Library Media Tech Talk

I'm beginning my fourth year as a 12 month public school teacher librarian. I'd like to share some of the things I do in the summer months that have helped our learning community and our library program. It is rare in Arkansas (and in most states) to hear of 12 month school library positions. I want to pose some ideas for those of you that have considered working some of your contracted days in the summer months (if that is permissible in your school district). A Great Opportunity The library is a great place to host summer PD sessions! I have always envisioned the school library being available to students and teachers year round. This was something that came to pass for our learning community starting in the 2013-2014 school year. Since that time, I have witnessed a great increase in the use of summer library services, most notably following our recent library renovation earlier this school year.  Many people ask me "what do you do in the summer?" or ...

Six Ways To Become More Indispensable It worries me when I hear that some schools in other states are doing away with their school librarians. This is a time when librarians are needed more than ever in schools since we have training in literacy, research skills, and technology. With these skills at our disposal, how can districts simply choose to eliminate these positions? I think there are many reasons; and among these are reduced school budgets and perhaps a perception that librarians only check out books. I want to make my position indispensable so that stakeholders never want to eliminate it. These six steps are simple and can help you change how your position is viewed. It doesn't happen overnight since it is a process. Please, consider making these six steps a part of your daily best practices, even when you may not feel like it. You WILL see a difference over time! I am not perfect at any of these points, but I try very hard to do each of them. Let's examine some pra...

We all have tasks within our jobs that fall into the category of "tedious". I can think of unpleasant but necessary tasks I have had to endure in my 20 years as a public school educator: taking daily attendance, standardized testing, and inventory to name a few. For the school librarian, there are still jobs that are not as enjoyable as others. Probably one of the most demanding jobs we are tasked with at Lakeside High School is textbook distribution. One of our 3 textbook storage rooms. At a school of over 1300 learners, one can imagine the size of the required textbook inventory. We keep these textbooks in three different storage rooms in the school. During the first full week of school, we schedule all English classes in each grade to come checkout their textbooks. It is an all day event for each grade that generally takes at least four days to complete. There have been years I have dreaded this event, mostly because it occurs during the initial days of school. Durin...