School Librarians and the Power of Blogging

  Blogging in education is still a relatively new topic. More and more people in education are creating blogs and posting ideas, sharing lesson plans, etc. However, blogging actually in school, not related to professional development is still  a relatively new concept. While some schools are trying it, there are still a majority of schools that wouldn't even consider blogging. But blogging is something schools should consider. Blogging is a magnificent way to share thoughts and get responses.

 For example,  as a school librarian I would most create a blog that links to the library website. This blog would be for teachers, faculty, administrators, students, and parents. With this blog I would to post information relative to the library, perhaps there is a new shipment of books just in or the library is hosting an after-school inventor's club. I would also blog about student achievements or events happening in the library as well as any new additions or changes to the library. Now this sounds like something that could be accomplished by sending out a newsletter or an email. This is true, however; one of the best things about blogging is that a blog can get responses and comments and these comments are not just seen by the blogger, but anyone who views the blog. So perhaps I write a blog post about a second grade class who made their own stories using Story bird. Now a parent reading the blog about their child's class may want to comment about how awesome the stories were. Or an administrator reading the blog may comment that the library should have a story week where all students create stories. This is not something that could happen with a newsletter. While some people may have sent an email to the library in response to the newsletter, this email would not have been visible to anyone else but the librarian. With blogs responses can be viewed by all.

                The ability to get a response is one of the reasons why I think blogging should be encouraged not only for librarians, but for students as well. If, as an adult, I can get really excited that someone had viewed my blog, imagine how excited a sixth grader will be to learn that other people are reading what he/she has to say. There is something very empowering about blogging. It gives a person the ability to share their thoughts and opinions, not just with the person they are seated next to, but with hundreds of readers on the Internet. Blogging can give students a voice, and it is also a wonderful way for them to be motivated and feel accomplished. As a future librarian I could see myself having my students create a blog so that they could reflect on and post all of their web 2.0 projects. For example, if a class of sixth graders have just finished making an Animoto video on the Egyptian Gods. I would have each one of them write a short blog post reflecting on the project. How do they think they did? What did they like about the project? What didn't they like? How did they like Animoto? Would they use Animoto again? Students would answer questions like these in a blog post and then link to or embed their project on their blog. Parents or teachers could view the student blogs and make comments. I feel that this is a better reflective process than just writing down one's thoughts in a journal. Now students can interact with other people and perhaps think about their project in a different light.

While student blogs are a great idea, it is important that the platform used to create the blog be a safe environment for students. Librarians should encourage students to create blogs using sites like Edublogs or Kidblogs, where students are safe from spam or unwanted visitors. Student blogs aren't just a way to motivate students, they also fit many of the standards set down by the AASL and the Common Core. Below are just some ways blogging can fit with the standards.

AASL Standards

 2.1.6: Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.

3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of social and intellectual network of learners.

3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

Digital Storytelling

Its weird to think how much storytelling has affected my life. My parents have told me stories since I was a baby. Oral stories, myths, fairy tales or just books read aloud, stories were a huge part of my childhood. Storytelling allowed my imagination to run wild, there were stories that gained my interest like Rapunzel or Sleeping Beauty , but there were also stories that taught me lessons like my father's self made story of what happens to little girls who do not go to bed (Hint: Santa doesn't come...it was a scary story when I was little).

 Storytelling is why I have become such an avid reader, but storytelling also has had other effects in my life. I realized that stories is how I remember facts. Give me a list of facts about history and I have a hard time remembering them, but connect them with a story then I will remember. Honestly I think this is one of the reasons that storytelling, especially digital storytelling, is going to be really useful in the education field. Stories help students connect to information and they also allow students to engage in their education. Rather than just sitting and listening to a teacher lecture, digital storytelling allows students to use their own voice and compels them to utilize their imagination and creative thinking skills. Digital storytelling allows students to create stories that not only can be presented to their teacher or their classmates, but also posted on the internet and presented to thousands. Suddenly, a student's voice, views and opinions can be shared with others. Now students are not just in the passive role of student, but also educators, as they can educate others through their stories.

In addition, students who are really engaged in something have a tendency to learn more. For example, a special education teacher used digital storytelling in her classroom and saw a vast improvement. The teacher had the students create a digital story utilizing power point and video to tell about their life, focusing on their neighborhood, parents, pets, etc. The teacher stated that before the project students had issues with complete sentences, writing and organizing their thoughts. The story maps that they had to create before filming their project helped them practice their organization skills and in addition, students had to really think about what they were going to say and create a script which helped them practice their writing skills. At the end of the project the teacher claimed the student work had vastly improved and that by sharing their projects with other students they practiced reflection and really worked hard to make edits and polish their work (Banister, Michalski, Hodges, 2005).

Digital storytelling not only allows students to work with technology, but it also allows them to practice writing with the script, visual literacy because students have to decide what images to include, information literacy because the students have to be able to find the information and ethically utilize that information (Boss, 2008). So students are learning multiple skills, while still being engaged in the classroom. Thus, I believe that digital storytelling can be a really effective resource for students. Not only will it help them in education, but these skills will help them in other aspects of their life. I can see students using digital storytelling for everything from a classroom assignment on the Revolutionary War to a student's campaign for class president.

Banister, S., Hodges, D., & Michalski, P. (2005). Digital storytelling in the middle childhood special education classroom: A teacher ’ s story of adaptations. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 1(4), Retrieved from http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/edhd/file78632.pdf

 Boss, S. (2008, March 4). Digital storytelling: Helping students find their voice. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-storytelling-helping-students-find-their-voice

Connecting School to Real Life: How Librarians can Help

Connecting School to Real Life: My technology in education class had us watch this really inspiring video on connecting school to the real world. Though she didn't exactly mention school librarians in the video. I think they play a big role in connecting school to the real world. (Take a look at the video below before reading the rest of this).


I have to say that I really agree with her that we need to make school more about connecting to the real world. Too often school is just: go to class and memorize facts that will show up on the state test. But the topics we learn in school should help us connect to our talents and interests in our real lives. I think this is totally and completely possible and I believe that this is happening in more and more schools. One of the things that really struck me about this video was her description of the student who really loved to take videos about buses. That this kid made videos and pictures and was really talented, but he was not being taught in school how to put that talent on the internet and he was not being taught in school how to make a website or start a blog or somehow put his talent out there. And I was listening to that thinking, well that's what school librarians should be doing.

 One of the awesome things about librarians is that they are able to connect to all the students in the school, they don't just see a particular class of students and they see the same students year after year, so in most cases the librarian really has a chance to learn about her student's interests and goals in life. I see librarians as the people who can show students and faculty how to get information, create information, share information, etc. This is not just for getting something for the class book report, this is working with students who want to research something or work on something that is outside the classroom. I, as a librarian, want to be able to teach my students how to blog, or how to create a video or how to post a review. I would most likely teach these techniques in relation to a project that is being done with the classroom teacher. However, I want students who are interested in blogging about their life to feel free to come to visit me in the library, not only to get books on student bloggers, but to ask my advice and help with setting up a blog. I would like to be able to be that person who can help a student realize his or her goals or interests and I feel that librarians do just that. When I do reader's advisory interviews one of the first things I ask is what are your interests, what do you like to watch on TV, what jobs do you think are cool, etc. I feel that librarians are in the perfect position of learning student's interests and thus,they can help work with the teachers to connect that student's interest with what they are learning in school. For example, say as a librarian I know that I have several students who really like to blog. They are really interested in telling stories and have been running their own blog for a few years now. I might suggest to the English teacher who is having students keep a reading journal, that perhaps the teacher might want to give their students a choice of keeping a reading journal or blogging about what they are reading.

 Now the one thing I did not agree with in this video was that the only way to connect students to the real world is to get rid of standards. On the contrary, I think that standards are the way that we can measure students' work to ensure that they are all understanding the basic information we want them to understand. While I think that students should have personal learning goals and I think that students should try to understand how what they are learning is going to effect them in real life, I don't think we need to get rid of standards to do that. Over the summer I took 618: Information Policy. In this class we had to do look at public sector information (data collected by the government). My group choose to look at public sector information and how it related to education. We found that the government collected a great deal of information; everything from satellite information to information about currents in the ocean and all of that information was available for the public to see and use. Websites like NOAA and NASA took the scientific data that they collected and often posted it on their websites along with sample lesson plans of how teachers can use this information. For example, there might be a lesson plan about students using NASA data to see if there is a relationship between water vapor and temperature of clouds. This has students using actual real world knowledge to help them understand topics they are learning about in class. Perhaps this may make students more interested in studying science or technology when they go to college.

 There are plenty of ways for teachers to connect what is being learned in school to the real world, this will add relevance to students lives and will allow students to see why what they are learning is important. However, that does not mean we should get rid of standards. We should still strive to get students to reach standards, just not by making them memorize facts. Now I understand this is difficult with state testing, but I don't think it is impossible. And I believe that librarians can help provide technology, websites and books that can help teachers connect their subject areas to the real world.

Jennifer Hemmings-Jones: Making a Difference as a Librarian

A 30 second video describing how I plan to make a difference in my students' lives.

Technology and the Librarian

"Its like Facebook only for teachers" This was what someone told me last Wednesday, I have to say I was a little doubtful, but when I actually started using the website I was surprisingly pleased. I'm talking, of course, of Edmodo. Some of you may have heard of it, or some of you may be like me who always seems to hear things after it has become a big thing. At any rate, it is fantastic! This is a completely free website that is basically Facebook for teachers. Your account is laid out very similar to face book, it allows you to collaborate with other teachers, and more importantly have a virtual connection to your students. Here is how it works, you create an account (again for free!) then you can make your page, add your picture, list the classes you teach, etc. Edmodo allows you to create assignments, polls or even quizzes on your account. For example, you can post a video you want the students to watch and make it an assignment. This means that students will have to view the video by the date you specify. Edmodo keeps track of how many students viewed the video, it allows them to make comments and it will send you an email letting you know what students participated and which did not. There are a lot more features to Edmodo and I encourage you to log on and check it out!

I have to say that this is just another example of all the excellent technology available to the use at schools. Students can use Animoto to create a video about their favorite scientist. GoAnimate can be used in English classrooms to have students recreate scenes for Romeo and Juliet. Dipity allows you to create interactive timelines that can make any historical event interesting! There are hundreds and thousands of these sites and more everyday that allows teachers to give a new spin to typical school work. Students are now able to present their information in creative and unique ways. Not only is this leading to more students being motivated and interested in school, it is also teaching students technology skills, which is incredibly important in today's world.

I learned about all of these sites from librarians. I think our profession calls for us to constantly be learning and finding knew websites or technology that will help our students learn better. Librarians are one of the only teachers who literally teach every student in the school. We also are one of the only teachers who work and collaborate with almost every teacher in the school. We are in a perfect position to suggest these new technologies and help embed them in the classroom. So make a list of some of the cool new technology you have found and next time you are at a staff meeting or are working with a classroom teacher, show them. Explain how this can help motivate students and might make a lesson plan more interesting. You never know, it may lead to more teachers wanting to work with you.


http://www.edmodo.com/

Sharing is Caring so why do I hate it?

I think I have talked about this before, but I wanted to bring this up again because it seems to be a trend with school libraries. Recently I read an article from the huffingtonpost that discussed how for this current school year Washington DC cut up to 58 librarians from schools with 300 kids or under. The article goes on to say that parents were outraged and that a lot of people are fighting to get this drastic cut overturned.

 However, Washington DC isn't alone. All across the country school districts with tight budgets are making cut backs. Common Core and school testing created a demand for the school librarian, however; school districts just can't seem to afford all of us. So what do they do? They decide to put a sharing system in place. In other words, libraries have more than one librarian. Now at first this sounds awesome, but what it actually means is that you could have a librarian who works at two different schools. So on Monday you have one librarian, a different librarian for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and another different librarian for Friday. And this just leads to confusion. Not only is it hard to share a library with another librarian, but it is also difficult to keep track of your students and teachers. Imagine having to keep track of two different sets of teachers, two different sets of school rules, two different sets of students. Collaboration is very hard in these types of situations. If you work in one library for four days of the week and then another library for the last day it is really hard to establish a collaboration with teachers in that second library. Thus, students in that second library do not get the same instruction experience. It is also hard to create a rapport with students. If you only see the students one day a week it may be hard to remember names or other types of information that you would know if you saw them on a more regular basis. It gets kind of daunting.

 Furthermore, communication always seems to get messed up in situations like these. A teacher tells the Monday librarian something, but the Tuesday Librarian has absolutely no idea about this and thus the teacher has to explain things all over again. Situations like these also lead to questions like, who orders the books? How do you organize the library if each librarian has different ideas?  It also leads to confusion when you are trying to get a book on  loan from another school library. If the school library has two librarians who do you email?

Granted, though this system is highly confusing I am happy that there is a system like this rather than just taking the library away from schools period. There are ways to make the system less confusion. First COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION. Leave notes when you leave for the other librarians, have a school email for the library that way you don't have to deal with the who do you contact issue. Though this might not be the best solution, librarians are making it work, but it does lead me to wonder will this become the permanent situation of the future or will we go back to having a librarian dedicated to just one school?

LaJoie, E. (2012, Aug 14). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/14/dc-schools-librarians_n_1753871.html

Need to bake an Elmo cake, no need to go to the store, just borrow one from the library

Sorry for those of you who read this that it took me so long to post again. Alas winter break likes to cast a spell over students in which they are unable to do anything productive. However, now is the start of a new semester and I am starting all new classes. The usual title of this blog post is from something I learned in IST 613. The class, which is on planning, marketing and assessing programs in libraries called for us to create a group and then pick a project to work on. The project my group picked was bakeware in libraries. At first I thought this was the a crazy idea, libraries that circulate bakeware? How would they clean them, who would use them, why would people go to the library to take out bakeware? All of these questions made me slightly skeptical about the project. However, upon doing research I found out that this wasn't something out of the ordinary, but, in fact, a practice that many libraries across the country currently do.

For many libraries it starts with a donation. Typically there is a member of the community who has a lot of cake pans (most of the libraries I found that circulate bakeware circulate mainly specialty cake pans). This member doesn't need the cake pans anymore so she simply donates them to the library. These are pans that are shaped like Elmo, Dora the Explorer, a Christmas Tree or even a heart for Valentine's day. These cake pans are relatively expensive and are typically only used once by the person who buys them. After all how many times are you going to bake a Dora the Explorer cake? When the libraries started circulating them people were ecstatic at the idea that they could take out these cake pans and use them. Libraries, especially ones with young mothers who brought their kids to story time, saw a dramatic need in their communities to have this type of material.

To top it off libraries aren't only circulating cake pans, there are libraries that circulate seeds, musical instruments, tools, etc. I think that people are so used to libraries circulating books, that many people don't even realize that libraries are there to serve the community and if the community really needs tools that can be loaned out, that is something a library can do.

My question is how receptive are communities of this idea? I know that some communities greatly embrace these non-traditional circulating items, but do many people take advantage of this service? How can a library convince their members that the library isn't only about circulating books?

IST 605 Pathfinder

Resources for Librarians who have Students with Disabilities Pathfinder

This is a pathfinder for librarians looking to redesign their library or their lesson plans to better accommodate students with disabilities. Though this is primarily targeting librarians in school libraries, any librarian, or educator can utilize these materials to make their environments and lessons more accessible to a great population.

Print Resources

Below are encyclopedias and book resources that can be used as a good starting off point when learning background information about disabilities.

Reference Books:

Encyclopedia of Disability

Encyclopedia of disability. (2006). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

This is an expansive, very detailed source on everything to do with disability. The encyclopedia attempts to cover as many regions of the world and types of disabilities as possible. Readers will find entries on specific disabilities, famous people who had disabilities and other issues in the disability field. This text is perfect for librarians who have students with disabilities because it will give them good background information on a specific disability. In addition, this encyclopedia comes complete with a number of primary sources involving people with disabilities which could be used in collaboration with general subject area teachers.

 The Complete Directory for People with Disabilities 2013: A Comprehensive Source Book for Individuals and Professionals

 Mars, L. (Ed.). (2012a). The Complete Directory for People With Disabilities 2013: A        Comprehensive Source Book for Individuals and Professionals (21st ed.). Grey House Pub.

This source provides comprehensive information on resources for people with disabilities. Providing information on lawyers, education policies, films, and manufacturers of items that are specifically for people who are disabled, this resource gives contact information and general information on any type of resource someone with a disability may need. This resource can provide information for a librarian’s their students, or for parents of the students who might need further information. It serves as a good informational reference for organizations and groups that may provide further information to make one’s library more accessible.

Books:

Different Brains, Different Learners

Jensen, E. (2010). Different brains, different learners: how to reach the hard to reach (2nd ed.).     Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.

            While other resources may explain what a disability is, this resource serves to explain why a student with a certain disability will act and learn a certain way. This resource focuses on how the brain works for different kinds of learners. Included are chapters on Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Emotional disability and various auditory disorders. This offers a unique perspective in what’s going on in a child’s brain. It also offers solutions on how to best reach these types of learners.

Education, Disability and Social Policy

Ruebain, D., & Haines, S. (editors) (2011). Education, disability and social policy . (1st ed.).Bristol, UK: The Policy Press.

            This resource provides great insight in various areas of disability and education. It discusses the history of disability and education, inclusion in classrooms and includes a section of various challenges students with disabilities face. The section on inclusion in classrooms provides excellent information on the history of inclusion as well as examples of how inclusion works and does not work.

Implementing Cost-Effective Assistive Computer Technology (How-to-Do-It Manuals) (How to Do It Manuals for Librarians)

Vincent, J. (2012). Implementing cost-effective assistive computer technology: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers Inc.

 This is a great book for librarians starting to add assistive technology, who have not had any experience with it before. This gives a good overview of various assistive computer technologies. This resource also discusses budgeting and cost issues related with implementing these solutions into one’s library.

Web Resources:

Websites:

AbleData: Assistive Technology Products, New, Resources

AbleData: Assistive Technology Products, News, Resources. (2012). Retrieved November 28, 2012, from http://www.abledata.com/

            This website is useful for all librarians, teachers, educators or anyone who will be working with students with disabilities. This website depicts all types of assistive technologies that students with disabilities use to make learning more accessible. The website allows you to pick items based on the type of disability they go with or just browse generally. Each item is given a description, price and how it can be used.

Americans with Disability Act Homepage

US Department of Justice. (2012, Dec 4). ADA home page. Retrieved from http://www.ada.govv

This website is run by the United States Government. Providing detailed information on the Americans with Disability Act, this is a good resource for librarians looking to understand the law and how it affects them in their professions. It includes links to government documents such as ADA Questions and Answers, or Guide to Disability Rights Laws.

Book Share

Bookshare.org. (2012) Accessible books and periodicals for readers with print disabilities bookshare Retrieved November 28, 2012 from https://www.bookshare.org/

            This is a website that requires membership, but allows anyone with membership to download textbooks, books, or newspapers and read them on a device that could help with their disability; for example, a computer with text-to-speech software, an iPad, etc. It also should be noted that Book Share is free to K-12 public and private schools with students with disabilities. This site is something for a school librarian to consider utilizing as a resource for her/his students.

National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities

NICHCY. (n.d.). A-Z Topics — National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities. National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY). Retrieved   November 28, 2012, from http://nichcy.org/publications/topics-az

This website purposely serves parents, teachers, educators or anyone who would like to better understand children with disabilities. This particular website is run similarly to an encyclopedia with A-Z topics that a viewer can choose from. However, these entries focus more directly on children and therefore have a great deal of information on schools and policies on disabilities for schools. This is a good website for librarians to browse if they have questions on policy, or terms they are unfamiliar with, for example “Least Restrictive Environment” or what the disabilities defined by I.D.E.A are.

National Instruction Materials Access Center (NICMA)

NIMAC. (2012, Dec). NIMAC: National instruction materials access center . Retrieved from http://www.nimac.us/

This is a free, federally funded depository that takes files and puts them in a format known as NICMAS or national instruction materials accessibility standards. These formats are a starting point and from these this website is able to create Braille materials, large print materials, or any type of material to help someone who is visually or print disabled.

Project ENABLE

        Project Enable. (2012). Retrieved November 28, 2012, from http://projectenable.syr.edu/

            This is a website created by Dr. Ruth Smalls of Syracuse University. The aim of this website is for school librarians to log in and take the course. The website holds information about IEPs, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (I.D.E.A) and other relevant topics that a school librarian might be expected to know. This course is great for librarians with no experience with students with disabilities, but also serves as a good refresher for a librarian who has forgotten some of the laws, policies or educational practices that revolve around students with disabilities.

Teacher Vision- Children’s Books About Disabilities

Children’s Books About Disabilities -TeacherVision.com. (2012). Teacher Vision. Retrieved November 28, 2012, from http://www.teachervision.fen.com/learningdisabilities/reading/5316.html

This resource provides a list of books that discuss or have main characters who are disabled. The great thing about this list is it is really comprehensive, giving a brief description as well as the ISBN and reading level of that book.

IDEA-Building The Legacy of IDEA 2004

US Department of Education. (n.d.). IDEA-building the legacy of idea 2004. Retrieved from http://idea.ed.gov/explore/home

This source holds various resources discussing and relating to the Individuals with Disability Act of 2004. This source gives information on the updated policies dealing with disability, but also serves to help educators understand the I.D.E.A. law. It is consistently updated and helps libraries and schools ensure their school environment is following I.D.E.A.

Articles and PDFs

Americans with Disabilities Act 2010 Design Standards

Department of Justice. (2010). 2010 ADA standards for accessible design. Retrieved from Federal Register website: http://www.ada.gov/regs2010/2010ADAStandards/2010ADAStandards.pdf

This site is run by the Department of Justice and this particular page provides a printable addition of the Americans with Disability Act Design standards for 2010. A downside to this source is it is quite lengthy, however; it does provide detailed information on what ADA design and building standards are and what a building (school library) has to do to uphold them.

The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies:

Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies. (2001, January 16). Library Services for People with Disabilities Policy. ASCLA. Retrieved November 28, 2012, from http://www.ala.org/ascla/asclaissues/libraryservices

The official opinion on libraries and disabilities as put forth by the American Library Association (ALA). This article found on the ALA website discusses policy on library services for people with disabilities. It covers everything from having library facilities accessible to having ALA publications in several different formats.

US Department of Education: Free and Appropriate Public Education for Students with Disabilities

US Department of Education. (2010, August). Free appropriate public education under section 504 Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/edlite-FAPE504.html

This document will help provide background information on education policy related to students with disabilities. This document explains FAPE, and why school librarians need to provide adequate resources for students with disabilities that will enable them to participate equally with non-disabled students. This document describes a librarian’s duties towards students with disabilities according to the law.

Journal/ Serial Resources

Journals/ Magazines

Disability Studies Quarterly

            (2012). Disability Studies Quarterly, Retrieved from http://dsq-sds.org/

This is the Disability Studies Quarterly Journal. This journal is published by the Society for Disability Studies.  This journal is an open access journal that provides information about disability through a series of articles, interviews and research studies. The articles are peer reviewed and available full text. This is useful for school librarians who may want to further their knowledge of the disability field. It can provide librarians with new ideas on working with students with disabilities.

Databases

The following are databases that can provide articles, journals and other types of information on libraries and disability. The following key words can be used to search these databases for good results.

Key search words: Students with Disabilities AND Library, School Media Specialist AND Special Education, School Libraries AND Special Education, Individuals with Disabilities Act AND Libraries, Americans with Disability Act AND Libraries, Disability , School Media Center AND Special Education, School Media Specialist AND Disability, Accessibility, Universal Design AND libraries.

Education Research Complete

Education research complete [database]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/ehost/search/advanced?sid=6d88e86d1de0 4d33-8ec3-113810a13954%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=14

This database had journals in all areas of education. It will provide a librarian with comprehensive articles on all types of issues related to disabilities and school libraries.This resource links to journals such as Library Journal and School Library Monthly.

Education Full Text

Education Full Text [database]. (n.d)Retrieved November 28^th from     http://web.ebscohost.com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/ehost/search/advanced?sid=8c31c3d094e649be-9683-39477585287c%40sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=14

 Another database that provides information on a wide range of education related topics. However, this database has purely full-text resources that discuss not only libraries and disability services, but teaching methods related to disabilities.

Video Resources

Disability Services at ASU Libraries

Disability Services at ASU Libraries. (2008). Retrieved from http://vimeo.com/1977497

This video discusses disability resources in ASU or Arizona State University, however; a lot of technology and resources that they discuss are great resources for school libraries. They discuss several types of assistive technology and how it helps students with disabilities. This resource is useful because it actually shows images and demonstrations on how people utilize the device, whereas other sources simply mention that it is useful. This would give a school librarian an idea of what might work best with their students.

Kurzweil 3000 v11 - Text-to-Speech - Complete Overview

Kurzweil 3000 v11- text-to-speech- complete overview. (2011). Retrieved from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xe5Dhf5_mM

            A previous resource mentioned above was Bookshare an organization that provides books that can be read on iPads, computers, lap tops, etc. One technology that Bookshare utilizes is Kurzweil 3000 which is an text to speech software that allows the computer to read the books aloud. This tutorial explains in detail how to use Kurzweil and all of its uses for students with disabilities.  This is useful for librarians and students who have never utilized this technology before.

Multi-Sensory Story telling

Why Multi Sensory Story Telling is Important. (2012). Retrieved from http://vimeo.com/36868362

This video discusses how having students with severe disabilities touch, hear or smell items in the story might get them more engaged. It might be an idea that librarians might want to bring to their classrooms or perhaps make a visit to the special education teacher’s room. This video has a link to the organizations website Touchingstories.org, which provides explanations on why this works and is a great starting off point for librarians researching how to include such a practice in their library.

People First Language

 People-First Language. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ0pKPxoyHs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This is a Youtube video that describes what people –first language is and why you need to use it when talking about or to a person with disabilities. This is essential to anyone who is working with someone who is disabled. This is an excellent resource because it explains what people-first language is and why it is important to utilize it.

 

Blog Posts

The e-future looks Bright – 

Strick, A. (2012, January 5). The e-future looks bright | Booktrust. Bookmark: Books and  Disability.  Book Trust. Retrieved from http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/children/bookmark/blog/285 

The Books and Disability Blog is something a school librarian might want to check for new ideas involving students with disabilities and how to involve them in reading and books. This blog post, from the Bookmark: Books and Disability Blog, discusses the importance of e-books for students with disabilities. This article discusses how having iPads can be a lot more helpful to a wider variety of students, especially students with low vision.

Podcasts

How Disabilities Has Influenced Architecture

Siegel, R. (n.d.). How The Disabilities Act Has Influenced Architecture : NPR. Retrieved from            http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128778558

This podcast discusses Universal Design. It not only defines what this concept is, but it also discusses how a library was designed using the universal design principals. This is a great resource for a school librarian who is looking to redo their library to promote accessibility. It will give you a good introduction as to why Universal Design is so important.