Tales from a Loud Librarian

When I go to a conference, I hate when someone hands me a sheet of paper with a list of links. What do I do with that paper? Usually, during the presentation, I will mark the sites on the paper that might be useful to me, my teachers, or my students. Then I have to bring the sheet of paper back home or to school and sit and type out all the URLs so that I can see if the sites really do interest me as something that I want to save. If I like what I see, then I save them in  Diigo   and add lots of tags to each site so that I can find them again  at a later date. This is time consuming, and I have found that it may take me months to find the time to sit and go through all the websites. What a waste of time for me. I appreciate when you walk in to a conference session and are handed a paper or card with a link or QR code that points you to a website with all the resources that the presenter will discuss during their talk. I can open the resource site on my iPad during...

Not everyone likes to read the same kinds of books. Selecting what to read next can often be an arduous task for some, especially those reluctant readers.   I encourage all students to read, and if technology is king in your home, then there are some great new tools that can be used to tie the Internet to books. You can use these tools for book recommendations or even help with book selection for holiday gifts. Author, James Patterson, believes students must be good readers to find successful careers, and I agree with him. He is all about finding books that mean something to you. He has created a website called Read Kiddo Read to recommend good books for students. Barb Langridge has created   a phenomenal website about books called A Book and A Hug . The website may have an elementary look about it, but she has lists of good books for tweens and teens. There are also some great author videos that your child might like.  StorySnoops was created by four mom...