<![CDATA[Librarian in the Middle - Blog]]>Tue, 13 Jun 2023 14:40:07 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[Biography Genrefication]]>Thu, 02 Feb 2023 01:28:27 GMThttps://www.librarianinthemiddle.com/blog/biography-genrefication

Genrefying the Biography Section

Psst, you know that the biographies are the most boring part of the library, right?!

At least in my library, they get very little love. Except at project time, ‘cause for some reason EVERYONE does a darn bio project. But, that is a research issue for another day.

Our biographies, themselves are great, but our shelves are so packed with books that some weeding and dynamic shelving has been in order for some time.

In the process of preparing for the weeding and organization work, I uncovered Jess Golz’s ’ awesome biography genrefication project. That was the push I needed to get my bios in order and circulating!

I am fortunate enough to have a flexible library schedule, so I blocked out a week to tackle this project head on and get it all done. I started by weeding heavily and then as I weeded, I organized the books into categories, using sticky notes on empty-ish shelves. That is probably the part that took the longest amount of time. And, was the dustiest part of the whole job!

Then I moved the new group of books around so they were in areas where the number of books would fit best onto the shelf. For example, all the artist books fit on one shelf, while the changemaker books needed a whole section of four shelves to accommodate all of the titles.

The back of each book got a sticker for to identify it as a part of that section and the books were scanned to add them to a copy category and shelf location in our circ system. Next was setting them up applying dynamic shelving practices so there were outward facing titles and stacks of books in bins to break up the standard style of shelving.
It has been a satisfying process to see some seriously old books be weeded and then to see the newer books become more visible and accessible to our patrons. It is definitely a process that takes some time, but has freshened up a much neglected section of our collection.

Why just biographies and not all of non-fiction?

Doing the whole Non-fiction section would be way more than I was willing to take on during a 2 week-ish break in my classes.
Our biography section was very out of date and needed a serious refresh! I ended up weeding over 250 books that were over 10 years out of date. I know, I know, bad librarian...but you know how it is with weeding, sometimes there are sections that get away from you and then they need a bit more love.
Now we can see all the awesome NEW biographies that have been purchased over the last few years. They are not buried behind the musty and in some cases moldy-oldies.
This is the shelf that our circulation desk faces every day...the view was getting old. Looking at the overstuffed shelves that kids couldnt navigate was just too much.
This is a great spot to do some dynamic shelving.
Most students look for books by genre, or in the case of the biographies, by category. They want the books on artists, or musicians, or presidents. They aren’t always looking for a specific person.

How we (my library besties and I) figured out what categories to use...

There was LOTS of debate and some very hilarious conversations over where to categorize some of the books. The basic groups were easy, Artists, US Presidents, Entertainers. However some of the other ones were a bit more difficult. Like, where do the Holocaust survivor stories go? Or what about Kate Middleton, or Al Capone?
Recommendation: grab a librarian friend to have these chats with, it will really help to keep things in perspective and help you consider all the possibilities for each title.
After going back and forth we established a set of standard groups with some variation based on the differences between our collections and student needs.

Here are the final groups that I landed on for our library:

Artists - painters, sculptures, fashion designers, graphic novelists
Entertainers - Actors, Singers, Directors, Comedians
Change Makers - People who were working toward a specific cause
Memoir - autobiographies
Survivors - narratives of survival (Holocaust narratives, and also stories of escaping war and child soldiers)
Infamous - the “baddies” as my daughter would say. Gangsters, and all around bad guys and gals from history. Think Vlad Dracul and Rasputin, and some pirates, but mosly books from the Wicked History Series.
World Leaders - Policticians and people on the world stage.
US Presidents
Adventurers and Military - Explorers, Astronauts, Spies, and Military Leaders
Science & Tech - Math, Science and Inventors
Entreprenures - business moguls (Walt Disney, Madam CJ Walker)

How do we keep things going back to the right place?

Each book is getting a small sticker on the back of the book with the biography category on it, so shelvers know where they go in that section.
In the circulation system, books have received a new copy category and copy location based on there genre. Ex. Bio - Artists, Bio - Infamous
There was no change to the spine label or other MARC record information in the catalogue.

A bit about dynamic shelving

The choice to use dynamic shelving was very intentional.
This is a somewhat unloved section of the library. We want kids to easily be able to access the materials and see what is new.
The dynamic shelving also makes it easy for us to replace and update those titles that are new and are being added to each of the categories.
In addition to using book stands, I also am using these refrigerator bins as an additional shelving option. I like these for on the shelves, but an not planning to use these as a way to transport items as they seem a bit more flimsy than I anticipated. So, great for just on the shelf and displays, but not for sending class sets out to classrooms.
Here is the link to the ones I bought (this is an Amazon affiliate link and I get a small commission at no cost to you, if you make a purchase).

Looking for other librarians who have written about this?
http://iroquoismslibrary.blogspot.com/2018/05/biography-genrefication-project.html
https://www.thenextgenlibrarian.com/blog/biographygenrefication

Feeling inspired or have questions?

Comment below.

]]><![CDATA[AI in the School Library]]>Tue, 10 Jan 2023 01:49:46 GMThttps://www.librarianinthemiddle.com/blog/ai-in-the-school-library

AI in the School Library: Scarier Than "Google It"?

As school librarians, it's important for us to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in technology, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool that everyone is jumping to play with and experience.. AI is quickly becoming a part of our daily lives, (I’m looking at you Alexa users!) and it's important for school librarians to understand how it can be used to improve the library experience for students.

If you haven’t been hearing about the “chat” AI tools then its time to get up to speed.

My dad (a part-time retired HS teacher who teaches two senior electives) watched aghast, at a recent family dinner, as the AI app Genie wrote a detailed and coherent essay about a documentary he has his students watch and write about for class. It included specific references to the documentary tone, images and other elements that support the argument that it is subjective. Like many teachers, his response was one of disbelief and then concern about how he will ensure his students are creating authentic work. Rightfully so.

My sister (a small business owner) lauds the use of AI as a game changer for her work and cannot rave about it enough. And, as an aid to her business, says it is the best productivity too she has ever has used. The AI tool has saved her tons of time, just in the few weeks she has been using it. Specifically it has helped her reach out to local business who are related to her work, write social media posts, and connect with podcasters who may want her as a guest.

For many teachers, especially in secondary, this is a scary tool because it makes it so easy for kids to pass off work that is not their own. However I believe that is where we, as librarians have a chance to get ahead of what is coming and help teachers and students use AI tools in a meaningful and appropriate way.

The reality is that most of us have already interacted with some form of AI, an Alexa, automated programs, tech support/chats, etc.

What is blowing up online right now is the use of natural language “chatbots” to ask “the computer” do things, essentially creating commands to not just get the information, but get it, then write the whole paper, with cited sources.

Here is a great video that helps explain it in more detail.

This is slightly terrifying as a librarian who focuses on teaching research, but after playing around with it a bit, I have a few take aways. I definitely don’t have the answers and I am on the fence about a few of these, but this is my honest to goodness reaction.

Its not going anywhere. Kind of like Google at the beginning, where no one wanted to let kids use it, but they still did anyway. So the shift was teaching kids how to use Google searching effectively and to be more careful when evaluating sources. (Though I know not everyone is on the Google-it train). And AI...its going to force Google to change as well.
This going to alter how we look at “keyword” searching...forever. Natural language searching is (hopefully) going to force databases to catch up with how students access materials. The reality is, it is easier for students to type in their questions and that is what they try to do anyway. Now, AI natural language “chats” will allow students to go beyond just a question and add a command with it.
Librarians - now is NOT the time to bury our heads in the sand and hope it goes away. We need to look critically at our curriculum, how we teach plagiarism, if our school systems have honor or ethics policies and whether they have language that addresses the use of AI for student work. We are better off being prepared than scrambling to catch up or being reactive.
Automation is happening in every job right now and we are just one more field where that is happening. While it has been shifting since the dawn of the internet, I don’t think that the human connection of finding the right book for the right kid will be going anywhere, but on the research side... “oh the times they are a changin’”, again.
Fake news and bias are going to be harder to spot. Undercurrents of racism and sexism abound within AI and will definetly be something that we need to be aware of as we use these tools and explain them to our students. One more reason to really help students understand the value of evaluation.
With the right combination of words in a request, it may just save us some much needed time, especially when we are trying to do all the things. For example, I asked AI to create me a list of book recommendations. I had to get pretty specific, but it did it. I stil think I can do a better job, as I know my collection, my population and current titles better. But maybe there will come a day when that is a built in part of our circulation systems so we can make a request and it will use our circ data to do it for us.

Additional minor thoughts:

Digital plagiarism checkers are going to have to up their game. - There is already a tool for this called GPTZero.
Eventually the computer will catch up. Many of the AI programs currently include a note that their computer doesn’t include information more current than 2021.

When I played around with the AI writing bot, I thought about all of the things it could potentially help me with as a teacher or librarian. It was fun to see what the program came up with and to evaluate where I can do just as good of a job or where the tool might be able to save me some time.

Things I Asked AI to “Do for me”
Write a lesson plan
Make a list of book recommendations
Write one minute book talks
Write an article called AI in school libraries
Create sample reading passages for classroom use
Check out the results here.

Overall, AI is a rapidly-evolving field that is sure to have a significant impact on libraries and librarians. I think it is worth taking some time to play with one to see what it does and what kind of information is being generated, because it is going to get harder and harder to really differentiate between the humans and the machines doing the writing. By staying informed and being proactive in preparing for these changes, we can ensure that we are well-equipped to serve the needs of our students and communities in the age of AI.

Does this strike a chord with you? I would love to hear what you think.

Post your comment below or HERE on my IG reel about AI.

Articles for Additional Reading and Information (Summaries written by AI)

https://www.weareteachers.com/ai-writing-tools-teachers/
The article from We Are Teachers discusses how AI writing tools can be useful for teachers in helping students with grammar, proofreading, and other language-related tasks.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-use-openai-chatgpt-text-generation-chatbot/?amp
The article from Digital Trends explains how to use OpenAI's ChatGPT text generation chatbot, which uses AI to generate human-like responses in a chat conversation.

https://time.com/6238781/chatbot-chatgpt-ai-interview/
The article from Time discusses ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that can carry on a conversation with a user in a way that is similar to a human interview.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/29/handwritten-essays-defeat-chatgpt/
The article from The Washington Post discusses how handwritten essays can still be effective despite the existence of AI writing tools like ChatGPT.

https://iris.ai/academics/7-ways-ai-changes-libraries/
The article from Iris.ai outlines how AI is changing libraries, including through the use of chatbots, recommendation systems, and automating tasks such as cataloging and data entry.

https://content.iospress.com/articles/information-services-and-use/isu190065
The article from Information Services and Use discusses the use of AI in libraries, including its potential to improve efficiency and user experience, as well as some of the challenges and ethical considerations that come with implementing AI in libraries.

]]><![CDATA[Helping students Make the connection between OPAC and the Library Collection]]>Thu, 06 Oct 2022 16:24:37 GMThttps://www.librarianinthemiddle.com/blog/helping-students-make-the-connection-between-opac-and-the-library-collection

#shelfie lesson to bridge the gap between OPAC and the shelf

One of the areas where students seem to struggle as library users is finding the actual book on the shelf, after they have done a search in our OPAC. They can search the digital collection and find books they want, and they can browse to find books they want, but get stuck when it comes to putting those two things together.

That is where the #shelfie lesson becomes the bridge to those two skills. This lesson forces them to search for a specific title and then locate it on the shelf, using a picture as evidence that tehy were able to actually locate the book. That also helps cut down on the re-shelving of books, since they don’t have to bring it to me, they can just use a shelf marker and then re-shelve it themselves!

No time to read now? Pin it for later >>>

Click "read more" to get a breakdown of the lesson and explanation of the assessment process!

Lesson Breakdown

Part 1

Students get a fictitious student profile (10 different versions that I created, each leaning slightly toward one genre of interests more than others).
They work in small groups to identify information about the person that would help them find a book that student would like to read.
They look at a list of the genres we have in our library to come up with keywords for their search on OPAC.

Part 2

Students search OPAC, learning how to apply keywords and use the genre buttons.
Students find a book that is available. ** we focus on the fiction section so they become familiar with the genrefication of our library
They record the information they need to know to locate that item on the shelf.

Part 3

Students work with their small group to locate the book on the shelf.
They take a picture with the book as a group and post it to our private padlet board.
They place the book back on the shelf.

Assessment

The part I like about this lesson is that the #shelfie is the assessment. By taking a picture there is visual evidence that the small group was able to meet the expectations of the lesson. Additionally, because this is a skill that requires movement around the library space and the location of a particular item, it is much easer to have students do this with the actual collection.

I use the handout they complete to ensure that they didn’t just pull a random book from the shelf for the picture. And, they showcase their knowledge of the genres with their recommendation for the fake student profile I provided to each group.

Why fake student profiles?

Using the student profiles, instead of having students just identify their own interests and search for themselves has two different purposes.

First, I want them to become more familiar with the genres in our library as for many, it is a different way of navigating the fiction section. Having a fake profile, means that they have to look more critically at personal interests and hobbies as a tool to identify reading interests. It also shows them that many readers have interests in more than one genre, as the profiles are multifaceted.

Second, it keeps them from leaning on what they already read or from looking in a section where they may already know a particular book exists. By practicing this skill with a profile, then hopefully they will be able to apply this practice to themselves when they are asked to pick a book for class or independent reading.

Why small groups?

I primarily use this lesson with my 6th grade students. They are new to our library and are not familiar with where things are and how the genres are organized on the shelves. Working in a small group means there is less pressure to find something on their own and they are more confident walking around the library with their friends.

Same with the picture aspect, they are way more comfortable being in a picture with their peers than if they were to do it on their own.

The pictures are always entertaining to look at and I keep the padlet up during Part 3 so we can all see the pictures coming in as they find their book and post their pictures. It definitely keeps them engaged!

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My goal with this weekly, sometimes bi-monthly depending on how crazy life gets, letter is to chat about all the awesome library things, share some tips and tricks when it comes to creating a strong school library culture and support the amazing community of librarians out there just trying to get it all done.

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