Earlier this school year, I interviewed Barry Wittenstein about his newest book, A Place to Land. In the interview, he shared stories about his use of primary sources in the research for his book and the role that they played… Read More ›
Collection Development
3 Reasons to Love Self-Checkout in an Elementary Library
I know what you must be thinking: I am late to this party! If you complete a quick Internet search you find many, many posts from librarians who have been using self-checkout for years. I mean, years! So now I… Read More ›
Save the Time of the Reader
Time to learn something new. This year in opening faculty meetings, I was given time to address the full faculty. I admitted that despite 20-years of experience and an excellent library science education, I somehow missed learning about the five… Read More ›
2019 Best Books Lists: A Chance to Discover Titles You May Have Missed
One of the things I look forward to every December is the release of all the “best books” lists. Like all librarians, I try to keep up with newly published titles throughout the year by reading professional review journals,… Read More ›
Curating Manga Collections
If your library is anything like mine, manga accounts for a significant percentage of your circulation. The popularity and appeal of manga and anime only continues to grow and if they aren’t already, your students are likely to soon be… Read More ›
Picture Books and Primary Sources: Samuel Morse, That’s Who! By Tracy Nelson Maurer and El Primo Ramon
Traveling the world, becoming inspired, overcoming obstacles, and changing life as we know it all sound like parts of some amazing movie. They are also parts of the picture book story of Samual Morse, inventor of the telegraph and Morse… Read More ›
The Questions Your Collection Provokes
My son is at an age when he wants the same book read over and over again. I love doing so with books that have a voice, rhyme, or best of all, humor. Titles like Sun: One in a Billion… Read More ›
Wakey Wakey! Wakelet in the Library
Wake up! If you have not heard about Wakelet, it’s time to learn. There has been a lot of buzz generated recently about Wakelet. If you are like me, you find all kinds of amazing resources, articles, and ideas floating… Read More ›
Passive Readers’ Advisory
One of my favorite parts of being a school librarian is connecting students with books they love. Providing readers’ advisory is an art that librarians are skilled at. However, sometimes you just can’t reach every student for one-on-one help finding… Read More ›
Speed Dating with Books: New & Improved
Last November, I wrote about one of my favorite library collaborations: Speed Dating with Nonfiction Books. A few weeks ago, it was time for this year’s 11th-grade ELA students to participate. Taking what I learned from the past two speed… Read More ›