Shushing Not Included
Shushing Not Included
Hoping to inspire you to turn up the volume in your library!
Hoping to inspire you to turn up the volume in your library!
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Enjoy my blog where I share my thoughts and experiences about my personal LMS journey.
Blog Entry #6
How I Get Students to Flock to the Library!
11/3/25
Blog Entry #6
How I Get Students to Flock to the Library!
11/3/25
November is always my favorite time of year. The leaves are falling and the air is crisp. The school year is finally in full swing. And it is time for the annual Turkey Pardon Contest in the library. For those unfamiliar with this time honored tradition, every year I put out a brain break station for students (and faculty!) asking them to color and decorate a turkey in the hopes that it will be one of the lucky three chosen to be pardoned for Thanksgiving by me. This will be the third year for this fun competition with students coming in during their free time to pick up their coloring page(s), excited to share their ideas with me.
Now, I know you might be thinking, what does coloring and decorating a picture of a turkey have to do with the library and growing my students love of reading. Well, anyone who has worked in a high school library will tell you how hard it is to get students to do anything in their free time, let alone go to the library. Thankfully my annual Turkey Pardon Contest really does the trick. Students I never seen in the library come in to work on their turkeys and it gives me a chance to chat with them about their day and learn more about them. This helps me get an even clearer picture of my entire school community. Also this gives me a chance to point out other displays, ask them what they are reading and talk with them about any changes to the library.
At the end of the day, if I can increase the number of students (and faculty) that come into the library I know that will lead to more success in terms of reaching my own goals of increasing circulation numbers and connecting with more students. Plus I always enjoy watching students being creative.
2024 Turkey Pardon Winners
Blog Entry #5
Taking On New Responsibilites!
4/22/25
Blog Entry #5
Taking On New Responsibilites!
4/22/25
As I have grown as an educator I am always working to have a bigger impact on more students and teachers. I started as a technology research teacher at a Magnet school in Essex, MD (Deep Creek Middle School) where I had over 150 students in my classes. Then I transitioned into my current role as a library media specialist where I would be working with every student and teacher in one school. Now I am taking on the role of Library Services Department Chair for The St. Paul's Schools, where I will be working closely with librarians in 3 more schools across my campus and have the opportunity to have an impact on over a 1000 students and over a 200 faculty.
This is a HUGE responsibility but one I have been advocating for myself and working towards for a while. Thankfully I work at a school and on a campus that truly values library services. I am extremely lucky in that regard and have tried my hardest to not let that go to waste.
As I take on the new roles and responsibilities that come with this role, I hope to grow as a strong leader that the librarians on my campus can look to for support and help them grow. Also I will work to continue educating administration and faculty why library services are so important, more now than ever.
Specifically, I will be working more closely with administration across campus to develop a campus wide scope and sequence for library services to help grow the successes, look for any gaps and begin working to fill those gaps when students on our campus transition from division to division and beyond across campus.
I have been advocating for this role for myself and library services at TSPS and cannot wait to get started and make library services a pillar of excellence for my campus!
If you are looking to expand your impact as an educator, my biggest piece of advice is ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF! Talk about your goals with your colleagues and supervisors. You never know what will be possible if you do not ask. Plus you never know who is advocating for you in the rooms you hope to be.
Blog Entry #4
Noodles Are Not Just for the Pool!
1/15/25
Blog Entry #4
Noodles Are Not Just for the Pool!
1/15/25
I was blessed with a complete library make over a few years ago and one of the things that I loved at the time was my super deep shelves. Gone were the days of larger books hanging over the ledge and constantly falling off. The only issue I did not anticipate was that my standard size novels would sit further back on the shelves and fall out of the sight lines of my students. Thankfully I noticed that the lower school librarian on my campus was utilizing POOL NOODLES to help bring their books closer to their students and I figured out that I could do the same.
This was an extremely low cost way (as long as you purchase your pool noodles out of season) to help keep my books closer to the shelf edges and because they are foam, it is easy for me to resize and alter them in a way that fits my shelves. Plus it brings a few extra pops of color since I used a assortment of yellow, red and royal blue pool noodles.
If you have super deep shelves and are trying to figure out a way to keep them propped up on the edge of your shelves, I would highly recommend getting a box of pool noodles and bring your books just a few inches closer to your students and you will definitely see in uptick in checkouts for those books who spend most of their days hiding away.
Before the noodles.
After the noodles!
Blog Entry #3
To Genrify Or Not To Genrify? There Is No Question!
9/19/24
Blog Entry #3
To Genrify Or Not To Genrify? There Is No Question!
9/19/24
One of my goals as a Library Media Specialist is to help my students find books they love on their own. By separating my collection into genres, I have done just that!
No longer are my students frustrated looking for a good mystery novel or a new realistic fiction book based solely on an author's last name. Now they just have to think, "What kind of book do I want to read today?" And then head to that section of the library.
It took me many days and hours to change my collection over from a traditional Dewey Decimal system where books are shelved by the author's last name but in the first few weeks of school I have seen many books that were never touched, finding their way into my students hands. I am also seeing a jump in circulation numbers overall which tells me that if I make it easier to find a good book then my students will!
I am so happy I took the time to genrify my collection and my only regret is not doing it sooner.
If interested in hearing more about my process, feel free to reach out to me via email emoyer@stpaulsmd.org
Current Genres in my library collection:
Mystery
Horror
Realistic Fiction
Sports
Animals
Fantasy
Romance
Verse
Classics
Dystopian
Graphic Novels
You can check some more fun ways I promote reading by taking a look at my PROMOTING READING and my MISC. pages.
Blog Entry #2
Talking About Books Without Talking About Books
4/4/24
Blog Entry #2
Talking About Books Without Talking About Books
4/4/24
One of my favorite things to do as a library media specialist is come up with ways to get kids (or anyone really), talking about books without realizing they are talking about books. When you stand in front of kids and talk about how great books are and how they can transport you anywhere in the world at any point in time, the majority of them will not grasp what you truly mean and shrug off your remarks as nothing more than someone old telling them how great something is.
Once you get over the fact that you are old and kids don't want to hear what you think is kool, you need to figure out how to get them thinking and discussing books on their terms.
So, from time to time, I like to present books in a different way. This month I created a "Can You Match the Faculty Member to Their Favorite Book" game, where students need to figure out what books their teachers love! This has lead to a bunch of discussions about teacher personalities and of course BOOKS! So many of the faculty favorites are new to students, so in order to win they need to ask about the books. Or they look up the books on their devices and try to match the book summary with their science teacher or learning specialist. Talking about books without even realizing it!
Will this lead to more checkouts from my library or an increase in books read overall? I have no way of knowing for sure. But what I do know is the more my students talk about books, the quicker the negative stigma of reading begins to fade away.
It is really fun to see kids talking about the books they have read, the books they love and the books they hate. The key is to try and figure out a way to facilitate those conversations without forcing them on your students.
You can check some more fun ways I try to get my students talking about books without realizing it by taking a look at my PROMOTING READING and my MISC. pages.
Blog Entry #1
My Why
3/23/24
Blog Entry #1
My Why
3/23/24
In my second year as a teacher I was working in a public school in Maryland and needed to start considering which path I was going to take for my Master's Degree. In Maryland I needed a Master's Degree (or equivalent) by the end of my 10th year of teaching in order to keep my state certificiation. So I found out, from my school's Library Media Specialist-Dawn Currie-Scott, about a Master's cohort program offered by my school district (Baltimore County Public Schools) and a state college (Towson University), which I actually attended for my undergraduate degree. This cohort was designed to create a pool of newly trained Library Media Specialists that would emphasize more than just the traditional role of a librarian and focus on the integration of 21st century skills along with developing the love of reading for all learners. Thankfully I was accepted in the cohort in the fall of 2010 and spent the next 3 years learning everything about what it means to be a Library Media Specialist.
I have truly loved every second I have worked as a LMS. From getting the opportunity to work with literally every person in every school I have worked with, to having the flexibility to change my academic focus day after day, being a LMS is my dream job. I thought I would be one of those teachers who taught the same class for 20+ years doing the same thing over and over but I quickly realized that was not for me. I need variety. I needed flexibility. I needed to know that I could reach as many students as possible and becoming a LMS has allowed to do all of that and more.
I could not picture myself doing anything else in terms of being an educator and I hope this website will help to inspire others to do the same and help those looking for inspiration for their own libraries.
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