The SurRural Librarian

If you’re lucky enough to have a book budget for next year, then your thoughts might soon be turning to Collection Development, or as it’s known in the real world – Shopping!

I love that spring cleaning time comes right before the start of the next fiscal year, because now I can take that stack of School Library Journals out to the hammock and start tearing out the pages. I do eventually use the computer for most of my collection development tasks, but I love good old print for the ease with which I can lay on my back & swing without having to squint to see my screen in the sun.

Of course, I have to do the usual statistic gathering – collection evaluation, finding out new units the teachers are doing next year, deciding which percentage I can spend on picture books, but for now – the field is wide open. And I just love browsing when I know I’ll have money to spend.

Here are some of my favorite (possibly non-traditional) ways to look for books to buy.

A trip to the Eric Carle Museum Library. If you are any where near Amherst, MA, I highly recommend traveling to the museum and spending some quality time with their picture book collection. You can peruse to your heart’s content and they have a magnificent collection of new & old picture books. Bring something to take copious notes with!

Your local independent book store. Again, spend hours browsing & reading and take notes. I always let the booksellers know who I am and what I’m up to, it’s a nice way to connect and I don’t want anyone to feel weirded out by the adult hanging out in the kid’s section all afternoon. Booksellers, like librarians, are an opinionated & quirky bunch, so you’re sure to find different books than you would on the shelves of box stores or the covers of publisher catalogs. And yes, I also lurk the stacks of my public libraries.

Blogs. This year make sure to check out Fuse 8’s Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results for any titles you might be missing from your collection. Elizabeth Bird has done a wonderful job of detailing each book in this top 100 list. She’s got links to super book talk resources like videos and gorgeous pictures from the books.  This list is compiled from her reader’s top 10 lists, and I find it an interesting slant on the usual.

Some of my favorite independent blogs for book reviews are:
planetesme.blogspot.com
hiplibrariansbookblog.blog-city.com
abbylibrarian.blogspot.com
6traits.wordpress.com
And check out the fabulous Vintage Kids Books My Kid Loves for other titles you might want to dig up used on Amazon. www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com

Let children mark up your catalogs. I let my 7 year old go crazy with a marker in my stack of journals, flyers & catalogs, just circling the books she thinks look interesting. Getting input from kids on the title & cover-appeal of books is a great help when you’re deciding which will fly off the shelves. I’m planning some class time where I give each student 10 stickers with their name on them and a stack of catalogs, and ask them to choose ten books they think I should buy. That would be a fun end of the year activity. We could work in some math too. Or you could just leave them out on the tables year-round.

Vermonters who use Titlewave will be glad to know that they have the DCF, Red Clover & GMBA lists built right in. Thanks Grace!

I recently asked the VSLA listserv for recommendations of author visits. Here are the names people sent, I’m pretty excited to see if we can get a great speaker to come work with our students.

Jim Arnosky
Gary Bowen
Simon Brooks
Matt Christopher’s son, Dale.
Mordicai Gerstein
Steven Gurney
Kathleen McKinley Harris
Beth Kanell
Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
Peter Lourie
Debbie Miller (from Alaska, visit VT annually)
Susan Milord
Won-Ldy Paye
Tracey Campbell Pearson
Jan Reynolds
Leda Schubert
Phoebe Stone
Steve Swinburne
J & P Voelkel
Doug Wilhelm
Storytellers Tim Jennings and Leanne Ponder

I was also clued into this helpful Directory of Performers & Speakers from the VT Dept. of Libraries

Which in turn reminded me of the importance of the institutional knowledge of the school librarians in my state. So many of them are going to be retiring in the next 5-10 years, and I’m terrified by the thought that I am in the next generation of “leaders” and I still have so much to learn!

I’ve been pondering the focus on professional development for school librarians lately through the planning for conferences I’ve been peripherally involved with. I present on techie issues, and I really enjoy it. But what I really need for my own p.d. is much less techie and more human-related. I’m afraid if we continue to focus so much on wikis, blogs, yadda yadda – we’re going to need a whole lotta help dealing with issues like censorship, collaboration, working with parents and early readers – all the human to human work we do.  Librarians with 25 years of experience will be leaving the profession soon, and I want to connect with them before they do!

Here’s an overdue idea, and a great name for a bill.

Posted to LM_Net:

Support the SKILLs Act: Urge your Senators to co-sponsor S. 1699 and your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2864. On Tuesday June 26, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) introduced the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act that guarantees students across America will be served by highly qualified, state-certified school library media specialists and will have the library resources they need to succeed.

The SKILLs Act:
Requires school districts, to the extent feasible, to ensure that every school within the district employs at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in each school library; Defines highly qualified school library media specialists as those who have a bachelor’s degree and have obtained full state certification as a school library media specialist or passed the state teacher licensing examination, with state certification in library media in such state; Establishes as a state goal that there be at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in every public school no later than the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year; Broadens the focus of training, professional development, and recruitment activities to include school library media specialists; Ensures that funds will serve elementary, middle, and high school students; and Requires books and materials to be appropriate for and engage the interest of students in all grade levels and students with special learning needs, including English language learners.

Urgent Action Needed:

This legislation is critical to the future of school library media specialists. Contact your Senators and ask them to cosponsor S. 1699. Contact your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2864.

Talking Points:

Multiple studies have affirmed that there is a clear link between school library media programs that are staffed by a school library media specialist and student academic achievement. Across the United States, research has shown that students in schools with good school libraries learn more, get better grades, and score higher on standardized test scores than their peers in schools without libraries. Long regarded as the cornerstone of the school community, school libraries are no longer just for books. Instead, they have become sophisticated 21st century learning environments offering a full range of print and electronic resources that provide equal learning opportunities to all students, regardless of the socio-economic or education levels of the community, but only when they are staffed by school library media specialists trained to collaborate with teachers and engage students meaningfully with information that matters to them both in the classroom and in the real world. Only about 60 percent of our school libraries have a full-time, state-certified school library media specialist on staff. With limited funding and an increased focus on school performance, administrators are trying to stretch dollars and cut funds across various programs to ensure that maximum resources are dedicated to improving student academic achievement. Because NCLB does not highlight the direct correlation between school library media specialists and increased student academic achievement, library resource budgets are increasingly being used to mitigate the effects of budgetary shortfalls.

To read more about the bill search Thomas for Bill Numbers S. 1699 or H.R. 2864

As of today, the bill has been referred to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Senate committee, on which our Senator Bernie sits. So we should all certainly give Bernie a ring, and might as well drop a line to Leahy too: senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov I’ve found them both responsive and very interested in education issues.

If you’re not in Vermont, check here for contact information on your reps.

I wrote an article for this month’s VEMA newsletter about the new site I made for my school using Wordpress. I go on ad nauseam about all the fun reasons I love this software, and how it’s a perfect fit for those of us with little money and less time.

The site has been up for three months and its use and popularity with the school community is growing exponentially. It’s working out real swell.

The .pdf is here on VEMA’s (also soon to be redesigned) site.

Today the whole school countra danced to funky blues.

Waiting in line yesterday to check out her book, a first grader started singing (ala Ramones) “Hey Ho, Let’s Go”

96 percent of my students completed the March Reading Challenge in which they read every day and keep track of how many minutes read. Each one got home made chocololate chip cookies in return.

Today’s most common “I forgot my library book” excuse:
My road is too mucked up for the school bus so we had to hike to the main road, and I couldn’t fit them all in my backpack. (Vermont mud season is tough on readers)

Here’s a story about a school librarian in California who’s doing great things for the library, the school, the kids and teachers – but the district has no money to keep her on the staff next year.

Hiring Torres to transform Lakewood’s library into a modern-day media center was funded by the Sunnyvale Education Foundation, whose members dreamed of putting a teaching librarian in all 10 Sunnyvale district schools. Lakewood School, where close to 40 percent of the students are still learning English, was the first. As it turns out, it also was the last.

…

Now Lakewood is mounting a multitude of fundraisers and looking at what it can cut to keep Torres on the payroll next year, after the foundation funding runs out.

criminy.

In a frenzy of “oh my, vacation’s over and I haven’t done half of what I wanted to”, I have done the following today.

Set up new rules and mailboxes in my Mail.
Created practice pages for each student on their wikis.
Made a template wiki page for them to copy & got together some instructions for them.
Downloaded and edited the lessons in this free typing thingy (simply webpages and javascripts) for the 3rd graders first typing class tomorrow.
(It’s kind of wacky, but delightfully simple and now completely under my control, just the way I like it.)
Decided on the next unit (Early Readers and Chapter Books) and first book (Catwings) for the Primary class.
Registered with a hosting company (and got an amazing deal!) for a new site.
Installed Wordpress.
Found a new skin, but I have to wait for the DNS to resolve in order to install it, sigh.
Checked in on the status of my free books from JLG.
Upgraded Cyberduck.
Blogged.
Got some new sneakers.

ahhhhh.

Today the Junior High kids and I jumped into online research for their class sustainability project. Last year (my first) things didn’t go so well online. Today was so much better, I hope we can keep it up.

I needed to convince them to pay attention to their sources. So before unleashing them on the internet, I told them about the bogus, hateful martinlutherking dot org. (link to ALA description) It’s the first non-sponsored hit on Google, sadly, but that fact certainly helped me get my point across. They were shocked.

When I discussed with them the list of questions I wanted them to answer, they embraced the idea quickly, and really gave it a good try. Here are the questions I asked them to try and answer.

• Who is the Author or Authoring Organization?
• Do you recognize them as an authoritative source?
  Do another search if you need to.
• If you’re just using one part of the web site – what is the Home Page?
• What is the date written? (if available)
• Is there an “About” section? Or a Mission Statement?
• Contact Details – is there a physical address? An email address?

I explained that not being able to answer these questions didn’t necessarily mean they should avoid the site, but that they should talk to me and together we’d investigate further. Just these few questions got them to slow down and be much more guarded about what they were reading. It went really, very well.

BTW – that site is surely the first hit on Google because of its popularity as a teaching tool among librarians. It would be great if we all could stop linking to it from web pages. The more links, the better the ranking. It’s gross that we’re helping keep it on top.

Two great articles appeared in the main stream news this week. Two!

Why Johnny Can’t Code By David Brin in Salon is even worth sitting through the adds. (Just do something else while the flash goes by). I’ve been wondering a lot lately about how I can get kids interested in how computers work, and why schools don’t teach programming more often. Brin really nails it.

BASIC used to be on every computer a child touched — but today there’s no easy way for kids to get hooked on programming.

And yet another about MySpace, in US News & World Report no less. And it’s surprisingly balanced and in-depth. I’m going to make copies for my teachers and some parents.

Decoding MySpace by Michelle Andrews

It’s the coolest hangout space for teens-but parents might be surprised at what their kids do there. Here’s how to help keep them safe online

Below is a reply I received today from (my) VT Senator Leahy in response to an email I sent him raving on about DOPA.

It’s clearly a blanket statement, but there are a few tidbits of hope in there, among them, a stated understanding that the wording of the act is vague. Plus, a mention of the Constitution is always a good thing.

Any readers in Maine and New Hampshire might want to drop a line to their Senators Snowe and Sununu on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and make sure they know not to sit next to Ted Stevens.
Begin forwarded message:

Thank you for contacting me about the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) of 2006, H.R. 5319. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

On May 9, 2006, Representative Fitzpatrick introduced H.R. 5319. The bill would require public schools and libraries that rely on Universal Service funding to provide Internet access to prevent access to certain websites. On July 26, the House approved the bill and it is currently before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, of which I am not a member.

As a father and grandfather, I am very concerned about the need to protect our children from inappropriate materials that can be found on the Internet and elsewhere. We must work hard to meet this important goal; however, we must do so within the scope of the Constitution.

In an effort to bridge the “digital divide,” Congress authorized certain educational institutions and libraries to receive discount rates for Internet services under the Universal Service program. The discount assists these educational institutions in making Internet access available to more Americans. I understand the concern that language in H.R. 5319 is overly broad and may unintentionally limit access to an array of websites.

Thanks again for your comments on this issue. I will keep your views in mind should this or related legislation comes before the full Senate.

Patrick Leahy
UNITED STATES SENATOR

Please visit my website at:
http://leahy.senate.gov/

I had planned on doing a book talk* on Criss Cross with my 5-8th grades this week. I loved that book. But when I got to school, I slipped into the 5th grade class for a visual. It helps me to visit a class when I’m planning. Notes never really help me remember the unique personalities in each room. (You know – a picture of each class would be a great idea. hmmmm)

I took one look at those kids and realized, ugh, they’re going to hate it. The room is majority sports-loving, book-disdaining young boys.

I dashed back into the library and searched the DCF list for something with some action and recommended for 4th grade. Grabbed The Giant Rat of Sumatra. I liked it alright over the summer, pirates are big, no problem.

Well. I have yet to perfect the talent of reading a book as if I were a kid. I had completely missed the fact that the vocab is dense and pre-Victorian. This Trollope fan enjoyed it, but those 5th grade boys – not so much.

It’s a tough read. I had to stop at every sentence and explain what the heck was going on. The only thing that kept me from being egged were the little pirate tidbits I threw out every few minutes. Thanks Johnny Depp.

What broke my heart was seeing some of the boys straining to understand. They were so excited about a pirate book. When a kid has a very hard time reading, does it help for me to expose them to difficult language? Or did it just freak them out? One boy did bring it home, but he’s a big reader.

I still recommend Rat for those precocious Redwall (or Henry Fielding) fans. But it could send reluctant readers screaming from the library. I think I blew it.

*Does anyone have a better word for book talks? It sounds like it should read as BookTalk TM to me. Drives me nuts.

Just in case you’ve been on vacation, or just don’t read any other librarian blogs, the House has passed another reactionary, ill-informed, goofball bill all in the name of “protecting our kids”. Even VT’s Bernie voted for it. I sometimes think these guys will never get anything about the web, kids or libraries.
There’s plenty to chew on, if you’re looking for info ALA has a good breakdown. It’s on to the Senate, so think about contacting your elected officials and ask them to try to learn about technologies before they ban them.