February
23, 2017
Every
Thursday, you’ll get this short, fun, relevant newsletter. It will contain a
quote or smile about the library and those who love it, an idea you can use to
promote your library or reading in general, and an occasional shameless plug
for the programs I offer. Enjoy!
If
you are new to us or have missed any previous issues, you can read them all at www.smartlibrarians.com. And, please; tell your friends about
it!
In
this issue:
Reading Changed My Life
Quotable!
If They Only Knew!
Another
Happy Librarian!
Reading Changed my
Life!
Kelly
Carlos writes:
“As
an emerging author, most people approach me and say, “How awesome! What inspired you to write a novel?”
“My
first answer is “Because I love to read.”
“Ever
since childhood, I loved to read novels and magazines. Reading through a National Geographic
magazine, I imagined myself in a hundred different worlds: floating down the
Amazon river in a canoe, wearing a seal-skin parka huddled in an Alaskan igloo,
or riding a bicycle with an umbrella straw hat down a Thailand street market. Even as a young adult, picking up an Isabelle
Allende novel, I could delve into a romantic adventure and really feel like I
was a part of the story. It didn’t
matter if I was only sitting in my living room, or lying on my bed, or swinging
on my porch swing. It didn’t matter that
I rarely left my house, other than to go to school. I could travel through words, and through my
imagination. Reading opened my mind to
diverse traditions in our diverse world.”
Click
here to read more!
Just
a reminder that when you give a child the gift of a love for reading you can
change her destiny! What you do matters!
Quotable!
“No
man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's
not the same man.”
~Heraclitus
“What
he said ^ applies to reading books as well.”
~Tommy
Johns
If They Only Knew! – Marketing your Media
Center
Marketing
is everything you do to place your products and services in the hands of people
who would benefit from using them. Continuing on the theme of giving your
principal what she wants (higher test scores are the top 5!), there’s this:
"It
is more than ironic that school districts are willing to spend hundreds of
thousands of dollars on reading programs and staff development which have had
limited success in boosting test scores, but are unwilling to invest in school
library programs that show direct correlations to student success."
~ Douglas Achterman, 2008 Study of California School Libraries
~ Douglas Achterman, 2008 Study of California School Libraries
Last
week I mentioned showing your boss the research that supports the importance of
what you do. Did you do it yet?
Just one more happy
librarian!
“Tommy
is a delight to work with, from start to finish. I appreciated the information
he sent ahead of time. I appreciated his flexibility. Most of all, I appreciated the way he
interacted with the kids before and after the program. He has a magic touch, in
more ways than one.
“Oh,
and the shows were terrific, too — full of books, jokes, magic, science,
puppets, and audience participation. The kids had a ball!”
~Jan
Daniel, Waycross, GA
Tommy Johns
Educational Entertainment Specialist
