School Library Monthly

For this reading journal, I chose to read the paper version of School Library Monthly (Volume 28 Number 6 March 2012).

The librarian that I work with has several back issues of this magazine that she has put out for us both to read and discuss-I love that aspect of reading and then talking about what I like and what she likes.

I read the entire magazine in two sittings.  The first part of the magazine did not hold my attention as well as SLJ or the Horn book.  The month I read had articles such as Lesson Study for School Librarians, Using Web 2.0 Tools with Young Researchers (something that my colleague does with 3rd-6th graders frequently), an already outdated review for the Nook Color, A School Library Work Plan, and my favorite-Hosting a Family Read-In. There were also book reviews that included a "spark" addition where teaching tips and/or books to partner the selection with were included.

This magazine as a resource does not rank as high for me as those I have previously reviewed.  While reading the articles I just didn't feel that spark of excitement that I have felt with the other journals/blogs that I have enjoyed.  What struck me with this resource is that today (October 2012) there were articles that were already outdated.  The article on the Nook Color was already old-new technology has taken its place.  How interesting that if a library would have purchased this device for student usage to see that there are newer tools that have been produced a mere 7 months later.  I did enjoy the article on being a story teller and loved the hosting a family read-in article.  If I had the opportunity, I would absolutely offer that type of program for our students and their family members.

I did learn some interesting information from the content in the article entitled: A School Library Work Plan.  The author of this article suggests using the word "pilot" when presenting strategies/programs/or an innovation in the library.  This article encouraged the administrator/librarian relationship due to the lack of exposure pre-service principals have in their coursework.  This article gave tips on creating a plan to best use your time as a librarian and broke it down into educational and instructional roles.  It was a concise article that was very helpful in the management of the library as a whole.  I also enjoyed the content of the family read-in article.  I am always so excited to work with others in educating them about our library!  I enjoy having parents come in and see what we are doing with their kids during the school day-how cool would it be to have a read-in as an evening activity!!  While this article seemed to be for older kids, I would like to dig deeper and see if there are schools that have done something similar with lower grade students.  Maybe even pursue this idea and make a "bedtime" story night at our library?  It would be a lot of fun-pull a bunch of "quieter" selections and have families come in to enjoy some stories.  Or just pull books and read at their leisure.

Overall I would not subscribe to this magazine.  While I am sure it is suited for many, I did not find it to be as engaging, or as exciting as other materials I have seen.  The reviews were not as detailed or as helpful as those in SLJ and the articles were no better than those I have seen in SLJ either-if I had to purchase one as a professional development tool, it would be SLJ over SLM.