James Herring's Blog

40 years of school libraries and the Berwick viaduct

jherring — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:13:37 +0000

Firstly, I should tell you all that this is the final entry for this blog in its present format. I retire from CSU and the academic life tomorrow (31st January 2012). The blog will continue but will not always feature comment on something of an educational nature, which is relevant to TLs and SLs around the world. However, it may still be ‘educational’ in the wider sense of the word. The photographic content will continue. I have been involved with school libraries for 40 years this year and the vast majority of these years has been in the role of educator. Are school libraries as recognisable as they were in the early 1970s? To some extent they are, given that the space they occupy is still about the same in most schools, and that a range of bookshelves is still one of the dominant features. The addition of ICT hardware has changed the look of school libraries in most parts of the world, where schools can afford such equipment. Are teacher librarians or school librarians different? This is an intriguing question. It might be argued that the knowledge base of todays TLs and SLs is different, given the developments in ICT. The language used by today’s TLs and SLs would have been, to a great extent, unrecognisable to those of 40 years ago. On the other hand, the desire to actively contribute to learning and teaching in the school remains the same. Also, over the years, the most effective TLs and SLs have been able to be innovators in their schools, particularly in the areas of information literacy. So the terminology may be different but the mindset may still be the same. The look of school libraries is about to change over the next few years – printed books and journals will disappear for the most part in most school libraries – but the purpose of the school library/learning commons/i-centre/e-centre will remain the same. I’m intending to write soem articles about this in the near future and will expand on these points.

At the weekend, my marathon/half-marathon/10K running wife and I were down at the border town of Berwick to watch a cross country race, in which the runners crossed Spittal Beach before climbing up a ridge, running on track and returning via the same route. One of the features of Berwick – Berwick Upon Tweed to give the town its full name – is the viaduct which was built to enable the railway to cross over the estuary. Known as The Royal Border Bridge, this magnificent piece of engineering an architecture was designed by Robert Stephenson and opened by Queen Victoria in 1850. As the photo below shows, it has certainly stood the test of time, and if you are on the train going north or south through Berwick, you get superb views along the river and the estuary.

Berwick viaduct

No Wikipedia for a day and harbour walk

jherring — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:19:53 +0000

Reading today’s Guardian with my breakfast cup of tea, I find an intriguing story about how Wikipedia is planning to shut down for 24 hours in protest at a proposed bill in the USA, which Wikipedia claim will lead to a form of censorship on new media outlets such as itself, Google and Twitter. I’ve just tried to access Wikipedia and instead of being able to search, there’s a black screen with Imagine a world without free knowledge as the headline, and accuses the US Congress of ‘considering legislation that could damage the free and open Internet’. The article goes on to cite the views of both new media and ‘old’ media such as a newspaper proprietor. The bills which are being proposed, appear to be trying to stop illegal streaming, but Wikipedia and others think that this could be the thin edge of censorship.

One of the pleasures of living in a seaside town such as Dunbar, is that you can enjoy a walk to, or around, the harbour at all times of the year. Normally, in January, the bridge connecting the new (i.e. 1890s built) harbour and the old harbour, is up, so that boats can go to the old harbour for shelter from the winter storms. However, it’s been unseasonably mild and calm this winter, so on Sunday, the bridge was down and my wife and I walked across to the harbour wall side. The picture below shows a view towards Dunbar Castle with a set of creels roughly stacked, in the foreground. There are a few boats in the harbour which use creels to catch crabs and lobsters, and you can see a creel boat in action off the Fife coast (visible from Dunbar) on YouTube.

Creels on Dunbar Harbour

Stannard tools and The Bow Bar

jherring — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:02:56 +0000

I recently came across Russell Stannard’s site whilst looking for something else. The main focus of the site is related to – as the name suggests – using video as part of personal development technology training for teachers. However, there is much to interest TLs and SLs, so this site is worth bo0kmarking and dipping into from time to time. Stannard’s set of videos on technology applications e.g. MailVu and Jing are presented in a refreshingly open and friendly way. For example, he’s not afraid to make mistakes and correct them on his videos, and this lack of slickness is reassuring. Stannard doesn’t just tell you what the tools can do e.g. Jing allows you make a video while capturing screen shots, but he discusses applications for teaching and learning. Some of the content of the site will be familiar to many of you e.g. Glogster.

One of the things that you absolutely must do when you are in Edinburgh, Scotland’s enchanting capital city (and that’s not my biased opinion but is based on many comments of visitors to the city I have talked to around the world), is to visit some of its many pubs. Of course, you do not have to partake of the alcoholic drinks on offer, but if you like the occasional pint of beer or a wee dram (glass of whisky), then Edinburgh’s real ale pubs are for you. I stress the real ale pubs as not all pubs serve what I would consider as proper beer. An excellent example is The Bow Bar with its impressive range of beers and 150 different malt whiskies. On a recent visit I had Moorcock Ale from Yorkshire. Now, you will not go into the Bow Bar in order to sit in a leather armchair, get table service and be charged a fortune for your drinks. This is a quintessential pub – clean and comfortable, where you enjoy the beer. Check out the website to see the interior and one of its key features is the range of framed posters and old adverts on the walls. A great wee place to go.

Gooru and national libraries

jherring — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:17:04 +0000

Firstly, a very Good New Year to you all.There’s a new e-learning platform doing the rounds. It’s called Gooru and is designed to, in the words of the Gooru video, allow “teachers to search and teach, and students to search and study”. Teachers, and of course TLs and SLs although the video doesn’t say this, can put together classbooks which are sets of online resources, and be integrated into class plans. There are tutorials on the site and a video. For a fuller review of Gooru, try the Edudemic site, which is worth bookmarking and looking at from time to time. I have not studied Gooru in detail. However, it was designed by a Google employee – and yes, I know that not everyone will see that as a positive. It is certainly worth checking out and discussing with interested colleagues in your school.

I recently rejoined the National Library of Scotland (NLS) in Edinburgh, as a member. It is … years(I’ll let you guess the exact number) since I was a member of the library as a 4th year honours student at Edinburgh University. The NLS is a wonderful place in which to study – although I have to say you must like almost total silence in the reading room where people do research. There was and still is, an eclectic mix of young students and (like me now) more mature researchers. As you walk into the Reading Room, some eyes will lift briefly before going back to books, pamphlets, journals. Each seat is numbered and if you order a book – there is only very limited open access to reference materials – or other material, it will be brought to your seat. Yes – a haven of civilisation. Once change since my youth is that you can now take your laptop into the Reading Room – no Skypeing of course! When I was in Australia recently, I made a brief visit to the Australian National Library in Canberra, another fascinating centre of learning and culture. In the photo below, the NLA is in the background, with a very pleasant walk to it, passing some very interesting sculpture.

Towards the National Library of Australia

eSchool News items and Tauranga sunset

jherring — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:31:58 +0000

From this week’s edition of eSchool News (which is worth joining for free), some interesting items. The first is a list of apps which can be downloaded for free or cheaply. Some look interesting enough for TLs to pass on to interested teachers, although some are fairly basic and assessment orientated. There’s also a useful guide to starting a virtual learning programme. It lists 7 questions which schools should ask. Now these questions will be familiar to any of you who have been involved in any kind of school ICT projects e.g. “What challenge are we trying to address?” but such questions are fundamental to successful ICT projects, as you can see from unsuccessful ones which have been designed by techies who rarely ask the actual users why this project might go ahead. TLs should be involved at the heart of the design of virtual learning environments in schools, so having questions such as these is a good start. There are also features on Facebook, Twitter and texting – so very much worth a look.

I’m back in Scotland now after 7 weeks away – in temperatures from 19-36 degrees. Back to 3-4 degrees might seem hard but when it’s a sunny day like today and you “rug up” (Australian term) in winter coat and gloves, it’s a great experience. One stop on my travels was at my sister and brother in law’s house in Tauranga, New Zealand. When the wind blows down the estuary, it can be a bit “coorse” as we say in Scotland. However, on nights like those in the photo below, when the sun is setting over the estuary and the tide is coming in, and you have food on the decking, and a bottle of Morton Estate (not far from Tauranga) Pinot Noir, life is pretty good.

Sunset in Tauranga

E-pathfinders and kangaroos on course

jherring — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:49:47 +0000

Firstly, apologies for the absence of the blog over the past month, due to a combination of circumstances. I’ll try to rectify this with some additional posts before going back to a weekly addition. My students on the M Ed. Teacher Librarianship course at CSU last session completed an e-pathfinder as part of their studies in the Information Environment subject. Students were asked to construct an e-pathfinder which would be a prototype learning website for their school. The e-pathfinder assignment restricted the students to a particular format, with an introduction to the topic (e.g. water conservation for year 2), keywords and definitions, and information literacy advice. This was followed by a total of only 15 resources, both print and digital which were to be accompanied by a meaningful annotation i.e one which advised students on using the resources and not just a description of the resources content. Students had to use a wiki format or construct a website using a package such as Weebly. The results, from a large class of students, were very positive although inevitably there was a range of quality in the prototype learning websites. My hope is that my students will follow up this assignment with actual use of their sites in their own schools. Examples of the e-pathfinders can be found at a wiki site constructed by one of my top students.

I have been travelling for almost the last 2 months and the main part of my journey was to work at CSU in Wagga Wagga. One recreational aspect of my stay was a weekly cycle around Pomingalarna reserve, a large plot of land near Wagga Wagga which is a walking/running/mountain biking site for active people. The reserve features a range of wildlife including many birds, as well as snakes and echidnas. There are also 2 tribes (mobs) of kangaroos which live on the reserve and it can be an unnerving experience as you are flat out on your mountain bike on one of the trails, and 3 or 4 kangaroos of different sizes hop across the trail not far in front of you. Next to Pomningalarna is one of Wagga Wagga golf courses. In the evening, the kangaroos are often seen on the golf course and this makes for an unusual site – see picture below.

Kangaroos on golf course

Free ebook on school libraries and bird of paradise

jherring — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:50:53 +0000

Apologies for the lack of blog entries recently. In my email this week, a link for a new – and free! – ebook on school libraries: School Libraries: What?s Now, What?s Next, What?s Yet to Come. You can download this ebook in a number of formats. There 10 chapters in all with a number of contributors to each chapter. The content of the book covers learners, information literacy, teaching, reading, collection development and professional development. I would say that this is a must-see book for all TLs and SLs around the world. The quality of the contributions is variable and you may not agree with the stances taken by some contributors, but it is certainly worth dipping into from time to time. The foreword begins “The future of school libraries and school librarians hangs in the balance.” – an excellent reason to read part or all of this book.

I first saw the bird of paradise flower in South Africa and they are a spectacular species. I’m in Australia at the moment and these flowers can be seen in many gardens around Wagga Wagga. The flowers (see picture below) resemble a bird with a pointed beak and orange crest and must be one of the most unusual and colourful flowers around. When you first see these flowers, you have to look twice as you might think that you are, in fact, looking at birds and not flowers. The question I ask myself is – would these birds of paradise flourish in Scotland, in early December when I return? Mmm – probably not.

Bird of paradise flower

Free technology for teachers and close up photography

jherring — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:51:38 +0000

Searching for other things, I came across Free Technology for Teachers, a source that TLs and SLs might want to drop into now and again to check out the range of resources which appear on the site. It may be useful to you in the school library or it may be a source that you might want to pass on to your teaching colleagues in the school. As the site suggests, free resources for teachers are the focus. There are tutorials dealing with aspects of technology, guides to making videos, wikis and websites, and a useful feature on creating your own personal professional learning network. Not all of this will appeal to everyone and some of the offerings may appear overly slick but if you are selective and take what you need from this resource, it could prove useful. So, bookmark and revisit, I suggest.

As the photos on this blog have shown, I have a great interest in taking close up photographs – of flowers, fish, crabs etc – as I love the detail that you can capture. Of course, I would dearly love to get more close up photos of birds and animals but, apart from kangaroos, sheep and cows, most of these won’t stay still to let me photograph them. This may of course have something to do with my Lilliputian appearance to these animals and birds, whose first suspicion is that I may want to kill them, rather than capture them on my digital SLR. Sometimes, you get lucky. The other evening, following some very unseasonably warm (but welcome) weather here in Dunbar, I got the hose out and watered the garden. I then noticed that some of the water had stayed on some of my flowering gladioli. See the picture below for what I think is a great shot. Photography experts among you are, of course, welcome to disagree.

Drops of water on a gladiolus flower

Schools in the digital age and a butterfly

jherring — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:13:37 +0000

Reading Mal Lee’s article in the new edition of Scan (in which I and my CSU colleague Judy O’Connell also have articles), I followed up the reference to Schools in the Digital Age. The authors argue that digital media is a ‘disruptive technology’ and will change the way that schools are organised in the future i.e. digital media will not just change the delivery of education. The authors point out that while many businesses have changed their management structures, school still operate on what they call an ‘industrial model’ which has remained unchanged for over 100 years. For TLs, it is worth downloading the 28 page summary and to look at some of the ideas presented there, especially those about learning spaces in schools, as there are implications for virtual school libraries here.

Out walking last weekend near Coldingham Beach, I spotted a flash of colour in the grass. The picture below shows the butterfly, which proved to be a very willing subject for a close up photograph by, from the butterfly’s point of view, a giant. The butterfly is the reasonably common Red Admiral whose proper name is the splendid Vanessa Atalanta – sounds like a great name for a film star, or female sleuth who solves murders in Madrid. I like the contrast of the vibrant colours of the butterfly with the grass.

Red Admiral aka Vanessa Atalanta

Mobile devices report and Leontia Flynn poems

jherring — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:34:37 +0000

From the ever reliable eSchool News, an interesting report on mobile devices. Once you get past the advert for and messages from the sponsor, there’s some very interesting reading here for TLs and teachers. The report looks at why mobile devices might enhance education, trends in mobile devices e.g. BYOD – Bring Your own Device to school, best practices in schools using mobile devices, a good section on managing mobile devices in schools, and examples of ‘New Apps and Technologies’. It’s not the most critical report you’ll have read and is designed very much to promote mobile devices, so it needs to be read from a critical stance. However, as a good catch up on devices and new terminology surrounding mobile technology, this is a very good source for TLs and SLs, and one to circulate in the school.

The new Poetry Book Society’s Autumn Choice dropped into my letter box earlier this week. The book is Profit and Loss by Leontia Flynn, and as the Guardian review in the link shows, it’s a very intriguing set of poems, which range from the poet’s reflections on places where she used to stay e.g. I once lived in a railway carriage flat to one I read today The Floppy Disk - ‘Prince amongst misnomers, the floppy disk/lies stranded, in drifts of dust, in the top desk drawer. ‘ Another telling phrase is ‘How young it is to be obselete’, as well as ‘the neat black case still sleek as a woman’s suit or purse’. It would be interesting to know, for those of you in secondary schools, how young would a student have to be, not to recognise a floppy disk? There’s poetry in stones under the clear sea water not far from my house in Dunbar, so see the picture below and add your own verse.

Stones in clear sea water