Status Quo or Living Your Dream?

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Spending some time following twitter links on Saturday morning allowed me to look in on the AASL 2009 conference virtually.  Seeing what those impassioned, creative and forward thinking librarians were up to got me thinking.  What is holding us back from creating the libraries of our dreams, libraries that are work spaces for students libraries where the librarian acts as guide and mentor and students gather to research and create collaboratively or on their own?  Are we constrained by the systems we work within or are those restrictions self-imposed?

There are so many free ways to create libraries that are innovative.  I wish I had been able to attend Buffy Hamilton’s session.  I got so many great ideas from viewing her slide deck I can only imagine how rich her session was.  The presentation was entitled Not Just Another Brick in the Wall? Engaging 21^st Century Learning Through Participatory School Librarianship.  I took a page of notes as I viewed the slides.  Tomorrow I will begin to investigate great people for teens to follow on Twitter, holding a lunch hour session to advertise the many mobile reading opportunities, and establishing a teen advisory committee to find out what the students would like to see in their library.

To learn more about participatory librarianship check out Buffy's Delicious bookmarks.  I found the bookmarked article We Live in Shakespearean Times  particularly inspiring.  Also her wiki

AASL2009 Participatory Librarianship.  I think you'll be impressed.

As I watched the tweets go by I began to collect some memorable quotes.  I can't cite the speaker as often attributions weren't given.  It's 140 characters after all.  To see them for yourself do a Twitter Search for #aasl2009 or go to TwapperKeeper.

We've upped our standards, so up yours.
Loertscher wants librarians to be the elephant in the room that cannot be ignored.
Being an advocate isn't enough.  Be an activist.
I say you have TIME, you're just not using it well. (Aim that one at the next person who doesn't have time for collaborative planning with you!)
Make the library a learning centre not a stuff centre.
School librarian: resource specialist, information literacy teacher, collaboration gatekeeper
Mash content, literacy and 21st century skills together or you will go nowhere.

You can't be burnt out if you have never been fired up.

So that's it, my report from a conference I wasn't able to attend.  Thanks Twitter!