Introduction

As I looked at other blogs, I realized that I never wrote an introductory post. I'm a school librarian at Millard Hawk Primary School in Central Square, New York. I've been at MHP for nearly 15 years. Before that, I was the librarian at St. Paul's Academy in Oswego, New York for eleven years. My journey to this point has been circuitous, but I am so happy with this career. I graduated from Cornell with a degree in wildlife management, but quickly realized that I neede to be home with my family. I began taking graduate education courses at the College of William and Mary, in Virginia. When we moved to Oswego, I completed my education coursework at SUNY Oswego in 1986. I started working at St. Paul's in May 1986, first as a reading teacher and later as both a reading teacher and librarian. I completed my MLS in 1998 through Syracuse University. In May 1999, I began working at MHP and have stayed in this place through three principals, five superintendants, and numerous curriculum changes. Just last year a full comuter lab was added to my library domain. I also oversee a guided reading collection of 13,000 books. Right now my collection is 26,850 items. Inventory takes longer and longer, but my (retired) husband has been wonderful about doing that while I continue to teach. My real delight is getting children to love reading and want to share their interests with other students. I want children to be able to answer research questions, especially on their favorite topics. To that end, I am always looking for new ways to engage children with their learning. This course promises to provide some of those tools.