From Jennifer Hanft at the State Library of North Carolina: Dear North Carolina Educators, The State Library of North Carolina, in its mission to preserve and facilitate public access to state government information and advance the study, understanding, and appreciation of North Carolina's cultural heritage, is gathering information to better understand how we can support North Carolina K-12 educators. Please help us by completing the following survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NCEducators . The survey should take 5-10 minutes to complete, and will be open  through   Monday, September 9 th .  Once we have processed the survey feedback, we will compile a report and publish it to the State Library website. You can learn more about the resources and services available to you at the library through the following ways:  Sign up for our email list:  http://eepurl.com/dGt16X Connect with us on social media:  https://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/social Get a library...

There are times, when you just have to call someone out publically. Someone says something incredibly offensive online. You cannot let it go, so you speak up. Thank you, thank you, thank you.  What I want to address is not that blatant, in-your-face offense, but the unintential. The “I thought I had all the bases covered” or “That never crossed my mind” offense.  I’ve got a couple of examples to share that go in slightly different directions. Book lists are published for an annual event. This particular event has separate ES, MS, and HS book lists. One of our members didn’t like a list and emailed the chair. I cannot say thank you enough to librarian #1 for reaching out to the chair to get answers. The chair explained the process and the nuances of working with the other committees. Librarian #1 then took her information to a national blog and published it without further inquiry - without offering to help the committee make the next list better - without talking to someone el...

I am a school librarian! You've heard me say this before. Do I sound like a broken record? I hope so.  This spring, I sent out a survey to members of NC School Library Media Association. One of the questions asked about job title. Most of the job titles listed did not contain the word librarian . oh my! Our jobs have changed, but so have the roles and duties of teachers, counselors, and administrators. We’ve all evolved in our professional roles. Technology has touched and changed every position in schools. But in many cases, the school librarian title has changed so much that the position of school librarian cannot be identified by looking at a list of school jobs. And we wonder why outsiders don’t know what we do. I've sung this song before, but today, I want to add a new verse.  In the past, my concern has been for our identity as school librarians. When people hear the word librarian, they know we deal with books, computers, coteach, lead PD, but with different t...

Happy Friday morning! NC School Library Media Association had its first State Library Legislative Day, and for the most part, it was a huge success. We have several follow up opportunities and need to gather information to make the most of them. One of our needs is to find out what models other states use for funding school libraries. Our model in NC: State allocates funds for a librarian and materials (I'm not sure how much yet. That is another thing I'm working on.) Funds go to Districts which have discretion on how to further allot them.  Funds go to Schools which have discretion again on how to use.  I'm sure you know where I'm going with all of this discretionary use of funds. Most of the time, the library ends up with no funds for materials. A large number of our schools have librarians (so far), but that funding is also discretionary. The position is currently recommended but not required. Bottom line: the most common scenario appears to be that the library...

This week, NCSLMA had our first Library Legislative Day. We had librarians from across the state participate and meet with NC Senators, Representatives, and their assistants. A few huge thanks are in order. The first goes to Dr. Anthony Chow from UNCG who serves as the adovacy chair for NCLA. Dr. Chow has been extremely generous with his time and knowledge leading us through the process. Crystal Joyce, Advocacy and Governance Section Chair for NCSLMA, and her team, Lila Morel and Faith Huff worked closely with Anthony to learn the process and recruit people. They were willing to take the first steps to get this huge event underway. Their hard work certainly paid off! Thanks to all who participated. The event itself was amazing and numerous positive contacts were made. I have every confidence that this is just the beginning!

I stripped the walls in the library of all decor. Don’t get me wrong, they looked good - really good, but I’d had a passport theme up for the last three years and it’s time for a change! I’m keeping the same color coding - Yellow - Fiction Blue - Nonfiction Red - Picture books Why am I doing that now you ask? I don’t know. It’s legit crazy with inventory and DLMI and all the books being returned and county orders coming in, but sometimes you have to do what you want to do and not just what you have to do! I’ll share the progress in a few days. 

I read everyday and still can't get through or to all the books I want to read! And it's not even close! How about you?