As we head toward the new year, I am already looking ahead to update and set some goals for 2021. As a new member of the ALA Library Ecosystem Subcommittee (a subcommittee of the ALA Committee on Library Advocacy (COLA)),… Read More ›
leadership
A School Librarian’s Reflection of 2020
A Look Back at March To say the past 10 months have been rough might be the understatement of the year; however, it has also been a time of reflection and a time for school librarians to shine. Back in… Read More ›
4 Things Being a Mentor Taught Me
Recently, a local university was looking for mentors for Librarian and Information Science students. The e-mail went something like, “Help the next generation of school librarians…” My first thought was I am not sure I am qualified! I mean I… Read More ›
The Original Plan vs. What It Really Looks Like
This year I have been teaching students who are face to face as well as those who are learning remotely. At the start of the school year, I had grand plans. I was going to do all the things and… Read More ›
Kristi Starr Discusses Volunteering for Leadership
Introduction This month, I have the honor of sharing an interview that was done with Kristi Starr before the COVID virus. I have been saving it for months. Now is an excellent time to share it because we are at… Read More ›
Leadership: It Is Made from Productive Change
Last month, I penned a blog post about librarians and leadership as it pertains to school librarians being Total Leaders. My thoughts were based on the framework by Charles J. Schwahn and William G. Spady. To recap, when someone is… Read More ›
Library Leadership: A Seat at the Table
We Are Total Leaders As part of courses that I have been taking over the past year, I have been immersed in thinking about leadership, types of leaders, leadership styles, and what leadership looks like and entails. One of the… Read More ›
Take a Deep Breath!
This spring was uncharted territory for everyone. Everything we thought we knew about how to do our complex and multifaceted jobs as educators was called into question. But this isn’t new for us school librarians. Innovation and iteration, thinking critically… Read More ›
Conferences in a Pandemic
I think about conferences a lot. Anyone who has been a conference chair has a heightened level of appreciation for them. Conferences are yet another thing to add to COVID-19’s current list of casualties. Or are they? Educators are masters… Read More ›
Get Your Self(ie) Out There: My Year as an AASL Social Media Superstar
Five years ago, I stepped into the role of school librarian at the same school where I had taught for fourteen years. I had been steadily reading blogs, such as Tiffany Whitehead’s Mighty Little Librarian blog, and gathering ideas to… Read More ›