David Warlick blogged about Joan Frye Williams. Here are some additional thoughts I had and notes I took to add:
Joan said it’s easy to be a library futurist because we get it last. We are not the bleeding edge. Libraries adapt and use creative theft (a good thing). We lag private sector trends. (I suggest funding, conservatism of the educational profession, lack of support for quick innovative leapers) There are lots of “trickle up” innovations for librarians to choose from and many different ways to get it right. (I think this was an overlooked statement. So many school librarians that I have worked with are too worried about trying the new technologies because they won’t “get it right” the first time. I wonder just what “right” looks like.)
“Is this my kind of place?” Students look for an initial welcome to overcome prejudices, past experiences. (No student wants to experience failure or let anyone know that they don’t know what to do first, where to start, or even what to ask. I know this. I live with 4 teenage boys. Even though they have decided I don’t know anything, they do utilize “stuff” I leave lying around on tables, on their screens, on their PSP’s, in their email, etc. If they don’t have to admit where they found it or how, they’ll use it. If I taught in a HS library, I’d provide some iPods at the front door for them to use to take walking tours of the library - much like you find at National Parks.)
Regarding Joan’s point about having a multiple of furnishings. Teens love tables where they can sit in groups, but this doesn’t mean they are doing group work. I find some teens using their headphones to block out their friends periodically to work. Perhaps we should provide block-out headphones also.
I, too, loved Joan’s comment that Information is how we (librarians) express love. Our sense of “enoughness” is too much. I plead guilty to giving teachers too much, too many books, too many sources, too many Books on CD, too many web links. I do the same thing with my children. I’m much more restrained with my students because I recognize their inability to filter through too much and too difficult sources. I have heard comments like this from other librarian’s husbands, too.
Regarding Joan’s suggestions that we put our words in English, not library terms, I have worn hand-made labels before that simply said “ASK ME.” When I visit HS libraries, students have looked at me strangely when I approached to see if I could help. My best success comes when I utilize phrases that I have been using in the retail world such as, “Would you be offended if I suggested you try these other two ideas (or sites or tools) in addition to the great things you’ve done?” or “I hope you don’t mind, but I need real students to try out these new tools so I can match them with someone else in HS who could use them. Would you give me some feedback?” I like the cheatcode mentality. When students know you are on the same side as they are (beating the boss at that level), they’ll let you help. Remind them that you have past experience with their teachers. “I see you are using three Wikipedia articles in your works cited. Last year we discovered she’ll automatically drop your grade. You might try this other source here and bump up your score.”
Continuous Partial Attention YES! This is how I live. I drove my Group 3 crazy whenever I circulated to tables because I kept telling them I was firing them from Google. Joan described a meeting taking place at Google where someone was writing sentences and everyone else was busily doing other tasks. When asked they were shocked because you wouldn’t want them to just sit there while he was finishing his sentence. YES! I don’t want students sitting and waiting for me when a teacher interrupts me. I don’t want learning to stop because the teacher was dealing with something else. I particularly don’t want to be prevented from multi-tasking when I’m in a meeting. If you could have seen all the tasks getting done in Group 3 at the Summit, you would agree.
There is a generational-divide in education. Some educators were told in school that they had to be respectful and wait patiently in groups for only one person to finish. It was a sign of respect and listening. Today we don’t listen the same way. Sometimes we come back to conversations that took place hours before and we pick them back up with the answers that we had been stewing on while doing other things.
I loved Joan’s talk and recommend you seize the opportunity to hear her. She gave great advice to the end: Laugh a lot! Look for new ways to add value. Don’t forget why you’re doing this. I still have that 8-year old’s intellectual curiousity. Anyone who has spent a moment with me has witnessed me saying, “I wonder…” or “I’m curious….” (usually while I’m opening something I probably shouldn’t or trying out something no one has done). There is a reason why I previously found bugs in programs for software companies. I like frantically trying out every button and combination to just see if it works.
It usually takes my first graders several weeks to warn me that Curious George got in to trouble being too curious. They love being able to tell me to be careful. I prefer a smidgeon of caution with alot of curiosity. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed Joan’s talk. Her bio indicates “Joan is best known as an acute-and sometimes irreverent-observer of emerging library trends, issues, and practices.” She isn’t someone who is content with status quo, but asks questions like “What if?” and “Why not?”
