Blog Archives

Join the Library Eco-System

As you read this, I am attending ALA Annual in San Francisco.  While I normally think about school libraries on the state and national level, being at ALA reminds me to think on a larger scale.  ALA Past-President Jim Rettig

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Posted in Librarian Life

Are You In Business

I have just returned from the New York Library Association/Section of School Librarians Conference, where I gave a presentation on tag lines, branding, and elevator speeches.  Later that evening I was speaking with one of the participants who said she

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Posted in Career, Librarian Life, Professional Development

Leadership Is Not An Option

ALA and AASL along with other divisions work hard promoting the value of libraries and librarians with legislators, the community, along with the various partnerships they have built over the years.  If these efforts are to succeed, librarians need to

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Posted in Librarian Life, Professional Development

Cooperation vs. Collaboration

School librarians are quite specific about the difference between cooperation and collaboration.  In the first case, the librarian and the teacher work independently from each other but share a common direction with each contributing content or process based on what

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Posted in Career, Librarian Life

Defining and Supporting Literacy

It once was simple in the days before apps and the Internet. When all information came by way of books, magazines, and newspapers. Literacy was easy to define. It meant you were able to read and understand printed matter.  Functional

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Posted in Librarian Life, Uncategorized

Libraries, Librarians, and Learning in the 21st Century

I have just returned the AASL Forum on School Librarians in the Anytime Anywhere Learning Landscape and as usual for this intense two-day institute I am precariously balanced between the excitement of new ideas (and old ones in new guises)

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Posted in Career, Professional Development

The Power of Literacy

Until the middle of the 20th century, Literacy meant one thing – you could read.  It sometimes was modified with the word “functional” to indicate you were capable of reading at a sufficient level to survive in our society.  Today

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Posted in General, Issues, Librarian Life

Banned Books Week

We have just finished the annual Banned Books Week and social media sites have been filled with lists of titles that have been banned currently or over the years.  Librarians and non-librarians have expressed their incredulity and horror over what

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Posted in Uncategorized

My Start as a Librarian

It seems appropriate to start my blog during School Library Month.  If you are on the School Librarian’s Workshop Facebook page you have been seeing my re-posts of the great promo pieces being put out by AASL.  I have been

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Posted in Career