A follow-up to the fading conferences post...

I received over 20 interesting comments explaining why librarians don't attend their state conferences in response to my post "Library Conferences: Fading Away" from last week. (My apologies for not sending individual responses back.)

Here are some of the major reasons:

• Not allowed to attend by administration
• Not a member of a state library association
• Too few offerings of relevance (multi-type library conferences make school librarians feel unwelcome)
• Personal expense too great when schools won't/can't pay (5)
• Librarians serving multiple buildings would be out of a building too long
• Commitments in buildings/district - emergencies
• Participating in more webinars, online conferences, blog reading - PLNs satisfy needs
• New to building
• Conferences are "old fashioned" -  20th century
• Multiple conferences means being selective, and the local library conference is not always the best fit

Yet scattered among the reasons for non-attendance were some heart-felt endorsements of this long-standing means of providing training, communications, collegiality and inspiration.

Are traditional state library conferences going the way of the eight-track tape? I'd suggest that school library associations ask themselves some important questions about their conferences...

• Should school library organizations partner on conferences with other groups like reading, technology or public library organizations?  (Technology organizations have been partnering with administrate organizations to their mutual benefit.) See Cathy Jo Nelson's comments about why inter-state conferencing is difficult. One thing I've always liked about ISTE is that "techies" mingle with teachers, administrators, librarians, - all kinds of educators. It's a richer stew of ideas than single field conferences.
• Is the conference content relevant, pertinent, the "right" topic? Literature, technology, information literacy - each appeal to some members. Perhaps the question should be if there is a good program balance.
• Do we control the cost as much as possible? Do we need desserts at every meal? Will one paid keynoter do instead of two? Are there less expensive venues for conferences? With so many attendees paying their own way, how can planners reduce expenses? On a related note, one can have very successful small conferences if one plans with that in mind. Groups of 80-120 have wonderful experiences.
• Are we giving members tools for obtaining funding to attend?* Every district has SOME staff development money. The trick is knowing how to ask for it.
• Are we asking the membership about their needs and planning conferences around those needs? Conference evaluation sessions are more important than ever, but we should also be asking those folks who don't attend about how we can help them as well.
• Do we need hybrid conferences, much like we are now offering hybrid classrooms, combining F2F sessions with online opportunities? Our national technology and library associations are pioneering these efforts. Can state associations provide online involvement for those who can't physically be there?
• Are associations raising revenues by other means? My sense is that state associations can't count on the cash cow of conferences as much as they once did. So, either associations cut costs - buying less lobbying, sending few print publications, relying more on volunteers and less on paid positions, etc. - or raise dues, charge for online learning experiences, or sell publications. Or merge with other small groups.

Count me the camp of those who love F2F conferences**. I hope they are around for a long. long time. But like the profession itself, they will need to change - or die.

* Johnson's Secret Strategy for Obtaining Conference Funding: Don't ask to go to "a conference" - ask to go to specific conference sessions that relate to your school's goals. Get the conference program ahead of time. Oh, and then report back about the conference after attending. Is your organization producing a list of conference sessions well before the event is held?

** Full disclosure - I supplement my income by speaking at conferences so I am not 100% objective in this regard. But I DO love going to conferences even when I am not speaking or being remunerated!

Common sense from Collier and Magid

If you don't tell your children you love them
- they'll find someone online who will. - Moorhead MN police officer

I have appreciated and strongly recommended the work of Anne Collier and Larry Magid ever since reading their fine book My Space Unraveled: A Parents' Guide to Teen Social Networking back in 2006. I also read Anne's NetFamilyNews blog religiously.

Happily, Collier and Magid have just updated their parents' guide - and have made the new publication a free 32-page download. A Parents' Guide to Facebook should be required reading for every parent and educator.

One of the strengths of Collier and Magid's work has been discriminating between hyped dangers and real risks online. By disaggregating the numbers behind the headlines, adults can get a more accurate picture of who is in danger and what put them there. Here's a sample:

Youth-risk research has recently made five important findings:

1. Young people who behave aggressively online are more than twice as likely to be victimized online, so children’s own behavior in Facebook or any social site is key to their well-being on the social Web.
2. The most common risk young people face online is peer harassment or aggression – in other words hurtful, harassing, or defamatory behavior.
3. A child’s psychosocial makeup and environment (for example, home and school) are better predictors of risk than any technology that the child uses, so...
4. Not all children are equally at risk online, and the children who are most at risk online are those who are most at risk in “real life,” or offline 
5. Although, for the vast majority of youth, online social networking is largely a reflection of offline life, it can also amplify, perpetuate and widely distribute real-life problems or conflicts – very rapidly. Something posted in anger or on impulse is extremely difficult to take back, so it has never been more important for users (of any age) to think before they “speak,” post, or send a text message.

While scary predators get the headlines, it's cyberbullying and thoughtless postings that impact the widest number of students and which kids deal on a daily basis. This should tell us something about where to focus our training efforts.

I also appreciate the detailed, step-by-step instructions of setting up Facebook privacy settings that form a large part of this publication. Not only should we be working with our children/students in making good choices about who sees what, we ought to examine the settings on our own personal social networking sites too.

Thanks, Anne and Larry, for this important work.

Wishful thinking WON'T save libraries

Include provisions under Title I state and local plans and the Race to the Top Fund to establish a state goal of having a school library staffed by a state-licensed school librarian in each public school... ALA/AASL's ESEA Talking Points

I've recently heard two scenarios that may rescue school libraries from obsolesce. Don't rely on either one.

The first goes something like this: Because of the digital divide, some students will always need libraries and print books since they can't afford information technologies. First, I'd not hitch my star to serving the disadvantaged. It's a noble, feel-good cause, but it will be services to the mainstream that will keep libraries viable. Second, the technology "divide" is quickly dissolving. If we think students need a full-blown computer and high speed Internet connection via DSL or cable, there will indeed be a digital divide into the foreseeable future. But kids are accessing the Internet via cheap data-enabled cell phones and low-cost data plans, not the clunky computers and wired networks we oldsters think we need. The WHO reports more people in the world have access to cell phones than flush toilets. (Is there a toilet divide???) In the Dhavari slums of Mumbai where people are living on only a few dollars a day, 98% of families have cellphones. 75% of US students have cellphones. Keitai shousetsu, cell phone novels, accounted for five of the ten best selling novels in Japan in 2007. Technological access is not an issue and libraries won't be needed to provide it.

The second bit of wishful thinking involves a national mandate (via ESCA) that will require a librarian in every school. (See ALA's platform above.) Not only will this not happen, it's a really bad idea. Mandates:

• Can only specific quantity, not quality.
• Protect the incompetent, lowering the perceived value of the entire profession.
• Are easily by-passed by any half-way intelligent administrator.
• Are seen as protection for librarians, not as a service to children.
• Are deeply resented by other professional staff members.
• Eliminate the need for continuous evaluation, improvement and evaluation by library programs by practitioners.

Does this mean library programs are doomed? Of course not, but it will require answering these hard questions that Library Girl articulates quite nicely:

• Are we the answers to our stakeholders problems? 
• Can our programs be directly linked to student achievement?
• ...if our programs do impact student learning, why are we the only ones who know it?

 These questions reflect Johnson’s Three Commandments of a Successful Library Program:

1. Thou shall develop shared ownership of the library and all it contains.
2. Thou shall have written annual objectives tied directly to school and curricular goals and bend all thy efforts toward achieving them.
3. Thou shall take thy light out from under thy damn bushel and share with others all the wonders thou dost perform.

We all engage in wishful thinking now and then. I've spent those lottery millions in my head countless times. But I'm not counting on the lottery to fund my retirement. Nor should we count on either mandates or the digital divide assuring that our library programs have a place in our schools.

Image from zazzle.com