The Unquiet Librarian

I have added some new posts tonight to my library blog, http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com, to promote some wonderful YA Lit 2.0 resources available to teen readers! Book publishers, authors, and organizations dedicated to promoting YA lit now have blogs, Twitter accounts, My Space pages, Facebook pages, and You Tube channels that provide interviews, book updates, podcasts, and videos to help teens communicate one on one with their favorite authors. Please take a peek at some of my favorite resources!

http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/sarah-dessen-20/

http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/harper-teen-books-check-out-this-web-20-presence/

http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/calling-all-vampire-kisses-fans/

http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/paula-yoo-readergirlz-september-author-of-the-month-on-youtube/

http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/get-plugged-into-reading-the-plugged-into-reading-network/

We use our blog and our Twitter account, https://twitter.com/unquietlibrary , to alert our patrons to our latest blog posts. I hope you will enjoy some of the resources I have highlighted!

The Unquiet Library via kwout

Check out the great new “image” feature of PollDaddy!  You can now incorporate images into your PollDaddy polls!  Here is an example:

[polldaddy poll="857359"]

Experimenting with Google Picasa: Buffy Unpacking First Box of Books

Originally uploaded by theunquietlibrarian

Whenever I start feeling overwhelmed by the upcoming school year, I like to look at this photo and remember the pure joy of something as simple as unpacking a box of books. I can honestly say this was one of the happiest moment in my career—this is me opening the first box of 8000 books when I opened my media center in July 2006! Happiness is a box full of books that you are about to unbox and put on the shelves!

I am honored and delighted to be a guest speaker this Saturday for Dr. Mary Ann Fitzgerald’s EDIT 6380 “Cataloging for Automated School Media Centers” at UGA/Gwinnett.  Speaking to budding school library media specialists is always a thrill, but this particular event is especially meaningful since Dr. Fitzgerald was my program advisor and has been a guiding force in my life since 2001; in addition, it seems like it was just the other day that I was a student in EDIT 6380 in the summer of 2005!

My resource bookmarks are available at http://del.icio.us/theunquietlibrary/7-12-08, and my presentation (which is more of a visual guide…I will be doing a ton of “show and tell” with our library blog, our library website, and other library 2.0 tools) is available below:

[slideshare id=506872&doc=avantgardelibrary-1215647304968283-8&w=425]

I am excited to share how I am using library 2.0 and web 2.0 tools in my media center to organize and deliver information to our patrons.  I can only hope that what I have to share will inspire others to join in the fun! 

MS Library 2.0 Summit Birds of a Feather Lunch Tables

Originally uploaded by msulibrary1

Are you teaching Web 2.0 or Library 2.0 courses to your faculty or fellow educators? Here is a sample of photo of a great idea from the MSU Library 2.0 Summit (that I wanted to attend but could not because I could not leave my summer school peeps!) a few weeks ago. I love how they organized the tables by Web 2.0 tool….I am going to borrow this idea for a presentation I am doing July 12 at UGA and for my blogging class I am teaching July 14-15.

Thank you, MSU, for inspiring me!

[mixwit_mixtape wid="3b319c094d01e4771384463dd98a0ae2" pid="b014ef80044f43b0bb5872e8231f8730" un="K_Glogowski" width="426" height="327" center="true"]

Calling all Grizzly patrons!  Are you looking for a cool multimedia tool to show your teachers what you have learned this fall?  Check out Mixwit, a fun “media playground” that allows you to artwork, photos, and music in a format that can be easily shared!  Read about how this teacher, Konrad Glogowski , used this tool as part of a novel study (hit the play button above to play his mix); you can also visit and see student examples by going to the link beneath this screenshot.

blog of proximal development

You can register your own account for free!  Click on the link below to visit Mixwit and start mixing up your own creative projects today!

Mixwit – Create and Share Digital Mixtapes

The 2008 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical | Home

 Many thanks to Dr. JoBeth Allen from the University of Georgia Department of Language and Literacy for the heads up on this WONDERFUL event!  I plan to be there…Billy Collins will be giving the keynote address!  Here is the latest info straight from the festival organizers via email:

It’s hard to believe, but here we are preparing to launch the THIRD annual Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical. The festival has not merely survived its first few years. We’ve built on partnerships with artistic, educational, business, and governmental organizations not only from all over metropolitan Atlanta but from all over the nation. Hosted in the literary haven of Decatur, this festival has quickly joined the ranks of the largest and most talked about book festivals nationwide.
 
 Perhaps we could just keep doing what we’ve been doing and call that good enough, but where’s the fun in that? We’ve added plenty of new and unique programs to this year’s festival:
 
 We’ve had a Children’s Parade since the first year, but this is the first time we’ll be launching a new book at the parade. Not just any book: It’s the first new “Madeline” story in 50 years–”Madeline and the Cats of Rome”–written by John Bemelmans Marciano, the grandson of Ludwig Bemelmans. We encourage everyone to join Marciano in the parade, maybe wear a big yellow hat, sing your favorite French (or, for that matter, Italian) song, or just make some noise.
 
 Though we’ve had programs directed at teenagers from the beginning, 2008 marks the first year we will set aside a space exclusively for teenagers, called Escape. Escape will host best-selling authors for interactive discussions, an open mic and a literary salon. For those under 18, there will also be a quiz show called How Well Do You Know Harry? judged by Cheryl Klein, continuity editor for the last four Harry Potter books.
 
 In a historic partnership, Poets & Writers and Agnes Scott College are working with us to present the best DBF Writers Conferenceyet, with top national editors, agents, critics, publicists, authors, and screenwriters sharing their collective wisdom in a conference tightly integrated with the rest of the book festival. In addition, beginning this year, DBF will host the prestigious Southern Independent Booksellers Association (SIBA) awards ceremony. Many of the nominees will give readings at the festival.
 
 In 2006, we hosted the launch event for the first Atlanta Reads. This year, we’ll launch Atlanta Reads as well as the Big Read, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Atlanta’s Big Read will encourage the entire community to read and talk about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”
 
 Still not enough to fill your Labor Day weekend? Check out even more of the new programs that make this year’s festival truly unique:

 Brooks & Co. Dancewill perform a dance inspired by Shirley Jackson’s classic short story, “The Lottery,” set to the music of Stravinsky’s “Rites of Spring” and drawing on Ninjinsky’s seminal choreography to Stravinsky’s work.
 
 In a program called “Words from Iraq,” adult and young actors from PushPush Theater will present multiple perspectives on Iraq through readings of letters children have written to their parents in the military, blogs written by soldiers in Iraq, and a blog by a young Iraqi woman.
 
 In the spirit of the Java Monkey Local Authors Stage, we’re adding a stage for emerging authors just beginning to get their work out into the world, called the Emerging and Exhibiting Authors Stage.
 
 Author and former Olympian runner Jeff Galloway will lead a fun run Saturday morning of the festival, followed by a running clinic.
 
 Lee Smith, Marshall Chapman, Jill McCorkle, and Matraca Berg will all be onstage together to give a taste of their traveling musical–The Good ol’ Girls–about their friendship and the mutual influences of their books and music on one another.
  
 And that’s just the new stuff!
 

You know you can also count on us to bring you the nation’s top authors in our strongest, most diverse line-up yet. You know we’ve got you covered for good food and some of the best singer-songwriters in America. You know we’ll show the whole family a good time. So, come join us this Labor Day weekend for the best AJC Decatur Book Festival yet!    
   
   

 Be sure to check out our 2008 DBF web site,www.decaturbookfestival.com <http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0010o9b8-G1lEKeg0HJ9PdUjGRNyOgyeblVgbcTsEt5PKylDahxzgliuFLJWKLt-zYIoc45cFGTjIsQlOObVGPCdF6Q_S1hyNoiVHSyZMw4GDtx6o-NqZyAj84pBZOFARsm> .

A wonderful and interesting article about an innovative approach to summer reading came through my weekly NCTE Inbox e-newsletter tonight.  The Butler Public School District in New Jersey has implemented a new summer reading program for 2008 that shies away from traditional classics and tests and instead embraces contemporary novels and an emphasis on reading for pleasure (how refreshing!!!).  No threats, no incentives, no extrinsic motivation—just a schoolwide focus and expectation on reading a text that is interesting, enjoyable, and accessible during the summer months! 

According to the Star-Ledger, “District officials said their goal is to get students reading — and excited about reading — during the summer months. They also developed a district-wide summer reading theme — celebrating differences — that Butler schools plan to weave through their curriculums during next school year. ”

The superintendent, Rene Rovtar, also goes on to say, “Summer reading … is sometimes viewed as very ineffective. Families go on vacations at the end of August and suddenly there are multiple books that have not been touched,”  “The purpose is to build an enjoyment of reading that they will hopefully take with them long after they leave.”

What is especially innovative about this program is that it encompasses all grades, not just the high school students.   Take time to read the article , and I think you too will be impressed at the planning and forethought the district has placed in this program.   I am also impressed at the philosophy that underpins this approach; additionally, the actions at the district and school level (outlined in the article) speak volumes to the students about the authenticity and value of this summer reading project. 

I would like to see more districts in our area follow the lead of the Butler Public School District! 

Are you like me, unable to attend NECC in person?  If you can’t be in San Antonio, then being a part of the NECC Ning  is the next best thing.  I joined up about a month ago, and it has been a blast to hear and learn about what has been happening out there through the Ning.  It’s not too late to join and to get in on all the buzz!

All a Twitter: Want to Try Microblogging? – 7/1/2008 – School Library Journal

Back in March, I blogged about the joys and benefits of Twitter, an instrumental element of my personal learning network.  If you haven’t tried it, then check out this fabulous article about Twitter from Ellyssa Kroski over at School Library Journal.  This article provides an accessible yet thorough introduction and overview for Twitter newbies and veterans alike!

I am always happy to Tweet with fellow librarians and educators!   

Twitter / buffyjhamilton