Blogs can serve as an incredible tool to librarians, where you
can learn about current trends, news and seek advice from experienced and knowledgeable
experts from within the school library world. While blogs serve as a great
tool, it can feel overwhelming with the vast number of sites out there to stay
up to date with your favorite bloggers. This is where an RSS reader
app can help. Using a RSS reader apps will greatly reduce the
time you spend searching for blogs and curates only the content you want to
read about. Your RSS reader app will serve as a central hub for all the content you
want to see. There are multiple RSS reader apps to choose from. The article “The 10 Best Free RSS Reader Apps in 2018”
compares the features of the 10 best RSS reader apps and is a great resource
when first exploring RSS reader apps. The RSS reader app I currently use is Feedly. I selected this app because I
view almost all my content on my iPhone and the Feedly app is so user friendly, sleek
and readable that it is perfect for reading on the go. Their app also had a
5-star rating on in the Apple App Store, which made it my obvious pick for a
RSS Reader App. While I follow multiple
blogs, I will share with you my top 5 picks:
1. AASL Blog
This is the official blog of the American Association of
School Librarians. This is my favorite blog because it offers practical
information and guidance to assist school librarians and educators. Articles in this blog address the integration of theory
and practice in school librarianship and new developments in education,
learning theory, and relevant disciplines. This site is the central hub for school librarians and always discusses the most currently news and trends in the library world.
2. The Adventures of
Library Girl
The Adventures of
Library Girl Blog is run by Jennifer LaGarde, who is a lifelong teacher,
learner and passionate advocate for student rights and properly staffed and
funded libraries. Jennifer specializes in leveraging technology to help
students develop authentic reading lives. Some of her articles highlight genrefying
your collection, preparing for back to school and her YA reading picks. The advice on this site is the best I've seen and she presents it in such a captivating way.
3. Eliterate
Librarian
This blog is run by Tamara Cox, who is an experienced high
school librarian interested in engaging instruction, edtech, combating poverty,
creating lifelong readers and a safe place for all students. Some of the topics
that are featured on her blog are teacher collaboration projects, summer
reading challenges and book club information. The practical advice and information this blog provides makes it a must read for librarians.
4. The Daring
Librarian
Gwynth Jones created The
Daring Librarian blog and is a leader of Education Technology and titles
herself a “Future Ready Teacher Librarian” (term which I love!). Her blog
features articles on makerspaces, bullying and internet safety. This visually stunning blog incorporates so many interesting topics and information to share with students and teachers.
5. Mighty Little
Librarian
Mighty Little Librarian was created by Tiffany Whitehead,
who is a Upper & Middle School Librarian International Speaker, Blogger, LJ
Mover & Shaker, and an ISTE Emerging Leader. Her latest articles are about
creating relationships with her students, media literacy, and social media. I really enjoy this sleek looking blog for its informative articles and photos.
Another form of viewing blogs is the site Tumblr. Tumblr is
a social media platform that also has features of a blog. According to the
article “Explainer: What is Tumblr?” on Webwise.com, Tumblr is described as a ‘microblog’
as people post short snippets of text and quick snaps as opposed to longer
diary style entries found in traditional blogs. Librarians are using Tumblr as
a tool for reader advisory, book recommendations, and to create booklists (Wetta,
2014). You can visit my Tumblr at https://mrsjchirinos.tumblr.com/ and
to view an example of how its used.
Once you dip your toe into the blog world, you will be
hooked! Keep in mind the tools to streamline the ease of exploring and enjoy learning!
References:
Explainer: What
is Tumblr? (2018, August 08). Retrieved January 20, 2019, from https://www.webwise.ie/parents/explainer-what-is-tumblr-2/
Volvovski, V.
(2018, September 21). The 10 Best Free RSS Reader Apps in 2018 [Web log post].
Retrieved January 18, 2019, from https://zapier.com/blog/best-rss-feed-reader-apps/
Wetta, M. (2014,
August). Five Ways Libraries Can Offer Readers’ Advisory on Tumblr ...
Retrieved January 20, 2019, from https://www.ebscohost.com/novelist/novelist-special/five-ways-libraries-can-offer-readers-advisory-on-tumblr
Jaclyn,
ReplyDeleteI added your suggested blogs to my Feedly. The Eliterate Librarian unfortunately hasn't written on their blog since Sept. 2018. Searching through the blog I could see that the author does provide some really cool information. Did you notice the building prior knowledge with HyperDocs and Google Drawings? That was interesting.
Thank you for sharing :)
Heather
Jaclyn, I love the way you broke down each blog and your reasoning for liking each. I think this is the first one that I have seen where you used References at the end. This is a great blog for people who are looking to start using Feed Readers.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great and thorough explanation for each blog. I too enjoyed the Daring Librarian site. It was so professional and inspiring. I definitely know that that is one blog that I will add to my professional librarian blog once I am a librarian in order to get ideas, share experiences and thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI agree that Feedly is a good app. I do just about everything on my iPhone also and nothing beats the convenience. A huge issue for busy librarians is time - so having quick access to relevant blogs is very helpful and increases the likelihood of reading them.
ReplyDelete