The Recent Past and The Near Future When we say “beyond this crisis,” some may ask which one? We are entering the third year of a global pandemic. The pandemic isolation and current political environment have further exacerbated polarization. And… Read More ›
“Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?” For almost five decades, I’ve heard at least a few bars of “Auld Lang Syne” every New Year’s Eve. But despite some guesses, I never knew what that title actually… Read More ›
October 26, 2021: Ten Days before Hashtag Takeover Day Nancy Jo: On October 26, 2021, the Texas Tribune broke the story of State Representative Matt Krause, a candidate for state attorney general, who asked multiple school superintendents across the state… Read More ›
They Keep Going, and Going, and Going… Last month, I wrote about the rising number of book challenges facing libraries across the country. I offered a few tools to help school librarians prepare. Since then, the number of challenges has… Read More ›
Challenging Times If you or someone you know hasn’t yet had a book challenge, give it time. As you are undoubtedly aware, there is a rising tide of book challenges across the country. Targets include specific titles and particular topics;… Read More ›
This short volume of a post stands between bookends: #AASL21, which just occurred last week, and the upcoming #VAASL conference, which takes place next week. The word “confer” has been around for over five hundred years; its first known use… Read More ›
The community of school librarians is a community like no other. The PLN opportunities are endless and consuming information from our PLN is the most valuable part! What do you find yourself consuming from your PLN? Podcasts? Webinars? Wakelets? Or… Read More ›
Did you know that each year, AASL has a research award competition that ABC-CLIO sponsors? The winners typically speak face-to-face at the ALA Annual Conference or the bi-annual AASL national conference. Naturally, COVID-19 disrupted conference plans and some of the… Read More ›
It’s overdue. We need to tell the stories of how valuable school librarians are. School librarian positions in Rhode Island were beginning to dwindle. Increasing numbers of elementary school librarians were covering two and sometimes even three schools every week. … Read More ›
Communicating the great things that we are doing in our school libraries is so important to advocacy. Letting others know about the projects, new books, and countless other activities can be a challenge. When I thought about improving my communication… Read More ›