The Daring Librarian

We love connecting with other kiddos in schools in other cities and states. Our sister library is  Central Middle School of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and we had a great time the other day chatting with them about books! Books Beyond Borders with Google Plus Hangout Our friend & one my librarian mentees, Mrs. Tiffany Whitehead , excitedly emailed that she was being filmed for a local news segment and she wanted to show off our long distance cooperative relationship and highlight cool tech with a Google Plus Hangout! FUN! Amazingly, we were in between testing windows & thanks to my fantastic 7th grade ELA teacher Mrs. Krieger for being spontaneous and jumping on board with this cutting edge conversation! It was lots of fun!  Both groups of our kiddos picked out books they loved & wanted to share and did quick book talks. This has been such a banner year for Tiff ! She has been named one of  Library Journal’s 2014 Movers & Shakers , an ISTE’...

Twitter: Professional or Personal? When I speak to groups, I often talk about how I use Twitter as my main source of rich professional development and as a transformational PLN builder (Personal Learning Network). I don't use Facebook personally or professionally at all. If you've been reading my blog or follow me on Twitter you know that we broke up a few years ago.  Read Dear Facebook , We Need to Talk. I think every Twitter user has some kind of  formula for their Tweets. For me, (and this SO not scientific though I did have to get my calculator out!)  I Tweet 82% ed tech & library, lesson ideas, curation and content building, being a shameless sharer and giving back to my community. I want to give more than I take. I try not to Tweet in an echo chamber.    8% pop culture - Doctor Who, Real Housewives, Sherlock, etc, 4% personal - the random and oft times inarticulate sophomoric thoughts going through me heid, my travels, Oh and weird dreams. ...

Irony of ironies! I recently worked a few nights madly and happily Photoshopping & designing a new Twitter look for our school's Twitter page! (it's still not perfect! & best viewed on a big desktop screen) when I heard that they're soon changing the look and design features of Twitter altogether! What the what!? Doh! (It's HERE! See Update below!) According to Mashable , they're making it look a lot more like Facebook.  You know how I feel about Facebook , right? Change Happens. When Twitter changed their profile look a few years ago, I was Gwynnie on the spot figuring out how to make it look cool & I shamelessly shared my tips , too! Added to that my Twitter At-A-Glance and my Twitter: Art of the Follow comics, I try and keep up with Twitter trends.  Heck I could do a collection of screenshots of Twitter's morphing looks. So, it comes as no surprise that they're changing it again. You probably won't notice much if you us...

Introducing the SLJ Librarian of the Year Award Advocacy is always important. Advocacy for kiddos, teens, literature, creativity, giftedness, special needs, technology, a filterless society, community projects, connection with parents, geeks, goofballs, oh and LIBRARIES! Transparency IS the new black ! In our profession, being an advocate for your kids, your library,  your program, and yes...for YOURSELF is ESSENTIAL! I Nominate YOU to Nominate Yourself! You can and you should nominate yourself for this award. The first education honor or award I got was the  Teacher of the Year Award in 2001 from PBS & the NTTI (OMGosh the write up is hilarious! CD-ROM's & the Handspring Visor! LOL) , I filled out the paper, got my principal on board and went for it! And Kathy Schrock presented it to me! (I know, pinch me, right?) I was also the first school librarian to get that award, too! That felt awesome! If you win this one, you would be the first one to get it! Tha...

Graphic Design Desires Combining a few recent posts ( 10 Tips for Digital Photo Editing & Fun  & Lustworthy Fonts Made of Win! ) and some slides I made for PD in my school, I created the slidedeck below with EVEN MORE great sites for FREE digital imaging with bonus and totally biased graphic design tips! Hope you like it! Digital Image Factory: All Pics from gwyneth jones Got Cue? I'm also going to be using this as part of my preso & Workshop Factory and Image Factory during my appearance at the CUE Conference in Palms Springs, CA! (I know, pinch me, right!? SO honored to have been invited to speak!) LeVar Burton is keynoting the conference, plus there are loads of amazing sessions. I've never been to the desert before, but after all this snow we've had in DC it's certainly intriguing! I'm hoping for a balcony room. Love me a balcony! Workshop participants are going to be challenged to create PPT with their bes...

I am a longtime Harry Potter fan and the recent news that JK Rowling thought maybe Harry and Hermione should have ended up together has me in a bit of a FANGIRL trailspin of What the What!? Nooooooo!   Here's the comment I plastered around almost everywhere I can (don't judge me!) LOL No way would Hermione have made Harry happy or vice versa! She's way too prickly, stubborn, cranky, (as his he!) and they would have snipped at  each other until a divorce would be the only answer. Jenny is sweet enough (but not saccharine)  to put up with Harry PLUS she's magically strong enough to earn his respect.  AND by marrying her he's now part of the Weasley family - which he always wanted to be, and I think is perfect! I have wondered who, if anyone, was Hermione's intellectual equal - what other cool brainy boy was there at Hogwarts? Hmm? Not Neville though he turned out to be awesomely brave! Someone who would earn her respect and not let her trample ove...

Lustworthy Fonts I've made no secret that I have a great love for graphic design, fonts, and the FREE site PicMonkey ; which makes even the novice dabbler feel like their creations are Made of WIN! As Joyce Valenza said in a recent blog post "my love for PicMonkey, in general, is so great that a premium subscription is critical!" But you don't have to have a Royale subscription (but it's worth it!)  to get lustworthy fonts, see!? Here are 10 FREE fonts that are super cool! And here are 10 Royale fonts that are nom nom delicious! You can also find some of these fonts on Dafont and 1001 Free Fonts ! How do you find them to download them to your lappie? Just Google the name of the font + FREE + MAC (or Win)  - and Bazinga! Lustworthy Fonts! Design With Style  & Pimp Up Your Blog Posts The coolest new thing they offer is the ability to create from a blank canvas and a new design feature where there are pre-set sizes! Even a Facebook Cover [wr...