BrianGriggs.com

Librarians - if you haven’t checked out the schedule for this year’s state librarian conference, Pam and I are going to be following the opening ceremonies on Tuesday, December 9 at 11:30am with “Set your Library on Fire II”.

Here’s the flyer. Expect more booktalks on the new books this school year (Hunger Games, eh?) as well as ways to incorporate technology into the library.

Here’s the address:
Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa
9495 W. Coyotes Boulevard
Glendale, AZ 85305

And here’s where to register by October 31.

New year, new look. There will be a few updates as the first day of school draws near.

Check out Destiny Quest in the sidebar. This will help you find books easier, as well as if the book is in or not.

1. The first edition hardcover of Battle of the Labyrinth is printed in 13-point Centaur MT font.
   Centaur. That’s funny.
2. As of Friday we had the lowest price in the world (yeah, Phoenix Book Company!) for The Host.
3. Small Steps by Peg Kehret (not the Holes sequel) is a great story for people who like real-life drama and people overcoming obstacles. The craziest part? It’s the author’s true life biography.
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is taken from funbrain.com and it reads like a web journal/comic. That’s probably one reason why I like it  so much. The other is because I usually don’t laugh out loud when reading.
5. Did you know that you can put books on your phone? Now when I wait in line or if I’m tempted to be bored, I use these programs to read full books that have digital bookmarks to them. They’re all free (and legal through Creative Commons).

Now, I don’t the basics, whether it be pistols at 20 paces, a giant semi, some cards, or even if banjos will be involved. 

But I do know this: Mr. Loge of Fremont Junior High, I accept your challenge. It is officially on. 

As No Child Left Behind is being revisited, please check out the SKILLs Act that requires a certified media specialist (instead of a crossing guard lady) in every school library. Only 60% of schools have a teacher-librarian. [begin sarcasm]Surprisingly [end sarcasm], those schools do lessons and other activities to enrich the learning experiences in the different subject areas.

Take action now by clicking here.

Big news! I’d tell you I love you but then I’d have to kill you is finally back on the shelves. I booktalked this in August and today I checked in the first copy (of 15) that wasn’t on hold. And just in time. Ally Carter is visiting my library in February! (Woot) 

For all of the highly-qualified librarians who still get the “All you do is sit around and read and browse the Internet” comments, here’s what yesterday looked like:

1. Got a 4 hour, 35 minute cooking video ready for the Life Skills class. Chose to put it on VCR quickly so that the groups could see their cooking demos on finals day.
2. Set up a video camera for a teacher to record group presentations
3. Troubleshot when the VCR copyright protection was stopping the teacher from showing her presentations.
4. Co-ordinated by phone and by e-mail with librarians and Hyperion reps as the contact person for an awesome author visit next semester.
5. Set up a display in the office.
6. Updated the video clock and scrolling announcements on the server.
7. Managed an online usergroup roster for one class project.
8. Instructed students on how to upload podcasts on Great Expectations to a virtual classroom for another class.
9. Answered questions on the Walk to D’feet ALS as an impromptu contact person for students, staff, and the community.
10. Selected titles for a World War II booktalk for a Social Studies class next semester.
11. Hooked students up with Shadow of the Hegemon and Titan’s Curse
12. Sold some book fair books.
13. Got the instructional specialists set up to work with inclusion students for testing accomodations.
14. Made sure the PTRO had what they needed for their giftmaking (woo, PTRO!) for the teachers.
15. Ran 5 VCRS and 3 DVD players (with the help of my assistant librarian).
16. Stayed on top of AR quiz installation to help any students who were waiting for “that one test”.
17. Worked with a student aide on labeling books for AR.
18. Re-shelved classroom literature study books.
19. Managed 70+ students at lunch (I love the cold…we had an estimated 110+ students on Tuesday morning.)
20. Ran a club where I taught students Flash and Photoshop.
21. Solved a worksheet after not being able to find an answer key online (because the teacher lost her answer key) without having to pay a subscription. For future reference, if you are handed a jumble of letters (after having to de-code which polygons have which sides and markings) to try and make a word/phrase, I recommend an anagram permutation solver(Sped up my search mucho-fold.).

Calling it a day I stopped at the store to get a gift card for my assistant who informed me yesterday that yesterday was her birthday. And I did some re-shelving and cataloging before I took off.

Because that’s all we do all day.

This morning, starting a new cycle, I stopped to listen to a teacher who has had three violin lessons to play a Christmas song for her mom on her dad’s violin in memory of him.

I love being a librarian!

Phoenix Book Company is having a $3 paperback sale. It is very relaxed and there are actually good titles, instead of other peoples’ sales where it’s their book fair extras.

Or at least he would be if we ever met. Jon Scieszka, author of Stinky Cheese Man (and some other books, I guess) has a site called guysread.com. It’s been out for a while, but I just stumbled upon it.

There he gives a search engine to help guys find guy books (which, sadly, are not usually classroom novels…but it’s getting better!) as well as some printable resources.

The Arizona Library Association has put up my handout on their website (’Set your library on fire!’ is in between the RDA status report and the MARC records update).

Some other funny news today. You can tell my bias towards the digital and online. One of our teachers asked if we had an opaque projector. Have you seen one of these things?

Unleashed from the darkest depths of our AV Abyss (the very back corner of the closet) comes:

The Opaque Projector 

 Click the image thumbnail to see its Dalek glory:

If you don’t want the burden of scanning in documents into some program called “PowerPoint”,  you can put your document under the Watchful Eye and put it up on the screen. Just like ScanTron answer keys, any educational technology that existed before digital boggles. Clerke, you have schooled me.

If you at home want to buy your own, there are still some left on the Internet.