Off to a great start!

School began Monday of this week. I must be selling the library right as I have had some students coming in daily already! This morning before school I had one doing research on his Science Fair project for February. The greatest joy though is the young fellow who finally paid for a book he lost last February. He came to the library to exchange books three times that first day and at least once everyday since then. Makes a librarian smile...

A new library card!

What fun! I have a new library card! I am now a three library card librarian! Life is good! Due to a recent move I added to my collection and now am getting acquainted with another library system. I am allowed to continue using the library in my former community, I asked since we go there a lot for social purposes. I also have a card for the community in which my husband works. Once in a blue moon, I'm running errands with him in that direction and have had need to a quick Internet connection so I obtained that card. I carry that one on my key chain as a badge of honor because I can! I figure a person can never have too many library cards! To paraphrase my daughter....library cards are like credit cards, only their free!

And the year winds down...

This is the last week of school! Yeah! Yes the teachers do get just as excited as the kids. Unfortunately though with the end comes end-of-year this and end-of-year that. I think I work harder this week than any other during the year. To make matters worse, the number of overdue/not turned in/not paid for books in quadruple the normal. At times I feel like pulling my hair out....but that would hurt and I don't like pain.

Coming attractions:
Books! Books! Books!

While I will be doing some library work this summer for school district, I hope to have time to read and write about books. Can't wait!!!

Scan one, scan two, scan twelve thousand and three

Last week was inventory week. Such excitement! Okay, so that is a bit overboard but for some reason despite the backache of it, I do enjoy doing an inventory of the library. When all is said and done, it feels like getting off to a fresh start. We know what is here and what is not. If a book was missed at check in and/or accidentally misshelved we find it. If a Dr. Seuss book winds up with the books on rocks we find it. Something satisfying about this. When I think about the number of books that I touched personally, most twice, I am utterly overwhelmed. How often can a person say that they literally touched a few thousand books in the course of week and not be exaggerating. With inventory done now I can begin to tackle other seemingly impossible chores such as cleaning my office . . .

Information Literacy vs. Information Communication Literacy

As a school librarian it is my task not only to disseminate library materials but to also teach information literacy skills. I'm not going to go into detail as to what all that entails. Briefly though, information literacy skills include the abilities necessary to locate, access, and use information. There are various formal research methods that are taught such as the Big 6, I-search, and Flip-it. I teach the "Big 6 Information Problem Solving Method" as this is the model adopted by my district. The Big 6 has six clearly defined steps. Recently I came across the phrase Information Communication Technology Literacy. Hhhmmm I thought. So I went exploring. I found a couple of websites: Information and Communication Technologies ICT Literacy; ..your portal to Digital Literacy and iSkills (click on research link). I learned that tests are now available for ICT Literacy through ETS (Educational Testing Service) for use by universities. I also learned that the skills being tested are the very skills that I teach via the Big 6.
******Big 6 steps...............................ICT Literacy skill sets******

• Task definition.......................................Define
• Information seeking strategies................Access
• Location and access
• Use of information..................................Manage, Evaluate
• Synthesis................................................Integrate, Evaluate, Create,
• ..............................................................Communicate
• Evaluate.................................................Evaluate

Of course the ICT skills are higher technology focused skills and the Big 6 is used with or with out technology, but still I was amazed at the similarities. Reconfirms the importance of what I teach!

Decisions, decisions

Decision making is a major part of my job. I should say is THE major part of my job. I make decisions regarding books to read, lessons to teach, books to order, books to withdraw, etc. The first three are primarily positive tasks. Whereas, book withdrawal is basically a negative task that seems on the surface contradictory to librarianship, but in a well tended library it is a necessary act. Without it the shelves would be full of old books with archaic information, books that no one check out. Not all sad old books can be resurrected and brought to new life with a lively booktalk. Many must find their way to book afterlife. In this school district that would be to the warehouse and eventual auction. After I have gone through the process of physically withdrawing the older and/or unused books from our system, I then offer most of them to the teachers for their classroom libraries. I don't offer the ones that are hopelessly dated, no temporary stopover before afterlife for them. Once in a while I will come across a book that may have been used little or none as a library book but I know will have great use in a classroom setting. One such book is Puniddles by Bruce and Brett McMillan, copyright 1982. The McMillans challenged "readers" to discover compound words based on pairs of black and white photographs. This book could easily be reissued with new color photography which would probably make it a hit. As is, I placed the book in a new home in an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classroom. I dropped in on the class recently and the teacher was happy to share that the book was at that moment being used for a lesson! Book resurrection can happen under the right circumstances! It is nice to see decision successful!

The Bluebonnets are here!

The Bluebonnets are here, both the wild flowers painting the landscape across Texas and the new 2007 - 2008 Bluebonnet books for my library!

Each spring in Texas the fields and byways blossom with various wildflowers. The Bluebonnets stand out proudly among them as they literally become a carpet of blue for a few short weeks. I am always reminded upon seeing them of two things. One, I call to mind Tomie dePaola's The legend of the bluebonnet which is a retelling of the Camanche legend regarding the bluebonnet's origin. And two, I am reminded of Lady Bird Johnson's efforts to beautify the nation's highway by limiting billboards and encouraging wildflowers.

The Texas Bluebonnet Award is named after the state flower, the bluebonnet. Each spring, about the time the wildflowers are blooming, a new set of Bluebonnet books arrive in my library. This is the group of 20 books recommended by a committee of librarians that I've mentioned in an earlier posting. Last week I booktalked these titles to my 2nd and 3rd grade classes. I put the books out for checkout this morning. I had multiple copies of two titles. As of now only 6 of the 21 books are left on the shelf. They flew fast and furious this morning. Fortunately I will have additional copies later this week! It is fun to see the kids excited about reading. Can't blame them...I am too!