Sandra Carswell "Fair Use and Copyright on the Web" Oct. 27, 2009 LM_Net

This post goes through very useful tips about how and what is legal to use under the "fair use" clause in copyright law. She points out that many images can be used as long as the student work is used only in the classroom, not published online. In that case, citations are necessary. Why would we ever let students use images or words without citing them, no matter where their final product ends up? How are we teaching our students to use sources ethically and responsibly if we don't insist they give credit to the correct owner. I think it is very misleading to let students not cite works for certain things and insist they cite in other situations. I suggest students be required to cite all sources and that teachers/librarians model this practice in their own work.

Mary Burkey "Audio Books" Oct. 27, 2009 LM_Net

Burkey suggests resources such as "ALSC Notable Children's Recordings & YALSA Amazing Audiobook selection lists and Odyssey Award titles" for audio books. She also posts this link for evidence of why they are important. The SPED department in our district recognized the importance of these resources but chose to buy MP3 players and record someone reading the book instead of buying the audio version. As Floyd pointed out, this is copyright violation. I wonder who was responsible for knowing and/or enforcing this in my district? I still don't know.

13 point checklist for principals

Doug Johnson is so good at putting a lot of information into easily used formats. This is a checklist that I want my principal to see. First, I'd like her to realize that much of what is being done already is important, even if it doesn't seem like it. Second, many of her decisions are limiting the effectiveness of the LMC and LMS. In addition to the building principal, though, our district admisistration should also see it...specifically this...

8. Telecommunications
Is the school linked by a telecommunications network for distance learning opportunities for students? Are there interactive classrooms in the building?
Does the library media program coordinate programming which can be aired on the local public access channel?
Does the library program coordinate in-house video broadcast programming?

There's something other than Google?

Joyce Valenza is a big proponent of Richard Byrne's "Beyond Google: Improve Your Search Results." I am emailed this article to myself and will use it very soon. I know Google can provide useful results but it is certainly not the only option. I get highly annoyed when educators say "don't use Google at all." Google has a lot to offer. So do other sites. I need to do a better job "selling" databases, etc. and teaching HOW to search effectively.

Martha Oldham "Facebook" Oct 25, 2009 LM_NET

My school has a "no public access" policy...or at least that's what I call it. None of the schools have Web pages and no LMC pages are accessible and teachers are not supposed to have class Websites. One of my colleagues has a wiki anyway where he posts class news updates, lesson plans, assignments and communicates with any parents who have Internet access. It is not a place where students can interact with him nor does he post student work. I am wondering if having a "teacher" Facebook page would really be a problem. Student comments will have to stay on topic and follow school expectations. If parents allow their students to have a FB page in the first place, adding a page to remind them of homework assignments should not be a problem. My big question is do I ask for permission first or potentially ask for forgiveness later?

Anne Corsetti "Animoto" Oct 25, 2009 LM_NET

Apparently I am not the only one tyring to use Animoto for creating my own book trailers as well as having students create them. I am currently trying to get all of my students to complete one before parent teacher confereces. Some of my students are done, some are close, and others have nothing... typical. I thought this assignment might actually be one where every student would get it completed. Wrong. They love watching my videos; they love looking at videos done by other students; they were all very excited when I introduced the activity; some still have nothing. My problem is that many of my students have no email address so they cannot set up their own account. So, I paid for an unlimited video account and let the rest of them use mine. I don't know if that is an ethical problem but my thought is 1)they could have their own free accounts if I insist they set up an email account OR 2)Animoto gets my yearly fee and students are exposed to their product... I picked door number two. This is causing problems, though. There are too many projects working at the same time and students end up with other's images in their video... I am loving the ones that are done but it has certainly not been without headaches. I was going to use MovieMaker, but Animoto is SO much simpler to use. Anyone have suggestions or other options?

Nancy Willard " A Librarian by any other name..." Oct 16, 2009 LM_NET

Nancy Willard is advocating a new title for...librarians/teacher-librarians/library media specialists. She argues that, given the actual requirements of this job, the title should reflect the technological expertise of the position. The term "librarian" carries too many stereotypes and images of gray hair in a bun (or balding man), with horn-rimmed glasses always scowling, stamping books and repeating "shh" ad naseum. I understand her point. However, I completely disagree with her. There are too many titles for our position already. We need to pick one and make it standard. We still have libraries, although they may look different every decade, and we still have librarians. Our job needs to evolve as well as our skills, but our title does not. Teaching looks very different today from fifty years ago, but we are still called teachers. We still dial a phone although I dare you to find anyone under twenty who can tell you what a "dial" is. The title is not the issue...advocacy and education is.