Library Media Tech Talk

Sometimes cool things can happen when you simply ask. This year, one of our science teachers wanted me to help her arrange Skype sessions with a geneticist. When I met her for our preliminary meeting, I had no idea she would ask for so many connections in one day. I had offered to record a Skype session with one scientist so she could show her other classes, but the teacher requested that we find four scientists to connect with live for all of her classes if possible. In the past, after I discovered the Skype a Scientist program, I had only requested to connect with one scientist at a time. You can read about our first ever connection with a scientist through the program here. After considering her request, I told the teacher we would fill out four forms and see what would happen. I knew this could be a great opportunity for her students to learn from experts in the field of genetics. I didn't know if the Skype a Scientist program would be able to fill our request. Days went b...

This semester I will be completing my practicum requirement at Ouachita Baptist University's Riley-Hickingbotham Library. I am completing an ALA-accredited information science degree so I can work in an academic library much later in my professional life. Having been a graduate student several times over the past two decades, I've used academic libraries frequently. I want to share a few of my experiences about this on the blog. I especially want to share tools and methods I learned about that could be used in school libraries. After spending the last four months at Ouachita Baptist University, I've learned so much about the organization and layout of an academic library. Each person in the library has a specific area for which they are responsible. In addition, they collaborate and assist each other when needed. WorldCat and Interlibrary Loan Some of the most interesting items I've learned about so far have been Interlibrary Loan procedures and the basics of ho...

One of my favorite things to do as a school librarian is to use our spaces and resources to bring literature to life. Recently, we have started a collaboration based on S.E. Hinton's, The Outsiders.  After meeting with our 8th grade ELA teachers, we decided to have several learning stations set up in the library to help students understand the period and culture. The event took place over two days and consisted of these learning stations: Station 1: Windrixville Church Students were asked to name items that Johnny & Pony had at the church in Windrixville. There were also other discussion prompts for students to create responses. Station 2: Drive-in Movie We set up an area that resembled a drive-in movie and showed movie clips from the 1950s and 1960s. Students had to discuss how movies were different from the present time. Station 3: Drag Racing We used informative websites about the Chevrolet Corvair and the Ford Mustang. Students ...

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...

I'm always looking for ways to share our library statistics. I have used an annual report as a means of doing this for many years. I fear that an annual report may not be enough. During the summer months, administrators and library stakeholders may not have time to look over the report as they are preparing for a new school year. This year, I'm experimenting with posting our monthly statistic snapshots on social media. I've already posted for the months of August and September. I'm using the same format each month so it is very easy to read. I decided to share our library circulations (including textbooks), our classroom technology support contacts since troubleshooting is a large responsibility for us in the library, collaboration programs, and reservations. We are reporting the statistics for the month and for the cumulative for the fiscal year (see the example to the left). The monthly posts I make on Facebook and Instagram have several photos in addition to ...

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...