Student-painted Author Portraits in the Library

Several years ago AP art students made these paintings which were to hang in the English Department hallway. Fortunately for us, the fire marshal said they couldn't mount them in the corridor because of fire regulations. The teacher asked me whether we could use them in the Library. Of course, I said yes. It took several years before we got them mounted permanently but they have graced our walls for awhile now.
They are a neat tribute to the student artists as well a wonderful addition to the ambiance of the Library.
Since then we've had students make paintings for the ends of our fiction and non-fiction shelves. And last spring the Art Honor Society members made a wonderful mural of characters from "Where the Wild Things Are" which hangs on the front of our circulation desk. We have a very colorful Library, indeed.

The TED Commandments

Image via WikipediaThese Ted commandments of public speaking have recently been making the rounds in communities I belong to. They come from a page entitled: For hosts: Designing your event: Preparing Speakers.
They would seem to be great whether you are preparing a presentation for class or giving a speech at work or the Rotary Club. Take a look.

The TED Commandments
These 10 tips are given to all TED Conference speakers as they prepare their TEDTalks. They will help your TEDx speakers craft talks that will have a profound impact on your audience.
1. Dream big. Strive to create the best talk you have ever given. Reveal something never seen before. Do something the audience will remember forever. Share an idea that could change the world.
2. Show us the real you. Share your passions, your dreams ... and also your fears. Be vulnerable. Speak of failure as well as success.
3. Make the complex plain. Don't try to dazzle intellectually. Don't speak in abstractions. Explain! Give examples. Tell stories. Be specific.
4. Connect with people's emotions. Make us laugh! Make us cry!
5. Don't flaunt your ego. Don't boast. It's the surest way to switch everyone off.
6. No selling from the stage! Unless we have specifically asked you to, do not talk about your company or organization. And don't even think about pitching your products or services or asking for funding from stage.
7. Feel free to comment on other speakers' talks, to praise or to criticize. Controversy energizes! Enthusiastic endorsement is powerful!
8. Don't read your talk. Notes are fine. But if the choice is between reading or rambling, then read!
9. End your talk on time. Doing otherwise is to steal time from the people that follow you. We won't allow it.
10. Rehearse your talk in front of a trusted friend ... for timing, for clarity, for impact.

Digital Literacy Pathways in California

Image via WikipediaIn response to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order S-06-09 issued last May calling for the advancement of digital literacy in California, the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Digital Literacy Leadership Council has released a formal definition of digital literacy and a strategic plan for advancing digital literacy for residents of all ages. In doing so, California becomes one of the first states in the nation to formally define, develop and promote ways of ensuring that all Californians are capable of using digital technologies in their work and to support lifelong learning. The full report, titled “Digital Literacy Pathways in California,” can be found on the State Chief Information Officer’s website at www.cio.ca.gov.
The report defines digital literacy as “a lifelong learning process of capacity building for using digital technology, communications tools, and/or networks in creating, accessing, analyzing, managing, integrating, evaluating, and communicating information in order to function in a knowledge-based economy and society”.  The definition of Digital Literacy adopted by the Leadership Council reflects a desire for knowledge, skills and competencies that go beyond the technical operations of a computer or other technology device.
The California School Library Association recently set up a task force to help insure a strong place at the table for school libraries in the initiative for all of California's residents to be digitally literate.

Related articles

• Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action | KnightComm (knightcomm.org)
• Digital Literacy California CIO Series -Michael Peevey, President Cal Public Utilities Commission-We Need to Get Up to Par (ducknetweb.blogspot.com)

A Digi-Desiderata

Some may remember the Desiderata from college or high school. Here's an updated version from Nancy Willard, Director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, for the Internet Age.

Related articles

• Desiderata (journeyamerica.wordpress.com)

News from the CSLA/CLA Conference

Last week I attended the first joint California School Library Association (CSLA) / California Library Association (CLA) in memory. It afforded me a great opportunity to mingle with my school library colleagues from across the state and meet many librarians from other kinds of libraries, public, academic, and special, as well.
I have, for the past year, been President of the Northern Section of CSLA and as of the Conference I began my one-year term as Past-President. It's been most enjoyable working with my friends on the Northern Section board to promote school libraries in many different ways and develop workshops for our members across the northern counties of California. One of our most important state-wide accomplishments this year was the adoption of draft Model School Library Standards by the State Board of Education in September. They will be finalized in January and published soon after and will be the first state education standards aligned with the new national Common Core standards.

Welcome to Bessie Chin Library Leaves

For many years the librarian has fairly regularly published articles in the Post, Redwood's parent newsletter. With the new more interactive and electronic version of the Post, you are now linked directly from the Post's web page to the Library's news blog, Library Leaves.
We post articles here at least monthly which aim to keep students, staff and the community apprised of things happening in the library as well as links to cool web tools and sites and tips on how to use the information resources of the Library efficiently and effectively.
Enjoy!

Tom Kaun
Redwood Teacher librarian

Material Meets Metaphor

Pioneering book artist Richard Minsky will speak about his life and work at the Yale University Library, New Haven, CT. Please join us on Tuesday, October 5, 2010, at 1pm in the Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, 130 Wall Street. Light refreshments will be served after the talk. This event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Yale University Library Standing Committee on Professional Awareness.

This event is held in conjunction with the current exhibit at the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library “Material Meets Metaphor: A Half Century of Book Art by Richard Minsky” on display through November 29, 2010. The entrance to the Haas Family Arts Library is in the lobby of the Loria Center for the History of Art at 190 York Street, a short walk from Sterling Memorial Library. The exhibit is open to the public from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm on the day of the lecture.

Richard Minsky, contemporary book artist and founder of the Center for Book Arts in New York City, is known for his conceptual approach to hand bookbinding and commitment to changing the perception of the book arts from craft to fine art. He combines a background in Economics with an innovative use of traditional methods and new materials to create sculptural, often political bookworks. The blending of an eclectic mix of interests, from musical and theatre performance to social issues and virtual worlds, remain a hallmark of Minsky's career. This exhibition showcases his editioned (non-commissioned, made in multiple copies) bookworks alongside selections from the Richard Minsky Archive, which documents the history of his career and his working process.

A PDF catalog of the exhibition is free to view and download.