Conclusion

At the beginning of this course, I feel that I accurately described my technology weaknesses. I didn't feel good about my abilities with technology, but I knew that I would work hard to try to improve. Sometimes when I take a class, I just view it as one more thing I need to take care of each day. However, I have actually learned much more than I thought I would it in this class. I especially liked the the textbook by Nancy Courtney: Library 2.0 and Beyond. This book has good, concise information about new technologies. It definitely needs an updated version since most of the research was done in 2006, but I still found it very helpful. I am also very glad that we had links to commoncraft.com for explanations of technology. The explanations are quick and easy to understand. I am very excited that I was able to create a wiki for my school district as my technology project. I have never been someone that people would go to for technology questions, but in the last month I've had friends ask me questions because they hear me talking about things I've learned in the class. I went to a technology integration teacher workshop three weeks ago and I was answering questions that many of the other teachers didn't know. I was shocked to realize that in just the short span of this class, I have acquired so much knowledge I didn't have before. Looking over my other blog entries, I feel tempted to go back and make a couple of changes based on new knowledge, but I think it is better to just be able to look back and see my progression. Do I still have holes in my knowledge of technology? Absolutely, but I no longer feel intimidated and frankly, ignorant, when I am faced with learning and figuring out a new piece of the puzzle.

Organizing Books and Materials

Although I have always loved to read, I never really thought much about organizing reading materials until I began working on my master's degree in library science. I can distinctly remember years and years ago being uncomfortable in my public library just learning to use microfiche. It was the late 80's and there was just one computer in the library used only for searching the library catalog. In my mind, there was no way I was going to try to use that thing because I had no idea what to do and I didn't want to embarrass myself. That was definitely a time when all of the knowledge of cataloging belonged in the hands of librarians.
We've obviously come a long way since that day, and I think it's great that more information is in many more hands now. The implications for librarians is that they have to figure out a way to remain relevant and helpful with the power of the organizational structure of materials shifting to "everyman". I really hate to admit that when I started working on this degree in library science, I thought it was just going to be an easy escape out of the exhausting daily task of being not just a teacher, but a good teacher. I never realized what a daunting task it would be to remain up to date with technology and hopefully even a step ahead, so that I can be helpful to those teachers like myself one day, who want to be creative and the best for their students but are too overwhelmed to keep up the pace of ever changing innovations. I don't see any real negatives in the ordinary person having the ability to organize information that was once only in the power of a few. I just realize now that I have to be a person who continues to learn until the day I die if I intend to be good at my job. Since I've always loved learning, it makes me more excited about the prospect of becoming a librarian. Where I once saw it as an escape (and possibly a boring one), I now see it as an opportunity to do what I love while really being able to help other teachers and students in meaningful ways.