Author Archives

18 years as Coordinator of Library Services for Napa Valley USD and Napa Valley School Library Consortium; 2010-current CDE Recommended Literature Committee member; 8 years as an outside library consultant for Follett Library Resources; 6 years as a Napa County Library Commissioner; Current member of California Dept of Education’s Literature Committee; Napa TV Public Access board member; ALA, AASL, CLA (Californiia Library Association), CSLA (California School Library Association) and CUE (Computer Using Educators). Conference presentations include: United We Stand; School and Public Libraries Working Together (CLA 2016, CSLA 2017), It’s Not Your Mother’s Library 2012 and 2013 (CUE); Enhancing Online Resources through Library Partnerships (CUE 2010); Implementing School Library Consortium (CSLA 2008); Athletes as Readers and Leaders (2008 Association of American Publishers & CSLA Project). Contributor to School Libraries: What’s Now, What’s Next, What’s Yet to Come!
-
Revisiting Collection Development in a Digital Age
For California school libraries, collection development at the district level has been a fond memory. In the late nineties the state funded each district with an amazing $28 per student for library books. Once the funding dried up, library purchases… Read More ›
-
Keeping the Classics
While I watched the new delightful PBS series Anne of Green Gables, I thought of how so many children’s classics have survived. Anne was first published in 1908 and at last count has been made into six movies, six radio dramas,… Read More ›
-
The Blue Bin Project
As I posted in the blog post “Through a District Lens” (June 2018) district-level supervising librarians wear many different hats. Usually we are the ones who are responsible for providing library services to district sites. In my case my office… Read More ›
-
Advocating for the Library You Want to Become
Three years ago I enrolled in the University of Toronto’s Library Advocacy Unshushed MOOC. The online course description was a simple premise or perhaps a call to arms of “How can we strengthen libraries and librarians in the advancement of… Read More ›
-
YA Lit and Teen Activism
In June, School Library Journal celebrated thirty years of the Margaret Edwards Award. Reading the article celebrating the award, I was struck by the impact young adult books have had. Those of us who have been librarians longer than we… Read More ›
-
Through a District Lens
District/county office of education supervising librarians positions have been drastically cut over the last few years. So it’s not surprising that there have been a flurry of posts about combining the district librarian position with a site teacher librarian position…. Read More ›
-
The CA State Library’s Gift to Students
Once again it’s almost the end of the school year and time to pause and reflect on our pluses and minuses. We had a better year than anticipated, but like most districts we are experiencing more budget cuts along with declining enrollment…. Read More ›
-
NVUSD Libraries: OER Reflections
It has been almost a year to the day since I wrote the blog “OER: One Size Does Not Fit All.” Little did I know at the time it would take an entire year to find the correct fit for … Read More ›
-
Student Rights
During the past two weeks, we have all listened to the Parkland students as they voiced their anger, pain, and frustration. On the other side, we listened to those who said that these were just kids and the #NeverAgain movement would… Read More ›
-
Words
Words have been in the news lately with headlines publicizing the 2017 words of the year. It seems as though everyone has something to say, and sometimes the words have become as skewed as our current society. All this wordy… Read More ›