Library Media Tech Talk

When I worked as a school librarian from 2008-2020, I always opened the library before school so that students can access the space and resources we have. When I started this new position in August of 2025, I decided to continue this practice of opening the library before school each day.   Creating a Morning Sanctuary The response was immediate. Within two weeks, word had spread, and we reached "capacity" by 7:40 AM most mornings. While having to cap numbers due to seating is a challenge, it is a "good problem" to have—it proves the demand for a safe, engaging morning space. To maintain a balance of productivity and fun, I curated a variety of "Morning Stations": Literacy: Independent reading and book discovery. Gaming: Strategic classics like Chess and Uno. Digital Learning: Educational gaming via Nitro Type, Gimkit, and Blooket. Makerspace: Hands-on building kits and puzzles. The Strategy: To manage hall traffic, I require students to stay until th...

L to R Mr. Dial, Mrs. Rash, and Mr. Evans When I returned to public school librarianship this year, my goal was clear: to transform the library into a vibrant hub for immersive programming that brings curriculum to life. I've seen firsthand the impact that this type of programming can have on the student learning experience. The first major collaboration—an interdisciplinary experience for 8th graders reading S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders —exceeded every expectation. I have so many fond memories of bringing books to life through collaboration, and it is incredibly exciting to have the full support of the Malvern Middle School building and district administration! Planning the Experience: ELA Meets Science With the help of Principal Mr. Ben Dial, one of our ELA teachers, Mrs. Terah Rash, showed immediate interest in a deep dive collaboration based on The Outsiders . Since Mrs. Rash also teaches Science, this opened up thrilling possibilities for the kinds of experiences we could ...

One of the things I've noticed about businesses is that they are constantly changing to respond to the needs of their customers. This is a great practice to stay relevant as customers' needs tend to change over time. In the library, we can implement the same practices. In this blog article, I want to share one of the ways we have recently created a new service for our learning community that was inspired by local businesses. Earlier this year, I was introduced to Wal-Mart Grocery Pickup. If you aren't familiar with it, this service allows customers to make a grocery list on an app, select the store they want to visit, select the time they want to pick up the groceries and pay online. When you arrive to get your groceries, a person comes out to your car (no matter what weather conditions exist) to place them into your trunk. The service has saved my wife and me so much time as busy teachers! At the first part of the school year, we began discussing what this model co...

How Do We Share New Materials? One of the challenges in our high school library is how to share new materials with our users. Displays are usually an effective way to show off new titles that are ready to circulate. Some of our student patrons don't always   have time to stop and look at our new book displays. Last year, we started brainstorming some other ways of outreach. One Solution: A Newsletter We discussed the possibility of using a monthly newsletter to feature some of the new titles. You may remember from my previous article that we had also started putting all new arrivals on a Google Doc to share with students. We thought a newsletter could be an eye-catching addition. Many of our avid readers were already in our library Google Classroom, and the newsletter was an easy way to share a brief monthly digital document with them. An example of Peggy's work Powerpoint to the Rescue Peggy, one of our paraprofessional assistants, had previously experimented w...

It seems there is no end to the list of new books that are released by publishers each month. On top of being a literacy specialist, teacher librarians also must manage the facility and student visitors, collaborate, create programming, market library services, serve as school technology support, and many other duties. If you have found it a challenge to keep up with new books as a result of these numerous job tasks, I want to share a simple way that changed our practice in the school library last year. The Struggle I find it difficult to read as a result of the many daily tasks I experience as a teacher librarian. This is a fact I have worried about for several years. I've been working hard over the summer to read more, and I'm very proud to say that this will be a continuing priority for the new school year. The simple fact is that it is impossible to "sell" students on book titles if we can't speak about them with knowledge and passion! There is something...

One of the most important parts of the teacher librarian's job is to engage students with literature. Recently, I have been thinking about a teacher that made an important literacy connection with me while I was still in high school. At that time in my life, I didn't realize how crucial professional relationships are for teachers and students. But now, so many years later, I understand the impact relationships can have on reading. To illustrate this, I will share a story from my 10th grade year. A Step Into the Past Mr. Gerald Cox was my biology teacher when I was in high school. He was also my bus driver when I was in elementary school. His daughter and I were classmates all through school at Bismarck Public Schools in Bismarck, Arkansas. Mr. Cox also served as one of my taekwondo instructors while I was in high school. Several years later after high school, I worked with him when I took my first job as a band director at Bismarck Middle School. By th...