Are you a school librarian who has developed an outstanding humanities program? Do you work with kindergarten through eighth-grade students? Then you are encouraged to apply for the Sara Jaffarian Award. What Is It? The Sara Jaffarian Award is a… Read More ›
In the March/April issue of Knowledge Quest, contributing authors Barbara Stripling, Suzanna Panter, Naomi Giles, and I offer stories, strategies, and testimonies of successful advocacy practices—ideas with universal appeal—that show the impact of a well-funded, strong school library. To be… Read More ›
I don’t think that school librarians take enough credit for what we do. Last month, I heard someone pose the question, “What is leadership?” My answer is that you are probably already engaging in leadership activities. Rather than provide a textbook… Read More ›
What Does the Future Hold for School Libraries? This year the ALA Midwinter Meeting was held in Philadelphia. It is a place rich in American library history. However, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia public school system has less… Read More ›
Gathering and Visualizing Quantitative School Library Data As I shared earlier in part 1 of this blog post, I’d like to dive deeper into the actual numbers, or quantitative data that we collect and share that demonstrate the impact of… Read More ›
Four years ago, I gave my first user survey to students. Still new to my position as librarian/technology integrator, I inherited a traditional library that had fallen out of use, and was desperate to understand what students wanted from their… Read More ›
Learning about School Librarianship This fall, I was privileged to be able to work with amazing students at the University of Maryland’s iSchool as an adjunct professor in their college of information science. I taught one of my favorite courses,… Read More ›
Advocacy. It is the job that is not officially part of my job as a high school librarian. It’s a mindset for me. Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m “doing” advocacy because it informs so many aspects of my work…. Read More ›
Getting Better I have a bad back, and I have to exercise so my core muscles can compensate for it and keep me (mostly) pain-free. The problem is, I am consistently embarrassed by how few push-ups and planks I can… Read More ›
Making Connections As librarians implementing the AASL Standards, we often find inspiration in those who work around us and among us. We celebrate the work of other librarians and find joy in being part of an effective, innovative profession. Making… Read More ›