(from the archives) Another “what summer break?” post

I've posted about all the things I've got planned for the summer break before. This isn't that post. This is to point people towards this article, Not Summer Break. The author is talking about how there's the myth of the summer break in education, how many (most) teachers spend their time revisiting their classes and…

#WILU2023 takeaways

I wish the presentations were already posted online as there were tools and tips I was too late to get via my phone but here it is: What I Did At WILU2023. Rather than one Very Long Post or one-per-session, I thought it'd be easier if I wrote up my notes and linked to those…

Wow – #WILU23

I've already talked about feeling like a newbie at a conference, and yet... this was one of the best professional development opportunities I've been to in decades. Seriously. I took pages of notes (coming soon to a blog post near you!) on topics ranging from rethinking the first year introduction (and creating an after hours…

This land acknowledgement is your land acknowledgement

For the past few years I've seen an increase in land acknowledgements at the start of conference and workshop sessions. You know what I mean: This [building, event] is on the unceded and ancestral land of the [native tribe name] and ongoing members; the work of this presentation was doing on unceded and ancestral land…

Feeling like a newbie again

Today I'm heading to Montreal for the WILU Conference. It's only thanks to my LIRT Liaison Committee co-chair (the amazing Sarah Schmidt) that I heard about this conference and, well, the combination of topic and location made me eager to attend. Having said that, I'm less eager to feel like such a newbie again. It's…

Bucket List Check

I've served on three previous ALA book award committees (Nonfiction, Alex and SFNotables). Last week, I got an email asking if I was interested in stepping in for someone who had withdrawn from the William C. Morris YA Debut Novel Award committee. It took me about a nanosecond to say "yes". Morris has been a…

Back in person #NEAISL23

No, not for work. For conferences - specifically, the NEAISL conference. Our hosts had planed to host in April 2020, but, well, a little thing called the pandemic lockdown interfered. It was a great way for me and the other librarians to reflect on what we'd done during the lockdown to reach students and faculty…

Prurient interest alert!

I loved this tweet by Charlie Sykes: https://twitter.com/SykesCharlie/status/1639271018358362113 Oy. Now we're going after artworks? Have we also considered banning discussion of that other Renaissance painter, the one with the name no 7th grade boy can pronounce without giggling (aka Titian)? And what about the authors Dickens and Dickenson? Will AP Art History be cancelled because…

Stop gatekeeping

Every few years (sometimes more frequently) there's a tweet/article/blog post like this: https://twitter.com/wclodfelter/status/1634609783750680576?s=43&t=sbio11dN4TJgB3SdKXpteQ To which I say, UGH. Make that several "ughs". The biggest program for "leveling" books was founded in 1986, after I left college. I'm just wondering what would have happened had it existed when I was in school because I certainly read…

Adding some orienteering skills

When I was a child, my father taught me to read a map so I could help navigate on car trips (Mom drove, he would do work or nap while I followed the route). Then, in sixth grade, as part of the leadup to a weeklong class trip, we learned orienteering skills. I'm not sure…