The above is a Wordle, that I created is from our library’s program goals.

In Will Richardson’s book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Web 2.0 Tools for Classrooms, William D.
Winn, director of the Learning Center at the University of Washington, remarked about the neurological
effects due to immersion in technology. He stated, "... years of computer use creates children that think
differently from us. They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. It's as though their cognitive
structures were parallel, not sequential. ...today’s students may not be well suited to the more linear
progression of learning that most educational systems employ." The wealth of information on the
Internet is both wonderful and overwhelming. As librarians, we need to meet the needs of these hypertext
kids. Because of this information explosion, today’s media centers have changed dramatically in the last
few years.

In Laura Brook’s article, Old School Meets Library 2.0, she states “Selecting literature and managing
collections is an "old school" role. Just like language evolves, just like the town grange has evolved from a
listserv, forum, to a wiki, we must too evolve to meet the 21st century needs of both our students and
colleagues. We must know how to select, adopt, and promote new technologies to bump our media
programs to a place of prominence as innovative models for teaching and learning in our schools.”

Now our schools must prepare students for service and creative professions, some that even haven’t been
developed yet. Coming back into the profession six years ago, I’ve had to make changes to reach these
digital native students. I’ve tried to make my library services available remotely. e.g. our online public
access catalog (OPAC) my webpage with resource links, a blog, wiki, etc. I’m introducing web 2.0 tools to
them: VoiceThread, Jing, Diigo, Glogster etc. Staying abreast of new tools is challenging, but stimulating.
As Stephen Abram declares in No Librarians Left Behind, it’s an “information ocean, not a highway”.

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The above chart depicts how as a library media specialist, I’m dependent on many. Expanding my
outreach and visibility is vital for maintaining a successful library program. I plan on offering more
Cyberstudio classes to our community members. These will encompass training on free on-line resources,
Web 2.0 tools, and Microsoft Office software.

To increase our visibility, I will submit an article to our community press about our successful book drive.
During October and November 09, we collected over 3,000 gently used children’s books from parents,
faculty and the community for a flooded school in the Philippines.

I plan on having an evening book club discussion with parents and their children to coincide with the
Public Library’s “On the Same Page” program.