When I got home today, there was a box sitting on the front porch.  And, after opening it I knew it was one of those times you want to share the exciting thing I found.  So, since we’re on break from school, it seemed the blog might be a perfect place.   I was so excited because inside the box were copies of my brand new book – The 21^st Century Elementary Library Media Program.   The book is published by Linworth Publishing, which is part of the ABC-CLIO family.  While I’ve spent a year or more working on it and seen its many various drafts, it was so exciting to see the final product in print.  Hopefully you’ll indulge me taking a few minutes to celebrate!!!  Opening that box and seeing my own work come to fruition was exciting.

Sometimes it is interesting to think back about how a project like this starts off in the first place.  I certainly would have never guessed when I started out in this field that I’d be writing a book – let alone this being my third one.  But, I believe strongly in taking advantages of opportunities.  When I was student teaching, my supervising teacher and I worked on a project that she thought would be perfect for an article.  She encouraged me to write it up, and to my surprise School Library Media Activities Monthly (now School Library Monthly) agreed to publish it in the fall of 1998.   I never realized that many journals take submissions from practitioners.   So over the next few years, I continued to turn in articles based on things happening in our library media center.  I sent things to a variety of magazines – sometimes getting published and sometimes not.  I found the writing to be a great way to reflect on what we did in the library media center.  After a while a few fabulous friends of mine (Marge Cox and Susan Page) got together and decided to try our hand at writing a book.  Each of us had a unique perspective and it was our combined efforts and talents that kept us moving forward until the project was complete – The LMS in the Writing Process (Linworth, 2007).   Following that I thought maybe I could tackle the next book on my own.  While it was much harder to keep to deadlines without my co-writers pushing me along, eventually it came together and the book was published — No School Library Left Behind (Linworth, 2008).  Now that I kind of had an understanding about the process, I started on another book and today that process can to an end with the final copies that arrived today – The 21^st Century Elementary Library Media Program (Linworth, 2010).  I keep writing articles and I’m sure at some point may tackle another book.  All along the way there have been amazing editors and publishing folks to help guide me along each and every step.

The thing that I always think about is that this could have happen to anyone.  There are amazing things happening in school libraries all over.  Taking a little time to reflect about them and write them down can lead to a published piece to share with others.  We as a profession tend to be too shy in letting others know the great things going on in school libraries.  We should take advantage of any opportunity to share.  Writing about the things that happen in our libraries is very reflective and can often lead us to think about why we do things the way we do – and make them even better.  Journals often are looking for great ideas that they can print.  Check out their submission guidelines in their journals or online.  Besides a published piece, one might also consider a blog or other online format for sharing.  There are many new avenues one can take advantage of to share.  Every time I take a few minutes to catch up on the journals I always post to our state listserv about the people from our state who are showing up in the journals.  These folks need to be recognized for their efforts, but also I hope it encourage others to follow their lead.  So as you think about what you might do in 2010, think about taking time to write an article or blog posting.  You never know when something little might lead into something bigger down the road – like a package on your own front porch!

So, since the last posting has been a little while, it seemed appropriate to catch-up after a most busy fall.  So, here are the highlights of the last few weeks.

* I am very excited to be a candidate for President of the American Association of School Librarians.  The election is this spring, so I encourage all AASL members to get out there and vote (vote for Sara Kelly Johns for ALA President, too!)!!  You can read more about my candidacy on my website or check out my Facebook group.

* The AASL conference this fall was a wonderful learning experience.  Keynotes danah boyd, James Patterson, and Marco Torres were amazing.  I still need to find some time to go back to my notes and process some of their messages.   As always it was a great time to meet with my colleagues, friends, and the vendors, too.

* I’ve been working as part of the Library Media Committee for the National Boards for Professional Teaching Standards.  I am in awe of the company I’m surrounded by in our meetings.  Each person brings such a unique perspective and opinion as we work to rewrite the Library Media standards to become National Board Certified Teacher.    We still have a couple of months to go before we’re done and I look forward to it.

* C.L.A.S.S. (Connected Learning Assures Students Success) has been a main part of my professional development for a long time now.  This month I presented/facilitated at their Related Arts Day and attended the Support Team Day.  The monthly e-Tools I write was just finished, too, so I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with my C.L.A.S.S. friends.

* A few articles published as well as waiting anxiously for my copies of my new book which should arrive by years end.  The 21st Century Elementary Library Program is published by Linworth.

* Just last week I attend Peggy Sharp‘s annual trip through Indianapolis to talk about the Best Books of 2009.  I wasn’t disappointed.  I got lots of great new ideas!

* School was a busy place, too, with three grade levels doing a major project.  We also use our PLCs to provide professional development for our teachers about wikis.

I make this list for a couple of reasons.

1. I’m getting older and it helps me to think back to remember what I’ve done, so I can reflect a bit on the accomplishments and see potential for improvements down the road.
2. It reminds me that there are opportunities abound.  We have to be willing and ready so that we can jump on those adventures and see where they take us.
3. I think it is amazing the interactions with people all of these events have brought.  I got a chance to meet in person many folks I know virtually.  There were people I knew and new people to meet.  Networking to me is so critically to our job because I think it helps us to broaden our thinking and perspective.  I sometimes need that little push there and these conversations help to create that.

I know I’ve used this phrase before in an article and probably in this blog if I went back and looked, but Barbara Pedersen from C.L.A.S.S. says it best, “As good as we are, we can always get better!”  This fall has been an amazing time in my professional career as there have been opportunities and changes for me to get even better!  I know that everything on my list this year will have an impact on what I do with students and teachers the rest of the year.  I can’t wait to see where the path will take me now!

In the last month or so, I’ve finished the draft of a manuscript for the next books and have sent that off to the editors to chew on for a while. Probably it is the major reason I haven’t blogged as I’ve been focusing all my writing efforts towards the book. Hopefully it will be out this fall from Linworth.

School has been busy as we got ready and then had our author visit with Louise Borden.  She was absolutely amazing with our students.  She was engaging, informing, and inspiring.  The author visit is always my favorite part of the year, and this year certainly ranks as one of our best.

The last major project has been putting together two presentations for the WEMTA conference in Wisconsin.  I leave tomorrow for a few days to share and learn from other library media professionals.  I’m excited for what the next few days have in store!

Connecting our school library media programs to the school improvement process is a critical opportunity for ensuring that school libraries are seen as essential.  My hope is that the book will help provide ideas and strategies that other library media specialist can use to connect their programs to the school improvement process.