Archives of John Brown’s Raid

Olivia Bravo of Kanawha County Public Library mentioned an awesome link to a project she’s working on for the 150th anniversary of John Brown’s Raid in Harper’s Ferry.  It’s part of the West Virginia Memory Project and I’m sure it’s also someplace on the LOC’s American Memory site as well.  I’ve added it in on my school’s portal page for teachers, as well as linking up the two aforementioned pages.  For those of you who aren’t sure how to use the database, there’s even a handy, dandy “How to Use This Database” link at the bottom.  Here’s the link to the database:

http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvmemory/imlsintro.html

The pictures are great!  I’m so glad to see stuff like this going digital!  It’s going to make some 8th grade WV History teacher’s life so much easier!

Thanks, Olivia!

Happy Halloween!

Dias de Los Muertos links

Back in the day, when I was in elementary school, we looked forward to Halloween.  We looked forward to candy, class parties, dressing up in fun (and funny) costumes, candy, trick-or-treating, candy, scary stories, candy, scary movies, and of course–it’s all about the candy!  I still love Halloween!  I still love candy!  I am still totally down with all things creepy, scary, and done in memory of the dead. 

It wasn’t until I was in high school and had a rather confused substitute teacher for an English class (the teacher taught both Spanish and Junior and Senior English, but everyone wound up watching Spanish videos) that I found out about the Days of the Dead, celebrated in Mexico.  I still recall the opening sentence of the video, because many years later, substituting for a different Spanish teacher, I had to show it to some students when she was out on a personal day around Halloween (“Los Dias de los Muertos est el celebracion de muertos y vida. . .”).  Just as the video states, it is a celebration of both life and death, and I find it to be a really beautiful tradition, full of food, family, fun, celebration and reverential remembrance of those who have passed on.  In fact, the only tradition I can recall (which almost no one celebrates anymore, unless they are from an old, staunchly traditional European home) is the dumb supper, in which one sets out food and drink for the dead, then leaves it from midnight to morning so that the dead may feast.  Some Catholic churches may still hold masses for All Saints and All Souls Days, but if they do it around here, I’ve never been.  Sure would like to go, though. . .

Here are some links to some good, solid information on Days of the Dead festivities:

http://www.tomzap.com/muertos.html

http://www.holidays.net/dayofthedead/index.htm

http://artswork.asu.edu — Click on either Teachers or Students, then follow prompts for historical and art activities. 

If anyone out there knows of any stuff I missed, please send ‘em my way so I can run an addendum!

Enjoy

270 to Win

For all you Social Studies, American History, and Civics/Government instructors out there, one of my teachers has turned my attention to a rather nifty site called 270towin.com.  He has an entire worksheet that he made up to help his students with the assignment that involves this web site, but if you would like to peruse and possibly use this site yourselves, here’s the link:

http://www.270towin.com

And yes, as promised, I’ll be providing sweet, hot linkage to scary Halloween reads soon.  Until then, go out to my web site and check out what I linked up through Bartleby.com, or if you like, simply go to either Bartleby.com or Project Gutenberg and look for your own delightfully creepy titles.  But here’s my link (shameless self-promotion?  You better believe it!):

http://hheck.tripod.com

Going Virtual

I’ve updated my school library web site, and I invite any and all interested parties to have a look-see. It’s linked up below:

http://hheck.tripod.com

I have done this to help my kids, my teachers, and anyone else who may need help with research, current events, or other school library-related stuff. I’m going to try and post more stuff for Halloween, Dias de los Muertos, and scary movies later on today.

I have also decided that, what with all this budget-crunching and truly frightening economic state, going virtual may be everyone’s best bet. I just wish I could afford to get e-books and link them up. I also wish I could find my OPAC on my server. Since Le Grand Reinstall earlier this month, it has since mysteriously disappeared. Or perhaps it’s taken that wee soujourn to Jamaica without me? Damned OPAC! Always up and bailing on us when we need it most!

Feel free to send comments about the updated web site, and also feel free to bookmark it for your own use, should the need arise.

Happy Halloween, Boo-Rattle-a-rattle-a and all that!

Student Book Review Web Site

FYI–I just received this in today’s mail at school, and this may be something for all you YA and school librarians, as well as some of you English teachers who enjoy educational web stuff and web reviews.  The web site is Flamingnet.com (http://www.flamingnet.com) and along with the cute, reading-bookworm graphic and the book covers of the most recently reviewed titles, it looks pretty good.  I was so impressed with it that I linked it here as well as on my own school library page, and I plan on making an announcement about it Monday at school via the school announcement sheets.  I’ve got kids who would love to get involved with something like this.  I highly recommend this!

The Happiest Place on Earth

I’m at work on an ISE day, but I had to write this post to share.  I’m looking at six kids in my library.  Five are reading and one is working on note cards for a research paper.  It’s the quietest room in school.  The last time it was this quiet, I was administering a test.  Of these six students, four are freshmen.  One is a sophomore and the other is a senior.  Three kids have asked when the new books are in (between Monday and Wednesday, kids, they were shipped on Thursday, the 8th).  This is the quietest it’s been in here all week. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I think you should be able to talk in a library, especially if you’re doing a group project.  I think you should be able to fit at least two classes into a library, more if and when necessary.  I know sometimes you have to talk to somebody to get something done.  But seeing these kids doing traditional-style, quiet, independent reading just made my day.

Happy reading!

What I’ve Been Up To. . .

Since I’ve finally stopped working (for now) on school stuff (work-school, not Mansfield-school), I’ve been–doing more work. Most of what I’ve been doing has been grad-school related, and some of it is what this post is about. The course work really is good, but I’ve learned something about myself–I honestly cannot take more than one class a semester, and I really shouldn’t do two at once while still trying to work. Maybe next summer will be a little different, since my grandmother has died, but I doubt it. And on that note, just let me add-upheaval sucks!

Next Wednesday, July 16, I’ll be in Fairmont at my alma mater (it used to be Fairmont State College, I don’t know what sort of poxy, high-falutin’ moniker they’re going by now–I think Fairmont University?) for the WVLA’s Summer Refresher Workshop for school librarians. I’ll be doing two presentations–one on building a virtual school library (I know, I know, done to death, but I was stuck for a topic) and one on hell-raisin’ school librarians. The first one will probably be a snore. The second one–might get me into a spot of trouble, but at this point, I don’t care.

Folks, there’s a problem in this country with the school library, it’s image, and administrators and school boards who think in this digital age where any and everything can be found on the web the school library is a huge, rather irrelevant room filled with musty books and a leaky roof. Anyone who did a Library Power grant, anyone who has ever read AASL’s Information Power or happened to luck into a copy of The Information-Powered School knows that school libraries are more important and relevant now than they ever have been, and they are and can be ever-evolving. Some districts and states, however, will never know about this and will never allow their children–no matter what age or grade level–to reach their full potential as people if they keep cutting school library positions and allow pre-existing school libraries–filled with books, AV and computer equipment, furniture, and other print and non-print resources to sit vacant.  No Child Left Behind might actually help more than harm us, because in the Land of the Bubble Sheet, the school library may be the one place where kids can really sink their teeth into doing research and learning critical thinking skills.  I’m not sure where this post is going, exactly, but I didn’t want it to just sit here, taking up space.  So tell me–what are you doing for advocacy in your state or district?  God knows I’m always open for suggestions, so wing ‘em my way!

Some Thoughts While Running Inventory

One of my student assistants noticed our cart of free books.  These books are free because they are being weeded.  They are being weeded because some of them haven’t circulated since the mid-60s.  This is what got me thinking–if many of my kids have iPods and mp3 players, and if some even have access to SmartPhones, why can’t we do audio books via podcasts?  Why not do e-books?  Why not purchase some e-book readers and maybe circulate those?  We’re getting new stuff in all the time, and my kids are rather tech-savvy.  So here’s my question, dear readers–are any of you all doing this?  If so, what do some of your policies look like?  How much did it cost you?  Is it better or worse than traditional print?  Are you guys rural and relatively poor, like us?  Suggestions are always welcome!

Open to Suggestions

While continually preparing my collection (and myself) for The Big Inventory, I’ve decided to back up (and back off) a bit, and open myself up for suggestions.  So here’s what I need to know–who else out there is taking inventory at the end of this school year?  Do you do this annually?  If so, when do you start shelf-checking/cleaning up, and how often do you weed?  Annually?  Once a year?  Once every five years?  Come on, people!  Spill yer guts!  I’m running out of time and available workers, and Iknow I’ve got to get this done, soon-soon-soon!  We’re midway through the 600s just now, and my knees have finally given out.  I’m itching on places on my arms and wrists that I didn’t realize were susceptible to dust and ick, and I think I may end up nursing a spider bite before this is all said and done.  Sounds like I’m begging?  That’s ‘cos I am!  Any and all help would be appreciated!  Thanks!

The Big Fling

We’re weeding in my library.  Okay, let me back up a bit–because those of you who know me, those of you who’ve had classes with me at Mansfield (go mounties!), those of you who have seen the small mountains of books surrounding my desk–you know that I’ve been weeding since I got here in the fall of 2003.  You know that the library smelled a great deal worse then, and that it hasn’t gotten much better since we’ve begun this whole weeding fiasco.  Some of the rather amusing things I’ve found this week:

1.  Economics in Action Today, copyright date 1967. 

2.  A book of popular commencement speeches, copyright date 1931.  I think this one was donated by a former graduating class–1964, I think?  Water damaged, smelled, pages missing, hosting a small family of spiders. 

3.  A book on career planning from 1969.  Last circulated in 1980–from a teacher.  The spine was barely cracked and, other than a small bit of mold on one corner, it looks quite new. 

4.  Lots of rebound copies of what may have been quite popular novels back in the 1940s, but have since fallen by the wayside.  What is it with rebound copies?  Why are the colors always so hideous, and why are the spines always so bloody hard to read?  And what’s with the spiderweb-printed end papers?  In one copy of Hardy’s Return of the Native, someone had doodled in a spider. 

5.  Speaking of spiders–yeah.  Lots of those.  And they’re angry. . . and probably plotting my doom as we speak.

There will be more, trust me.  I haven’t even made it into the 500s yet (horrors. . .) and I’m gearing up for my annual Shuddering Fit of Dread for the 920s. 

I once saw a crafting segment where a woman in DC makes purses out of discarded books, library or otherwise.  Though I’ve always wanted to do this, I never have.  I’m sure the artistic potential is there, I just haven’t tapped it yet.  I believe this same woman cuts up the juicy bits of pornographic novels, seals them onto something more substantive, and sells them as earrings and pins.  Now that’s slapping censorship in the face!  Or kicking it in the nards, if you prefer.