2018-08-24 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 1, Issue 7

Featured Story

Digital Literacy

I live with two natives; two digital natives, that is. My son, 16, is a moderator on a Discord chat and spends most of his evenings bouncing between youtube videos and homework. My daughter, 9, just created her first youtube channel and is working on producing “original content.” Like other preteens and teens they live their lives online, both in and out of school. I over wonder, though, how digitally literate are they? Can they judge an online article’s content and decide if it is useful or not? Can they communicate their ideas and give appropriate credit to the creators of content? Do they know how to navigate this slurry of ideas we call the World Wide Web?

As a school librarian one of the goals of my program is to create effective users of information. Students walk into my library every day able to log onto their Gmail accounts and then….. spend the next 10 minutes changing their Google themes. When it comes to basic word processing, online research, and other online tasks, they still need a lot of support. What’s more, many students still do not have reliable internet access at home. How can school library staff encourage the digital native to become digitally literate?

According to the article “Digital Native ? Digital Literacy” written by AASL members Ann M. Martin and Kathleen R. Roberts, school librarians have a major role in helping students achieve digital literacy. School librarians can:

  1. ensure equal access to digital tools.
  2. create opportunities for students to build confidence with technology through library lessons and other learning experiences.
  3. collaborate with teachers to help promote school-wide digital literacy.
  4. work with principals and instructional coaches on leadership teams and professional development for all school staff.
  5. communicate with parents through social media and allow access to online databases and library information outside the school building.

There are so many things school libraries are doing to promote digital literacy such as makerspaces and code.org clubs, in addition to creating engaging information literacy and library skills lessons. Yet none of us should assume our digital natives are fully digitally literate. That student who has spent all their time making sure they have a sweet background may not know where to go next. I encourage you to look for opportunities to support students in acquiring digital literacy skills.

– Gretchen Perkins

Fail Forward

We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.

Lack of Attendees

At our library, lots of people express interest in computer classes (resume writing, basic internet & computer skills, 3D design), but timing and ability to attend inhibit the number of attendees we get. I recently offered a program with zero attendees, and our last computer program had one attendee. Luckily, these repeated failures and near-misses are giving us lots of room to reimagine how we offer these programs and services. Can we:

  1. have more staff around so we can help the moment someone comes in?
  2. curate online lessons through our databases so customers can work at their own pace?
  3. offer computer drop-in programs regularly at different times each month so customers can come when it’s convenient for them and get help on the topic they need?

While we don’t yet know which direction we’ll try next, we do know that we have lots of room for experimentation.

– Kate Radford

Crush Corner

Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you in the work you do? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!

Latah County Library District Instagram

Over the past few months I’ve been totally crushing on the Latah County Library District Instagram. Not only do they have fantastic #bookface Friday posts, they also recently had some stop-motion animated posts that at SO COOL as well as some mischievous dinosaurs let loose in the library. What I love about this is that it is a fun, creative way to draw people into the library for story time, to check out a new book, or even use the copier. Check them out at https://www.instagram.com/latahlibrary/ or @latahlibrary on Instagram.

– Jessica Martinez

SPLAT explores new ways to build capacity and support library folk as they serve their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at splat.lili.org

SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and is funded in part with a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-00-17-0013-17). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.