.

Recently, there has been a new awards group for young people’s books: the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for children and youth.  The children’s categories debuted in 2010 but do not appear to have a large amount publicity and respect within the industry yet.

These book awards are useful not only for assisting librarians in selecting books for their collections.  Killeen (2009) presents some other benefits for adding award-winning books to the collection: they can also be used to promote discussion about literature, and improve circulation as children and parents are more likely to choose books with award stickers.  While young people’s book awards are not the only measure of literary merit and entertainment value for children, they are a useful platform to use.

References
Hateley, E. (2012). And the winner is ?: Thinking about Australian book awards in the library. The Australian Library Journal, 61(3), 189-199.

Killeen, E. B. (2009). Awards! what are they good for? Teacher Librarian, 36(4), 66.

Macleod, M. (2011). The Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and the image problem. Access, 25(1), 27-34.

INF505 Activity 3: censorship

Retrieved from Flickr: florian.b
https://www.flickr.com/photos/florian_b/44227093/in/photostream/

Description of activity
To explore the topic of censorship, I created a Prezi presentation for upper primary school students on banned books.  It can be found at http://prezi.com/zwzb6frilqjy/banned-books-whats-the-big-deal/.

What did you learn? How was this relevant to your professional practice as a librarian for children/young adults?
This activity was useful on two fronts: it encouraged me to develop skills in using a new software tool and it provided an opportunity to explore censorship in Australia.  Being able to use a variety of programs to create presentations will be useful in professional practice as presenting is a common task for librarians.  Whether it is to colleagues/management or to children and their parents, being able to create visually effective presentations is a necessary skill.  Children’s and youth librarians in particular need to have a solid understanding of legislation and policy relating to censorship as books aimed at these audiences often provide the most contention from parents, teachers and community members.  Understanding the library’s role in providing access to information and the reasons behind censorship and challenging books will allow me to effectively deal with any incidents in my professional practice.

Were any gaps in your knowledge revealed? How might you fill these gaps?
This activity brought to my attention the fact that I had more knowledge of the American position on censorship and banned books, and less on Australia.  Throughout this activity I tried to focus on Australian information to fill this gap.

Discussion of topic: censorship
Censorship is often a controversial topic as it is the restriction of access to information (Duthie, 2010), which is a key tenet of libraries.  In fact, ALIA (2007) has produced a statement on free access to information which acknowledges that all people should have unrestricted access to information they seek within the bounds of censorship law at a national and state level.  However, they provide a small caveat to this with the statement “within the scope of their roles and responsibilities” (ALIA, 2007).

This then provides public and school libraries with the ability to ensure that materials on the shelves for children and youth are appropriate to those age groups.  In fact, children themselves recognise the responsibility of parents, teachers and librarians in regulating material available to them based on their maturity (Isajlovic-Terry & McKechnie, 2012).

Another type of censorship is Internet filtering in public libraries. However, people generally accept this type of censorship as it is generally restricted to moral obligations (eg. blocking sites that promote pornography and other explicit material) (Duthie, 2010, p. 88).  This is also within the scope of ‘duty of care’ that librarians accept as part of their role.

Often, censorship is based on fear and emotion, with a sub-type of censorship being banning books.  Where censorship is the restriction of access to information, book banning is the removal of items from circulation (Connelly, 2009, p. 83).  More common in America than Australia, book banning stems from community members’ reactions to items found in library collections which they perceive has harmful messages or language for readers.  What can be noted from the history of censorship and book banning, is that they seldom last, in fact many classics of today have previously been banned books.

As an information professional, the best way to deal with issues of censorship and book banning is to have collection development policies and procedures for dealing with complaints relating to censorship and book banning (Connelly, 2009).

References
Australian Library and Information Association. (2007). ALIA statement on free access to information. Retrieved from  https://alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/statement-free-access-information

Connelly, D. S. (2009). To read or not to read: Understanding book censorship. Community & Junior College Libraries, 15(2), 83-90. doi:10.1080/02763910902832222

Duthie, F. (2010). Libraries and ethics of censorship. Australian Library Journal, 59(3), 86-94.

Isajlovic-Terry, N., & McKechnie, L. (2012). An Exploratory Study of Children's Views of Censorship. Children & Libraries: The Journal Of The Association For Library Service To Children, 10(1), 38-43.

INF506 Finding authentic information

Based on the readings referenced below, I have examined the topic of finding authentic information within a socially networked world.  Two essential messages that I have discovered within the readings will inform my work as an information professional.  These messages are:
1. Information should be verifiable
This stems from Wikipedia’s core content policy that information included should be verifiable through published (preferably English-language) texts, not original research and present a neutral point of view (Garfinkel, 2008).  By confirming information through multiple sites, information can be determined to be authentic.  However, as Garfinkel notes, Wikipedia’s only policy is that the information appears on another source: there is no guarantee that the external source has vetted the information.  As an information professional, this notion of verifiability is useful when searching for information online as references and sources can be checked to determine where information originated from and thus its authenticity.

2. Use community-based networks to find trusted sources
Particularly notable from Wittenberg’s paper, community-based models can assist students in finding authentic information through recommendations from their peers.  Even though many educators and librarians believe that students need guidance selecting and evaluating information online (and indeed they do), students are able to use their peer network of trusted sources to gain access to appropriate information sources.  In terms of Yardi et al.’s research into spam on Twitter, trust, reputation and reciprocity are key elements of determining authentic information from harmful spam.  Within my own practice, developing a network of trusted peers and accessing their knowledge of reputable sources will be of benefit in finding authentic information online.

Garfinkel, S. (2008). Wikipedia and the meaning of truth. Technology Review, 111(6), 84-86.

Wittenberg, K. (2007). Credibility of content and the future of research, learning, and publishing in the digital environment. The Journal of Electronic Publishing,10(1).

Yardi, S., Romero, D., Schoenebeck, G. & danah boyd. (2010). Detecting spam in a Twitter network, First Monday, 15(1).

INF506 Information policy

Information access for all, adequate bandwidth and the digital divide
Through these readings, I have discovered that public libraries are often the only social institute that provides free access to the Internet (Bertot, et.al., 2009).  This impacts local communities in that despite being an integral service to connecting communities to the Internet, when developing high-speed Internet connections and providing financial assistance to purchase new computers and technological equipment, public libraries often do not receive recognition of their role.  In addition to this, while providing access to the Internet and technology is a step towards reducing the digital divide, it is not enough.  Jenkins et al. (2006, p. 13) advocates for children to be taught how to use these tools effectively as a true way of reducing the digital divide.  They see the digital divide as not just a lack of access to technology, but also a participation gap; where more advantaged children are more actively participating in the online environment and are therefore more likely to be successful later in life.

Regulating the Internet in libraries, organisations and at home
Internet regulation in libraries, organisations and homes is to some extent the responsibility of the users.  Public libraries have a tendency to regulate the use of the Internet through restrictions on the time the public can spend per day on their computers (Bertot, et. al., 2009).  These restrictions allow a greater number of patrons to access the Internet and computer programs, but also restrict some usage of those who rely on library computer access for employment and government applications.  Most public libraries also have software which will restrict access to certain types of websites, in particular pornography and explicit material, in line with government legislation.

Information and digital literacies and the recent emergence of transliteracy
One aspect of transliteracy which Jenkins et. al. examine is information literacy and media literacy. These literacy skills stem from core traditional literacies of reading and writing; they do not replace them, rather are dependent on them.  They describe information literacy as the ability to evaluate the context of the message being conveyed and the tools being used.  Media literacy is the informed and critical understanding of mass media and the impact of techniques used in media (Jenkins, et. al., 2006, p. 61).

References

Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., McClure, C. R., Wright, C. B., & Jensen, E. (2009). Public libraries and the Internet 2008-2009: Issues, implications, and challenges. First Monday, 14(11). Available from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2700/2351

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Available from http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

INF506 Behaviours of digital citizens

From the video Did you know 4.0, I discovered 5 shifts/trends that impact how individuals behave as digital citizens.  Organisations will need to develop information policies to address these behaviours.

The mass digitisation of books by Google
The project of Google to digitise and provide a database of literature marks the shift in individuals’ access and use of electronic materials.  At an international level, IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations, 2009) has developed statements regarding their reactions to this project and the implications for libraries.  Further to this, libraries will need to develop their own policies regarding digital access to information and to work with publishes to develop sustainable access to these resources.

People are reading newspapers online rather than in print
This trend of individuals preferring electronic copies rather than print is seen not just in newspapers and journals but across all collections.  In order to remain relevant to their communities, libraries will need to include electronic sources in their collection development policies and negotiate terms of access.  There is still a trend to lease digital rights to resources whereas print resources are purchased outright and can be dealt with as the library requires.

Epic proportion of illegal downloads of music and movies
Within their organisations, libraries provide access to the Internet through public access computers and wireless connections.  Within their Internet access policies, libraries will need to include statements on piracy and copyright to inform patrons of appropriate online behaviour.

Mass reach of Twitter for breaking news
With Twitter as one example of social media sites, libraries who wish to engage with their communities in the digital space will need to develop policies relating to appropriate behaviour online for customers and staff.  Community members can easily create and share opinions on any given topic, and so libraries will need to be flexible to engage in topical discussion and respond to feedback on its organisation.

Companies disciplining employees for violating social media policies
Library policies are written to provide consistency, guidance and clarification to its audience (Bryson, 2007, p. 125).  By clearly setting out social media policies, organisations will have the ability to clearly define what behaviour is acceptable relating to the company and the disciplinary action that can be taken against its employees.

References
Bryson, J. (2007). Managing information services: A transformational approach. Retrieved from http://www.eblib.com

IFLA. (2009). IFLA position on the Google book settlement. Retrieved from http://www.ifla.org/node/7375

INF506 Social Networking success for libraries

By examining three public libraries’ use of social media, I set out to determine some reasons why libraries should add social media to their profile.

Firstly, libraries can use social media to communicate with their communities.  For example, Mosman Library uses Flickr to share local history with their users and participate in discussions to identify artefacts.  Yarra Plenty Regional Library engages with their patrons through posting topical articles on Facebook which generate comments and discussion.  Mosman Library’s blogs are another tool for communicating with targeted groups within their community.

Secondly, social media can assist libraries in responding to feedback.  An advantage of social media is the ability to keep track of how the library is perceived in the digital space.  Libraries like Sunshine Coast library can respond to feedback from users on Twitter and Facebook in a prompt manner and so that other users can also benefit from the response to feedback is.

Next, social media can provide an effective marketing strategy that reaches users far beyond those who walk through their physical space.  By posting upcoming events on Twitter and Facebook, Sunshine Coast Library can reach a wide range of potential customers through these networks.  Mosman Library’s YouTube channel of author evenings are another method where potential customers can see past events and increase the potential for attending future events.  In addition, Mosman’s Facebook account promotes new materials through pictures and announcements of new books with links back to the library’s catalogue.

Finally, social media allows libraries to better understand their patrons.  Through digital tools which track user views and locations of social media sites, libraries can be better informed of the topics which most interest their community and the times of day when they are most active.  Occupying the same space and participating in the same conversations as their customers will allow libraries to be more relevant to the needs of their patrons.  This can be seen in all three libraries’ Twitter and Facebook number of followers and related ‘friends’.

INF505 Activity 2: Diversity

Description of activity

This activity was a review of a journal article:
Monroe, S. (2012). A world of words and wisdom: Exploring the global community of libraries and remarkable librarians in children’s literature. Childhood Education, 88(2), 108-113

What did you learn? How was this relevant to your professional practice as a librarian for children/young adults?

Writing a review of a journal article was a useful academic process that I can see being of benefit in the future.  As a professional, I believe it is also necessary to contribute to the knowledge of the field, and so being able to write a journal article or review others’ is a way to do this.  Also, being able to critically reflect on journal articles ensures that my reading in the future is not taking articles at face value, but rather looking into the environment they come from and perspectives of the authors.

Part of ALIA’s core values statement for library professionals is “respect for the diversity and individuality of all people.” (ALIA, 2007).  This core value for library professionals in Australia means that as I become a professional, I need to understand and respect the diversity in the communities where I will work.

Were any gaps in your knowledge revealed? How might you fill these gaps?

Through looking at this topic, diversity, I realised that it encompasses so much more than just different cultures/languages and so library programs and resources embracing diversity should be more than just multicultural.  I also became aware that I had not considered what resources in my library's collection I would recommend to a parent or teacher looking for diversity.  By considering sources like Monroe's and conducting catalogue searches, I should be able to find a range of children's books which address diversity.  Interestingly, there is a Twitter discussion regarding diversity in books at #weneeddiversebooks.

Discussion of topic: diversity

The activity I undertook looked at diversity in terms of multiculturalism, one of the most common themes when thinking about diversity.  Multicultural literature for children is a powerful platform for encouraging them to develop multiple viewpoints and positive concepts of themselves and others (Kirylo & Thirumurthy, 2011, p. 446).  The best way books can promote authentic experiences of diversity is by protagonists maintaining their uniqueness while still undergoing rituals and challenges that are universal (Pearce, 2003, p. 244).  This is an important topic as the world is becoming a global, connected community and the road to global understanding begins with children having access to literature and programs that promote diversity in all its forms (Naidoo, 2014, p. 10).

For children and young adults, libraries should be places where they can find information, resources and support for any information need they may have.  Therefore, library collections need to reflect a diverse range of topics and human situations so that all children and youth are able to find themselves reflected in the literature as well as being able to access information about themselves (Naidoo, 2014, p. 13).  For example, young people who identify as LGBTQ could be provided with information from well-maintained sites like www.leewind.org.  This is another aspect of diversity that is gaining momentum in recognition as a need for libraries to address.

References

Australian Library and Information Association. (2007). ALIA core values statement. Retrieved from https://alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/alia-core-values-statement

Kirylo, J. D., & Thirumurthy, V. (2011). Issues in education: Building cultural bridges through international children's literature. Childhood Education, 87(6), 446-447. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2011.10523229

Naidoo, J. C. (2014). The importance of diversity in library programs and material collections for children [white paper]. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/alsc/importance-diversity

Pearce, S. (2003). Messages from the inside?: Multiculturalism in contemporary Australian children’s literature. The Lion and the Unicorn, 27(2), 235-250.

INF506 Personal Learning Network

While developing my concept map of my personal learning network (PLN), I tried to discover where I am placed in Utecht’s 5 stages of PLN adoption.  While his stages may be apt at describing some people’s experience of PLNs, I struggled to identify with any of his stages.  If any, the stage of evaluation and balance combined best describe my current stage. I identify with deciding which tools I want to focus on: I have limited the channels where I follow information to Twitter, a few blogs and a couple of wikis.  However, I do not see myself as trying “to figure out a way to ‘know it all’” (Utecht, 2008, stage 2).  In terms of balance (stage 5) I have already grasped the concept of knowing that my PLN stores the knowledge for me and that I can access it when I need it.

Within PLNs, Smith (2008, slide 19-22) encourages professionals to not just be inspired and guided by those in your PLNs, but also to contribute.  I have found that my contributions so far have been minimal, which is something I can improve as I gain more experience within the profession.

While I have a range of items in my personal learning network, I feel that it may not be expansive enough to capture a full range of professional development possibilities.  PLNs build on theories of social learning and connectivism and con combine both local and global communities (Cooke, 2012, p. 7).  With such a small PLN currently, I feel that I may be missing out on emerging ideas and themes.  One example of this is while I follow some Twitter feeds, I haven’t yet connected to any professionals in the field; rather, I follow organisations.

References
Cooke, N. A. (2012). Professional development 2.0 for librarians: Developing an online personal learning network (PLN).Library Hi Tech News, 29(3), 1-9. doi: 10.1108/07419051211241840

Smith, B. (2008). Creating an online personal learning network [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/bethanyvsmith/creating-an-online-personal-learning-network-presentation

Utecht, J. (2008, April 3). Stages of PLN adoption [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.thethinkingstick.com/stages-of-pln-adoption/

INF506 Building Library 2.0

Meredith Farkas’ keynote presentation in the video, Building Academic Library 2.0, provided some advice that any library or information agencies could apply to help it embrace a Library 2.0 ethos.  In particular, there are 5 key pieces of advice that would help the public library where I work to engage in change.  They are:

• Library 2.0 is a state of mind
This advice provides an overreaching ethos that will allow the library to embrace change.  It also encompasses the fact that Library 2.0 is not solely about technology; it’s about the willingness to adapt to new technologies and practices.  If the library is able to incorporate a mentality of constantly assessing services to ensure that they are meeting users’ needs, then it will be on the road to becoming a Web2.0 library.
• Know your users
By getting to know the users/community, the library will ensure that any new programs or technologies adapted will be successful.  They key tenets of Web2.0 are collaboration, conversation, community and content creation: therefore the users are a key part of the library’s successful implementation of Library 2.0.
• Develop a learning culture
As there are constantly new technologies and applications of these to library services, if the library develops a learning culture, its staff will be better placed to provide integrated services to the community.  This also ensures that the talent within the library remains there and doesn't seek more fulfilling employment elsewhere.
• Have a risk tolerant culture
The library currently has a perfectionist approach to services and technologies: it spends a great deal of time preparing until it finally implements the resources or service and then sits back and expects it to be widely used.  If the library adopts a risk tolerant culture, it will do the preparatory work and then implement with a view to adapting based on user feedback.  This agility will encourage the library to remain current and fulfil changing user needs.
• Trust your community to build participation
The central tenet of Web2.0, upon which library 2.0 is based, is participation (Casey & Savastinuk, 2006, para.10).  The library needs to be able to trust its users to the extent that they are able to publicly (through web-based technologies) comment and/or create content to enhance their and the library’s experience.

References
Casey, M. E., & Savastinuk, L. C. (2006). Library 2.0: Service for the next-generation library, Library Journal, 131(14) Retrieved from http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2010/05/technology/library-2-0/#_

INF505 Activity 1: Digital materials/resources and technology

Description of activity

When stories are more than paper: Transmedia and young adult literature

A webinar (online seminar) by Rachel McDonald and Jackie Parker

Tuesday, January 7, 2014 

accessed from https://infopeople.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=349

Developed by Robert Pratten of Transmedia Storyteller
Retrieved from
http://www.tstoryteller.com/transmedia-storytelling

This was an hour presentation covering a range of topics related to transmedia and young adult literature.  The seminar defined transmedia as a single story being told in multiple media, for example text, graphics, video, music, etc. and showed some examples of authors and publishers creating transmedia literature for youth.  There was also a segment on evaluating transmedia and whether it is worthwhile to adapt books to transmedia.  Finally, the seminar presented tools that teachers and librarian could use themselves or in projects for youth to create transmedia versions of books. The seminar concluded with a question and answer section.

What did you learn? How was this relevant to your professional practice as a librarian for children/ya?

I was aware of enhanced books and apps for picture books but hadn’t realised the wealth of them for children and youth.  By providing examples of authors and publishers already presenting transmedia stories, I could identify uses for this in programming with children and youth in the future.  The presenters also provided a useful list of evaluation tools which would assist in future practice as a professional in selecting the right resources, not only for transmedia, but for other activities as well.  These evaluation tools included accessibility, cost, functionality, relevancy, entertainment and readability.  The seminar also touched on the digital divide and how libraries can bridge the gap through access to technology and providing workshops in appropriate usage of technology. 

Were any gaps in your knowledge revealed? How might you fill these gaps?

Through this seminar, I realised that I really didn’t know much about the Australian publishing industry: who the major publishers are for children and youth, what trends are happening in publishing, where Australia is in terms of publishing and selling ebooks and other e-resources to libraries.  In order to increase my knowledge in this area, I should keep up to date through reading more regularly journals like Magpies, School Library Journal, VOYA, The Bookseller and so on.  This is possible as the public library where I work currently collects these titles.

Discussion of topic: Digital materials/resources and emerging technologies

The webinar was a great introduction to digital materials and resources for children and youth.  With children and youth spending an average of 7 hours per day consuming media (Fasick & Holt, 2013, p. 23), transmedia books provide an inventive way for them to engage in reading practices.   Media convergence means that children can move seamlessly between media (Spatariu, Peach & Bell, 2012, p. 27) and transmedia ebooks support the multiple literacies that new generations will need to participate socially and economically today (McShane, 2011, p.392).

With these emerging technologies and digital materials, libraries are well placed to provide programs in effective use of technology and provide access to these technologies through lending devices to those in disadvantaged communities (Fasick & Holt, 2013, p. 24) which may help reduce the digital divide (Spatariu, Peach & Bell, 2012, p. 36).   

Emerging technologies also have an impact on the collection development for children’s and youth libraries in that selecting electronic materials have additional criteria, in terms of formats, equipment and compatibility (Fasick & Holt, 2013, p. 85).

References

Fasick, A. M. & Holt, L. E. (2013). Managing children’s services in libraries. (4^th ed.). Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited.

McShane, I. (2011). Public libraries, digital literacy and participatory culture, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(3), 383-397. doi: 10.1080/01596306.2011.573254

Spatariu, A., Peach, A., & Bell, S. (2012). Enculturation of young children and technology. In S. Blake, D. Winsor, & L. Allen (Eds.) Technology and young children: bridging the communication-generation gap, 24-48. doi:10.4018/978-1-61350-059-0.ch002

INF506 Social bookmarking: exploring Delicious

Up until recently, my ability to save websites of interest was limited to ‘favourite’-ing a site to save it on my bookmarks toolbar in my web browser.  While I found it handy, it wasn’t very useful for accessing my bookmarked pages on other computers or web browsers.  The social bookmarking site, Delicious, is a web 2.0 tool that allows users to save websites onto their account, which is able to be accessed anywhere, anytime.  The ability to tag sites through folksonomy: an aggregation of tags developed by the user community (De Rosa, et. al., 2007, glossary B) or user-generated tags allows users to easily access their content using their own language.  

Another valuable feature of Delicious is the ability to add a comment (up to 1000 characters) that describes the site. An important criteria for effective social media tools is their ability to be accessed on mobile devices.  Delicious’ design is quite plain and streamlined, and it is easily accessed and navigable on mobile devices.  

However, despite these features, I found (after an initial foray into tagging sites and discovering others’ tags) that I quickly forgot I had a Delicious account and could save sites to it.  This may be due to my preference to read something then move on or not being used to this new type of tool.  With the advent of other social media sites having an immediacy of sharing through icons on websites (you like a site, share it on Twitter by pressing the blue bird button) perhaps if Delicious had something similar I would be more active in using it.

This would be a worthwhile tool for academic or school libraries to use for specific subjects as a collection of sites to help students explore their subjects.  Redden (2010) provides a number of examples of situations where academic libraries could use social bookmarking tools like Delicious to support the needs of the online, social student.  For other information agencies which prioritise staff development and learning, social bookmarking tools like Delicious would be useful to curate innovations in the industry or handy reference sites for staff to use.  

De Rosa, C., Cantrell, J., Havens, A., Hawk, J., Jenkins, L., Gauder, B., . . . OCLC. (2007). Sharing, privacy and trust in our networked world: A report to the OCLC membership: OCLC. Retrieved from http://www.oclc.org/reports.en.html

Redden, C. S. (2010). Social bookmarking in academic libraries: Trends and applications. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(3), 219-227. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2010.03.004