Library Grits - A blog about a blog

http://librarygrits.blogspot.com/

Library Grits

Dianne McKenzie, Hong Kong

Textbook Limits

Diane feels textbooks have “outlived their usefulness.” Textbooks were created before the internet when there was a lack of information. She points out that important information has been omitted from textbooks in certain countries. Are the textbooks bias? If schools continue to only use textbooks as a the main source of information students are not given all the sides to a story. Textbooks are created to prepare student for standardized tests. Textbooks provide students with all the information they need taking away from the fun of research. I agree with her in that textbooks are out of date as soon as they are published since events are constantly happening. Dianne makes an important point, “textbooks limit learning.”

Quotes into Graphics

Diane posts pictures she created based on quotes about librarians. 

The first one is:

“In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with floaties and teach us how to swim."  Linton Weeks    (Washington Post article, 13 January 2001, p. C01)

The second one:

I guard your right to privacy
I protect your freedom to read
I support intellectual freedom
I am a librarian

- Cafe Press 2011

Her pictures are very creative. My favorite is the poster she created for the first quote.

End of Year Fun

Diane shares ideas on what to do with books that are falling apart. She created book marks from pages of Where’s Wally and Look Alikes books. She pulled the best pages and laminated those creating a table activity. I wish I would have come across this idea sooner. I have thrown away so many books this past year.

The results are in...Summary

Diane shares her results of a survey she conducted with their secondary students. The purpose of the survey was to find out what services the students were using, what they liked about the library, and improvements they would like to see.

Asking Our Customers

Diane created a survey using Zoomerang, like Survey Monkey, it is a free. She created different surveys for each grade levels and for staff. They purpose of the survey is to find out if they are providing the services they think they are providing and to find out the needs of the students and staff.

Notes from a Conference

I agree 100% with Diane in the following statement:

“I had confirmed that no matter what you are doing in a school, it is something different to what others are doing, and you need to share it at conferences or through blogs or on twitter - it does not matter what it is - someone will learn something from you.”

Although I found a few new ideas, I will not continue to follow this blog. I like the idea of following a blog. I agree that there is a lot to learn and would love to find a blog of an elementary media specialist to follow.

I visited Librarygrits’ wiki and found an interesting article Promoting Reading Using This 2.0 Stuff

By Stephen Abram

Although the article was written in 2008 and many of the ideas mentioned I have done already, I found a few I may try this coming school year.

http://librarygrits.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/16962052/Reading-programs.pdf