Category: Uncategorized

By Gili Warsett and Cheryl Wolf
Brooklyn Friends and The Neighborhood School/STAR Academy

Over the past two years, the HVLA Board has been brainstorming ways to build bridges between HVLA members– predominantly independent school librarians–and public school librarians.  This past week, HVLA Vice Presidents, Cheryl Wolf and Gili Warsett, were invited to attend a NYC School Library System (NYCSLS) Council meeting. The work of the council is to recommend policy; do long- and short-range planning, and evaluate the system’s services to students/schools.  The meeting was held at the offices of the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO).  Other organizations represented at the meeting included the teachers union (UFT), New York Library Association (NYLA), Field Support Centers, as well as the New York Public and Queens Library systems, who provide MyLibraryNYC, a partnership between the public and school library systems. 

Continue reading “Building Bridges Between HVLA and NYCSLA”

By: Anna Murphy
Berkeley Carroll 

On Monday November 12, my Berkeley Carroll colleagues and I descended on Mohonk Mountain House for three days of unconferencing at NEIT (NYSAIS Education and Information Technology). NEIT (frequently pronounced “neat”) is an annual gathering of school librarians and technologists to share their ideas and explore new topics in their increasingly intertwined fields. Continue reading “NEIT Recap”

If you’ve read my previous post, you’ll know that I’ve been exploring notions of busyness. As part of that, I’ve been thinking a lot about how much I can accomplish in limited bursts of time. I’m doing something this school year that I’m calling “fast librarianship”. I think I need a new name for it, but it does work for me.

The idea is this: develop/produce valuable content that is productive for my students in short periods of time. Here are a few of the fast projects I’ve been doing/stealing, Shoutout to my sidekick Cynthia for not just putting up with this but actively participating! Continue reading “Fast Librarianship”

As I started this school year I set myself some goals (Full disclosure: It was required, there was a form to fill out, I am not a motivational goddess.) I picked some attainable goals and patted myself on the back. But then I also decided to set myself a difficult goal.  Get comfortable reading at work. To up the difficulty factor, my goal is not just to read at work, but to be seen reading at work. Aack.  

To non-librarians, this goal seems absurdly simple. After all, isn’t reading our job? And yet, when I read in the library I often feel like I’m indulging. If someone sees me reading, I frequently blather on about how funny it is that I never usually read, even though, hahaha, I’m the librarian. There’s something so overwhelming, so outrageous about our culture’s notion of what busyness looks like. In order to be busy I’m supposed to always be on a computer, looking somewhat stressed, and commenting frequently about how busy I am. Fie upon that. I am librarian, hear me roar. I will read! I will be seen reading! And I will enjoy it! Continue reading “GOOOAAALLL!”

By: Constance Vidor, Director of Library Services, Friends Seminary, NYC

Being an educator gives you entree to a glorious world of summertime learning. Some of the very best opportunities are free or very low-cost–and priceless. This list is comprised almost entirely of programs I have participated in or that colleagues have recommended to me. They are all open to full time K-12 librarians. Many of them are competitive, but as a librarian you will often be seen as someone who brings something unique to the experience. If you know of something I should have included, please email me at cvidor@friendsseminary.org and I will add it. Continue reading “Constance’s List: Summer of Learning Professional Development”