AL Blog Questions

What differentiates blogging for library media specialists from writing for the generalist biblioblogs?

The audience. When you publish a blog post as a teacher librarian, you’re not just reaching out to the library community. You’re starting a conversation with the entire academic neighborhood. We’re talking to administrators, curriculum consultants, technologists, professors, teachers, and even parents. It’s almost a guarantee that your writing and ideas will impact someone with a vested interest in education. But, figuring out whom, on a given occasion, is anyone’s best guess.

What are your professional objectives for blogging?

To reflect and receive critical feedback that informs my instruction.
To network with other teacher librarians and educational leaders.
To share resources and ideas with a network of professionals.
To tell my story as new teacher librarian.

How much time do you devote to blogging?

Not as much as I should. Teaching in a K-5 library is exhausting and there is little no time for it within the instructional day. Blogging for me, often takes place on the weekend or at midnight after my lesson plans and materials have been prepared for the next school day. My writing and creativity often suffer because of it. Sometimes I luck out in Central New York and we have a snow day.

How does having a professional blog impact your work with students?

It’s connected me to information and ideas that inform my instruction on a daily basis. It also allows me to be reflective and brutally honest when considering my lessons and planned units of study.

What are the pitfalls for a school librarian to be writing a blog?

The tremendous time commitment. Once you become established and have gathered a solid group of readers, you have responsibility to not be disloyal to your audience.

How does blogging affect your interaction with nonlibrarian colleagues?

Starting a blog dedicated to school librarianship was the best professional decision I’ve ever made. It’s been the ultimate form of mentoring. I’ve had the tremendous privilege of having people like Chris Harris, David Warlick, and Brian Kenney leave comments and suggestions on my blog. How cool is that? How else in the world could I be connected to my academic idols?

What has been the response of your faculty and/or administration to your blog?

Unresponsive for the most part. Many of my colleagues still haven’t gotten their passport to make it across the digital immigration border.

If your administration was wary of you blogging, how did you allay those fears?

Still haven’t figured out how to manage that one. Any suggestions?

What is the greatest benefit to blogging about school libraries?

The increased transparency for the profession. We need to do a better job spreading the good word about what exactly it is we’re doing. Blogs about school libraries are conversation starters. There are some tremendously hard working people in the profession, and they need to start telling their stories.

How do you see the evolution of blogging (i.e., the growth of online video) as intersecting with the job of school media professionals?

In order for school library blogs to evolve, I’d first like to see more librarians move away from closed discussions and closed networks like LM_Net. It’s the closest thing I can think of to intellectual incest. We need to make our conversations transparent, searchable, and subscribable via RSS. Then and only then, will we see a revolution in teacher librarian blogging. They will become repositories for instructional ideas and resources, specialized collaborations, and professional development.