Librarians have changed!

I guess since I'm not yet a librarian, I shouln't say librarians have changed.  Why?  First of all, I'm not a librarian yet, so I'm basically comparing my 10 year career as a library aide, which I held 10 years ago to what I have learned so far in the 3 classes I've taken at UNT.  As a library aide, I helped catalog, shelf and file books and shelf list cards.  While working in this elementary library, we "did away with" the card catalog.  My 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders didn't really "look up" books.  I did that for them.  I would think by now students at that school would be looking for their own books on the computer.  Alot has changed since then.  Elementary students have never seen a hard copy catalog of the books in the library.  Much of my time was spent alphabetizing cards and filing them.  Author, title, subject, etc.--all these cards had to be printed and filed in the card catalog.
As I've said in earlier blogs, I have so much to learn--and most of what I feel is lacking for me is the knowledge of technology and being able to help my students make their educational career exciting and beneficial. 
With web 2.0--this second generation technology librarians have so much at their very fingertips.  So much information is "out there."  Whether the information on a website directly linked to a subject or  using wikipedia students can literally research beyond the walls of their school or public library.  Students can communicate with students around the world--linking up for projects and helping them have a "hands on" experience, without leaving the building.  I remember, long ago, hearing of students having pen pals in another state or country.  I always wanted a teacher that would let me do that.  Teachers can now do that and so much more with students using flickr. 
And that brings me to my delicious account.  What a wonderful tool for teachers and librarians!  I have 3 sites marked now.  My favorite idea for using flickr is to advertise book fairs.  When I worked as an aide our book fairs were a great success every year.  I can only imagine how much excitement we could drum up using flickr!  Using students,  I think parents would really support our book fair even more.  Another of my marked sites suggested a project using blogs and videos to communicate with students in Pakistan.  I think students in 3rd through 5th grade would love the opportunity to get to know and exchange ideas with students in another country.   Delicious gives librarians a easy way to collect ideas with other educators.  Just like our students, web 2.0 has given us a chance to share ideas and make distance disappear.