Kim Cofino twittered a link for her excellent presentations for the TeachIt! conference this morning, which reminded me that I hadn’t ever shared my presentation from the Internet Librarian session I did on Web 2.0 tools that librarians could share with their administrators.

So in the interest of sharing resources, here are my slides:

[slideshare id=144623&doc=il2007-1193251903222853-4&w=425]

Several administrators, including one of our own, as well as Patrick Higgins and Dennis Richards, sent greetings for the participants in VoiceThread to open the session.

Other things I shared which aren’t in the slides–

• The Podcasting principal’s two part podcast series on tools administrators could use effectively (this is so effective since it’s a principal speaking to principals)
• A still classic conversation among administrators about blogging from G-Town talks
• A pageflakes site I set up for our campus and administrators on 21st century learning
• link to CASTLE site for school leadership

Administrators often hold the “key” to resources–financial resources, filtering rules, student guidelines for web 2.0 use, etc.   By showing administrators how these tools can be used to make their campus more efficient, and to create better communication and transparency with the learning community, we can move the discussion forward.

Why do librarians have a role in that?  We want our students to be able to use the tools effectively, to be information literate.  Administrators don’t need to understand every tool’s capability, but for the school to have a supportive climate for thinking outside of the box and bringing innovative practices to the classroom, administrative support is a critical component.

Too often, we discover innovative tools, only to find them blocked or deemed not appropriate after the fact.  If we are “on the same page” with our administrative team about the possibilities and curricular uses of technology, then it smooths the way for using these tools.  

As a curricular leader, the librarian has a strong role in working with administrators both at the campus and district levels to share awareness of how these tools support instruction.   Sharing our successes, meeting with administrators to share new tools with them particularly related to library instruction, setting up sites for the administrator, inviting administrators to attend key conferences, and initiating meetings to better communicate about obstacles are all ways that librarians can work hand in hand with technology departments and administrators.

I also think another responsibility we have is to go to where administrators are: presenting at administrative conferences, writing articles for administrative periodicals, or posting on administrative blogs are all ways we can help further a deeper mutual understanding of our roles on a campus.