Pimp Your Library

Are you in need of a makeover? For your library, that is. That was the premise of a session at Educon 2.0 a recent education conference held at the Science Leadership Academy (SLA), a public high school in Philadelphia. The program, entitled “Extreme Makeover Library Edition: Learn How to 'Pimp' Your Library and Embrace 21st Century Change,” covered a range of 21st-century methods for ramping up library services. Most of these tools don’t cost a thing, and, better yet, enlist the participation of your core customers—kids.

“Wikis, blogs, VoiceThread, and SlideShare are all free sites, and free tools educators can use,” emailed Carolyn Foote, district librarian with Westlake High School in Austin, TX, who co-hosted “Extreme Makeover” with fellow librarians Joyce Valenza of Springfield Township High School in Erdenheim, PA, and Cathy Nelson of Conway (SC) Middle School. “And these are all tools that you can use with students on projects or share with your library outside of your own walls,” explained Foote, who wrote SLJ’s January 2008 feature on Skype, “See Me, Hear Me.”

Session participants, a mix of media and tech specialists, teachers, and students, shared their visions for libraries and sketched out a visual representation of their “dream” media center (above).

For those who couldn’t attend the January 25–27 Educon, many sessions were Webcast and archived, including “Extreme Makeover.” For more of the ongoing discussion, visit the Ning page.