Library Lines

The New York Times reported yesterday that librarians are a hip crowd.   But didn’t we already know that?

See NYT article here!

Librarian, Lesley Edwards, asked 5 “why nots” of librarians on TeacherLibrarianNing.

Here are the five ideas I posted:

Why not…
1. Allow iPods in the library so students can better focus (as they claim) and cut-down on the chit-chat?

2. Put chess and checkers boards in the library as an alternative to constantly battling with the online video games?

3. Open the library up to community members one night a week (or more!)?

4. Merge the reference into the non-fiction collection? (okay, I admit we actually are in the process of doing this now)

5. Host a summer book club for the students?

Lesley had a great idea for #5: make it an online book club via a blog or wiki! This is definitely an idea worth pursuing…don’t you think?

The PSLA “Not-Ready-for-Newberry” Top Forty Book list is now posted on the web!

These are the reviews of the best 2006-2007 YA books which are presented at PSLA in Hershey.

Have you heard?  The Reading Olympic list for 2008 has been released!  Thank you to Debra Gniewek of Council Rock South for providing annotations for the books. 

As a member of the selection committee, I can tell you that it is not an easy task to decide what new titles should be added.  However, I am feeling quite good about the new books:  they each have been getting wonderful reviews and are diverse in their genre and story-lines. Quite a few deal with high school sports, but each with a totally different theme of crime, humor, non-fiction and drama.  We hear of various cultural struggles: an African girl living among AIDS, an African girl who is brought into American slavery and a young girl who is sold into prostitution in India.  In addition, we have mystery, comedy, vampires and chocolate…what a wonderfully interesting combination!

 Black and Whiteby Paul Volponi: the story of two friends, one black and one white, who find themselves in trouble with the law.  One of our students said of it,  “I liked this book a lot because it held my interest. It also was contemporary, as well as being realistic”.

The Body of Christopher Creedby Carol Plum-Ucci:a mystery which has a earned a Printz Honor.

Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond: what industry can be more pleasing to read about than chocolate?!?! 

Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton: another Printz Honor book ~ a very compelling story of a young girl who is living among AIDS in her African village.

The Christopher Killer: A forensic mystery by Alane Ferguson: a great mystery for forensic lovers  Copper Sun by Sharon Draper:winner of numerous book awards, this tells the story of a young African girl’s survival as an American slave.

Crackback by John Coy: this is a very popular title in our school ~ about the emotional lives of school football players.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock: selected as one of the Booklist’s Best Books for YA, this is a hilarious story of a young girl growing-up on a dairy farm who decides to try-out for the school football team.

Eagle Blue A Team, A Tribe, and a High School Basketball Season in Artic Alaska by Michael D-Orso: Winner of the Alex Award, this is the true story of the Fort Yukon Eagles high school basketball team’s journey to the Alaska state championship.

Marley & Me : life and love with the world’s worst dog by John Grogan: a humerous and touching memoir of precocious dog and his family.

Runner by Carl Deuker: an exiciting tale of a teenager willing take risks to survive among proverty.

Sold by Patricia McCormick: among the Top Ten Best Books for YA by Booklist, this is a novel-in-verse about a young girl who is sold to prostitution in India. 

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: a very popular book, wonderfully told, about a young girl’s relationshhip with a vampire.

Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black: a book of fantasy which is one of the most popular novels in our school and has earned many rave reviews.

Interested in knowing how to create cool posters, much like the prior post: READING – It gives you drive? I learned of it from the terrific website, Learning 2.0: 23 Things (thanks, Joyce Valenza for leading my way to it). 23 Things was developed by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to encourage the staff to learn at least 23 new social networking tools. One that is listed is Flickr Toys which has many, many cool things to do with photos. I used Motivator to create the poster, but check-out all the other things you can do.

Congratulations to senior, Kaitlyn F. , who won our National Library Week contest!  Upon drawing names from everyone who checked-out or renewed a book last week, Kaitlyn was our winner of a FREE USB FLASH DRIVE!

So much to share from the PA School Library Assoc. that was in Hershey this past week.  I jotted my notes onto a Google Doc and am attaching them here to share: PSLA Share

One of the workshops I attended was with Nancy Miller, a consultant in IN, who shared her time tracking device which tracks the responsibilities and duties of the library staff. She and other professionals compiled the Oklahoma Time Task Report to demonstrate the importance of adequately staffing school libraries. Yes, it takes time to track our duties throughout the day, but this is a great way to advocate the importance of library services.

I am also very grateful to be part of the Top 40 committee which presents book reviews of the year’s best YA books.  This year, I received 86 new books for our library for participating in this program.

This week is National Library Week. What better way to celebrate than to offer FREE BOOK LOANS to any student for two weeks!

Check out what others have enjoyed if you would like some recommendations.

One of my favorite and most utilized websites is Nancy Keane’s ATN (All Together Now) Reading Lists.  As explained on the site’s homepage, it originally started in 1996 as a collaboration project between librarians.  Now, with the evolution of Wiki’s, it has become a wonderful, growing and dynamic list of books on anything from “Death of a pet” to “Imaginary Friends”.  The lists cover all grades and are arranged in categories such as subject, theme, and read-alouds. 

It got me thinking how much my Pathfinders could be improved upon if they were created as Wikis so that students and teachers can easily and readily add to the list of websites as they come across them.  Yes, it would take some management, but I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages in supplying students with the latest resources.

Just when I thought I couldn’t love Google any better, they add another new useful tool! No, I am not even referring to their powerful search engine and directories. I am bedazzled by all the features they are adding to make my life and my job as a librarian much easier and organized.

Here are my Top Ten reasons for a librarian (and mother, and wife, and student….etc) to love Google.  Note that with most you will need a Google account but, why not…it’s free!

10. Picasa & Photos- Download Google’s Picasa and organize your photos, upload them to the web, and share them with the whole world or selective friends.  You can upload videos to share as well.

9. Google Video- Sorted by topic, including “Educational”.  Search for National Geographic videos or try doing a keyword search for something you’re looking for. WARNING – even Educational videos need some monitoring for inappropriate material.

8.  Google Calendar- Organize your life by having one calendar for home, and one for school.  You have the option of viewing all appointments combined (signified by different colors), or choose to view just one calendar at a time.  I have also used the sharing feature  for a group to find an appointment date which is convenient to everyone.

7.  GMail Drive- Drop your files into the GMail drive and you can access them from any location with Internet access.  A little quicker and easier than emailing files to yourself.

6.  Documents & Spreadsheets- Create, edit and share documents and spreadsheets using this Google feature.  By sharing, users can view and make changes to the files in real time.  You can also upload existing documents and spreadsheets for easy access, sharing and safe storage.

5.  Google Librarian- Informs librarians of all the great ways in which Google can be used in libraries.  Search tips, information on Google Books, Google Scholar, etc.  They have now created a blog so that you can easily and quickly see what’s new.

4.  Google Earth- Unlimited amount of educational ways you can use this satellite imagery.  Check-out my Google Earth blog for more details.

3.  Google Notebook- a tool I just recently discovered and am very excited about it!  Once downloaded, students can create a list of their research that they are collecting on the Internet.  Simply select the text that you wish to save, right-click, and save it to your Notebook.  Google keeps the selected text and URL’s in one document. Your created Notebook can be shared with others in which you give access and even published to the web!

2. Sticky Notes and To-do list(can they count as one?) – I have added these to my Google Homepage (see #1) and I am finding them very useful.  If you’re like me, post-it-note reminders are everywhere! Sticking to my computer, my desk, my phone, and stuck in my purse.  With Google Sticky Notes I know have one, convenient place to keep all my reminders and I can access them from home or school.  Similarly, my To-do list keeps track of all those tasks that are looming over me.  Nothing feels better than to log onto my Homepage and delete a task on my list which I have completed.

1.  Google Homepage – How did I possibly survive before having this wonderful feature?  My personalized homepage can have whatever I need at my fingertips.  For me, that is my calendar, weather, to-do listand, of course, my email.  But what I really love the most….you can add an unlimited of Tabs which allow you additional Homepages.  For example, I have two additional tabs: one labeled News and the other Library.  On my News page, I have added RSS feeds to my favorite world and local news sites.  On my Library page, I have added RSS feeds to my favorite library blogs as well as book reviews such as NYT and NPR.  I like this much better than having the RSS feed sent to my email because 1) it doesn’t bog-down my email and 2) I can view them whenever is convenient to me.  There is tons of “stuff” (as Google refers to them) that one can choose to add to their Homepage:  Joke-of-the-day, Google Maps, Today in History, Local Gas Prices…you name, they have it!