The Daring Librarian

This is a really nice FREE offer from our friend Katie at Capstone!* Tis the Reading Season!  When I first heard this, I thought it was too good to be true!  I thanked her vaguely** on Twitter (unless it was a secret just for my school district) but then I thought – could I possibly share it with everyone? Could I Tweet this out? So, I called her office out of the blue to double check that I could share it with you, the world, and his wife – and she said YES! And it was great talking to her on the phone. You know, sometimes it's nice to have a conversation - rather than a Tweet, text, or email. Give it a try! Surprise someone out of the blue to say hi, ask a question, or give a compliment this holiday season or next year! Just throwing that out there. Students (and your kids!) can choose FREE eBooks from a library of over 3,200 to download & read over the break*** From Mythology, Scary Stories, Fiction, to Graphic Novels – there’s more t...

Tis the season to be grateful. A couple weeks ago the On Our Mind blog by Scholastic shared an article featuring 15 Librarians to Follow on Instagram . I was so thrilled and honored to have been included on this list of librarians. I shared it on Twitter, took a screenshot, made the graphic above for my Annual Report, & of course called my Mom & Dad!  But I never thought to blog about it (because, like bragging, right?)  until I saw that my fellow ginger librarian and sweet friend Shannon Miller had blogged about it, so I thought - heck, why not? (that's us on the right below - a pic I took 8 years ago - I look tired, she's just gorgeous! I wish I could say I was better at selfies today, sadly - not so much!) But, why not? I'm always trying to urge other librarians to not "humble themselves out of a job." So, I'm totally shamelessly copying her right now! (At least I'm honest!) While reading this article, I discovered s...

Choose the Twitter Dark Side Here's something cool I recently stumbled upon!  Just like I really enjoy the dark or reverse version of the Kindle App - there's a Night mode version for Twitter! It turns the screen a dark blue with reverse type. Both on the mobile version and the desktop. So easy on the eyes! So conservative for your batteries! So good for the environment! OK, so these days only one of those things above are actually true, and it's a personal choice.  Yeah, apparently - you don't really need Blackle anymore - though it still looks fab to me! I really just find the lighter text on a dark background restful and relaxing to read. Thus, my blog has always had a darker background.  Back in the day with CRT monitors some said it did help with headaches, eye fatigue, and saving on energy. Today, with LCD screens and different technologies this might not still be the same. (You can Google it, and there are reports on both camps) - I'm not here t...

3 Times the Charm?  OR  Spend $130 Bucks and Literally Give Kids the Power! We've discovered that the mix of the digital divide, possible turbulent home lives, and general teenage forgetfulness can result in a loss of power. So, for vaious reasons it seems that some of my students who DO have devices (yes, there are still a lot who do NOT) show up to school with a low or no charge.  Yes, they sometimes admit that they fall asleep with their phone next to them and not plugged in. Shocker. A device that they LOVE to use for social connections and fun in the hallways and during free time. Oh yeah, and sometimes in class for learning, too! Without that device they feel a serious gap in their daily lives. We Fill That Gap! We want the kids to feel like the Library Media Center - Learning Commons and Makerspace Station - is a safe place to land and the place to go when they need things. Like finishing and priting out homework, relaxing and making something at ...