fd's Flickr Toys: Do fun stuff with your photos

If you've already got your photos and graphics in a Flickr account, here's a very cool site where you can play with them. Make Read posters out of book covers. Create name badges for your book club members. Make book-related trading cards, jigsaw puzzles, or mosaics. This is the perfect tool for creating bulletin boards! You can also make great widgets and photo galleries for your library web site. Now, if only my school could afford to buy me a color printer. . .sigh.

One Manga | Your online manga reader. Read free manga online.

My students love this site -- they can read some of their favorite manga books online. Another favorite is crunchyroll.com, where they watch anime. They also have accounts so that they can communicate with other manga/anime fans. I love the social networking aspect, and the way the sites create a community of readers.

Top 10 Blogger Hacks and Tips

Want to customize your Blogger blog? Here are some great tips. I am going to try the one where you can display your most recent comments on a sidebar.


Top 10 Blogger Hacks and Tips MakeUseOf.com

25 Useful Social Networking Tools for Librarians - College Degree.com

Want to discover some handy new social networking sites? This is a great article. Some of the sites were familiar, while others were new to me. I had never tried Community Walk, for example, which lets you create and share annotated maps. Footnote.com also looks like a site I want to explore for a Civil War project where we will be talking about primary sources.

I would also add diigo.com, which is my current favorite social bookmarking site!

25 Useful Social Networking Tools for Librarians - College Degree.com

Urban Fiction for Teens

I'm so glad that authors are starting to write urban fiction especially for teens. The urban fiction, or "street lit", genre is a relatively new one, and one that interests me because so many of my students ask for it. Many of the gritty adult titles, though, have graphic sex, rough language, and other content that makes it difficult to defend for my middle school audience. But new street lit titles aimed specifically at teens make my job much easier -- I can give students what they want -- books with urban characters, dramatic problems, and authentic language -- without getting into hot water.

K.C. Taylor is one such author of teen urban novels. She was kind enough to send me two of her books, "Easier Without" and "Any Possible Outcome: A Book of Urban Tales". Both are published by GND Publishing.

"Easier Without" has two main characters -- Cell, a homeless boy with a troubled past, and the privileged Myla, who nevertheless has problems of her own. The two teens fall for each other, but face challenges. Myla discovers that an old boyfriend is HIV positive, and that she may be infected. Cell must struggle to survive and take care of his twin sister, while dealing with his mother's long-ago death and his incarcerated father's criminal past. The story is fast-paced, and the writing has a feel that is very similar to that of adult urban fiction -- sometimes less polished than more mainstream fiction, but always full of emotion and brimming with the drama readers crave. Though the characters deal with mature situations, the language is appropriate for teenagers. Readers will root for Myla and Cell as they struggle to overcome their problems and make their love last.

"Any Possible Outcome" is a book of short stories. In one story, a boy regrets involving his younger brother in gang activity. In another, a new girl in school deals with middle school friendships and intrigue. Poems, instant messaging, diary entries, and lots of dialogue spice up the narration. I especially enjoyed "Minus 15", a story from the point of view of a teenage boy describing his involvement in selling drugs and how he ended up in a correctional facility. His regrets are clear without becoming preachy.

I know both of these books will be a hit with my students, and I hope to see more titles for teens from K.C. Taylor and other writers in the future.

Street lit blog seeks reviews

There's a great new blog that reviews street lit, also called urban fiction, etc. -- the gritty books my teens can't seem to get enough of. It's at http://streetfiction.org/ , and creator Daniel Marcou (a corrections librarian and author) is also soliciting reviews.

"I am looking for reviews of adult and teen street fiction as well as urban erotica books by authors like Zane or Noire," he writes. So if you've read a street lit title recently, let everyone know what you think!

Need a reason to allow social networking sites?

If your library or school district bans social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, consider this new survey. More than half of the students who use them discuss their schoolwork along with their social lives!

Take A Survey for Connecting YAs and Libraries, 4th ed

Please take the survey here, by Monday, July 24.

More info:

Subject: We need your feedback to make the 4th edition of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries the best, ever!

Hello teen librarians, LSTs, youth advocates, library school professors, grad school students, and anyone else who might have an interest in helping shape the next edition of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, the book that Mary K. Chelton claims "has everything---clear philosophical goals for the service grounded in developmental assets; an incredible list of how-tos by authors who have been there, done that; a lively text; and a rock-solid understanding of the real kids who need us, not the fantasy kids we often confuse with them.

If you have read or used the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd edition of our professional book, Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, we need your feedback to help make the 4th edition as comprehensive and practical as possible. We will be collecting all survey responses on Monday, July 24.

If you have a copy of any edition of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, it might be helpful to have it in front of you as you answer these questions. It's not necessary, just helpful. When you're ready to begin, click on the link below to get started with the simple 10 question survey. If you'd like to leave the survey at any time, just click "Exit this survey". Your answers will be saved.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=eXKBV1NeIp9SQ_2bkv6lHj_2fQ_3d_3d

Thanks for your input -- we appreciate it!

Michele Gorman and Tricia Suellentrop
Co-authors of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, 3rd edition

Public vs. School Libraries

After almost seven years with San Francisco Public Library, I switched to San Francisco Unified School District last December. I loved working at the public library -- in my time there, I had a chance to work as a teen librarian, adult reference librarian, children's librarian, and branch manager. Far from hushed, quiet, sterile places, the urban libraries where I worked were vibrant, often noisy, sometimes crazy, and always felt like community centers full of people with so many different needs. My colleagues there were incredibly patient and knowledgeable, whether they were helping with in-depth research or coaxing a homeless patron out of the restroom.

But I recently finish my teaching credential, then went back to library school for the 3 classes I needed for my Library Media credential. I'd had my MLIS for 10 years at that point, so it was interesting to go back. My classes this time were mostly online, with a few in-person meetings. I didn't miss the commute from San Francisco to San Jose, but did feel like I had less face-to-face interaction with my fellow students.

Anyway, I'm often asked lately whether I'm glad I made the change. I definitely am -- my students and colleagues are wonderful -- but there are pros and cons. I thought I'd make up a list for anyone considering switching, either from public to school or the other way around.

Pros
____

* Access to students -- all 500+ are right here in the building with me, and when teachers bring them to the library, I have a captive audience! I love booktalking and now I get to do it all the time, instead of maybe twice a year.

* I am getting to know far more teens by name and reading interest than I did at the public library.

* I do readers' advisory in bulk; instead of a couple of questions a day about a good book to read, I get 30 in a class period. That means I really need to be on my toes (and have baskets full of funny books, scary books, etc.).

*A chance to teach library skills to entire classes in a formal setting, rather than one-on-one.

* More regular hours -- no more weekends and nights!

* 10 weeks of summer vacation (and winter break, spring break. . . ) . I love to travel and two weeks just isn't long enough for a "real" trip.

Cons
____

*Funds for books, computers, etc. At least where I am, the budgets seem much tighter in the school district. The public library seems absolutely wealthy in comparison.

* Classroom management -- I kicked a few exceptionally rowdy teens out of the public library, once in a while, but maintaining order is more of a constant job in a school.

* More clerical tasks. My books are no longer processed centrally, and there are no pages to do the shelving (though I'm teaching students to help). I also end up doing a lot of cleaning.

* Lunch break? 15-minute break? What's that? Well, I try to take them, but there's always so much to do. . .

*More concerns about what's appropriate -- at the public library, I didn't worry too much about book content. It could always be moved to the adult section, if necessary.

* Pay. . .the schools pay a lot less than the public libraries, at least in San Francisco (though if I figure it out by the day or hour it's not so bad).

I'm sure there are many pros and cons I'm forgetting. I'd love to hear from others who have switched over from one to the other. What am I leaving out?

Urban Fiction

I presented at BAYA (Bay Area Young Adult Librarians) on May 22, on urban fiction for teens. It's so exciting to see a growing interest in and awareness of these books. They're controversial, true, with VERY mature content, but also an important way to reach reluctant readers. I'm also interested in which teen books we can suggest to the same audience -- as a middle school librarian, I'm not buying adult urban fiction, but I can get books by African-American and Latino authors with urban themes, if less graphic sex and language.

Since I was revisiting the topic, I added to my street lit page and to the Library Success Wiki's urban fiction area. I revised my PowerPoint presentation and added teen books. I also made a list of urban fiction with Latino characters -- if you have suggestions for that list, which is fairly short, please send them my way. Also take a look at my list of recent (2007) urban fiction bestsellers and my handout for the presentation.

I will be presenting on urban fiction at the California School Library Association conference in November, in Ontario, California, and am looking forward to sharing what I've learned on this topic with other school librarians. At the same conference, I will also present on library Web sites for teens.

101+ Great Ideas for Teen Library Web Sites

I'm very pleased to announce that my first book is out from Neal-Schuman -- "101+ Great Ideas for Teen Library Web Sites". Here's the publisher's description:

"Think of your library's teen Web site as "Their Space"! Teens want their own space online, and with the help of this new book, you can create a teen library site that's cutting-edge, engaging, and effective in connecting young adults to your library. Here you'll find inspiring examples and ideas from ground-breaking teen librarians across the country.

From ready reference and homework help to forums for creative expression and online discussions, this book will help you take your online teen services to the next level and beyond. Doyle offers ideas for providing online workshops and instruction, homework help, reference services, reader's advisory programming, summer reading, and more via your Web site. In addition to outlining the must-haves of a teen site, she demonstrates innovative uses for the latest technologies, including: • Pocasts • Blogs • RSS feeds • Texting • Instant Messaging • Discussion lists • Wikis • And more"

When I agreed to do the book, I didn't quite realize how much I was taking on! Fortunately, my editor and everyone else I worked with was very patient and helpful. I learned so much along the way, especially about Web 2.0 technologies and how to make Web sites interactive, rather than just places to display information and links.

I hope teen librarians will find the book useful. I couldn't have done it without all of the wonderful school and public librarians I interviewed over the course of about a year -- the tips, tricks, and suggestions they shared were really amazing. Their interviews (and fantastic web sites) make up a good portion of the book.

Thanks again to everyone who encouraged and helped me with this project!