Even Grittier

Not to "toot my own horn" or anything, but...


Pam Pleviak and I have spent this past year presenting on how educators and librarians can help our students develop Grit as we support them on research projects. Today, our blog post, "How to Encourage Grit in 21st-Century Students," was published on EDSITEment NEH, in their Closer Readings blog about the Common Core.

Read the entire post HERE. And yes, I'll come back and update the link once the move is complete.

Why yes, as a matter of fact, we are.

For all the right reasons. And, librarians are the most collaborative, and communicative, and, I suspect, empathetic. It's all those reference interviews.

Save the Date: ALA Virtual Conference

The ALA Virtual Conference will be held July 13th and 14th. If you couldn't attend ALA in NOLA, this is a less-expensive chance to hear some of the presentations - no travel or hotels involved! If you did attend, this is a (free) chance to hear presentations you may have missed the first time around. HINT: watch for a condensed version of YALSA's Pecha Kucha: Teens & Technology.

New Orleans and #ala11

Well, You can't come to New Orleans and not eat, right? So, after registering at the ALA Convention and checking out the Exhibits Opening Reception, we headed out for what we thought would be a quick dinner before ALAplay 2011. We spent 45 minutes in line outside Coop's Place with some charming young men (who were smart enough to pick up super-size beers before joining the line). Finally we were ushered into the sanctum, where the redfish was definitely worth the wait.


Apologies to Miss the Younger, who serenades me regularly with the song "One Mint Julep", because I promised to drink one for her. Coop's one mint julep was more than I could drink -- I can see how it could be "the cause of it all"!

On My Way... to ALA 2011

I can't wait to leave for ALA 2011 tomorrow - even if it does seem that I don't have half the things done that I need to before I go. It will be my first trip to New Orleans, but I'll be traveling with a fellow teacher-librarian who has spent a lot of time there (and has connections in the local music community), so we're sure to be spending time eating good food and checking out the music scene.

I'm looking forward to so many of the AASL and YALSA sessions, to networking with my Twitter buddies in person, and meeting some of my librarian heroes, but most of all to the chance to meet Paolo Bacigalupi!

Things Change

Will Richardson thinks about what will happen as our students develop their own personal learning networks - instead of attending fixed classes, in Personal Learning Networks (An Excerpt). Could we be obsolete as teachers?

Not What You Think Redux

Remember Chicago Public Library's "Not What You Think" campaign last summer?

Well, they're at it again, and now you can contribute your own creative design: http://notwhatyouthink.tumblr.com/post/489202998/imagine-design-compete-the-chipublib-org-design

Roller Derby Librarians?

Miss the Younger and I love roller derby. Our favorite team is The Chicago Outfit (one of whom is Miss's hairdresser by day).

So I thank Shushie for noting this CNN.com article in her blog: Tiny librarian is hell on wheels, about Beth Hollis, Ohio reference librarian by day, and her alter ego MegaBeth, roller derby girl by night. Take that, librarian stereotypes!

Nominate your favorite librarian!

Nominate your librarian today for the Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award!

It's that time again: nominate your favorite librarian (public, school, or academic) for the I Love My Librarian! 2009 Award, sponsored by ALA, The New York Times, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Nominations close 9 October 2009.

Let your local librarians know how much they mean to you and your family, school, or college.

We're not what you think

Did a little research on that bus ad that I posted here: it's from Chicago Public Library's "Not What You Think" tumblelog campaign (aimed at you-know-whos). They have two great posters of tatted young librarians, 1, 2, and one of Granny.

Perhaps some of my friends can expose their tats in the library now? Well, perhaps not at school yet.

I've got mine! CPL card, that is, not a tattoo.

Seen in Chicago during ALA

ALA Chicago today

Lunch with an old friend, connecting with library school classmates, cheering at the AASL L4L mini-session, and touching all those new books - what could be better for a school librarian?

But it did get better: waiting in line for an advance copy of Catching Fire, the sequel to Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, we strangers had a fun book talk about the first one. Our patrons ate it up (sorry, I couldn't resist), so I know I'd never get to read the sequel when it comes in. The chance to read this advance copy before my Book Club meets again in the fall made my day!

One more moment of Nirvana: I watched Neil Gaiman signing hundreds of copies of his new The Graveyard Book, and Laurie Halse Anderson signing Speak and her new Wintergirls, while I chatted with Franny Billingsley and her daughter. Franny's Well Wished and The Folk Keeper were beloved when I worked in a middle school; her newest, Big Bad Bunny, is too young for my high school patrons, but it's adorable, so I've bought it for my favorite very little readers.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...

Reading on the Job?

"The Manley Arts" in Booklist is one of my favorite columns. Will Manley's July column is as topical as always. Wouldn't it be nice if, as Manley proposes, librarians were paid to read on the job?



Sometimes I read the newspaper over lunch, and I do browse reviewing journals at work, but I don't read books on the job. Nonetheless, I read several YA books a week, so I do all that reading in the car and at home. Ironic!

Librarian Trading Cards

No, not the Flickr group. This is the DIY Librarian blog's list (going back to November 2005) of fun librarians, their accomplishments, and their interests. This month Pam Pleviak, the librarian at my sister school, is the featured trading card!

Aside from being a sharp, high-energy school librarian, Pam's most enviable accomplishment this year was promoting her book club. It started the year with 5 students, and grew to 40 by May! She should write a book about all the great promotions she and Evan, her aide, implemented to get students reading.

Why do we do it?

Why become a librarian? Is it for the glamour? The easy hours? The generous compensation?

I did it mostly for the versatile hours, but I discovered that I like the companionship of the eclectic people who go into this field.

If you're one of them, why do you do it?