Category: personal experience

• egotism vs self worth

  In January 2013 I wrote a post that touched a raw, exposed nerve for many in the library world. One year later, I’m still amazed at the outpouring of reactions to that piece, and the variety of reactions it provoked. I’m also very proud of some of the projects that it inspired, including the very […]

  Miss Julie

  January 15, 2014

  awards, awesomeness, be the best you can be, conferences, ethics, kids, largely unsubstantiated, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, libraries-everywhere, libraries…of the FUTURE, OPINIONS!, personal experience, professional development

  advocacy, community, librarians, self-worth, youth librarians, youth services

• Accentuate the Positive

  You’ve got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative And latch on to the affirmative Don’t mess with Mister In-Between You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum Bring gloom down to the minimum Have faith or pandemonium’s Liable to walk upon the scene Johnny Mercer I like being nice. It’s true. There’s nothing […]

  Miss Julie

  January 1, 2014

  be the best you can be, censorship, conferences, ethics, Librarians, libraries now!, libraries-everywhere, libraries…of the FUTURE, libraries…of the PAST!, OPINIONS!, personal experience

  advocacy, community, librarian, librarians, libraries, sexual harassment

• author, author!

  The past couple of conferences I went to, there was some chatter about author visits at libraries—namely, how do you get anyone to care about and come to your author event? (I’m assuming here you’ve found the money already. Top notch authors are almost always going to be quite expensive, so start budgeting now and […]

  Miss Julie

  December 3, 2013

  authors, awesomeness, be the best you can be, books, cake, events, folk & fairy tales, kidlit, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries-everywhere, marketing, outreach, personal experience, programming, school libraries, schools, teens, ya lit

  author visit, middle school

• Reproductive Suspect

  There was a specific article that inspired this post, but Jebus help me, I can’t remember where I saw it or find it again. Essentially the author wrote about how the community/society at large has a responsibility to help parents. Which is something I agree with (and psychology agrees with) but, in my personal experience, […]

  Miss Julie

  November 30, 2013

  be the best you can be, families, Librarians, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries-everywhere, OPINIONS!, personal experience

  children, families, family structures, librarians, youth librarians, youth services

• Making A Difference

  In college, I had a lot of loser mentality left-over from high school, but I struggled against it and actually made many good friends and a wide circle of acquaintances. Even so, there was always a circle of people I never felt cool enough for. But I repressed my feelings of inferiority and went about […]

  Miss Julie

  July 7, 2013

  awesomeness, be the best you can be, conferences, early literacy, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, libraries-everywhere, OPINIONS!, outreach, participation, personal experience, preschool, professional development, storytime

  ego, librarians, libraries, work

• Book Talkin’

  (You need to sing the title of this post to the tune of “Jive Talkin’”) As the school year draws rapidly to a close (seriously, where did it go?) I’ve been reflecting on my first year as a school outreach librarian. I can’t tell you how invigorating it has been to use different skills and […]

  Miss Julie

  April 19, 2013

  awesomeness, be the best you can be, books, kidlit, kids, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, nonfiction, OPINIONS!, personal experience, professional development, programming, reader's advisory, reading, schools, teens, ya lit

  books, librarians, libraries, professional development, rarians, teens

• Storytime Opera

  Singing is one of those things that every human can do, but many avoid doing because they think they’re not good at it or that they have bad voices. There is no such thing as a bad voice. There are voices that people prefer to hear, but breaking things down in to good and bad–especially […]

  Miss Julie

  March 5, 2013

  awesomeness, be the best you can be, different ways to read, early childhood, early literacy, kids, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries-everywhere, minimovers, music, OPINIONS!, participation, personal experience, professional development, programming, rhymes, stories, storytime, toddlers

  children, dancing, five little monkeys, kyle harter, librarian, libraries, music, programs, singing

• Your silence is protection that they do not deserve

  If she had lived, my mother would be turning 66 on March 2nd, 2013. She died in 2007 of an enlarged heart, which, to me, has a poetic justice to it. My mother did not give love easily, but she gave it fiercely. My mother spent much of her life married to a man who […]

  Miss Julie

  February 28, 2013

  be the best you can be, personal experience, politics, professional development, stories, storytime, technology, teens

  community, controversey, education, librarian, love, mothers

• Make It So

    As she so often does, Marge Loch-Wouters hit the nail on the head with her post Everything Old is New Again. I wonder, how many libraries with MAKERSPACES consulted their youth departments before creating this BRAND NEW THING? Because, seriously, been there, done that, have the stained shirt to prove it. Some of you might […]

  Miss Julie

  February 13, 2013

  artsncrafts, awesomeness, be the best you can be, kids, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, libraries-everywhere, libraries…of the FUTURE, libraries…of the PAST!, library spaces, marketing, OPINIONS!, outreach, participation, personal experience, programming, technology

• speak

  I think my “ego” post actually contained within it several separate issues, all of which deserve their own careful looking over. Let’s do that, shall we? first: speaking and keynotes. I’ve been to several events where, as one commenter noted, the keynote speaker is someone famous who has just written a (usually awful) children’s book […]

  Miss Julie

  January 18, 2013

  be the best you can be, conferences, Librarians, librarians…for TEENS!, librarians…for the CHILDREN!, libraries now!, marketing, OPINIONS!, participation, personal experience, politics, professional development, programming, publishing

  advocacy, community, librarian, libraries, outreach, research, youth services