School Library Journal-Professional Reading 1

For my first Reading Journal entry, I read School Library Journal (July 2012).  It is a magazine that is produced for school librarians.  I chose to use this because my mentor/Head librarian at my job gave me a copy to read.  This is one of the Journals that she subscribes to, and she feels that it is a valuable resource for me to become familiar with.  It is one of the tools that she uses to review books prior to purchasing.

I skimmed the entire magazine and then went back and read in depth two specific parts of the journal:  first I read an article on Pinterest and how it is influencing the world of school libraries-I chose this particular article because I love Pinterest and thought it would be cool to see how professionals are using it as an educational tool;  second, I spent the majority of my time reading the Book Review section of the journal.

Overall I love this journal as a resource.  It is easy to read, colorful, and informative with practical information that can be used right away.  The most helpful section of this entire journal is the Book Review-it is jam packed with multi-aged neutral reviews of a wide variety of literature.   I will absolutely be using this journal as a resource regularly because of the review section.  I am not familiar enough with middle school fiction selections, and after reading the reviews find this portion of the journal to be exceptional.  Not only can I use these reviews as a guide to book purchasing, but I have already used them to get to know what kind of books are out there for middle school/junior high readers.

The content of this resource is a gold mine of useful information.  I learned that there is information readily available to help a librarian learn more about the books that are out there for a variety of grade level.  This journal provides concise information on current topics (Pinterest) that I can apply quickly and also provides resources in the form of reviews.  Like we have talked about in class, there is NO way that we can do this job on our own-this journal is a great resource to come back to time and time again.  I cannot emphasize this enough-the Book Review section is seriously amazing!!!  Again, I will be using this resource on a monthly basis and intend on subscribing myself.  If for no other reason it will be one of my many "go to" sources for the book review section alone.  I feel a bit insecure with upper grade level fiction, so having the journal to read makes me feel empowered to help students when they are selecting a book that I would otherwise know very little about.  The only question that I had about the book review selection was-are these reviews really neutral enough?  Are they skewed because they are being done by fellow librarians?  Don't we each bring our own prior knowledge and values into this arena of picking what we think is a good book?  To answer that question I went a step further and looked up a few titles on Novelist and Amazon to see if the reviews matched up.  For the most part each reviewer gave the same synopsis of the book and had the same viewpoint on the review.  It gave the journal the credibility I was looking for.

I would HIGHLY recommend the journal to my classmates.  It really is an excellent resource that is fun and easy to read.

Welcome to my blog!!

Welcome to my blog!!!  

Ahhhh-starting a fresh blog is just like starting to read a new book-exciting and fun!!

If you stumble upon this through my personal blog let me give you a quick low down.  I am starting the Librarianship Endorsement program at a local university.  This blog is part of the first class that I am taking.  I will be posting entries related to tech and reading journal assignments.  Pretty cool, right?  

I chose to use the Blogger format because I already have a personal blog that I have been using since late 2008.  Initially I created my blog purely for fun-I used it as a platform to share pictures, parenting ideas, craft ideas, and general thoughts with my family.  This past spring I took my blog to a bigger audience as we did a "Story Family Food Revolution".  I started to link up each blog entry to Facebook so that friends and family could read about our journey with healthy eating and ended up with a lot of reader traffic. I may mess around with Wordpress at some point, but for the purpose of class wanted to use something familiar.    

I chose my title because this blog is something I could keep using after this class is done.  Since I am working in a school library, I decided to create a blog title that is relevant to my new journey as a library assistant.  It gives me the freedom to write about any of the things that occur during my day- suggesting a new author, updating families on a new technology app, or a need that we have in the library.  Plus with a last name like Story I couldn't resist!!

The template I used is a stock pattern titled Simple View.  This can be obtained by clicking on the design tab and then clicking on template.  Generally I use Cutest Blog on the Block when trying to find a template or background, but to be honest I have been given a MacBook Pro (yes, I am extremely lucky!) and I am struggling to use it.  At some point I may become brave and change the background but for now this is good.  I did also go into the advanced link (also under design) and I changed the font style and color for each posting.  I chose one font for the blog title and a different font for the body of each post.  

To create the post it was simple-I clicked on new post and here I am.

I love blogger!!  It is very user friendly.  Even when I first used it I felt confident that I could explore the format, play around and not mess things up.  Blogger has updated its format since I first starting using the program and it is definitely more user friendly.  There are a few templates that have been discontinued which is really the only change that I do not like.

My biggest challenge with the creation of this new blog was (again the same complaint as above) setting the template.  I spent about 30 minutes trying to undo a cosmetic change that I tried to make to the background.  While the appearance of the blog is not necessarily the most important part of our homework, it is really important to me.  I am definitely visual so I couldn't leave it alone!!  I do wish that the help section was a bit more user friendly.  I did not find the answer to the problem that I had.  Again, it is easy to use but when I made the mistake there was no where to access a tutorial to fix the problem.  A big thumbs down on that aspect of Blogger!

Because I have the luxury of working in a school library, I have seen first hand how important a blog is in the school setting!  A blog is a mainstream tool that communicates the exciting connections that are made between the classroom and the library.  It helps parents, teachers, and administrators understand the value and importance of a space that inspires student readers  I would use this blog as a direct outreach to students and families in my school.  A priority would be ensuring that this blog was linked to the school's homepage so that families saw it right away-it is all about the exposure!  I would include links to websites such as Shelfari, Novelist, and other destinations that support the students both at home and at school.  Upcoming events in the library would be written about and pictures would be included so that parents begin to see that the library is an indispensable part of the school climate!  To keep traffic coming back, I would do online activities such as having a teacher or administrator hold a book in front of their face so that only the book cover would be seen.  I would then create a tool where students could vote on who they think is behind the book.  At the end of the set time we would reveal the mystery reader online only-it would be an exclusive to get families to return.  I am finding that it is imperative to weave the importance of the library throughout every aspect of the school climate-this is an excellent and fun tool that can be used to get information out to parents, students, and administrators.  It is easy to read, appealing to the eye, and sells the library program to a wide variety of readers.  It is a necessary piece of technology that accentuates the need for a school library!

So what is life like for me in the library right now?  It is a place of excitement, energy, and wonder.  It is magical-just how I remember it when I walked through the doors as a student.  How lucky am I to work in a place that was so important to me as a child!!