Turning off, or the dark side of social media

One of the questions Angela Carstensen asked her author's panel at AASL was about their use (or lack thereof) of social media in their books.  The responses were very thought-provoking and left me with much to ponder as my school shuts down for Thanksgiving Break. The first response that made me really think was Kimberly…

What I didn’t see at #AASL13

This is not a "why didn't the organizers do this??" post, it's more of a wish list of things that thus far no one's working on, or if they are they're not in the school library world. I'm still not sure what the difference is between federated search and "discovery", but why can't all databases…

Data driven at #AASL13

Most of us are not math people, but even the numerically challenged should question this: “‘We Hate Math,’ Say 4 in 10 — a Majority of Americans” | Degrees of Freedom, Scientific American Blog Network via kwout But when such thoughtful and challenging speakers as Debbie Abilock and Kristin Fontichiaro are giving a presentation entitled…

First thoughts, #AASL13

Initial impressions of AASL13?  Smaller than usual in some ways (fewer than 2500 attendees, about 1/3 the size of my first AASL back in Portland) but larger in others (I’ve never seen so many people at an ISS gathering!  Good for us!).  The exhibits were sparser than the last couple of conferences, too, perhaps because…

Hartford here I come…

It's not that far down the road (or perhaps slightly up? slightly east?) from where I am now, making it one of the very few conferences I've been able to attend while sleeping in my own bed. Besides vendors, the opportunity to meet with friends and like-minded colleagues will be refreshing.  Not that the teachers…

Caveat vendor

This time next week I'll have been through AASL13, spending time with friends and colleagues and, of course, vendors.  As my first year unfolds and research projects starts, I'm gathering ideas about what resources we need and in what format - the trick now is to match those needs with vendors and our budget.  Other…

How can I help?

School librarians talk a lot about scaffolding skills, ensuring that students have support as they learn and grow as researchers.  Many colleges and universities are creating specific first year programs so that all students have the opportunity to have a successful research experience at that educational level. So the question arises: how can I help? …

What year is this?

Growing up I lived with a college professor (aka "Dad") who was on a similar schedule to mine, so concepts of "this year" and "next year" were all about the academic year.  Summer?  That belonged to a nether-year, an interruption of time as we knew it.  Then, at the tender age of 21, I entered…