Is this an excuse you use? "You don't learn that way"

"Excuse: You don’t learn that way. - Babies all learn the same way, trial and error. - They try, fail, and try again until it becomes second nature. - Anyone with an infant learning to stand, walk, or crawl right now will tell you their kid won’t stop, regardless of the number of times they fall on their face. - Babies don’t get the luxury of learning via webinar, audio, or having the process of written out. - They see others do it, and try it themselves. - As a former baby, I can say being receptive to any and all learning will greatly improve your ability to do anything you want." - From 106 Excuses That Prevent You From Ever Becoming Great by Tommy Walker. (http://tommy.ismy.name/) 106 Excuses guest-posted at Chris Brogan's blog http://www.chrisbrogan.com/106/. I couldn't resist quoting this. It's a great fit with a discussion I was having with Steve Gilbert about optimal learning situations. There are undoubtedly some optimal situations, but we did agree that people can learn under some less-than-perfect conditions!

Thinking about the whole person

The American Life focused on middle school today. Teachers talked about how 12-14 year olds are distracted by hormonal changes and learning their place in the world. It can be difficult to get through. They were talking about psychological and physiological development. One commentator pointed out that even Maria Montessori suggested that this age group might be well-off in an Erdkinder (Earth School) type program. The program reminded me that we ought to remember to incorporate some things about the psychological and physiological development of people - childhood through adolescence through adulthood. I've been reading too many things about "technology vs. x" and "gamification vs. method x" and "online vs. face-to-face," "STEM vs liberal arts"; "Khan Academy for math or method x"; "higher education vs. no higher education" - too many dichotomies! Seems like at some points in life, what sets up a good learning situation might include an environment that includes some empathy, sympathy, just plain kindness. That comes through to me with Global Kidsprograms. They have their goals,etc. but I always get a sense that there's some fun going on and lots of respect for young adults. This article by Sharon Mizrahi - a 17-year-old The Future of Education mentions "warm guidance of Global Kids staff". She describes some exciting projects guided by caring adults. How do we foster more of that?

More on libraries sending users to affliate sites

British Library's library catalog platform is from ExLibris and ExLibris is linking users to Amazon - much to the consternation of rival companies. Will libraries be required to link to all book sellers?? No book sellers?? http://www.mediabistro.com/ebooknewser/british-library-under-fire-for-linking-to-amazon_b16700

Libraries as bookstores - Affiliate status for libraries

A recent OverDrive press release sets up libraries a gateway for ebook purchases. "For every retail sale referred from a WIN (Want It Now) Catalog, the library will earn a credit for the entire affiliate fee." OverDrive handles library ebooks for 15,000 libraries worldwide creating quite a potential for a large customer base! Ebook checkouts are way up (200 percent from 2010) so patron interest in ebooks via libraries is there. I'm dying to hear how this is going to work out for the libraries involved. Will it work? Seems like a better kind of privatization than off-loading librarians and library staff!

A MOOC - Oprah's Lifeclass

A MOOC: Oprah Lifeclass is starting this evening on the OWN television station. It will be on Monday evenings 8pm ET http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/oprahs-lifeclass.html Oprah is teaching life lessons based on her 25 years broadcasting the Oprah show. The first session has to do with ego. The course includes the following components: Broadcast content (supported by commercial advertising); a live question and answer session after the broadcast; an interactive web site; questionnaires; a guided workbook for daily work; a space on the web site for My Notes; a Facebook page 14213 people had checked in to today's class (when I checked about 8pm) 9537 people had signed in for the interactive session. 2000+ people had already logged in 38 minutes before the Q&A is to start. 11 million people around the world took Oprah's first course. It will be interesting to see how this course shapes up. Will the reviewers like it? Will the students stick with the course?

Privatizing public libraries - this time the discussion moves Osceola County with county administrators in discussion with LSSI: Library Systems & Services of Maryland - sigh. The recent article in the Orlando Sentinel notes that the county will save money by eliminating the need to fund pensions. Does LSSI offer employees a retirement plan of any kind? I sent some email to LSSI and will update this if I get a response. The article notes that eliminating library hours is also under discussion either way I guess. Reduced hours is always a problem for users who have non-traditional work hours. One thing I don't see discussed: One of the roles for public libraries these days is providing computer services for users applying for jobs, applying for government benefits, etc. Should public libraries be getting some funds for other government agencies to support this need? Would that provide some assistance to public libraries? Jeannette Rivera-Lyles Osceola County may cut library hours to save money: Company negotiating to manage libraries proposes cuts of 30 hours a week at some branches. Orlando Sentinel September 29, 2011 http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/osceola/os-osceola-county-library-hours-20110926,0,2285773.story

Kindles and Public Libraries

Public library ebooks on the Amazon Kindle. Can libraries' guarantee readers' privacy? Overdrive as the middleman for the public library Kindle ebooks promises that it does not save user information. What about Amazon? Can they make the same guarantees? Librarians have long held that patrons are entitled to privacy of circulation records. This is supported by case law and reinforced by state laws such as California's This may continue to protect readers. I just finished the loan period after checking out my first Kindle ebook. I got this message: "Your public library loan has ended. If you purchase ---[name of book]---- from the Kindle Store or borrow it again from your local library, all of your notes and highlights will be preserved." This is a wonderful service. Amazon keeps tabs on what books I've accessed. I can access them again. Need to read up on a controversial matter or health concern? Perhaps we can trust Overdrive to protect patron records. Perhaps we cannot trust Amazon. What to read up on a controversial matter and don't want others to know? Perhaps accessing that book via your Kindle is not the way to go. Have any libraries put up notices about concern for patron privacy in the Amazon environment? Customization, personalization! Can we enjoy these kinds of services without risking out privacy? What about users chosing to make their reading lists public? Some readers are happily engaged in sharing their book lists via GoodReads, Facebook - gosh knows what other social networking sites - and not doing this anonymously - so we're already got a pretty messy situation. We librarians have been touting the joys of sharing information about ourselves - lists of our friends, books, music, places we frequent, etc. - in the name of... what? Are we being sold "sense of community" all the while providing free information to marketers and advertisers everywhere? (Speaking of music... I've been trying out Spotify and I'm getting the hang of it. I was appalled to find that Spotify has hooked up with Facebook and is set to let people know what music I'm listening too. I was then relieved to find there was some way to get it to refrain from sharing. I'm not a radio station. I tend to get on jags of listening to certain types of music for days on end and sometimes the same album (oops - I mean "carefully curated playlist") over and over. I know it's neurotic and don't need feel the need to make that patently obvious to my colleagues. ) Back to Kindle and public libraries: On a somewhat different note, Bobbi Newman seems aggravated that Amazon will have more information about library users than we librarians will have. She also wonders why libraries didn't set up affiliate status and get some of the proceeds if a public library user goes ahead and purchases a book after having checked the book out via their Kindle. I guess she is saying that as long as Amazon has all that information about who checked out what from which venue, then libraries ought to get some advantage out of it(?) I gather that privacy is not her main concern. See Mike Kelley Kindle Library Lending: A Triumph of Practicality Over Principles Library Journal September 28th, 2011 http://goo.gl/T2k1R Gary Price. eBooks, privacy, and the library. INFOdocket. September 27, 2011. http://goo.gl/h6VGu Bobbi Newman. Public Library eBooks on the Amazon Kindle – We Got Screwed Librarian by Day September 28, 2011 http://goo.gl/1OZUu