Sadness at the State of the US, the World, and Librarianship

First, there's no update to the stress of online librarianship. (Other than have an issue with the access to a series of journals needed by students...and dealing with the emails through time zones with all the delays that ensued. Problem finally solved!) Life online is sad because I do not get to see the faces of the students, more onerous due to the need to create, edit, and publish the videos AFTER creating the activity, and lonely.

Now on to the topic for this blog.

Today I made a difficult decision to leave a professional group I have been part of for awhile. I did this because the tone of the group has changed from helpful ideas, support, and answering questions to politics, name-calling, and labeling people based on a one sentence comment to a post. (No one should ever be labeled sexist, racist, homophobic, anti-religion, or anti-ANYTHING based on a sentence. Don't we teach children that you cannot infer tone or meaning from online comments? Unless the person has said "All __(fill-in-the-blank with a group or class of people)___ deserve to die/don't deserve to live/should all be removed from the face of the Earth/etc.," you cannot know what is in their heart and mind.

Whatever happened to giving someone the benefit of the doubt? Or asking politely for clarification to the meaning of their words? We all know what we mean by things we say, but sometimes there is (to paraphrase Dr. Adolph Brown) disconnect between our brains and our mouths (or our fingertips as online speaking dictates). They might not realize they worded their comment poorly and the implications that could arise from it. Give them a chance to clarify and edit!

So what happened?

First, George Floyd was murdered. Pure and simple as that. Was is racially motivated? We don't know because we don't know what was going through that #$%@*& 's mind when he murdered Mr. Floyd.

What do we know?

• The officer and Mr. Floyd worked at the same nightclub. They had overlapping shifts. They may or may not have interacted. (The owner of the club first reported they worked together and knew each other. She later said they may have known each other, but she is not sure.)
• Mr. Floyd was being restrained until EMS arrived.
• The restraint technique used by the officer (for some ABSOLUTELY INSANE REASON) is TAUGHT and APPROVED by that police department as an appropriate technique. WHY? WHO APPROVED THAT? It's insane and wrong in ANY situation.

Now, with regards to the riots, when someone can explain to me how burning a business that had NOTHING to do with the murder gets Mr. Floyd justice, then I can understand the reason behind them. At what point does breaking into a store and stealing big screen TVs get him justice? Oh, wait. THAT DOESN'T GET HIM JUSTICE. It's unlawful. Being angry does not allow you to go on a  rampage, burn, loot, and destroy. For this I blame our culture that allows this type of behavior for many different things, including sports victories! It's so harmful! (Then when people are recognizing some of the rioters pictures, it is coming out that many of them were BUSED into the city to encourage rioting. Does this have anything to do with the recently leaked Friends of Democracy papers that were the cause of the Baltimore riots? Time will tell.)

Now how does this lead to my resignation from a professional librarian's group?

In that group, someone posted videos of the riots and commented how it was justified behavior. The tone inferred by some members was that the original poster was saying, as one rioter told a reporter, that all whites should be afraid because it was coming to them next. Is that what the original poster meant? I hope not! However, when people took offense, rather than asking for clarification and a civilized discourse, the original poster labeled all of them racist. Politics and profanity then became part of the discussion. The post was removed, but the subsequent posts by the original poster in which she continues to label anyone who disagrees with the rioters as racist have been left up.

At this point, I have realized there is nothing left for me to learn from this group. We, as librarians, should know about bias, inferences, stating opinions, and working with different viewpoints. We should allow all to comment in a risk-free environment in which clarification can be sought if something seems "off" in the way it is worded. No one should be attacked for having a difference of opinion.

Rather than argue, at the detriment of my name and my reputation, I simply and quietly left.

What I Have Learned So Far With Distance Librarianship

As schools are closed and everyone is figuring out this "online" thing, I have learned a few things that do not shock, but, rather, sadden me. I have also learned a few positives.

The Sad:
1. Despite participating daily in several librarian Facebook groups, there are a lot of librarians who JUST DON'T READ. They don't read posts of questions that have been asked and answered ad nauseam. Whether it's "How do I video a story-time without breaking copyright?" or "Have you heard of the National Emergency Library Archive?" or even "I don't know what to do to reach my students?" librarians are not doing what we always recommend to our students and staff: READ and you shall find the answer!
     (Answers to these questions:
     1. All Australian publishers are allowing read alouds so long as it is password protected and    
        deleted by the end of the school  year. Every American publishing house that has given
        permission for public performances of their picture books -almost all- has the same basic
       guidelines: give credit with title, author, and publisher at beginning of video, delete within 30
       days or by end of school year, use password protected sites. 
     2. The NELA is an archive of illegally copied books so it should not be used in any way, shape, or
       form. Basically they digitally photocopied books. We all know that's wrong so STOP ASKING
       ABOUT IT!
     3. Use Google Classroom if a Google school; create a Seesaw account; use the platform teachers
       are using or ask teachers to assist in posting. Lastly, DON'T WORRY if students are more
       worried about online math assignments than library activities. Post optional things for those who
       want something different to do! Unless, of course, you must give grades. Then do easy things,
       like have students draw a picture of their favorite scene in a book. Don't expect full-blown
       research projects like they would have done at school in the library!)

2. Some librarians are not as helpful as our profession calls for. They ridicule librarians who ask "How do we sanitize the books when we reopen?" "How will we get the books back if we don't restart school until the fall?" Literally ridiculing. This is extremely depressing to read online. Everyone's situation is different and administrators have different expectations regarding the caretaking of the library collection. If a librarian doesn't have a constructive answer, then they should not respond with "I'm just glad the students have books, even if they keep them forever." "You shouldn't be worried about that. Good librarians wouldn't care?" -and yes, I have seen that type of response accusing worried librarians about being less than "good" because they are wondering about the collection in our custodianship.

3. The head of one department responded to my email regarding being available with assisting them in online learning, including suggestions to ways I could help, with "I think the library should only be about reading books." This will take addressing when we are all back together to explain why libraries are about research, writing, exploring, and discovering, as well as reading.

The Positives:
1. A different team is wanting to work with the library on some different activities once our spring break ends.

2. We have a lot of children enjoying our online activities and stories through a variety of platforms. Some have even sent video answers to questions I ask at the end of storytimes. We have also received numerous thank yous and some questions back.

3. My library team (I saved the best for last) have stepped up marvelously to online platforms. I already knew they were hard-workers with a lot of skills and creativity. This unusual situation has given the opportunity to shine even more with all they are doing. What are they doing, you might wonder? Well, we have multiple platforms in use to reach all levels of the school. We also have our regular social media outlets. Through all of these, one English and one Thai storytime have been posted daily. A video on a fun, creative craft is posted daily. We have weekly breakout boxes as well. This is in addition to the online activities I have created with Screencastify and poetry (for Poetry Month) and a GooseChase for the older students.

So, what will we do when our "break" from online teaching ends and we are back at distance learning? We will continue working hard. I can only hope that the librarians around the world who are working online will remember to be more positive towards one another.

COVID-19

It's what everyone is talking about, right?

And the question now is, what do we do?

Next week is Fully Booked Week. We are busy decorating the story tent. We have our posters displayed. We are talking about our guest story tellers. We are getting everyone excited.

And we are also preparing ourselves for the disappointment in case school is closed.

Yes. We know that is the rumor, and we shouldn't worry about rumors, but this is a rumor that might become reality. So we have two preparations underway. The final countdown towards our biggest event of the year (with three modifications: the book fair vendor has been cancelled, the Thai publishing company is not coming, and the book swap books will be sprayed with a disinfecting mist) is in full swing! And we have had several library team meetings regarding our plans for ways to have online activities for students in the event we are closed.

Oh, just video some stories, you might think. It's not so simple! International copyright law is involved with the public performance/filming of stories. Everyone does it on You-Tube, you might say. Well, many publishing companies also send cease-and-desist letters and can take you to court for copyright violations. Since I am a role model on properly using sources of information, I do not think just posting a few stories is the responsible way to do things. We have other plans.

(Don't worry, there will be some ways we tell some stories. The library team is QUITE inventive and enthusiastic.)

We also will have activities for all our students. We have three different e-book platforms, weekly library lessons to be posted, and we are working with some year levels to collaborate on the projects they plan to assign students. All this involves timing, posting, filming, editing, and praying we are allowed on campus to make it all a bit easier.

Of course, the easiest course of action will be if school continues as normal.

I am, of course, an optimist.

Stay healthy. Wear a mask if it makes you feel better (just don't touch it). And keep washing your hands.

Copyright and Memes

Recently, I noticed an increase in memes coming though my social media feeds, as well as a good deal of discussion regarding copyright for various things. One of the subjects I have worked with students and teachers on for the last 14 years is understanding and trying not to knowingly violate copyright law.

The example, albeit simplified, I use with teens is generally this:

You take an absolutely hilarious or mind-blowing picture and post it on your insta account. You garner a large number of likes, and your followers are now sharing the picture with some of their followers. One day a meme comes to  your attention and it USES YOUR PICTURE AS THE BACKGROUND. What? How did this happen. Not only that, but the person posting it has licensed the meme and is making money by using it to sell t-shirts and the like. How do you feel?

This generates a good discussion regarding ownership of images and how it can be reposted and taken from sites other than the original poster's site. We discuss fairness, legality, and feelings over things like this.

What does the law say? The European Union made it very clear a few years ago that memes violate copyright unless permission is granted, it is public domain, or the person creating the meme owns the copyright. American law states it is a derivative work and therefore copyright protected. Proving a still image is a parody, in order to claim fair use, is difficult to say the least. If it is a staged image, it is considered creative with greater protections than if it is a still image taken from a real-life event which is a factual event (and can be made into parody with the words added).

Then I bring forth a few examples:

Example #1: Anything using a Disney image or character. Disney is VERY protective of copyrights and trademarks. They can and do send cease and desist letters quite frequently. (They have closed churches that had to sell the building to pay legal fees and fines, even! Daycare centers are also targeted.)

Example #2: Success Kid! You've seen the little toddler with his pumped fist (which was actually full of sand he was trying to eat actually). His mother copyrighted the image and sells it for licensing fees. Therefore it is a huge NO if you want to use or even repost a meme with the image because it falls under "costing the copyright holder money" situation. His mother has sent cease and desist letters, and even a lawsuit, to politicians and a fireworks company to name to examples.

Reposting is different from creating a meme, and less likely to get you into trouble. However, borrowing a library book and copying it or making a copy of a copy both involve copyright infringement. Solution? I'm not sure there is one. I always recommend to students to err on the side of caution, take their own pictures (even if they are staged), and create memes using them. After all, the image is only part of a successful meme. The words are extremely important!

Our Library Monitors

At SHR, we have library monitors who volunteer to spend breaks and lunches in the library working. These junior school students in Y4-Y6 (grades 3-5) submit applications. Some are then interviewed, and from the interviews our LMs are chosen. It's a great way for students to give back to the school through volunteer time as well as gain some leadership responsibilities.

Usually we have three rounds of LMs, one per term. However, we did not open until half-way through the first term. As a result, we only have two rounds this year. Our first group of 26 students are finishing their service at the end of this week so we threw a thank you party for them!

Food, fun, and games were on the agenda, and our Junior School administrators handed out certificates of appreciation. (My librarian and I spent a day in Chinatown last month, shopping for goodies for this party. The library team has been making decorations and games for over a month! We appreciate these students and their hard work a lot!)

 



Here are some highlights from the party:

I am sorry, but we were having too much fun during the games portion for me to remember to take pictures!

Today has started the interviews for the new LMs who start after our half-term break next week.

Only One Month Left

...until Fully Booked Week arrives! (Technically, it's slightly longer, but we do have half-term break in the middle so we'll call it a month and be done with it!)

What is Fully Booked Week? Traditionally planned around the UK's celebration of World Book Day (first Thursday of March) which is similar to Read Across America Day in the US (but not to be confused with World Book Day by UNESCO which is on Shakespeare's birthday, April 22), FBW is a week-long celebration of reading and books! So when is this glorious week full of books and reading and everything librarians love? Ordinarily, we would hold it the first week of March. However, to avoid interfering with the spring musical, School of Rock, we moved FBW to the middle of March. After all, the date is not what matters...the meaning of the event is what's important!

This is one of our school's big events, and the biggest for the library team. We have been working on our plans since early November. This "late" start was due to opening the library in October and still unpacking as we circulated books. We have a lot of events planned plus costume days for Junior and Senior school. (The library team will wear costumes four of the five days.)

Here is our rough draft of the plans:

Of course, there are things that have changed, even this week, but here are the plans for Junior School:

Every day:

• story tent for pre-prep students with teachers and staff reading stories at break-time.
• after-school story-time with members of staff and the parents association reading stories
• the last period of the day is "Read Around the Corridor" where students can visit any class on their hall for a story and rotate classrooms
• book fair
• book swap

The crafts corner in the library will have three different crafts during the week:

• character sticks
• redesigning book covers
• character masks

Of course, we couldn't have a celebration like this without a few contests:

• book trailer contest (junior and senior school) done before FBW and shown on screens during the week
• bookmark design contest where the winning designs are made into bookmarks for the library to hand out next year
• door decorating contest for teachers (individual classes in junior school and by departments in senior school)
• "Eyes of a Reader" to guess which picture like this matches which staff member (and yes, the pictures will all be in B/W!)

• "Once Upon a Time and Other First Lines" contest with the most popular books in each library (different selections for junior and senior contests)

But this isn't all! We will have displays, Y8 English classes will have a library GooseChase, Senior School students will read to Pre-Prep classes, and we have the Random Acts of Kindness books...given away by our library monitors!

And then there are the costumes...oh, the costumes...

• Monday: We have all chosen a Rainbow Fairy from the Daisy Meadows books. (Did you know there are almost 300 fairies in this collection? It was difficult to choose.)
• Tuesday: Fantasy Characters: I will be Malificent (original, not Angelina Jolie...I don't think I can pull off her look and do it justice).  We will also have a hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, Dorothy, Hansel and Gretel, and a few yet to be named fantasy characters.
• Wednesday is the "we need a day without a costume" day...but we will still have reading as a theme! We will be wearing, along with other staff members, stickers about the books we are currently reading.
• Thursday is Senior School character dress day...finally we won't be the only ones in costume! This is our anime/ghibli character day. I'm a character called Sophie Hatter.
• Friday is the Junior School character dress day. We will have a character parade and assembly for best costumes and more. The library staff? We will be Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. For those who know me, you would know I would pick the Evil Queen/Stepmother/Witch. If unable to do that...I choose Grumpy! Nonetheless, I was outvoted by my team. Everyone now gets to see how "well" Snow White has aged through the years...

So how did we get the dwarf costumes? Well, after we ordered the hats, we went shopping in Chinatown for t-shirts. Then I used this:

And this:

Of course, getting the names on the shirts took a few steps:

(Don't worry, I haven't forgotten Sleepy. Once I have the t-shirt, Sleepy will be done as well.)

What are you doing to celebrate reading and books this year?

You-Time in the Library

My school has an extra-curricular period known as "You-Time." This period comes after the end of the school day, and allows students to explore their interests in a variety of weekly activities. It is required that students choose something for at least one day per week, but most find multiple activities they enjoy before they leave school to go home and study, have music lessons, etc. (One of my Year 4 students would say he goes home to play video games. 😒)

Teachers volunteer for the You-Time activity that fits their interests. Some work in pairs, while others work by themselves with a smaller group. Karate, digital story-telling, Scouting, breakout boxes, origami...With dozens of choices besides sports for the older students, there is definitely something for everyone.

So what does the Library offer?

Well, my initial thought was to have Battle of the Books, similar to the NCSLMA rules, for Junior and for Senior Schools. Students are in one of 6 houses (just like in Harry Potter except these are named for Nobel Peace Prize Winners, and none are "evil") so inter-house competitions would allow students to earn house points. HOWEVER, the library did not open from its renovations until October. At that point, there was still a lot of things being changed or altered. Evenings and weekends still had construction workers in the library, and time was not my own.

Fast-forward to now: since I now understand how the purchasing system works, I know we would be unable to get multiple copies of books here, have students read them, develop questions, practice some game rounds, and have the competitions before the end of the school year. I will be ordering some books this year so we can start in August.  Instead of BOB, we have soon-to-be four activities each week. Two of these are You-Time. (The others are English Storytelling and Thai Storytelling.)

The first You-Time is Breakout Boxes. Teachers check these out to use with their classes, but in the library, a group of Junior School students also enjoys them every Wednesday. They struggle sometimes to solve the puzzles due to over-thinking things, but they are always eager to open that last lock and to learn what is in the box. This is run by the librarian, Miss Marivic, who is from the Philippines and has been at the school almost since it opened. (She is my right hand, and sometimes my left too! If you haven't been paying attention, I am the Director of Librarian Services, Marivic is my librarian, and then I have library assistants and an intern.)

You-Time is about to start anew (students change their activities periodically), and the library will also be offering Stop-Motion Animation! We have a set of iPads with the Stikbot app now, and rather than start BOB without being able to complete the competitions, this is what I will direct and mentor students doing. I am very excited about this, and hopefully students will be too.