Librarian Philosopher

I love books. I have 22 by my bedside right now. I chose to be a Librarian when there wasn’t much more than books. I read to my children from books.
However, I do not feel the need nor do I think Librarians need to justify and defend the book. We need to recommend books when [...]

School Librarians should plan to have a meeting with their principal once each year to negotiate next year’s budget.
The first thing to determine is “When does the principal have to turn in her budget for next year”? In many schools that time is November. If the time is past it is still appropriate to have [...]

When I received my MLS, the way to stay current in the field of School Librarianship was to subscribe to (and read) professional journals, attend local workshops, participate in the various professional associations, and to have a mentor.
All the above methods are still valid. I found very quickly as a high school Librarian that one [...]

During one of my university classes I always talk to the students looking for Librarian jobs about some realities of the interview process.
No matter how experienced and qualified an applicant is, sometimes the interviewer just does not feel right about hiring the applicant. There may be a myriad of unexplainable reasons. The interviewer will find [...]

Anyone interested in history in any of its facets (for example, local history, genealogy, etc.) needs to know and use these free digitized historical artifacts, primary documents and other great stuff. Many lesson plans are included. Although these are Texas sites, many of the resources deal with larger historical topics such as the Civil War, [...]

What is obsolete differs in each school district depending on financial resources and general awareness of possibilities. For example, are the overhead transparency projector and TV obsolete? They are if the district has the financial ability and forethought to buy LCD projectors and document cameras. Both changes represent moves away from analog based technology toward [...]

What is it and why do we do it? In the 70’s and 80’s school Librarians did great skills lessons. Through experience, being mentored, and research (see Keith Curry Lance’s web site) we know that Library lessons in isolation to what is going on in the classroom is very close to a waste of time.
So, [...]

Yes, I know that I incorrectly capitalize the L in Library and Librarian every time I write them.
Several years ago, I was fighting my constant frustration at Libraries and Librarians not receiving as much attention and respect as I thought we aught to receive. So, I arbitrarily decided that I was going to capitalize the [...]

If you look-up the term “Library” in enough dictionaries, encyclopedias, etymologies, etc. you get the sense that a Library is a place of diffused knowledge. I particularly like the background information from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05. From experience, I have discovered that a Library by any other name is still a Library. In graduate [...]

As a Librarian (educator):
1. I am responsible for respecting the basic worth of each individual, while recognizing varying degrees of competence.
2. I am responsible for providing different methods of instruction, multiple media formats, materials to suit varying interests and abilities, in order to meet and increase different levels of competence.
3. I am responsible for allowing [...]