Fundraising for a Library in Ghana with Kwame Alexander

So.... here's a little update on what I have been up to:

I opened a high school library at a brand new high school this year. I have been busy, but I went to the NOVA Teen Book Fest this weekend and felt inspired to get back into blogging and revamp my social media a bit. I've been tweeting actively, especially since I published another SLJ article in December and have been following a bunch of new YA authors in addition to the middle grade authors I used to follow as a middle school librarian.

Here is something kind of cool that I have been working on. Back in January, the 2015 Newbery award winning author, Kwame Alexander,  visited my high school for a school wide visit. It was fantastic! When it was over he mentioned he was trying to raise some money to open a library in a village in Ghana so I offered our help. His publishers donated 1000 of his books to this project (LEAP for Ghana) which he has signed, and now our students are selling the books to our community in an effort to raise money for his project.

Here is some more info from my school website. If you are interested in helping us, please reach out. Thanks!

Featured in Author Eugenia Sozzi's Blog

One of my talented teacher colleagues, Eugenia Sozzi, is also children's book writer.  This month I was featured in the website portion of her blog! In this interview, I discuss how libraries can help and inspire students to work for social justice. Please check it out. 

Please check out this incredible author and her super cute website. Thanks Eugenia!

Scoop.it

Have you tried Scoop.it yet?

It's a website where you can curate various web articles and share them easily with your social media sites. I thought it would be a good place to organize some of my articles and the articles of others. Seems kind of cool. I always get nervous that they will spam my social media followers, but we'll see what happens!

Here is a link to my Scoop.it page called School Librarians and Libraries  

SLJ - Global Awareness: Ways to Engage Students in Global Thinking

Here is a link to an SLJ article I co-authored with Heather Flor of Sudan Sunrise. It discusses how librarians and students can support girls education around the world.

Another SLJ Article - Social Media Strategies 101

Check out my latest: Social Media 101 for the School Librarian

Another article for School Library Journal!

Yay!

SLJ Article - World Book Night and Social Media

Here is another article I wrote for School Library Journal about World Book Night and Social Media Strategies. YAY!

Pinterest for School Libraries

I started using Pinterest a while ago but never really got into it. Most of the pinners I followed were my stay-at-home mom Facebook friends and they seemed to follow recipes, crafts, and those funny/sarcastic greeting e-cards that are always going viral on social media sites. Although it was cool and creative, it just wasn't my thing. Now that I've gone back to work full time as a school librarian, following my crafty friends on Pinterest just made me feel like I wasn't channeling my inner Martha. 

Recently, however, Pinterest was reintroduced to me in an SLJ article from an educator perspective and I think it really makes sense for me. According to the article, pinterest is "fast becoming a powerful resource where teachers and students share images, store lesson plans, read about current events, watch video clips and collect their favorite apps." This sounds like a useful tool for sharing and organizing links. In fact, I set up a Pinterest account just for professional use and created 4 boards- New Books (In my library), Library Stuff, Education - General, and Library Media Technology.  I also shared this account and info in an article I wrote for my monthly School Library Newsletter that I send out to my entire staff. 

Are you using Pinterest? Follow me.