Template to warn school boards about censorship attempts

“Most school boards are not paying attention to what is happening at other school boards across the country,” and this inattentiveness is allowing slow takeovers by groups “working to destroy public education across the country.” In the Sept. 1 edition of Literary Activism (a publication of Book Riot), writer Kelly Jensen offers a template to alert school boards to “bad” or “crisis actors” in their communities. Groups resisting censorship “have a tremendous opportunity” to give board members a “fair warning of what’s happening,” while getting their names into the public record to aid networking with like-minded individuals. https://literaryactivism.substack.com/p/how-to-alert-your-school-board-to

Netflix drama ‘Heartstopper’ affirms importance of libraries

At The Mary Sue, D.R. Medlen discusses Isaac, a character on the Netflix drama “Heartstopper,” as Isaac explores his identity. “As a bookworm, it’s only natural that when Isaac is at a loss, he heads to his school library for answers. But what if Isaac had no library to go to? What would this shy, bookish kid do if he had questions that he couldn’t ask anyone else?”

April is School Library Month

Did you know? April is School Library Month, the American Association of School Librarians’ annual celebration of school librarians, library workers, and school libraries.

New school year, 2022-2023

Video: The beginning of school is a busy time for me as an Instructional Materials Technician. There’s new curriculum to catalog and barcode, workbooks to sort through and distribute, and outdated curriculum to process for disposal. Please be patient with me, and I hope we all have a wonderful new year. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you are enjoying my videos.

Collaboration between libraries

Identification of partners, collaborators, and resources is an important aspect of a “Library and Community Analysis.” The local public library is where I can make referrals in instances when my library is not equipped to meet a particular need.

Letter supporting Pride displays in libraries

Someone removed all the books from a Pride display at the Rohnert Park library. In solidarity with Sonoma County Library and with other local libraries that help users to #ReadwithPRIDE, I submitted this letter to the editor of the Press Democrat. My ground-rule when writing this letter: not to validate a campaign to remove the books, nor the organization spearheading it, through any mention of their names.

LIS 5100 : Reading promotion project

Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts serves a K-8 student population in Santa Rosa, California. I work part-time at the school as a Paralibrarian. (Author note: I work in three positions at the school, which, combined, give me full-time hours.)

The problem
Ours is a community that has suffered compounded traumas, beginning with a devastating firestorm in October 2017, in which “About 900 students and staff members lost their homes and everything in them” (Santa Rosa City Schools, n.d.) We are still in the midst of a recovery that was projected to “take years” (ibid), and each year since, the wildland fire season has brought fresh evacuations to parts of our community.

LIS 5100 : ‘Elevator speech’ for school-library staffing

For LIS 5100 this week, our instructor wanted us to explore Voki’s “Speaking Characters for Education.” Voki is an app that is used in an educational setting, to create animated presentations. It involves selecting an avatar, setting it against a background, and then creating an audio message for the avatar to deliver.

We were tasked with using Voki to create an “elevator speech” about the importance of school librarians. The scenario posed by our instructor was that we encounter a school board member at the grocery store, and this person tells us that the district plans to eliminate the certificated school librarians.

LIS 5100 : Collaboration between school and public libraries

As an aspiring youth librarian who works in a school library, I am interested in ways that school and public libraries might collaborate. So as part of my studies, I was interested in reading the Public Library & School Library Collaboration Toolkit. 

Virtual tour of SRCSA library

It's Back-to-School Night at elementary sites, Santa Rosa City Schools, and at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts. Here is a virtual tour of SRCSA library, along with a presentation slide.

21st Century Skills, videos highlights books in library

My latest project is a video series on YouTube, 21st Century Skills, books in SRCSA library. So far, three videos have been uploaded to YouTube, and a couple more are in production. I eventually want to highlight all 12 of the 21st Century Skills with applicable books that can be found in SRCSA library. Be  sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you are enjoying my videos.

School library reopening during COVID-19 : my thoughts

My thoughts turned this week to pondering how operations could resume at SRCSA library. This proposal that I’ve compiled incorporates social distancing and also addresses decontamination of resources due to COVID-19. Keep in mind, this report consists of my own thoughts, based upon information and best-practices gained through reading and viewing webinars. (Bibliography appears below.) This report should not be treated as authoritative or actionable; rather, I consider it to be a starting-point for dialogue about reopening my school library.

April is School Library Month

Physical libraries may be closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but school library workers offer resources and support to school staff and families while we all shelter-in-place.

New dust jackets for fiction books

Dust jackets are essential for promoting plain-covered books; how else can a reader determine at first glance, what a book is about — and from there, decide whether or not to open it and sample a few of its pages? So my project this week was to create new jackets for books that were currently without. From left to right, here are Wings of Fire — Legends: Darkstalker by Tui T. Sutherland, Paint the Wind by Pam Muñoz Ryan, and The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. I used craft paper and added color-printouts of front-cover images from the publisher. The books’ titles and call numbers are recreated on each book’s spine, and plot summaries are pasted on the back.

National Library Week, April 7 to 13, 2019

National Library Week is being observed from April 7 to 13. It, along with “School Library Month,” which is observed in April, is an opportunity to reflect on the significance of libraries.

School Library Month in April 2019

Every April, the Association of School Librarians observes School Library Month. The 2019 theme is “Everyone Belongs @ Your School Library,” and the 2019 spokesperson is Dav Pilkey. Learn more at http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/slm.

Shelf-markers for browsing in library

OK, creative types; if you’re looking for a way to help out in the library, have I got a one-time job for you! I have a collection of wooden shelf-markers that students will use for browsing in the library, and I need them to be beautifully and uniquely decorated. (These will be communal; they will be used by all visitors, and thus should not have students’ names or other personalized details). I have colored markers available to help encourage your creativity.

School library ‘climate’ supports diversity

A school library’s “climate” goes a long way toward acknowledging and promoting diversity. Michelle Easley offers several practical suggestions to help create a library climate where everyone is welcome. (Via Knowledge Quest, American Association of School Librarians)

Sorting textbooks in SRCSA library

I returned this week, for the new school year, to Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts, where I work as a “textbook librarian.” (My official job title is “Instructional Materials Technician.”) Feels great to be at the renovated campus and in SRCSA Library, where I’m wading through math curriculum. I just feel so at-home when I am working in a library, and I’m grateful for this opportunity that allowed my family to return to northern California.

SRCSA library, books and shelves moved-in

Source of image: SRCSA Library on Facebook

Posts to Facebook by Library Technician Shannon Williams afford glimpses of the library at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts (SRCSA) — of interest to me as my eventual work-site as Instructional Materials Technician, as well as through my “geekishness” for libraries.
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