Of Tech Woes and Comic Strips

 


When the vision aligns juuuuuust right...


    This week, as I completed my website evaluation assignment, my thoughts turned to my own library webpage.  I couldn't help it, really- it was hard not to feel some level of embarrassment for the state of it.  I don't so much as have a picture of myself up, let alone any of the eye-catching, attention-grabbing elements that characterized the examples in my evaluation.  It's not as if I haven't put in any legwork- I do have a digital pathfinder, and some info about how to access the GALILEO database- but this week's readings made me reflect on my role as a center for technological integration, and made me realize I ought to be doing more.

    Of particular impact was Wine's (2016) identification of the School Librarian as Information Specialist in this new era of digital curation.  Until now, I've been somewhat resentful of my role as glorified tech support, having to field the requests of an endless cavalcade of restart-requiring students and faculty.  What I did not consider was the necessity of being a liaison between my patrons and the breadth of new software and technologies available to enhance and evolve their educational experience.  Rather than focusing on fixing Canvas issues and troubleshooting emails, I should be using my library webpage as a hub for facilitating the adoption and discovery of new, useful tech resources- my teachers can't use what they don't know about, after all!

    To that end, I want to highlight a product that I found particularly interesting, featured on the AASL Best Digital Tools list- Pixton.  Having looked it over, Pixton seems to be exactly the sort of application that I ought to be incorporating into my list of teacher resources.  It's a service which allows for the creation of Bitmoji-like comic strips, using a variety of pre-built resources, and though my own personal opinions on the aesthetic are... somewhat unflattering, the prevalence of similar artwork in classrooms and bulletin boards around my school leads me to believe it would be a popular resource, indeed.

    Beyond merely providing it to teachers, however, I think I could also use it to support my library website.  In one of my evaluations, I noticed the use of informational graphics- reminders of how to find materials, how to access databases, etc- and it made me think about the proclivity of my students towards visual media.  Graphic novels are, after all, the largest part of my circulation, accounting for upwards of 80% of all books leaving my library; as such, creating library guides in a comic strip format could be an excellent way of presenting information in a form my students are more likely to consume than block text.

    Ultimately, I'm feeling more energized than ever to shape up my library page, and redefine my role from tech support to information specialist!

References:

Wine, L. (2016). School librarians as technology leaders. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 57(2). 207-220. doi:10.12783/issn.2328-2967/57/2/12

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