Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Bucket List
Over this past weekend I saw the movie "The Bucket List." Between that movie and planning a library lesson with the 9th graders for the upcoming Big Read of Fahrenheit 451 I began to think about my own "bucket list" in the form of books. Hummm, what would I read if I only had a limited time before books disappeared. I immediately was drawn to one of my bookshelves at home. It contains all my favorites, from the childhood series of Elsie Dinsmore, Beautiful Joe, Gone with the Wind, The Yellow-Wallpaper, The Awakening, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to current faves The Secret Life of Bees, World Without End, and A Thousand Splendid Suns... but then my eyes move to another shelf The Canon that includes the Great Books Series, how many books can I reread quickly so I'll never forget them? Where do I begin and where do I end? So many books, and so little time... So while I'm trying to reduce my favorites to something manageable in case of a crisis- What's in your bucket?
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Libraries Adapt
I recently read an Issues article from The Tennesean (1/27/08) discussing the need for newspapers to adapt to meet the needs of readers. It's not only newspaper editors that are constantly faced with keeping readership and usage up. School libraries have had to re-examine how to reach out to students. Here at Ensworth, we have to do the same.
The Ensworth libraries have embraced technology on both campuses to the point that our library catalog is web-based and all our databases are accessible from any location that has internet access. We have created ways for students and faculty to NOT step foot into the library. Is this a sane thing to do? As librarians at Ensworth, we recognize that our community does not stop researching after 5pm once the doors are locked for the night. Our smallest students have their own computers at home and our community expects a 24/7 access to information. Over the MLK weekend, I received two phone calls and four emails from students requesting research guidance. I love those inquiries because we want our students to think beyond "Google" when looking for research material. If someone told me ten years ago I would be writing a "blog" and encouraging our students to check the library online resources, I would have been astounded and thought maybe they had read too much Ray Bradbury. (see previous blog)
To quote from the Issues article: "The challenge for editors across the nation is to take advantage of the new avenues for reaching residents in print and online-- and to ensure that coverage changes as community needs and interests change." We only need to adjust a few words to make this quote our own.
The on-going challenge for librarians across the nation is to take advantage of the new avenues for reaching our community in print and online. We will continue to have books on the shelves, create comfortable quiet nooks for reading around the fireplace, still have comfortable laps for the little ones, but also provide 24/7 access to quality research materials, provide thought provoking blogs and continue to stay in step with the future to always be a productive and important role in our community. - JMB
The Ensworth libraries have embraced technology on both campuses to the point that our library catalog is web-based and all our databases are accessible from any location that has internet access. We have created ways for students and faculty to NOT step foot into the library. Is this a sane thing to do? As librarians at Ensworth, we recognize that our community does not stop researching after 5pm once the doors are locked for the night. Our smallest students have their own computers at home and our community expects a 24/7 access to information. Over the MLK weekend, I received two phone calls and four emails from students requesting research guidance. I love those inquiries because we want our students to think beyond "Google" when looking for research material. If someone told me ten years ago I would be writing a "blog" and encouraging our students to check the library online resources, I would have been astounded and thought maybe they had read too much Ray Bradbury. (see previous blog)
To quote from the Issues article: "The challenge for editors across the nation is to take advantage of the new avenues for reaching residents in print and online-- and to ensure that coverage changes as community needs and interests change." We only need to adjust a few words to make this quote our own.
The on-going challenge for librarians across the nation is to take advantage of the new avenues for reaching our community in print and online. We will continue to have books on the shelves, create comfortable quiet nooks for reading around the fireplace, still have comfortable laps for the little ones, but also provide 24/7 access to quality research materials, provide thought provoking blogs and continue to stay in step with the future to always be a productive and important role in our community. - JMB
Friday, January 25, 2008
Welcome
Welcome to the Ensworth Librarians Blog. We hope to keep this interesting and informative with the goings on at all three libraries and some muses from our librarians.
The High School Science department is participating in the National Endowment for the Arts Program "The Big Read." (links on the right sidebar) All our ninth graders will be reading Ray Bradbury's classic- Fahrenheit 451 during the month of February. What a wonderful book. It brought back memories of the past when I taught a winter-term course to some international students at a boarding school on the east coast. We had such interesting discussions when we looked at the technology descriptions within the book and replaced it with plasma screens and ear-phones so many of them had. We also discussed various forms of censorship. I am very interested in listening to the discussions that will take place on our campus to compare the insights from the two groups. - JMB
The High School Science department is participating in the National Endowment for the Arts Program "The Big Read." (links on the right sidebar) All our ninth graders will be reading Ray Bradbury's classic- Fahrenheit 451 during the month of February. What a wonderful book. It brought back memories of the past when I taught a winter-term course to some international students at a boarding school on the east coast. We had such interesting discussions when we looked at the technology descriptions within the book and replaced it with plasma screens and ear-phones so many of them had. We also discussed various forms of censorship. I am very interested in listening to the discussions that will take place on our campus to compare the insights from the two groups. - JMB
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