Reference Notes

REFERENCE NOTES Design Thinking for Educators: Re-Imagining the School Library September 2012 Matt Lee Edutopia is an organization “dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process” Design Thinking for by building 21st century learning skills. Their primary goal is to help students to: Educators: Re-Imagining find information, assess the quality of information, and creatively and effectively the School Library . 1 use information to accomplish goals. They work toward these outcomes by offering professional development to educators, among other activities. Libraries in the News. 2 I participated in a recent Edutopia online workshop called “Design Thinking for Educators.” The five-week course encouraged participants to re-engage with Little Free Libraries . 2 challenges using design thinking strategies. As Edutopia states, design thinking “isn’t just about specific steps to follow in order to innovate … [T]hinking like a Teaching Simple Machines designer can transform the way you approach the world when imagining and at LaCrescent Public creating new solutions: it's about being aware of the world around us, believing that we play a role in shaping that world, and taking action toward a more Library. 4 desirable future.” AskMN Now Embedded in In order to unite the ELM Databases. 5 hundreds of participating educators from across the globe, Edutopia proposed ELM Spotlight. 6 thinking around a shared topic. That topic sparked What is MILI?. 9 particular interest for me, and I thought it might be CPERS Column. .10 interesting to you, too: “How might we re-imagine the library for today’s Watch for ROI at MLA, student?” Participants MEMO, & Education were asked to focus on Minnesota. 11 this challenge as they made their way through a number of design thinking Lead the Change. 11 exercises: Topsy: An Aggregator of Discovery: Participants were encouraged to seek inspiration outside of the Social Networks . .12 education world, and look to student behaviors, emotions, and interactions – as well as physical places and services – that would shed creative light on library services. What can a mall kiosk tell us about presenting information? Where are places that students feel they can focus? Interpretation: During this phase, participants surrounded themselves with notes, photos, and other items from the discovery phase and tried to identify larger themes and insights. Participants then took those insights and turned them into “How might we” statements, which are open questions that lead to brainstorming around ways to take advantage of insights. For example, if a participant discovered the insight that people classify information in unique ways, the “How might we” statement could be “how might the library Reference Notes - September 2012 1 customize itself for each individual?” Ideation: Those “How might we” statements were then used to brainstorm ideas. Experimentation: Participants were then asked to choose the best ideas from that brainstorming session and to prototype them. Educators submitted videos, drawings, photo collages, and models that communicated tangibly what their solution to the challenge was. I took several things away from this workshop. One is that re-imagining the school library is hard. Most participants struggled to come up with truly innovative solutions (myself included). Another is that many Minnesota libraries are already doing the bulk of the things participating educators proposed. In some cases, we may have as much a communication need as an innovation need. More generally, the design thinking process itself seems very helpful. It focuses on people and needs and encourages creativity and new idea generation. It allows for flexibility in identifying issues and proposing solutions. Choosing the right scope for inquiry seems essential, however, and topics that are either too broad or too narrow might lead to frustration – especially in a group environment. If any of this sounds interesting, check out the Design Thinking workshop schedule page: http://www.edutopia.org/design-thinking-workshop-schedule. As of this writing, you can access pages on each step of the design thinking process which include some very well-done (and short) videos providing guidance (and inspiration!) on the process. Libraries in the News Carla Pfahl Minnesota Headhunter, a blog about Minnesota jobs and business news, has an article titled “9 Ways Your Public Library Can Enhance Your Job Search,” at http://tinyurl.com/cudjlvr. The article was written by Jessica Hernandez of http://www.greatresumesfast.com and highlights 9 different ways public libraries can benefit job-seekers, from books to workshops to free Internet and even networking options. Because looking for a job can be a stressful time, Hernandez lists “Stress Relief” as number 9 on her list: “Because job searches often require as much effort as a full-time job, it’s important for seekers to find ways to relieve stress. Fortunately, many libraries offer yoga, meditation, and other health and fitness classes that can provide much needed stress relief while you’re looking for work.” Yoga at the library! I can see that attracting more people to the library as well. Little Free Libraries Beth Staats If you haven’t seen one in your neighborhood yet, chances are that you will soon. Little Free Libraries are popping up all over the place. They resemble a large birdhouse or mailbox but instead of birds or mail, they contain books. A Little Free Library is a place for neighbors and community members to share books at no cost and to promote literacy and a love of reading. The idea behind the Little Free Library is to take a book, and leave a book. Little Free Library, Ltd., got its start in Wisconsin as a program of the non-profit, tax-exempt organization Wisconsin Partners for SustainAbility. As Little Free Libraries have been sprouting up, so too has news and media coverage of the program. Recent articles have appeared in blogs and local and national newspapers, and there was even a recent event at the Mall of America. Todd Bol, of Stillwater, MN, started putting up these “little free libraries” in 2009, after the death of his mother. Just two years later, Bol and his fellow founder, Rick Brooks, have reached and passed their goal. There are now over 2,509 Little Free Libraries. This number surpasses the number of libraries built by Andrew Carnegie. Bol hopes to double the number of Little Free Libraries in six to nine months. To do this they have recently launched a “Small Towns Initiative” 2 REFERENCE NOTES which held an event on Friday, August 17, 2012, at the Mall of America, by sponsoring construction of over twenty custom-painted Little Free Libraries for Small Towns. Supporters included Simon & Schuster, Candlewick Press, Disney and Random House, Mortenson Construction, Sherwin Williams and Microsoft. Little Free Libraries for Small Towns, part of the Little Free Library program, is aimed at small towns in rural America. “The idea is to promote literacy and community-building by supporting book exchanges specifically in smaller communities that do not have ready access to a public library.” You can request a Little Free Library for your small town by filling out a form that is available at http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/little-free-libraries-for-small-towns.html. The program is initially only accepting applications for communities in Wisconsin and Minnesota but is hoping to partner with organizations in other states as well. The Little Free Library website at http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/ has all sorts of information to help those who are interested in building a library or those who would prefer to purchase one already built. Plans and tips for those interested in building their own Little Free Library are available at http://www. littlefreelibrary.org/plans-and-tips-for-builders.html. If you’d rather order one that is already built, you can choose from several designs including the Classic, the Classic Standard, the Friendly-By-Nature, which is made from 100% recycled materials, the Rustic Amish Shed, the Basic, which is ready for you to paint or decorate as you like, the Double-Wide Cranberry Crate, and even the Little Red British Phone Booth Library. If you do plan to set up a Little Free Library, you will want to be sure to register it. This will make the library official and will include a sign, number, and inclusion on the Little Free Library map. The map was created by folks using Google Maps and it includes all registered Little Free Libraries throughout the world including a few in Africa, India, Australia, and Europe. Using the map is a great way to locate a Little Free Library near you. The map can be accessed at the Little Free Library site. Every time I see a Little Free Library, I smile. I’ve seen them when driving, walking, and biking, and each time I see one, I take a picture of it. The photos included are Little Free Libraries located in South Minneapolis within just a few blocks of one another. Some are painted to match the house they stand in front of, and others are unique in their own right. If you have a registered Little Free Library, or have seen one in your neighborhood, take a moment to send us a picture of it and we will feature it in the October issue of Reference Notes. And don’t forget that when you see one, take a look to see what’s inside; it could be a great book you read as a child, or one that you have wanted to read. For more information on Little Free Library, Ltd., visit http://www.littlefreelibrary.org where you can see photos of all sorts of hand- painted, original art libraries and view televised coverage of the program from NBC Nightly News to a National Canadian TV broadcast.

Load more