Chatting with SLIS students

When I was in library school at Indiana University's School of Library and Information Science, my favorite courses were taught online by Dr. Annette Lamb and Dr. Larry Johnson.  Not only were they challenging and informative, they were also fun.  Last year at the AASL conference in Charlotte, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting both of them in person for the first time.  Recently, Larry asked me to serve as a virtual visiting professional and dialogue with the students in his Library Media Specialist class via their class blog.  In honor of that, I thought I would feature the One Million Books quilt that hangs in my office at school and a new set of pennants I'm making for the library media center.

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 Using the same technique that I employed for the letters of the OMB quilt, I cut out letters to spell out, "Read one million books." Black seemed to be the best background color for the pennants themselves.  The pattern was developed last summer when I made a string for Anna and Matty's wedding. For the moment, I think they will hang in the display case outside the library media center.  

While my blog is called The Quilted Librarian, it tends more toward the "quilt" end of the spectrum than the "librarian" end, but, on occasion, I do let my inner librarian/information specialist speak.  In this post, I talked about the unique and useful information provided by tracking one's blog. The importance of titling and tagging a blog were the subjects of this post.  My first experiences with Twitter are discussed in this post.  Banned Books Week rated a post, too. This post involves my responses to a reading meme.  You can look through the labels to the right for other library-related topics.

Technology and social media figure into what I do every day.  When I create a new blog post, it's automatically Tweeted and appears as a wall post on my Facebook page. I keep up with news and what's happening in the various blogospheres with Google Reader.  A digital camera is always in my purse as is my iPhone.  

I love reading about how many school librarians are using cutting-edge technologies with their students and it makes me wish that my own students had more access to technology.  The digital divide is unfortunately very real and it's going to take lots of money to make things more equitable.  I've had two very different job experiences as a library media specialist--the first in a small, rural corporation with lots of technology and a strong budget for materials and the second in a sprawling, urban corporation with very little technology and an almost non-existent materials budget. I'm sure the SLIS students will have lots of good questions.  Hopefully, I will be able to provide some insightful answers.

One Million Books Quilt : The Book titles border

I got titles on the border of one side and am starting the second side. I'm glad I didn't go any darker with the border fabrics.

One Million Books Quilt top

This is the pile of scraps I started with when I began cutting border pieces for the One Million Books quilt top. I love using up scraps!



Here's side one sewn on after I'd cut four piles of pieces.



String piecing is a real time saver, so I made "twosies" and then pressed and cut them apart.



Here are the "twosies" going together.



Here's side three being seamed.



Three sides sewn on, one to go.



The sewing on the top is finished and yesterday I got most of the list of books done. Today, I will begin writing titles on the borders and having my students sign the back.

One Million Books: The Quilt

First, I have to show off my new ironing board designed by Michael Graves for Target. It was a little present I got for myself with some Christmas money.

Our superintendent has challenged the students of our corporation to read one million books this year. The unofficial start for the project was October 1st and I challenged the students in my building to make a strong start by offering to let them sign the back of this quilt once they've finished a book.

The center design for the quilt is based on the poster designed for the One Million Books Challenge. I fused the fabric for the letters and the open book motif.

The border will represent stacks of books. I will write the titles of books my students have read on them and they will sign the back.

My goal is to get the top all pieced, take the back to school so the students can sign it, and then have it quilted on a longarm before the official kickoff at the end of January.