Martha's Blog

Martha does an AWESOME job describing emotions I think that a lot of people who work in any type of customer oriented job have! Take a look at her post and my response here.

Manicures in the Library

I love crafts. Obsessed with them, actually. Thanks to Pinterest, I have an idea board that will probably last me until I'm 100. So when I saw a post on YALSA's blog that talked about crafts in the library, I was hooked! 

Then, they just had to talk about doing manicures in the library.

Yup. That was all it took. As an avid nail painter (yes, I paint my nails at least 3 times a week....please don't judge) this was my kind of post!  I loved Christine Lewis' idea of having students come to the library afterschool to paint their nails pink to support Breast Cancer research. This is such a creative way to integrate the library into a school sponsored awareness day or event. As a teenager, I would have loved to be able to paint my nails at school! I'm definitely going to store this idea for later.

One thing I'm really grateful for are then many ideas that these various social networks provide. I think that it's so important to share ideas and get inspiration from colleagues who have such wonderful experience.

THANKS YALSA!!

Check out the original post here!

Celeste's Blog

I just read this post about incorporating movies into book displays. Love the ideas! Check out the original post and my response here.

Good Job Goodreads

So...I'm basically addicted to Goodreads. Yup, I've been hit by the Goodreads bug and I'm not ashamed. I discovered it less than a year ago, and have been using the website quite extensively ever since. However, yesterday I finally decided to explore it a little more, and discovered the giveaways section. Users can enter into contests to try and win free copies of books. I'm not typically a risk taker, but apparently books are my weakness (and the fact that they are FREE!) I'm crossing my fingers and watching my email to see if I won! Even if I don't, why not try?

Storybird

Just checked out Kate's blog about Storybird, a really neat online storyboard program. Check it out and my comments!

http://edtechlady.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/storybird/

Potty Mouths and Permission Slips

For one of my graduate courses, I am writing a research paper that dives into the issue of profanity and young adult/children's literature. I have to say, this has been an inspiring topic to research, particularly when it comes to how librarians handle challenges to literature.

Between pulling, burning, and censoring books, the most interesting technique has definitely been the permission slip tactic. Really, I would LOVE to see how a modern high school librarian deals with that. To be quite honest, once that item has left the library the librarian loses control of the item. That book can get read by anyone, not necessarily the person who checked it out. So, does the permission slip tactic really "fix" the issue?

It's kind of like that with a lot of things. Isn't it slightly human nature that if someone tells you that you can't do something, it just makes you want to do it more?? Really, I truly believe that the best thing parents who are worried about a book can do is communicate with their child. Encourage parents to read the book first, and take a look at issues that might come up. Have them talk with their kids! Sometimes, controversial books about tough topics can spark meaningful conversations that parents should be involved with.

So, really, the permission slip tactic might just make it harder for a kid to have access to a book, but that doesn't mean they won't get access somewhere else. Parents should look at the situation as an opportunity to discuss their values with their kids.