Competency 3: Podcast

Competency three requires me to post a link to a podcast related to my blog topic. I tried all the podcast search links listed in the course documents and tried numerous keyword searches and never really found a serious academic podcast that I felt was relevant to my topic. I ultimately decided to include two podcasts I came across during my search on YouTube. The first link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrrZpbvI20&feature=related

This podcast is a clip from a 1946 U.S. Government career training film which, according to the podcast description, was most likely shown to high school students. This podcast was presented by "travelinlibrarian" Nov. 22, 2006. Although the film was made over sixty years ago, assuming it is legitimately a 1946 training film, much of the stereotypical descriptions of librarians and the roles they play in academic and public libraries is still relevant. They even use the term "teacher librarian" to describe the school librarian. They include references to the reference, circulation, and cataloging librarians in the public and academic libraries. The jobs they describe are very much still jobs performed by modern day librarians.

What I found to be most obviously missing is the use of modern technology in the role of the librarians and services they offer. Also missing are reading programs, such as Accelerated Reader, which have taken over many elementary and middle school libraries. There is no mention of AR stores or Book Fairs which often consume the time and energy of the school librarian. I am in the process of holding my fifth book fair this year, and we're only in the fourth six weeks of school! I have also had three AR stores and am in the planning stages of three more stores for the spring. This leaves very little time for collection development, cataloging, and most disturbing to me, no time for collaboration with faculty or library classes for students.

In sharp contrast to the 1946 film represented in the previous podcast, this next 2006 podcast entitled "A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto" produced by a Danish group, takes librarianship into the 21st century and beyond with expressions such as "I will recognize that the universe of information culture is changing fast and that libraries need to respond positively to these changes to provide resources and services that users need and want." I'm not sure AR stores and book fairs are included in the services, but I believe we, as school librarians must recognize the changes, continue to educate ourselves, and not resist the changes necessary to meet the information needs of future library generations. (I must warn you, one slide contains brief nudity.) Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZblrRs3fkSU&feature=related