Debbie will be speaking at AASL (American Association of School Librarians) 2011 National Conference, October 27-30. Following are the sessions she will be presenting.

Power Searching: Demystifying Popular Search Engines and Getting Quality Research from Everyday Tools (BYOL*)

Preconference session – Thurs., Oct. 27th, 8:30am – 12:00pm
Presenters: Debbie Abilock, Natasha Bergson-Michelson, Jole Seroff

Search engines we love them or hate them, but how many of us have the savvy to teach and use their full potential? Popular search engines have a handful of commands that transform a strong searcher into a masterful one. But only when combined with refined research methods focused on identification, visualization, iteration, and pursuit do students (and teachers) truly transform their confidence, competence, and engagement in undertaking research, both online and off.

Not in My Library! Self-Censorship Alive and Well

Concurrent session – Friday, Oct. 28, 8:00AM-9:15AM, Room M100 F/G

Who hasn’t struggled with what resources we should provide and what we dare not select? School librarians are champions of intellectual freedom. Easy to say, not so easy to do. We strive to select a balanced collection that reflects the needs and values of our communities. What about our own strongly-held beliefs versus the Code of Ethics? Where does informed selection end and censorship begin? Share an honest discussion about the sensitive topic of self-censorship.

• Debbie Abilock, Consultant, Author
• Helen Adams, Retired Public School Librarian
• Catherine Beyers, Library Media Specialist, Southern Bluffs Elementary School
• Alice Bryant, Instructional Librarian, Harpeth Hall School Library
• Carrie Gardner, assistant professor, Clarion University

Target Audience: School Librarians, Library Supervisors, Higher Education, Students, Public Librarians Working with Children and Youth

Tricky but Not Impossible – Smart Inclusion Strategies for School Librarians

Grade Level: K-3, 4-6, Middle/Junior, High
Saturday, Oct. 29th, 1:00PM-2:15PM, Room 200A

You bet it’s a challenge to give exceptional students the attention and resources they require. You’ve a room full of students, no aide – and the homeroom teacher is on a prep period. This session will provide an overview of helpful information on exceptionalities, plus real-life examples of inclusive learning in schools just like yours. In roundtable discussions, attendees will share their concerns about effectively differentiating to meet the needs of all students.

• Debbie Abilock, Educator
• Patti Foerster, Librarian, Vaughn Occupational High School

Target Audience: School Librarians, Classroom Teachers, Library Supervisors, Curriculum Specialists, Students, Public Librarians Working with Children and Youth

We hear from librarians and teachers how they are promoting NoodleTools to their students. Patricia McClune, a library coordinator at the Conestoga Valley School District, tells us about her approach.

Last school year we began using a Web-based product called LibGuides to create online pathfinders for a variety of school assignments. Each LibGuide is a one-stop shop for students. Our library guides are straightforward and nothing fancy. They follow the concept of “less is more” and assemble links to the most appropriate eBooks, databases, Websites and productivity tools for each assignment. Links on the LibGuides provide seamless access to those resources. We promote the use of NoodleTools by including a direct link to our school NoodleTools login page on each of the research assignment LibGuides. It was easy to create a custom widget by hyperlinking the URL for our NoodleTools login page to an image of the NoodleTools logo. Once that “widget” is created it can be reused on other LibGuides. Including a visual NoodleTools reminder encourages students to make use of the citation tool we prefer them to use.

Conestoga Valley High School freshmen. Photo credit: Patricia McClune

Our website host will be down for maintenance for approximately 2 hours on Wednesday, October 5. This will affect all NoodleTools services.

PST: 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. (October 4 to 5)
CST: 1 to 3 a.m.
EST: 2 to 4 a.m.

Get an inside look at NoodleTools, our web-based research platform for students, teachers, and librarians. Watch how students learn to cite, collect notes, develop an outline, and share research with other users. Teachers and librarians will learn how NoodleTools supports them throughout the entire research process. Join NoodleTools’ Damon and Debbie for a one hour demonstration and a Q&A session.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 12:30 PM PST / 3:30 PM EST. 60 minutes.
Thursday, October 13, 2011 12:30 PM PST / 3:30 PM EST. 60 minutes.

Register at http://www.noodletools.com/learn/webinars.php

University Laboratory High School

“Whodunnit?”

Ever feel booby trapped by a search engine? Imagine using an online catalog to search for a book, only your search sends you smack to page 129 of a book. You can’t see the author’s name, find the table of contents for the book, or even figure out when and where it was published. Web searches do the same thing, often landing you right in the middle of a web site. How do you find the information you need to cite the source?

http://uni.illinois.edu/library/computerlit/sourcing.php
Frances Jacobson Harris
Librarian

Debbie will be presenting a workshop on October 5, 2011 at the Florida Association for Media in Education (FAME) in Orlando, Florida.

A School-wide Lens on Evaluation: Who Knows What?

Young people need evaluation skills in a participatory digital world. Yet, they ditch our checklists and forget our mini-lessons in the dizzying stew of click-and-go wikified information. Well-publicized examples of doctored data and journalistic fabrications remind us that “truth” is complicated. Who is an authority when everyone is an author? How do culture and context impact evaluation? Can technology show us who to trust? We will apply new research to the age-old problems of evaluating information and will devise strategies for students (and teachers) in school and for “real.”

Please see http://www.floridamedia.org/?page=Conf_Workshops.

With more schools using e-book readers, we received questions about citing e-books in NoodleTools, “How do I cite an e-book on a device like a Kindle, Nook, or iPad?” To answer this question, we created Knowledge Base articles for APA and MLA formats:

(APA 6th ed.) How do I cite an e-book on a device like a Kindle, Nook, or iPad?

(MLA 7th ed.) How do I cite an e-book on a device like a Kindle, Nook, or iPad?

For Chicago format,  according to Chicago Manual of Style Online 14.166 an e-book citation should end with the name of the e-reader (e.g., Kindle edition) while the footnote or endnote could follow that with the chapter title or number (e.g., chap.2), a subheading or even a unique phrase that could be found by searching (Chicago Manual Q&A section).

A new NoodleBib online tutorial, “Creating an Outline,” is now available in NoodleTools Support Center under Tutorials.

http://www.noodletools.com/noodlebib/tutorials/outline/

This tutorial has captions.

We are very pleased to announce our newest team member, Amy Rogers. She will focus on communication projects, including accessibility and usability, online instruction, marketing and keeping our users informed of new developments.

Amy has a MLIS from the San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science and a B.S. in Economics from Mills College. She has years of web technology experience with businesses and nonprofits.

Amy is a nature lover and supports sustainable living. She loves science fiction and stories that focus on women, as well as classical cello music.

Over the past several years, our modus operandi has been to release a major software update in August, available just in time for the new school year. This summer, as we approached the final stages of development on a major, bottom-up redesign of Noodlebib’s citation management software, we realized we need more of a key ingredient – YOU.

While we have always welcomed customer feedback, between now and December we will be creating an Advisory Council of teachers and librarians who would like to spend some extra time evaluating NoodleBib’s powerful new look and feel. In September, Council members will receive early access to a beta version of the new user interface and teaching materials, to insure that the changes are useful and user-focused. If you are interested in an invitation, please submit a request using this form:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/advisory_registration

We’ll also be posting information on our blog, along with links to screencast tutorials that will help librarians, teachers and students become acquainted with the new teaching and learning interface. Later this Fall, we’ll be conducting webinars to teach some of the existing features of this powerful program.

Over Christmas break, the new version will be made available to all schools. If you are not ready to migrate to the new interface, there will be an administration option to continue using the old interface through the end of June 2012.

So. welcome back to school! For the first time, you won’t see any changes in NoodleBib when you return. But get ready – learning how to cite accurately will never be easier!

Thanks,
Amy Rogers
NoodleTools