Not getting the whole picture

The other day I saw this tweet: https://twitter.com/wylie_alan/status/1361944536071700481 I work in a school library, not a public library, and I know that things are measured differently in each. In both there is still (sadly) a lot of confusion about what we do and what value that adds to the community, so determining the exact ROI…

The simple life for me

Since the lockdown started, I've spent most Tuesday nights attending a Mussar class run by Congregation Beth Elohim. This week's middot is simplicity, and I've been thinking a lot about how that plays into my role as a librarian/teacher. The first thing that jumps out at me is the collection: weeding, updating, making things more…

Can’t say we’re not busy!

Because the library and its program are usually a mystery to the administration, we thought it might be helpful to share what we'd been doing over the summer and through the just-finished first semester. It was also a great exercize for us to look back and see how much we've done (or haven't done). Here's…

Virtually there

As with most (all?) independent schools, our library is part of the School Tour, and it's always fun to see potential families and students look at our resources. Obviously that's not happening just now. First the school created a school tour of sorts. Then we created a tour that looked beyond the first floor. And…

Fleeting connection

Usually, when we post to Instagram we get around 20-30 likes (less if it's a book-heavy post). A few have had more, like the post for last year's graduating class that got 47 likes. And then, yesterday, I had some time to fool around with Photoshop before the class I was working with started. And…

Racing towards Research Season

While teachers have been reworking their classes, adjusting things for hybrid learning and multiple time zones, we've been working on getting our (digital and print) collection ready and preparing to work with students virtually on their upcoming research projects. We know that many of the teachers who do the February project are concerned because they…

Rapid Response

Wednesday, after working on a semi-physically demanding project in the library I went home and took a nap. Then woke up to... well, we all know what was going on Wednesday afternoon. Scenes that reminded me of my vague memories of Chicago '68, with the fear that the Rodney King riots spread (I was in…

My Year in Reading

Not bad, despite COVID and the stress.  There are just some times when a gal's gotta bingewatch junk tv, though...  And my choices for the best books of 2020?

Finally, something normal

Last week I looked at this week’s forecast and saw snow was predicted. Fine... but it’s a week away. Over the next few days amounts of snow and arrival days kept changing: 5” Wednesday and 8” Thursday? no... 12” Wednesday and 3” Thursday? no... Tuesday it seemed to settle on 1-2” Wednesday night and 10+”…

All I want for Christmas

No, not my two front teeth but Sugar Daddy Press in print and digital. I know Rosen bought Jackdaws, but I haven't seen anything more. Talk about a great primary source database for middle school! In my imagination, it would be easier to navigate than Library of Congress or Smithsonian Primary Sources. But more than…