Island School Library Blog

What reading does for your mind

2008-08-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

I have come across a fascinating article that superbly illustrates why recreational reading is so important, especially to young people as they grow up.

The article argues that students will usually pick up new words outside of the classroom. In other words, you do not normally learn new words by having your teacher explain them to you. Many studies have been done that support this point of view. How then do we pick up new vocabulary? The answer is by being exposed to new words, both verbally and in print. Conversation, books, newspapers, magazines, and television are all sources from which we learn new words.

However, these sources are not equal. In 1988 a study was done by Hayes and Ahrens which looked at how many rare words there were in various sources of spoken and written language. A rare word is defined as one being outside the top 10,000 most commonly used words.

Here are some selected findings:

Newspapers: 68.3 rare words per 1,000
Popular magazines: 65.7 rare words per 1,000
Children's books: 30.9 rare words per 1,000
Popular prime-time adult television: 22.7 rare words per 1,000
University graduates conversing with their friends and spouses: 17.3 rare words per 1,000

What we can see here is that printed texts have many more rare words, and therefore more opportunity to learn new words. Even books written for children have more rare words than television programmes made for adults.

The article also examines why children who do more recreational reading tend to perform better academically. In another 1988 study, it was found that 30% of children did on average only about 1 minute of reading a day. In a year, such children will read about 100,000 words, which seems like a lot.

However, children who put in a little effort and read for about 20 minutes a day will read 1.8 million words in a year. Just imagine how many new words such children are exposed to. It really is no wonder that these students perform better at all subjects, not just English. Having a good vocabulary lets you express yourself better, which helps you in every subject.

So the obvious conclusion is to set aside some time every day for reading. It doesn't have to be a book - magazines, newspapers, and quality Internet sites are all excellent sources of new words.

Source:

Cunningham and Stanovich (2001), 'What reading does for the mind', Journal of Direct Instruction, vol. 1, no. 1-2, pp. 137-149.

Your Librarian is leaving...

2008-08-09T01:56:00.000-07:00

It is with mixed emotions that I announce that I am leaving Island School to join the Hong Kong Baptist University Library. On the one hand I am excited about the opportunity, but I am also reluctant to leave the school after only one short year.

I'm not sure what will happen to the blog - it will be up to the new librarian as to whether it will continue.

Christmas comes early!

2008-05-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

You will of course remember way back in March the Library announced during Book Week that the PTA had donated the sizeable sum of HK$150,000 to the Library for new books. Well, the first shipment finally arrived last week, and Library staff have been working flat out to get them on the shelves as quickly as possible:

Just arrived!

Fresh out of the box!

Ready for borrowing!

So what are you waiting for? Get yourself down to the Library and check out a shiny new book! I've already read Darkness Creeping (TF SHU), a collection of creepy tales in the same vein as the Horowitz Horror series. Now I'm halfway through Bunker 10 (TF HEN), a thriller about teenage geniuses that work for the military.

This shipment represents only a small fraction of the total PTA donation. More books are on their way so keep checking back!

Facebook security warning

2008-05-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

One of the most popular Web 2.0 applications among Island School students is Facebook. This is a social networking site that lets people send messages, and to share photos and play games with each other as well. In the Library, you can often see Sixth Formers using their free periods (somewhat unwisely, in my opinion) to update their Facebook profile. While using Facebook in school is not prohibited, I would encourage students to think carefully about how they are using their study periods.

But apart from being a distraction from the revision that you are supposed to be doing, there are other reasons to be concerned about Facebook use. Recently the BBC technology programme Click aired a segment on how they had written a data mining application for Facebook in less than three hours.

Such an application can pretend to be just a game, but secretly it is collecting your personal details and those of your friends, and e-mailing them back to the application's author. Most worryingly, it can collect the data of your friends, even if your friend has set tight security settings.

Because applications run on third-party servers not run by Facebook, it is difficult for the company to keep track of what is going on. Facebook are aware of the problem, but if your details are stolen they won't be legally responsible. The terms and conditions of use that you agreed to (but probably didn't read) mean that Facebook won't be held liable.

This doesn't mean you should stop using Facebook, but you need to be aware of the risks. Consider changing your privacy settings, and read Click's Facebook security advice.

Watch the segment below:

Here is the link to the article on the BBC Website:

Identity 'at risk' on Facebook

No cookies in the Library

2008-04-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

Funniest. Cookie Monster. Ever.

Wired Magazine

2008-04-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

This post is to draw your attention to one of the new magazines that the Library has subscribed to. Wired is an American magazine that explores how technology affects our society, economy, and culture.

The articles are all well worth reading. In this month's issue there was a very interesting piece on how one car company has allegedly taken advantage of the popularity of the electric car concept to swindle many small investors.

You can access the online edition of the magazine here.

Asimov's Foundation

2008-01-20T07:13:00.000-08:00

One of the Library's goals is keep its collection fresh. Apart from buying new titles, we also try to replace our old copies of classic works with new ones as they wear out. It was during this process that I discovered the Foundation series written by Isaac Asimov. The Library had some very tatty old copies of this series. Asimov is of course very famous but I had never read any of his books. When the shiny, brand new copies arrived I decided to take the opportunity to read them.

I was instantly hooked, and over the Christmas holidays I read the entire original trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation). It is set in the far future, so far that humanity has spread across the galaxy and forgotten which planet originally gave birth to the species. The galaxy is ruled by an Empire that has existed for over 10,000 years, but its huge size has set it on the road to terminal decline.

One man, the genius Hari Seldon, uses the science of psychohistory to mathematically predict the decline and fall of the Empire. It will lead to a 30,000 year dark age where humanity will live in chaos and confusion. But Seldon believes that with intervention this can be shortened to 1,000 years. He sets into motion a Plan that will span dozens of generations, but it turns out that there are some things that even psychohistory cannot predict.

The story is breathtaking in its scope, yet Asimov is able to effectively entwine centuries of galaxy-changing events with the lives of individuals. Anyone who considers themselves a science-fiction or fantasy fan owes it to themselves to read this amazing series of novels.

Also noteworthy is the fact that the Foundation series won the Hugo Award for Best All Time Series, beating The Lord of the Rings, among others.

You can find the Foundation novels in the Senior Fiction collection, under ASI.

Reference:

Wikipedia, 'Foundation Series'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_Series

Year 6 visits

2008-01-14T06:37:00.000-08:00

It is the time of year when we welcome future Island School students to the school for the first time. During their visits the students will get a chance to have a look around, and this includes the Library. I will get a chance to talk to them about one of the most important resources in the school, and let them know about the role that this and other libraries will play in their future academic careers.

Our visitors will be asked to use this blog post to comment on their Island School Library visit. I really hope that their first visit is enjoyable as well as educational.

Librarianship - an obvious career choice!

2008-01-07T06:18:00.000-08:00

This will be of particular interest to our senior students thinking about the world of work - US News and World Report has released their list of 31 top careers for 2008. These jobs have good prospects and high job satisfaction.

Naturally, I was totally unsurprised to find that librarianship ranked among these top career choices. From the article:

"Forget about that image of librarian as a mousy bookworm. Librarians these days must be high-tech information sleuths, helping researchers plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records. It's an underrated career. Most librarians love helping patrons dig up information and, in the process, learning new things. Librarians may also go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They even get to put on performances, like children's puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders. On top of it all, librarians' work hours are reasonable."

If you want to find out more about librarianship as a career choice, I am willing to talk exhaustively on the subject.

The Future of Reading?

2007-11-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

In the latest edition of Newsweek, the cover story is about the Amazon Kindle. This is the device that the CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, is betting will change the way that we read books.

The book has had 550 years of technological development, and early predictions at the start of the Information Age of the demise of the book have been wrong. Defenders of the physical book say that it is a perfect invention that cannot be improved upon. Also, they believe that you cannot reproduce the reading experience on an electronic device.

Bezos believes that the Kindle has successfully addressed these areas of concern. One key feature is the use of a technology called E Ink, which forms letters by rearranging chemicals underneath the surface of the screen. This makes the page look a lot like a printed one. Amazon claims that this technology allows the user to read the device even in bright sunlight. It can hold 200 books, a total which can be expanded through the use of memory cards. Buying books is very convenient, as users can buy books wherever they can receive a mobile phone signal.

So does this mean the end of the book as we know it? It is difficult to tell. One thing that will put off many people is the US$400 (HK$3100) price tag. And while Amazon has assembled a veritable legion of noted authors to promote the Kindle, it remains to be seen whether the device will be adopted on a big enough scale to seriously challenge traditional books. However, the Kindle does demonstrate that e-book technology is beginning to mature, and may well be a major method of delivering books to readers in the near future.

What do you think? Come to the Library to read the Newsweek article, and check out the video demonstration of the Kindle on Amazon's website:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mQOQX2V7KT9ZY

Reference:

Levy, Steven (2007) 'The future of reading', Newsweek, vol. 150, no. 22, pp.64-71.

Periodicals

2007-11-18T17:17:00.000-08:00

Periodicals (or serials) are titles that the Library receives on a regular basis - weekly (like The Economist), monthly (like Sight & Sound), or longer.

These titles should be a big part of your Library diet. You can't rely on just your textbooks to become well-read about your subjects. Reading periodicals helps you to keep up to date with the latest developments in the subjects you are studying.

Many of the articles are also fascinating. For example, an article in the latest Biological Sciences Review caught my eye. Entitled 'Fleas: Circus artistes or mass murderers?', it features some very creepy close-up pictures of the insects. They are amazing creatures - the tropical rat flea can jump repeatedly 600 times an hour for three days!

The periodical collection aims to provide a wide variety of titles to match the information needs and interests of all students. I would encourage everyone to spend a little bit of time regularly to browse through the collection.

Reference:

Logunov, D.V. (2007), 'Fleas: Circus artistes or mass murderers?', Biological Sciences Review, 20 (2), pp. 25-28.

Book review

2007-11-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

Archangel by Robery Harris

(Call number SF HAR)

For Interim Week I had the privelage of assisting with the extremely enjoyable and well-run Year 7 Camp. There were hardships to endure, such as freezing wind and rain on the day trip to Tap Mun, and the food was somewhat monotonous. It was also thoroughly exhausting! However, I was absolutely determined to use the little spare time I had to get through reading an entire novel. Embarrassingly for a librarian, it had been several months since I had last read a work of fiction from beginning to end.

The book I chose to bring along was Archangel, a thriller written in 1999 by Robert Harris. Harris' first novel was Fatherland, which took place in an alternate version of the 1960s in which Germany had won the Second World war. In fact, Harris sarted his writing career producing works of non-fiction, and he used to work at the BBC on programmes like Panorama and Newsnight. His knowledge of politics and history allows him to construct very convincing backdrops for his characters.

In Archangel, the setting is a grim post-communist Russia. Fluke Kelso is an historian that specialises in Soviet history, and is especially fascinated by Josef Stalin, whose brutal rule over the USSR lasted throughout the 1930s and 1940s. At the beginning of the novel Kelso interviews an old man named Rapava who claims that he was present at the death of Stalin and knows the whereabouts of secret documents that belonged to him.

Kelso's search for the documents leads him to Archangel, a coastal city far to the north of Moscow. Here he has a terrifying encounter with the astounding legacy that Stalin has left to the Russian people. You'll have to find out for yourself exactly what that legacy is!

This book is a suspense-filled page turner that I think is extremely well-written. The author's descriptions of modern Russia, the crumbling Soviet-era housing projects that stand in stark contrast to glitzy new boutiques, effectivley convey the contradictions Russian society is experiencing. The hardships faced by the mass of poor Russians, and the longing of some to return to the Soviet period when everyone was at least guaranteed food and a job, is a key theme of the novel.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an exciting read, especially to those with an interest in history or politics. Note that it is in the Senior Fiction section due to violence and coarse language throughout.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Harris_%28novelist%29

Banned Books Week

2007-09-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

The first week of October is Banned Books Week in America. Observed since 1982, this event celebrates freedom of expression as enshrined in the First Amendement of the United States Constitution. The slogan of the event is "Free people read freely".

In Hong Kong, we have similar rights. Article 27 of the Basic Law states that:

"Hong Kong residents shall have freedom of speech, of the press and of publication".

I think that it is important that we all remember not to take these rights for granted, so I will be adding some displays in the Library and putting some material on the website to try and raise awareness of this issue.

The event is known as Banned Books Week because readers are encouraged to take a look at books that people have tried to censor. Did you know that the Harry Potter books are the most challenged series of the century? While most concerns centred around the promotion of witchcraft in the books, others complained that Harry and his friends challenged the authority of adults too often, and "would lead children to hatred and rebellion"!

While I think everyone is entitled to their opinion, nobody has the right to deny others access to information. No free society can exist when other people do your thinking for you.

Here are a few of the 100 most frequently challenged books for 1990-2000 that we have in the Library, along with their call numbers. Read them for yourself and savour your freedom to read!

I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou - 920 ANG

Alice (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - TF NAY

The Giver by Lois Lowry - JF LOW (A brilliant book by the way, one of my favourites)

The witches by Roald Dahl - JF DAH

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - TF PAT

For the full list, click here

References

Krug, Judith (2007). 'Harry Potter and the Censor's Flame', http://www.ilovelibraries.org/news/topstories/potteroped.cfm

Referencing for dummies

2007-09-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

Regular readers (all three of you) may have noticed that in my posts I am very careful about telling you where I am getting my information. Usually I do this by putting the names of the sources I have used at the end of each post. These notes are called references or citations. Referencing is something that all students need to get into the habit of doing as soon as possible. I personally didn't have to start referencing until I got to university. It was quite overwhelming to have to learn how to reference properly at that late stage.

Why do we need to bother about referencing?

It demonstrates to the reader the reliability of your sources.
It shows the reader how widely you have researched a topic.
It helps prevent plagiarism.

Plagiarism is basically a fancy word for cheating. Specifically, it means trying to pass off someone else's work as your own. Referencing helps you avoid being accused of plagiarism, because you are giving credit those authors whose work you have used in your writing. However, this doesn't mean that you can copy big chunks of a textbook and just make sure the chunks are properly referenced! Use direct quotes sparingly, and focus more on using other author's ideas to support your own arguments.

I would suggest not even thinking about plagiarism, not just because it is dishonest, but also because you would almost certainly be caught. Institutions have been building up vast collections of essays and reports. When you hand your work in, it can be compared to these and the computer will instantly be able to tell whether yours is an original piece of work.

Year 12 students will receive information literacy sessions focusing on academic honesty in Term 2.

The Library - not just a place to find books!

2007-08-25T23:46:00.000-07:00

After a busy first week back, I thought that I would reflect on the role of the school library in student learning. For a long time, school libraries were seen as mere repositories - places where students and teachers came to check books out as they needed them. This might have been good enough when learning was measured by how many facts students could regurgitate in an exam. But those days are long gone, and today's learner is expected to be able to engage in independent inquiry-based learning. The adoption of the IB curriculum at Island School is perhaps the most obvious sign of this change. To succeed, students need to be able to manage information overload, find meaning in diverse messages, and construct personal understanding from inconsistent or incompatible information (Kulthau, 2003).

Why is the Library essential in helping students acquire such skills? The Library is still a repository, and much effort will be put into maintaining a relevant collection of both print and electronic materials. Librarians are also trained in information retrieval, making them the natural choice to teach these skills to students.

With all of the administrative work asociated with the start of term - timetabling of lessons, the introduction of the Octopus card system, etc., it is sometimes easy to lose sight of one of the core goals of the Library. That is helping our students become information literate, and devising ways to help make this happen will be a big prority.

Reference:

Kuhlthau, C. (2003) 'Rethinking libraries for the information age school' in School Libraries in Canada, vol. 22 no. 4 pp. 3 - 5.

The Philosophy Gym

2007-08-16T20:46:00.001-07:00

One of the best parts of librarianship is going through all of the lovely new books that we order for the Library. I enjoy having a quick look through the books during the cataloguing process. I do have to be careful though, as sometimes a quick look can become a 20-minute reading session, and then I have to stay late to finish the cataloguing!

The latest book to grab my attention in this way is The Philosophy Gym by Stephen Law. Bought by the Library to form part of the Theory of Knowledge collection, the author describes it as "a course in thinking philosophically". Each chapter deals with a specific philosophical question, and each problem is classed according to the amount of intellectual effort required, from 'warm-up' to 'more challenging'. Some examples of the 25 questions considered are:

Is time travel possible?
Should you be eating meat?
Can we have morality without God and religion?
Do we ever deserve to be punished?

I found this book really hard to put down. Each chapter is self-contained and only takes about 20 minutes to read, so you can give your brain a work out whenever it is convenient!

Graphic novels

2007-08-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

Graphic novels are sometimes dismissed as mere comic books that are not worthy to sit alongside tradition novels in the library. However, it is by no means true that graphic novels always have low reading levels (Young 2007). Many titles are challenging and are aimed at older readers. Visual learners are able to engage more easily with the artistry of the images used in such novels.

With the above points in mind, I have decided to start a graphic novel collection aimed at older students. Hopefully these books will arrive before the start of term. Below are some of the highlights:

Watchmen by Alan Moore; illustrated by Dave Gibbons

The only graphic novel to appear on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present. It was the first superhero series to present itself as serious literature, and presents its characters as real people dealing with ethical and personal issues.

David Boring by Daniel Clowes

An extremely unusual story, it details the misadventures of the title character. Many of these are the result of David's attempts to find a woman matching his feminine ideal, which usually have disastrous consequences.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

An autobiographical story that follows the author's childhood in Iran following the Islamic revolution in that country. It is critical of the deep political and personal repression that exists in Iran. It was recently made into a film that drew complaints from the Iranian govenrnment even before its debut.

I have initially ordered 30 titles for the collection, and more will be added if the genre proves popular. Please note that due to the mature themes and content of these books, they are restricted to students in Years 11 and above.

References:

Young, R. (2007). 'Graphically speaking: The importance of graphic books in a school library collection', Library Media Connection, January 2007, pp. 26-28.

Wikipedia articles on each featured graphic novel (Don't read these if you plan on reading the books as they contain plot spoilers!):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_%28comic%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Boring

Moving to Library 2.0

2007-07-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome and thank you for reading the inaugural post of the Island School Library Blog! The intention of this blog is to provide a place where Island School students can keep up with the latest in what is happening in the Library, as well as any random useful information that I come across.

Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the staff at KGV Library, from whom I stole the idea for a library blog. Many thanks!

Now a brief introduction. My name is Mr. Chan and I hope that it is obvious by now that I am the new Librarian at Island School, taking over from the excellent Mrs. Bannon. For the last two years I was the Librarian at Bradbury School, so a few of you at least know who I am. One of my main areas of interest is how we can use emerging Web 2.0 technologies to improve library services (sometimes referred to as Library 2.0).

What is Web 2.0? Basically this refers to new Web applications that allow users to upload and share content - YouTube, Furl, Flickr, and the like. Being teenagers, you are all probably very familiar with these technologies. These innovations are having a huge impact on how we access and share information. As libraries are in the information business, I think it is essential that Librarians explore ways of using these technologies to their full potential.

I will be adding library services based on Web 2.0, the first being this blog. What is a blog? Blog is short for web log, and they can be essentially thought of as online diaries. Their popularity exploded early this decade as the tools required to create them became easily accessible. Anyone with an Internet connection can publish their thoughts. It is so simple that even I can do it! This has revolutionised Web publishing, but it has also created problems to do with online privacy and defamation.

You can learn more from the Wikipedia artice on Blogs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog