Valley LMT Network

What is the Valley LMT Network? Downstream I wrote about a networking event that I am pulling together with Maria Petropulos for January. After talking some with CSLA, we have decided for the time being for it not to be an official event.

That being said, we believe that the information that we get from this event will guide us to what our next CSLA event might be.

More details as I know them.

Ninja Libraian

Gorilla Librarian

Monty Python? Yes.

Resource: Library Research Service

On CALIBk12, I read about the Library Research Service. This was a new resource to me (but, then, what isn't?), but a cursory look has me quite pleased. I expect that I will use this site a great deal for the library media credential program.

Teacher gets suspended over book choice

A Texas teacher has been placed on administrative leave because a parent filed a police report over a book chosen for a reading list. The book, "Child of God," was part of a list compiled by a group of teachers and not solely by this particular one.

You can read the article here.

LMT Networking

Do you live in the greater Fresno, CA area? Do you sometimes wish you had more LMTs with whom to network. Maria Petropulos (District Librarian, Fowler Unified) and I are pulling together a networking event for January 24. It will be held in a room at the Woodward Park Library.

I should mention that Maria is my professor at Fresno Pacific University and this came out of discussions in that class as well as online (as well as with some other district librarians).

So what does the greater Fresno area mean? My guess is that it is open to anyone that can actually get here. I know that many of you are the only LMT in a district, so this provides you with an opportunity to reach beyond your school for support.

It is unclear who the actual sponsor of the event is at this moment as we are still fleshing out all of the details, but there will certainly be some relationship with this region of the California School Library Association. I should know more soon.

THE ADVENTURES OF Super Librarian

Librarians are such nerds (including me!).

The Librarian Dialogues

And the sad part is I have known, in my life, a couple librarians that would fit well into this group!

Seek and Ye Shall Find

So there I was minding my own business and I decided to see how I could help out my professional association, the California School Library Association. Downstream you can see a few of the responses that I received to my question. Margaret Baker, district librarian for Selma Unified, saw me coming, and the next thing you know...

I have been appointed to be the Region 3 Representative for the Northern Section of CSLA (they being divided into two sections). This means that I am on the NS board.

Should I wish to continue in the position (and I suspect I will), I will need to run as a candidate this spring.

I haven't mentioned here, but it's all about the connection for me. There is real power in working together to create change.

"Unshelved," the library comic strip

I don't know whether most of you have come across Unshelved yet, but it is worth a read for both library and non-library folks alike.

The Librarian

Professional collaboration

I asked a question today over at CALIBk12 about how people professionally collaborate with other LMTs. It is a given that the vast, vast majority of us are the sole LMT on our site (and maybe even in our district). How do we work with other people who have this same job?

I am curious as to the responses and I will let you know, in a general way, what I discover.

The Hollywood Librarian Trailer

What a great trailer for librarians!

SLL 2.0, Week #4

This week's techno-gizmo is using RSS feeds. I have set up an account with Bloglines and have selected blogs and other information sources with RSS feeds. I have used RSS feeds elsewhere and the one nice thing about them is that it can:

• Bring all of your online reading together into one spot; and
• Allow you to share what you think is important to read on a particular topic with others.

You can see my RSS feeds here. Unfortunately, it is not showing off to the right, but I am at school (on my lunch time!), so it may just not show up here. I will have to check tonight.

School Library Learning 2.0, Week #3

After a brief hiatus, I am back doing School Library Learning 2.0. This week's assignment is to take pictures using a digital camera, upload graphics to Flickr.com, tag them with "School Library Learning 2.0" and then post about it here.

You can see picture samples by clicking here.

It's a nice set-up for adding pictures online.

CSLA Volunteer Opportunity, #3

Today's volunteer opportunities are from Barb Scheifler, newsletter editor for the Northern Section of the California School Library Association. Her contact information is on the CSLA website.

She offers a list:

• Become a Northern Section board member. We are always looking for region reps or officers. Contact Mary Ann Harlan, NS President. (Contact info available from CSLA website.
• Work at the conference. This year it's in Ontario in the Southland. Volunteer at the registration desk or the CSLA booth in the exhibit hall.
• "Man" the CSLA booth at other conferences. We are always looking for folks willing to sit at our booth at ACSA, League of Middle Schools, reading conferences, etc.
• Take digital photos at local CSLA events. Then send them to me for inclusion in our monthly newsletter.

CSLA Volunteer Opportunity, #2

Next up is advice from Deb Stanley, the out-going CSLA vice president for Membership:

"Be sure to attend the Membership Meeting at conference. This is a General Session that has traditionally been a morning event, but has been changed this year to Saturday afternoon at 3:45. Besides honors and awards given to members, and the "Speak Out" forum, a strategic purpose of this event is to extend opportunities for CSLA members to become more involved in this most deserving organization.

Available that day will be forms where attendees can check off interest in a variety of CSLA activities for the general organization such as committees that fall under the four divisions including Membership, Governmental Relations, Professional Development, and Communications. Each of these divisions has four or five committees that offer different levels of involvement. Also, members can get involved in their Northern or Southern Sections as close to home as your Region.

Go to the CSLA website and see the right-hand menu to explore the opportunities just mentioned."

CSLA Volunteer Opportunity, #1

I got such good responses from my request for information about ways to volunteer with the California School Library Association that I thought I would put them up here. My thought is to put up one a day for the next few days. These are volunteer opportunities for both the conference and for the organization.

Here's the first one:

"One wonderful volunteer opportunity is working at the California Young Reader Medal booth in the exhibit hall. CYRM is a great program that promotes our most cherished core value -- a love of reading. If you participate in CYRM at your school and want to help spread the program, this is the perfect opportunity. If you are new to CYRM, you can still work at the booth. I will train you and turn you into a CYRM true believer. The booth will be open from Thursday evening until Saturday afternoon, and we welcome volunteers at any time."


(From Tony Doyle, Livingston High School, and member of the California Young Reader Medal Committee. If you want to contact him about doing this, send me an email and I will forward it to him.)

UHF Conan The Librarian

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Mary and the Librarian

From the "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" series of long ago.

"Give me a reason to go to the library"

If you read one opinion column written by a student about libraries, this would be the one to read. I am pleased beyond measure that a high school student is interested enough in the library to write an opinion column in a newspaper.

While I do not agree with all of Ms. Drusch's points, I like that she is addressing the readability of what sits in our libraries. Some of it is no longer a "good read." It doesn't mean that it shouldn't be there, but it does mean that we need to update what we have in our collections.

I also like her idea of placing new literature in places where students can readily find it. This could be a display or a special temporary section of a library. Students, like many of us, appreciate what is new.

However, her idea to allow food and drinks is doomed to disaster. We have enough problems just with the items that come in without permission. While Drusch seems quite mature, this is not true for all middle and high school students. The general rule is that these students do not throw away their garbage.

My question to Ms. Drusch: Which books have you recommended to your librarian to buy?

Volunteer at CSLA Conference?

I asked an interesting question today over at CALIBk-12. My question was how someone would volunteer at the California School Library Association conference. Interestingly, I have begun to get responses about volunteering with CSLA as well. Both are good things to know.

When I have more answers, I will edit this post and put them here.

Big6 Blog re-visited

And just when you thought it was safe to call a blog ugly, they go and change it and make it all nice and pretty and stuff.

Go take a look at the new Big6 Blog.

My next hope is regular postings, but I know how difficult that can be.

By the way, I am still working on Big6 at my school. What a great research tool! (And that reminds me that I am overdue for a post about those efforts. Tomorrow...)

Body art for the discriminating librarian?

Being a veteran of the U.S. Navy, I somehow managed to escape getting a tattoo. However, were I ever to reconsider the possibility, it would most definitely be one of these.