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Happy National Library Week!
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Registration is open for the Summer Librarian Tech Camp. It has gone back from a two day camp, to just one day out of the summer. This year it will be held on August 21st. The keynote will be Chris Sperry from Project Look Sharp who will focus on News and Media Literacy.
Project LookSharp is an outreach project at Ithaca College that provides training and materials for educators to integrate media literacy and critical thinking into their existing curriculum. As the media atmosphere is getting more and more misunderstood, it is imperative that our students are given the skills and resources to navigate the vast amounts of false information, as well as the vast amounts of real information, and the ability to discern which is which.
Project Look Sharp always does a fantastic job and we encourage you to attend.
There is a call for proposals for 45-minute workshop sessions, so if you feel inclined to share with your colleagues a topic that might fit here, we encourage you to do this as well.
Happy National Library Week!
Last week, the newest episode of Dewey Decibel came out, and guess what? Spring is in the air… It’s about weeding!
If you have about a half hour, the episode is worth the listen.
National Library Week is celebrating its 61st year. Started in 1958, National Library Week is an awareness campaign to get America reading.
What is your favorite book?
Do you think you could represent the title in an artistic way using food?
Last week, Gastro Obscura came out with an article about Edible Book Festivals where people do just that. Can you think of other ways to represent your favorite book title in an artistic way? Maybe your students can!
Transform Learning with the Reimagined ESIFC
Registration is now open for the NYLA-SSL 2019 Carol A. Kearney Educational Leadership Institute: Transform Learning with the Reimagined ESIFC led by Dr. Barbara Stripling.
This revised ESIFC aligns with the AASL, ISTE, ELA, Social Studies, and NextGen Science Standards. It will provide a comprehensive continuum of information fluency skills PK-12 and clear guidance for school librarians to integrate the teaching of essential information fluency and inquiry skills across all grade levels and throughout the curriculum.
The Institute will take place August 7th and 8th at the Syracuse University Sheraton in Syracuse, NY.
Whether we’re talking about academic, public or school, librarians and library workers are the unsung heroes of society. Combating fake news, providing social services, and educating our communities, librarians provide valuable services to students, educators, and community members of every age. That’s why on April 9th, the ALA is celebrating the work that librarians and library staff members do each and every day. Library users are invited to “submit a star” by providing a testimonial about a favorite library employee. If you have a colleague or a staff member that you respect and admire we encourage you to submit a star for them!
For more information on National Library Workers Day and access to a free publicity tool kit, visit the ALA NLWD web page.
On Friday we posted about weeding and about how keeping your collection clean can help your students to find quality, up-to-date resources. Today we look at two extremely popular weeding methods. Of course, first, you should be aware of your library’s collection policy and whether it lists criteria to consider when weeding.
CREW: Texas State Library and Archives Commission, out of Austin, Texas, put together this very widely used weeding manual, (CREW stands for Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding). This manual outlines why, how, when, and how much to weed. It also includes a checklist of weeding factors. Criteria starts on page 15 and asks you to consider (among other things) the needs of your patrons, the usefulness of your items, and the availability of similar items in a digital format.
FRESH: Jennifer LaGarde, a.k.a. Library Girl offers tips for keeping your collection “fresh”, and this is specific to school libraries.
(Click the “FRESH” link above for a full post about her method.)
The Art of Weeding | Collection Management (Library Journal, 2015)
Weeding Your School Library Collection (National Library of New Zealand)
Less is More: A Practical Guide to Weeding School Library Collections (Book from ALAstore)
What a gloriously uplifting term! What it really means?
Weeding.
Whether you’ve just inherited an old collection, you haven’t had the time to look at your catalog, your administrator or school culture doesn’t like to get rid of books, or you have difficulty making those difficult decisions yourself, you most likely have a collection that needs to be weeded. It’s a struggle that School Librarians face continuously.
As we purchase new materials, we need to consistently weed out old materials. Therefore, we’ll be writing a couple of posts in the next few days that provide information vital to keeping your collection up to date, easy to navigate, and useful for your students.
Today we’re going to start with WHY?
Weeding your school’s library collection is vital for a variety of reasons:
- Weeding helps to keep the information in your collection up to date and relevant.
- Students will be better able to find the books they want or need.
- If you don’t weed, you will eventually run out of space.
- A clean, weeded library shows that the librarian cares about the collection and the patrons who access it.
Yes, we know you already know all of this. But sometimes it’s difficult to put into action, and sometimes it’s even more difficult to convey it to others. So here are some articles you can share when you need to convince someone else.
Weeding to Let My Collection Grow by Christine James (Knowledge Quest, 2017)
Weeding without Worry (American Libraries, 2016)
Keeping Your Library Collection Smelling F.R.E.S.H! (The Adventures of Library Girl, Oct 2013)
Most importantly: Before you dive into a full-blown weeding session, make sure you know your school policy on removing library resources from the collection. We hope these resources are helpful to you.
Hey guess what! April is not only Autism Awareness month, and National Poetry month. It’s also the best month ever… because it’s National School Library Month!
Created and hosted by the American Association of School Librarians, April is a celebration of school librarians and their programs. We encourage you to host activities to help your school and your local community understand the essential role that your library program plays in transforming learning for your students.
This year’s spokesperson is Dav Pilkey, and the theme is Everyone Belongs @ Your School Library.
Every Wendesday of this month, AASL is hosting webinars at 7:00 pm Eastern time:
The Power of Manga, Comics, & Graphic Novels through the Lens of the AASL Standards Frameworks for Learners
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 | 6:00 p.m. Central
Addressing the Gatekeepers: How to Turn Comic and Graphic Novel Skeptics Into Believers
Wednesday, April 10, 2019 | 6:00 p.m. Central
Comics Librarianship: Essential Tools for the School Librarian
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 | 6:00 p.m. Central
TBA
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 | 6:00 p.m. Central
For more information about School Library Month, and this years events, go to the AASL School Library Advocacy page.