The Daring Librarian

I'm shamelessly lifting & adapting from Joyce's NeverEnding Search blog this week - if you follow my Tweets you'll know we're dealing with a family emergency right now (see below) but the TL Cafe is so close to my heart I gotta give you the heads up, right!? "Time to look back at the best of 2011 in our school library/edtech world and share! At the TL Virtual Cafe on December 5th, 8PM Eastern, we’ll be hosting a Learning Tools Open Mic/Smackdown/Karaoke . And the plan is to get ready by building a crowd-souced presentation/book . Joyce & I are listed as presenter & host, but the goal here is for YOU, friends, to do the heavy lifting. Look back at 2011. What is the most exciting thing you learned? What was the most powerful teaching strategy you tried? Which instructional tools best inspired learners? Did you have an epiphany about how to do something easier, better, cooler in your library or classroom? (Classroom teacher friends are welcome...

Why Blog?  You don't start blogging for awards. You blog because you are passionate about your profession, and have ideas & content to share with potential readers. If you blog it, they will come. Eventually. It may just take a while! Don't give up! I blogged for YEARS out the aethernets and for a handful of readers! (I'm lookin at YOU dear Svetlana in Vladivostock!) And you surely don't start blogging for comments! If you are expecting comments when you start blogging you're gonna be discouraged awfully quick and give up. I get about 6 or 7 comments per blog post and most all of those are spam. That's why I treasure each and every REAL comment I get! Now, I am in NO WAY saying I'm an expert blogger, (or writer! ha!) but I do have some ideas and tips for blogging that I've gathered over the years that I'd like to share and I'd love to hear yours! Start When You're Ready, Already! I started blogging in 2006, a few months after I...

I got this compelling email from good friend and LJ/SLJ/The Horn Book publisher Ian Singer who forwarded a passionate plea to several of us to mobilize, sign the petition to Ensure all school libraries are properly staffed, open, and available for children every day and to get out the word via Twitter. So, I immediately signed the petition and Tweeted it out now I'm posting it here to share it with you my dear to readers! DEADLINE: November 27th My friends – Good morning. I’m writing on behalf of a single voice, who has reached out to School Library Journal looking for “help and hope”. And so, I am reaching out to you individually and collectively because the time for us to act is now. While at AASL, I spoke with very many of you about this exact issue and the pressing need for us to get together and more actively to support the plight of our school libraries and librarians . . . the time for us to act is now. So let’s start somewhere, together, and help our frien...

I eagerly drank the Dropbox Koolaid last year thanks to my good friend from METC_CSD Gina Hartman - I was sold when she said "because of Dropbox I don't care if my laptop crashes" My jaw literally dropped my eyes bugged out, and I realized THIS WAS BIG!  Now I love Dropbox more every day! Dropbox brings together seamlessly all of my devices. All of my Macs (iPad, Macbook laptop, & iMac work desktop) and my Android Fascinate phone (UPDATE 11:14 - iPhone 6+) . Between Dropbox & GoogleDocs - I really don't need to carry around flashdrives (But I still do -cause networks *can* still go down!) I'm a girl scout that way. The Cloud is here! Give it a shot by joining Dropbox – Are you a teacher?  Dropbox loves schools !  After you join, if you are an educator you can also get double the credit for referrals. That's 500 MB for you per friend & an extra 250MB for them that with your special .EDU account. (Update 11:14 - not sure about this anymo...

I'm a shameless NPR fan! In fact, I just spent about 3 hours driving home from #MASL11, #MSEA11, & Bethany Beach today laughing along with Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me & the Prairie Home Companion. I was also honored & gobsmacked to be interviewed by Bob Edwards last year! SQUEE!) /boasting So, when I got the below astounding tweet this afternoon from NPR rock star Michele Norris alerting me to a VERY AWESOME new NPR bookclub - I put my planed Sunday blog post on the back burner and started writing this! Neil Gaiman Geeky Uber Cool & Oh So Generous! Ok..so first Neil Gaiman proves his geek street cred by pairing up with Dr. Who and now he's combining his superpowers with that of NPR, All Things Considered, & Michele Norris to give our kids....ages 9-14 a Back-seat Book Club of their very own! So teens listen up! " Finally, NPR For YOU! For all those kids in the back seat who are fed a steady diet of NPR news, here's a book club just for...

( click for more sizes & to download ) It's been a while since I've added to my Comic Tutorial Collection - not surprising since September & October are always a busy time for teachers, right? But I was asked several times recently not WHAT WAS A QR CODE ...like my previous Comic Tutorial explained (below) ...but exactly HOW to CREATE A QR CODE ! So, here's a new comic tutorial that shows you how, in three easy steps, by copying & pasting a URL and using Goo.gl URL Shortener & QR Code Monkey how to save that created QR CODE graphic (.PNG format) and using it in a document or graphic, it's easy! With the AMAZING BONUS feature of aggregated data on that code! (see below)  QR CODE UPDATE! - 7/27/2014 Bitly doesn't do this anymore! [sad face] but Google URL shortener , does! YAY! Also, my fav QR Code creator right now for jazzy QR Codes is QR Code Monkey !  This is the coolest thing ever! Google saves the the statistics on that code ...

Melvil Dewey! Kablam! International Library Hip Hop Superstar! That's right, in Winston Salem where I was honored to be keynoting at the amazing North Carolina School Library Media (NCSLMA11) conference this past weekend I got to meet him! AND WOW! This guy is the real deal! Sporting a blingtastic gold & diamond encrusted library card, glasses, magic hoodie, & a rhyming dictionary this self-proclaimed Story Yeller can write some mad library & literacy rhymes! Check check check it out! His YouTube vid has gotten over half a MILLION hits! Amazing! Who is this guy? From the bio on his website : "Melvil Dewey teaches children the importance of libraries in our communities (and schools!), advocates reading and introduces basic library skills. His first single, The Dewey Decimal Rap , has over half a million hits on YouTube and is being distributed worldwide by McGraw-Hill in 2012. Meanwhile, two of his music videos have been deemed by The Huffington Post as two ...