The Daring Librarian

Our Middle School Library in Laurel, Maryland has been a loud and proud Safe Space and Ally for ALL of our  LGBTQIA and Neurodivergent students for years. We have purchased every well reviewed, requested, intriguing, and middle school approved fiction and non-fiction book on these topics. I daresay we have one of the largest collections around! We have Safe Space signs around, a rainbow narwhal (pictured above) and groupings of books on display all the time. I have also blogged about our support of our diverse communities. Dear Queer Teen - It Gets Better! - 2012  Create a Safe Space - 2018 BUT... I have strong opinions about putting a Genre label on these books. I am really cognizant that some of my Middle Schoolers are curious or questioning to learn more about but aren't ready to out themselves. To their peers and to their parents. This is yet another reason I'm against Genrefication. I know, among some of my other Future Ready Librarians this is a controversial topic....

My favorite avatar creator Bitmoji , which I've been blogging about since 2015 (links to those posts below) has recently added a few NEW cartoons featuring books! But, as my Twitter & PA friend Ms. Kim Mento Tweeted, they were sadly dour faced! So, using Photoshop Elements, I pasted some open smiles on my faces. Whilst I was at it (any excuse to use the word whilst!) I added my much needed bangs, blonde highlights, changed my tennis shoe pops of color, and ummm a Harry Potter book or two! It took just a little bit of editing to give my @Bitmoji a smile about carrying her books! I'm not at the level of @GwynethJones with her bangs, but at least now there is a smile above that stack of happiness! #amreading pic.twitter.com/uYbMVB85UR — Kim Mento (@wordsofmento) July 5, 2018 To which I replied... Thanks @Bitmoji for the book cartoons - but as a Librarian, you know I needed them to SMILE! Plus, I really would like a bun with bangs option! (I can add the...

Hey gang! So, because of the snow we had this year, we're going all the way until June 19th! DOH! I mean, super! And if you're out of school already....well, I will try not to be salty about it, but I'm jealous baby! I'm looking at you Tiffany Whitehead ! LOL (Baton Rouge, LA gets out EARLY!) Around Memorial Day is when we start trying to get books back. Not from our active readers, but from those kiddos who have had books out for a long time. I'll share the back story below but the mobile suggestion right up front. This way, you don't have to read me blather on (unless you want to!) to get this cool idea.  My lovely & wonderful Media Assistant Ms. Kathi Bell, came up with this, with a recommendation from her son (and good friend of our library) John Bell. It's Alarming! If a kid owes you a book, ask if they have their cell phone on them. My examples are for the Apple phones (because that's what I have) but I'm sure a similar tech...

A few of my MHMS friends & colleagues are taking a Cultural Proficiency course. Having taken that course a couple years ago, and as a passionate ally of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement, I offered to help them with their final project! We decided it would cool to create a curated list of books on a bookmark that celebrate diversity. Feel free to Take, Copy, Use, & Share - it's all Creative Commons! We made sure that the books listed were all books we had in our Middle School Library Collection and were ones that were sourced from the WeNeedDiverseBooks website . But you can do the same thing or use ours! See below for downloads.    You can download the Diversity- Diversity-Bookmarks-PDF OR you can make a copy of copy of the Google Doc!

Do you ever get stuck clicking around Amazon buying random stuff you may not really need but suddenly desire? Do you have a mountain of Amazon boxes in your kitchen waiting for each recycle day? Yeah, me neither! [cough] Like today, among other things, I got a Misto Brushed Aluminum Olive Oil Sprayer for my roasted cauliflower & Brussels sprouts addiction and a set of 4 Le Creuset Silicone French Coasters for the Coastal Cottage . You never know what you might find! But sometimes I stumble across something that sparks my creativity and I'm like - SO COOL!....Now what can I do with it?  This was the case with a set of 100 antique looking keys I found that came with raffia cords & brown card stock tags....all for only $20.99. Officially, it's called: SL crafts Mixed 100pcs Skeleton Keys & 100 pcs Kraft Tags Antiqued Brass Bronze Charms Pendants Wedding favor 34mm-68mm I mean, 100 fancy keys, 100 custom cut out tags, and 100 raffia cords? Bargain!   The...