Tales from a Loud Librarian

Last school year, I utilized the skype technology a number of times. Bookmarked, the library book group, talked to two other book groups several times and an author once. My sister who is a graphic designer living in Atlanta helped the seniors via skype with their PowerPoint presentations for Senior Project. This school year, I just have not scheduled any skype sessions. I would talk about it, but I just didn't get any  sessions on the calendar until this past Friday. To refresh your memory: Bookmarked is participating in YALSA's YA Teen Galley Program. So the Patrick Taylor book group is one of sixteen groups in the country receiving advanced reader's copies from the publishers and reviewing these titles for the publishers and the Teen's Top Ten sponsored by YALSA. I thought it would be fun for my teens to talk to kids in one of these other book groups because the kids are reading all of the same books. Kathy Corbiere of Lake Norman Charter in Huntersville, NC was al

With American Library Association coming to town this summer for its annual conference, I was anxious to volunteer when asked. I agreed to work as youth coordinator for the local arrangements committee for YALSA, the division of ALA for librarians who work with young adults. I knew that I could do whatever was needed in New Orleans. When Kim Patton, the president of YALSA, called me up to explain that I was also the youth coordinator for Midwinter I was flummoxed. How was I going to get 50 kids to the San Diego Convention Center on a Sunday in January. I didn't know anyone in San Diego. After my initial anxiety, I asked YALSA for some help. I posted on a YALSA list serv, and I had a few California librarians contact me because they heard I was youth coordinator. I found five librarians to bring their teens to ALA Midwinter on Sunday the January 9th. I have heard from two of these librarians who said the event was awesome. The teens got to spend the morning at the exhibits picking

Here is a definition of the word memoir that I copied from Wikipedia: "A memoir (from the French : mémoire from the Latin memoria , meaning "memory", or a reminiscence ), is a literary genre , forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable in modern parlance. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below. The author of a memoir may be referred to as a memoirist ." Add your contribution to my wall by opening this link: Create your memoir in six words.

Okay, I brought home a stack of books, but . . . . . . . . . I only read one of them and bought a new one and read that too. I guess two books in two weeks is sufficient, but I had planned to spend more time reading. It just wasn't what happened. I spent time visiting with family and friends and watching a lot of movies on television. The first book that I read was For the Win by Cory Doctorow. I was intrigued by this book because I liked his Little Brother so much. This book had the technology component but otherwise was very different. There were a zillion characters all living in different parts of the world and each chapter told several stories at one time. All the characters were involved in computer gaming in some way, but the book was also about the economics of labor unions and how all workers could unite for better working conditions. It took me a very long time to follow who was who. I don't know if I am smart enough to understand all the themes that he presented,