IL Thing #6 Flickr

Flickr can be used in many different methods. It can be used to explain the progress or development of construction or a process through images. Flickr can use photos to supplement a project or coursework. I've seen Flickr used to share library design around the world. The Martin County Library System is the public library that I work for and we use it to share library events, programming, and new developments in library renovation.

As a web 2.0 technology, Flickr's possibilities are endless. With a push for work collaboration and digital instruction, an image sharing storage like Flickr allows libraries, instructors, and professionals to become more visual. It is for this reason that the University of Puerto Rico at Carolina used Flickr. As Hernandez and Dominguez (2010) illustrate, the university's Information Literacy and Technologies Program used a blog along with Flickr to store images and news relevant to IL in order to teach best practices in finding and using information.

The Library of Congress even has a photostream on Flickr to help users find historical photographs:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/

Searching through Flickr I found useful, interesting, and fun photos posted from the public that explain information literacy through charts and diagrams. Enjoy!:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danahlongley/4472897115/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cilass/2986562330/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23396182@N00/4091325622/



Hernández, Y., & Domínguez, N. (2010). Blogs as Content Management System for an Information Literacy Program: Experience at the University of Puerto Rico at Carolina. Current Studies in Librarianship, 30(1/2), 69-77.

IL Thing #5 Delicious

Tagging is another concept I had a difficult time understanding the first go around. Think of the game tag and apply the concept of the game to the Internet and web 2.0 tools to be more specific. If you like a particular blog or website you would usually bookmark it on your PC, but as John points out in his blog posting: http://www.beelerspace.com/index.php?p=890 people tend to use more than one PC. Delicious allows users to organize their bookmarks in a much more extensive approach.

Delicious can also be used to create pathfinders to useful and authoritative websites, scholarly online journals, or digital documents within one specific library. As Grassian and Kaplowitz (2009) explain, tagging allows users a more active approach to using library resources in a more social setting along with other library users. Thus, a library could create an open social bookmarking for patrons so that the patron can simply focus on searching for the appropriate resource and share tags with others.

In fact, when I searched for information literacy on Delicious I found an abundance of libraries and organizations participating in social bookmarking and applying it to information literacy. For example, the UCLA library uses tagging to create How to Guides:

http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/11605.cfm

The UCLA How to Guide provides some of the following tagging categories:

Web Evaluation

Web 2.0 Guides

Web Searching

Using Information Effectively

In addition, here is another great site that has made the most out of tagging and applied it to information literacy and library instruction:

http://www.libraryinstruction.com/info-lit.html

I think that this is a very practical way for libraries to use social bookmarking because today's user is more technologically savvy. Tagging is another quick and accessible way for patrons to learn about a specific topic and for librarians or teachers to instruct information literacy.

Grassian, S. E. & Kaplowitz, J.R. (2009). Information Literacy Instruction: Theory and Practice. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

IL Thing #4 Wikis

I once had a hard time understanding Wikis, especially the first time I did 23 Things. A simple way to explain a Wiki is to think of a way to share information on the Internet with everyone and allow others to edit and add information. Thus, it becomes a continuous source of information constantly being updated and added to. So, now looking at the idea of the Wiki a second time I have to ask - how can I apply Wikis to libraries and information literacy? Thankfully there are some incredible libraries and associations using Wikis in an extraordinarily way:

ALA offers 42 different Wiki pages used for everything from Tech Casting, E-Government, to Bookmobiles and Emerging Library Leaders:
http://wikis.ala.org/readwriteconnect/index.php/ALA_wikis

I particularly like the Every Child Ready to Read Wiki:
http://wikis.ala.org/ecrr/index.php/Main_Page

In addition, there are several different Wikis on Information Literacy:

http://infolit.bibliotech.us/wiki/tiki-index.php

http://infolit.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

The St. Joseph County Public Library developed a Wiki to create subject guides:

http://www.libraryforlife.org/subjectguides/index.php/Main_Page

The subject guide list is plentiful and illustrates magazines in the library collection as well as reliable links to further resources about any particular subject that patrons may be looking for. A Wiki can be even more advantageous in this case as opposed to a blog. For example, if other librarians are able to edit the subject guides they may be able to edit in additional resources or links that another librarian may have missed. The Wiki does not have a great deal of visual impact but for hands on learners they are able to explore many different options when searching through the subject guides. This can offer a variety of choices that are quickly accessible for all learners seeking information and can easily evaluate the different sources.

IL Thing #3 Social Networking

My outlook on social networking has changed somewhat since working with the library's teen advisory board. The public library that I currently work for uses social networking to simply list and share event information. We also have a few pictures to illustrate past programs. I love the idea of using social networking to communicate with patrons but I was not aware of the potential.

For instance, we have a Facebook page at the library where I work and I supervise a teen advisory board (TAB) that would like to use it to discuss young adult books, movies, and video games. In addition, they would like to share their writing whether it be fiction or poetry. Facebook is their preferred choice to communicate their ideas and current events. By allowing TAB members to explore social networking to express their skills or to simply communicate using technology.

Thus, there are some resourceful ways to use social networking in a library. By showing students how to do this we can maximize the amount of useful information and knowledge technology can offer. A good example on how a library can use social networking in a valid and resourceful way is Yale's Science Libraries:

http://www.facebook.com/yalescilib#!/yalescilib?sk=wall

Like Yale's Science Libraries Facebook page my public library is able to post information on all current events including classes offered, library news, and programs taking place at the library. Pictures of the library and events are also posted. In addition, you can find information about the library's hours, contact information, and location.

In the 21st century students and patrons are exposed to a digital world that can provide more opportunities to seek and find more information. Social networking is a fun way to learn to become technologically literate and perhaps open the path to exploration, discovery, and creativity.

IL Thing #2 Podcasting

When I originally tried out podcasting for the 23 things activity I used it for a booktalk about Lois Lowry's "The Giver" for a group of upper elementary students and some middle schoolers. In regards to using podcasts for booktalks for instruction I still believe that this is an excellent fit. To teach students how to make their own booktalks through podcasting is a fun activity that allows them to create whatever they would like. For contextual learners a blog could be used in addition to the podcast. The blog could have written directions while the podcast offers audio directions.

As a result, podcasts can be used to instruct a course, provide news, offer book reviews, lectures, historical speeches, and even library story times. The Denver Public Library makes historical speeches available through podcasting on their library's website:

http://podcast.denverlibrary.org/

In addition, the American Library Association's ALSC blog provides some great podcasts that provide lectures, award speeches, authors, and various library and literacy related discussions:

http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/?cat=51

Here is the link to the podcast I created for a book talk (the link will only be available for 30 days - it is free through www.Archive.org http://www.archive.org/details/BookTalk_107 I was able to create the audio through a free software program called Audacity.

IL Thing #1 Blogging

Blogging is a way to communicate with the world. You can vent to complete strangers or comment on someone's discoveries. Whether you choose to blog about recipes or class assignments, information is being shared. Blogs can be used in the classroom to discuss a specific topic and add supplemental links to additional resources. Libraries can use blogs to teach patrons about databases or how to use e-readers and download digital libraries. The possibilities are endless.

I decided to comment on my previously written 23 Things I was curious to checkout one of the other 23 Things blogs and came across IPL's 15 Things. The first activity was blogging. So, I boldly went where many people have gone before and wrote on entry on IPL's blog:

My entry on IPL's blog is about my recent experience at the 2011 ALA conference in New Orleans. I was given the opportunity to sit in on some incredible sessions, view extraordinary documentaries, and listen to some humbling speakers. Being a librarian I thought it was important to share this information with other librarians. Thus, blogging allows us to share information and hopefully encourage others to do the same.

I think blogging is a good learning tool to create a medium for people to share information and learn how to do this through a technological forum. At the library I work at we allow teens (grades 6-12)to compete in a summer reading program where they can receive raffle tickets to win and iPod Touch everytime they write a book review on our blog. They have a template to fill out on our website and they then submit their book reviews for the world to see. In return, the teens can view other book reviews submitted by their peers: http://mclsteenbookreviews.wordpress.com/

Information literacy instruction can be explained through blogs. Blogs can allow instructors, libraries, and users to participate in a blog from anywhere in the world. Not only are they globally accessible but for the most part blogs are free. As Click and Petit (2010) highlight there are many different free blogs that librarians can create to help with teaching and training information literacy and library instruction. They further explain that most students today are already familiar with web 2.0 technologies and are ready to engage with them in a class or library setting.

Thus, blogging can be very beneficial for the instructor, student, and the professional. Blogging can begin with just text and then expand by adding visual content and other web 2.o technologies. Communication and collaboration are created and broadened by the simple development of words, lessons, visuals and even comments that turn into discussions all thanks to a blog.


Click, A., & Petit, J. (2010). Social Networking and Web 2.0 in Information Literacy. International Information & Library Review, 42(2), 137-42. doi: 10.1016/j.iilr.2010.04.007

LIS 5937 Information Literacy and 6 Things

It is not the fin just yet! Six of these 23 things will now be explored more in depth to see how they can be applied to teaching information literacy and library instruction.