Category Archives: Special

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Why go to Teen Lit Con? One of your peers tells all!

Attention Central MN! This FREE conference is a haven for students who love to read and write. Maria Burnham, Sauk-Rapids Rice High School Media Specialist, is hoping that if a few different schools get together and share a bus, they could share the cost of transportation along with CMLE who has agreed to pay for a portion of the bus fee.  Please contact Maria if you’re interested in attending with students and she will work with you to coordinate details.  Or, please pass this information along to any others you think would be interested.  Maria is willing to do the organizing if you can get the kids!  Call Maria at 320.258.1625, email her at maria.burnham@isd47.org, or find her on Twitter @MariaBurnham4.

Maria Burnham with Author Steve Brezenoff
Maria Burnham with Author Steve   Brezenoff

Not sure? Read Maria’s account of Teen Lit Con last year….

Looking Back at TeenLitCon 2015!

Let’s face it.  In the K-12 world, everyone loves spring.  Our students have grown and changed since the fall, and the warmer weather has us all dreaming of summer days to come.  For me, one of the reasons I so look forward to the spring is attending the TeenLitCon at Henry Sibley High School.

Last year was the first year I attended the event.  I brought six students with me in a school van, and we made the hour-and-a-half long trek to the southern Metro on a beautiful Saturday morning in May to immerse ourselves in books, writing, and a love of reading.

Upon our arrival, the energy of the place was magnetic!  The Henry Sibley gym was full of enthusiastic teenagers waiting to meet their favorite authors.  The day started with a Q & A panel with E. Lockhart, Matt de la Pena, Gene Luen Yang,

"Next read" predictions gurus!
“Next read” predictions gurus!

and Gayle Forman.  The rest of the day was a “build your own schedule” of breakout sessions: book signings, keynote speeches by the four featured authors, writing workshops, button-making, poetry writing, “your next read” predictions, illustration tips, and book talks.  I walked away from the day with a bag full of signed books and a renewed energy for teen literature.  My favorite of the day?  Joining in a dance party with Gayle Forman and about a hundred other students.

I’m looking forward to attending the event this year, once again held at Henry Sibley High School on Saturday, May 7th.  Giving up a Saturday isn’t always easy (especially one in May), but this event is worth it!  The van ride home last year was completely quiet as my students were engrossed in their new books.  Some of my aspiring authors left the day with a few writing tips and opportunities for summer writing camps.  Others were so excited to receive an advanced copy of a book by an author they just met.  No matter the take-away moment for the student, all enjoyed the event and left with memories that will stay with them forever.

Thank you to the metro public libraries for sponsoring such a wonderful, FREE event to teenagers!  Hope you’ll join me in attending TeenLitCon this year!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Keynote and session links from Library Tech Conference 2016

Are you feeling like Cinderella because you had to stay home and did not get to go to the Library Technology Conference this year? Me too! I have been hearing how great the keynotes were, so upon further investigation, here are the links that get you a little closer to this year’s action. Brew a cup of tea and take a listen….

  • Safiya Noble is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Studies in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. She conducts research in socio-cultural informatics; including feminist, historical and political-economic perspectives on computing platforms and software in the public interest. Her research is at the intersection of culture and technology in the design and use of applications on the Internet.
    http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/84532162
  • Andromeda Yelton is a librarian and technologist (and former math major and middle school Latin teacher) who is interested in empowering librarians through code. She speaks and writes about coding and learning to code, gender in library technology, conference codes of conduct, ebooks, copyright, technology, and personal branding.
    http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/84566483
  • Feeling really ambitious? You can also find the conference breakout session archives in the conference’s digital repository. Just choose a session, and if any materials are available, then click the download button.
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

5 tips for making student group work successful

heartGroup activities can be really enjoyable if teacher librarians are aware of the best management strategies to use. Chaos and high decibel noise can take over in a hurry if proactive steps aren’t taken in getting the groups started. For example, instructions to simply discuss without producing a tangible product can prove to be a disaster. Our friends at  Edutopia, offer strategies, tips and tools that enhance group engagement while curbing the chaos. Hmmmm….some of these strategies could work in librarian working groups too!

Image credit: https://unsplash.com/ (Kristina Litvjak), licensed under CC0 1.0

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/tips-making-group-work-manageable-kristina-doubet-jessica-hockett

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

eBooks MN Free Posters

Steve's Birthday PartyeBooks MN has gone live, and the people who know about it are pretty excited! Now it is time for promotion! Are your library users aware of this free, new statewide resource? No?

The folks at Minitex are offering various items to promote Ebooks Minnesota at your library. Check out these neat-o, easy-to-print, 11×17, color posters. There are 13 in all! Check it out now before you forget.

Each poster highlights either a general subject area or book series for your readers.

Pssssttt: At our upcoming May 5th event, a Minitex trainer will be doing a live demo of eBooks MN. Click here for more detail about the event including registration.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/ljjktht, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Scavenger hunt to promote browsing

Robin at HeliganIn the old days, when digging through paper card catalogs was a big pain, lots of people browsed the shelves in libraries. Today, online catalogs add expected precision in finding the precise item and its location, but what if you want to get back to your browsing days? Some libraries have adopted discovery layer products and bookstore model displays, and users leaf through what is all there, a great attempt at “old school” browsing. But, what about all of the other perfectly good book treasures buried in the stacks?

I recently saw a blog post that was written for the professional to explore their library by browsing, but it could be adapted for your library users too. Bring back browsing is what I say…some of the best books I have read have been as a result of going into the stacks, closing my eyes, turning around three times, and pointing at a random book for my next read. Serendipity is sweet sometimes! Get all of the details for doing a library scavenger hunt to explore the stacks here.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/l6sc8te, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0