Patron walks into a library...

...and asks,

What resources do you have to assist with my child's reading comprehension? I'm specifically looking for quizzes for the books s/he's reading to test vocabulary, etc. His school has quizzes...

 First I checked out the Accelerated Reading database. There are quizzes, but AR locks access to them at the public library level. After brainstorming with the Children's Librarian I've come up with the following (free) resources:

• Sylvan Learning Center has the cool Book Adventure site. It is free to register (I'd be on the lookout for email ads for their other products) and there are ~ 8,000 books that have quizzes. Discovery is a bit of a hassle, but you can select by grade and reading level and even choose subjects to narrow the search from within fiction and non-fiction.
• Look at the publisher's website for a given book to see if there are any quizzes or book group discussion questions that are prepared to supplement the reading, such as Harper Collins
• Look at Homeschooling Resources to see if there are any lesson plans pre-made for books. Sites such as EdHelper may have been prepped for homeschoolers. (Note, this site requires registration. I have not verified if it is free.)
• Check out the Adventure Reading Packs at Reading Rockets (this is a pretty cool site!) And their companion site Start with a Book!

Finally there's this tried and true, if perhaps time intensive, method: Read the book with your child!!! And ask him/her questions about the book. You know, have a conversation!!! If reading it is too difficult, I'd recommend getting the book on audio and listening to it in the car together. But I'm not going to leave you dear parent without book resources for the types of quizzes or activities you could create. If you, as the parent, need ideas try these:

• Teaching the Classics in the Inclusive Classroom: Reader Response Activities to Engage All Learners by Katherine McKnight.
• Texts and Lessons for Teaching Literature: with 65 fresh mentor texts from Dave Eggers, Nikki Giovanni, Pat Conroy, Jesus Colon, Tim O'Brien, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and many more
•  The DVD Reading for children. Reading Comprehension by Schlessinger, Andrew. Schlessinger Media. First Light Pictures, Inc. (I haven't seen this, so I haven't vetted it yet.)
• The Reading for every child comprehension, grades K-5. (At my system, this series is available as downloadable books.) The kindergarten workbook is perhaps for kids that have already made it through kindergarten and I would definitely say that the parent needs to be involved in guiding the child's use of the activities.

I realize that I'm starting to go down the rabbit hole here. And the original inquiry was for pre-existing quizzes for children's books. The short answer is, no, we don't. The long answer, well, see above.

Reading What My Boss Reads

I remember reading or hearing somewhere that if you want to move up in the (corporate) world, read not what is expected of you (to get your job done), but rather read what your boss reads. This way you are already familiar with the vocabulary and issues your boss faces and if you ever find yourself alone with said boss, you could possibly talk with her/him about something of their interest. And that sort of initiative could translate into tracking up. Hence my association with Library Administrator's Digest.

A few brief columns stood out to me in the April 2013 issue:

• Using LibraryExtension.com to see if your local library has a book that you find on Amazon. Genius! Issues are that it only works on Google Chrome (is that really so bad?) and that not all libraries support browsing their catalog in this third party app. (Sac Public does (and with ebook search!), my current system does not).
• Staff Training Options- one library system is encouraging staff to share what they learn and saw from either reading a professional literature book or from visiting a library. The second option really stands out to me because it supports collaboration by using our library allies in other jurisdictions to glean ideas for programs and services.

TexShare Databases or What We Can Get for Cheap

I'm not quite sure how this works, but in the great state of Texas, the state library has a "cooperative program" that regional library systems, academic libraries, etc can participate in, in order to have access to more resources, such as databases. I have no idea if it is paid for by the state library through state taxes (such as income tax) or paid for by the individual libraries on a subscription basis.

Anyway, it's budget time and there's been a change up in the resources being offered. I'm not going to list here what we had before or what we are keeping, b/c it is outside the purpose of this post. The purpose of this post is simply to note that there were some webinars that came out of the new additions. And I attended two this morning. Below are the notes from the sessions.

• Full text PDFs
• 720 videos
• 1500 resources indexed, 
• including books which don't read like ebooks, but you can click through the chapters
• In Advanced search, you can limit by greater than/ less than <> page numbers to find more detailed artilces
• Sharing articles is difficult b/c the user needs to login w/ username & password; so they would need their home organization's proxy link. (Best would be to log into library account first and then try links?)

AND

• This resource is more for the home owner/ weekend warrior and not so much for contractors, etc. They feature things that the average home handy(wo)man should be able to do.
• Be sure to look through the A to Z topics to have an idea of what there is for people to use. Examples are: Treehouse plans, ideas for small spaces, tiling, etc.

I'm glad I took the webinars b/c the trainer pointed some things out that I wouldn't have noticed or possibly bothered to browse. They look like cool resources and definitely as the trainer said, something to look through that is curated and good quality when the library is closed and at 2 in the morning you just got to peel the wallpaper off the bathroom walls.

All Ebsco products have a link to the support, training and promotional materials at the bottom of the page. I got the above images from there.

PLA Virtual Conference

My system has access to the PLA Virtual Spring Symposium Archive and I'm listening to stuff as part of my professional development and personal curiosity. First up is  

Practical Readers’ Advisory for Children and Teens

which I think is aimed at adult/reference librarians who have no clue how to talk to children. Some of the stuff I already know, such as, treat kids like you would adults by engaging in a reference interview. Some I've learned through experience, such as when you ask kids a question they may not answer or may take a while to answer because they have never been given the opportunity by other adults to voice their thoughts. (I once had an adult answer every question I posed to a child. It was QUITE irritating.)

Three resources the presenters recommend for keeping abreast of new stuff coming out are:

• http://nextreads.com/ - this is a service of NoveList. The interface says they are building something new.
• http://www.indiebound.org/indie-bestsellers  - This looks like a web version of BookPage, but not by Book Page.
• http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/alex - this is a list of adult books that have appeal for teens branching out.

For the section on recommending books that are above the reader's level. The response was to recommend high image materials such as:

• national geographic books or the Guinness record books
• magazines
• graphic novels, especially of classic literature 

Other recommendations were to:

• give them the audio version
• check online "gifted" lists such as:
• Hoagiesgifted.org/reading_lists.htm
• http://vcbconsulting.com/gtworld/
• https://depts.washington.edu/cscy/resources/ - check to see if the state of Texas (or wherever you happen to be) has a similar resource of reading lists for gifted and talented
• Introduce classics like Phantom Tollbooth that have rich vocabulary and introduce things like philosophy but are still within the maturity level of the younger reader. 

---

Then I listened and took extensive notes on 

The Closing Keynote Designing a 21st Century Roadmap for the Future of Public Libraries with Garry Golden of Forward Elements, Inc.

Futurists look at drivers of change:

• trends (continuities)
• events (discontinuity)
• choices (discontinuity)

to make suggestions on emerging issues. In terms of skill set for Librarians - a T shaped asset - the person would have a depth of knowledge in a given domain with the ability to apply that knowledge across various domains. (Like taking my digital libraries knowledge and being able to apply it to collection development, visual design online, providing programming, etc)

The trends Garry sees which are changes in behavior over time.:

• Moving from measuring outputs (size of collection, # of checkouts, # of attendees) to measuring outcomes aka lifelong learning
• "retooling" local (collections, focus on supporting local needs such as supporting successful small business creation), 
• designing the library for place based experiences, (maker spaces, allowing people to come together for their own purposes through study rooms, community spaces)

Lifelong Learning
Libraries evolving from being about access to helping communities master skills. The evolution of learning rose from the apprenticeship model to institutional model (a teacher with many students) to learner model where the individual drives their learning goals, modes and outcomes.

Khan academy- pace of learning is the key b/c individuals learn at different rates; "flipped" classroom is where the learners read the lesson at home and then come to school to do the homework together.

Question- how can libraries anticipate flipped classrooms?
Scaled instruction via MOOCs (massive open online classroom) - can we imagine this in libraries and how?

How: the library as place for instruction
The library could support interacting with instructors as they do with authors. How can libraries offer users more celebrity instructors, even local ones? What about youtube instructors? How about supporting community instructors via Skill Share. How can we help to manage experiences people have with these types of instructors? Can we create a collection of these resources? Yes. But think of the logistics of upkeep. What happens when those files disappear?

From 1998 to 2008, people got very comfortable with managing their profiles (social) online. Now the question of whether instruction is in person or is online is no longer sufficient. The question is whether the instruction is "software guided" or not. Software guided is instruction that moves toward adaptive learning platforms. For example the platform recognizes that the learnrt is better at math in the evening and reading comprehension in the morning. It then suggests or guides the learner to the best times and resources to support their current and future skill set.

Device data = behavior data. Will libraries be willing to use device data in the aggregate to learn about their users? For example, can an "I don't understand" button allow libraries to see where the hangups are in their processes?

How can libraries support users who want to share their story of mastery/ personal growth?

• use of badges
• evolution from resume to (online) portfolio to managing presence (various social media)
• Danny Hills Learning Graphs

Retooling Local
How do libraries provide local communities more information about themselves? Besides collection local information and making it available digitally. Garry gives the following as examples of online services that provide local information.

• Citizen science tools- Project Noah, or similar services
• Peer to Peer sharing via Neighbor Goods, RideShare type stuff

Place Based Relationships

• if users are willing to share their location info, can the library send alerts about new services, programs, resources based on what the user has done/ used before. 
• Can there be updates as to study room use? 
• Finally collaborative spaces (maker), creative aging spaces, craft spaces for "emergent" adults?

How can flexible physical spaces be reflected in the online environment?

Learning the RC: Nonfiction Reader's Advisory

I never would have thought that people would need reader's advisory for nonfiction. I mean, the premise goes like this: you need to know something. You go to the section of books that are about that something. You browse the stacks for the book that best meets that information need in that you can choose between a 200 page book or a 500 page book on subject X. You can select the book that has lots of call outs (a la the "for dummies" series) or you can get a visual guide (Master Visually series) or you get the book with lots of dense text (any "bible" of ). But then I think about the time I read The Big Year or To Paint Her Life. Both of these nonfiction works are informational, yet tell a story. In the case of Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, the element of pacing kept me interested to find out just what could happen next. These books have style. So I can learn something and enjoy the process. Who knew learning could be so much better than a text book?

A bunch of librarians who came before me, that's who. This bunch writes about N-F RA at length in the theoretical heavy NONFICTION: Readers' Advisory (025.54 NON). Each chapter addresses a different aspect of nonfiction RA, starting with the "new" creative nonfiction. I like the chapter on the kinds of "crafted truths" which looks at the "genres" of nonfiction such as "rescued histories" or "journeys and places." Other chapters address different audiences such as young readers and multicultural societies. Unfortunately, this book is a dense read, probably meant more for going straight to the chapters of interest rather than reading cover to cover.

The Real Story: a Guide to Nonfiction Reading Interests is more of a bibliography of recommended reads gathered under topics of interest.Topics are "true adventure," "travel," "true crime," "environmental writing," "science and math," "history," "biography," "memoirs and autobiography," "relationships," "investigative writing," and "making sense." Each topic gets a few paragraphs defining the topic (to clear up any confusion of what you're getting yourself into) and describing the appeal of the topic. Then the chapter jumps into annotated lists. I have to say that the writing style is very clear for this guide and I actually snuggled up to read it before going to sleep. (yes, I took the book home after the library closed, but don't tell anyone!)