#101Woody’s Roundup

Ok, it’s not Woody, but it is a roundup.
These things are the most important issues for librarians in schools, in my opinion.
Get to know the content and structure of the curriculum, if you don’t already. Talk to teachers, staff parents and pupils. Talk to everyone. Network, talk to other librarians. Take every CPD opportunity you [...]

#100 Keeping It Light

If you don’t have sense of humour in this job, you’re stuffed!
Here’s a collection of library humour and miscellany.

#99 Print Your Own Barcodes

Not suitable for large runs, but you can print off small runs of barcodes here, particularly when you need a duplicate barcode for a damaged one.
It’s very simple, (as long as your symbology is on the list) and you can choose styles, image size and font. Pop in your actual value and generate!
You can either [...]

#98 Library Thing

If you haven’t come across Library Thing, you should have a look.
It can be used for pleasure, browsing and review purposes. It can also be used as a tool, as books are catalogued on the site. For sure, mostly by amateurs and using Library of Congress cataloguing, but still worth investigating.
You could also use it [...]

#97 Free Software

Cost of software is often cited as a reason for not getting involved in the creation of electronic materials for pupils and other members of staff in schools. Time and training are other reasons, but those are different issues.
With the advent of open source software, there is a plethora of free software out there, and [...]

#96 Accessibility

Linked in with Health & Safety and DDA is the issue of accessibility.
When you create materials for your pupils, do you supply alternative versions? This could be a large print edition, an audio file, a flash video, a braille version, or a high contrast copy.
This issue is becoming more and more prevalent in education, and [...]

#95 Theme Days

I have mixed feelings about theme days. I find large corporate ones like World Book Day to be a waste of everyone’s time. The £1 vouchers can be seen fluttering about in the corridors and playgrounds for weeks after the event.
On the other hand, a local or regional one can be quite effective if the [...]

#94 Flickr

Flickr is well known to most, it’s one of the better photo storage and sharing sites.
It has some very nifty features including the ability to create custom goods from your photos (promotion), create quality photo books and upload video clips.
One of the little touches is the ability to add notes to photos. These are not [...]

#93 Facebook

I’ve been on Facebook for a while, but haven’t really done much with it apart from keep in touch with a few friends I contact in other ways anyway.
However, the software has a lot of potential to network, and it may take over from mailing lists and newsgroups eventually. There are some relevant librarian groups, [...]

#92 Supplementing Your Budgets

School library budgets are always tight, if they exist at all.
Even if you receive a reasonable amount to keep your library running (let’s be honest, it’s never enough) it’s always an attractive option to supplement your budget from other sources.
The following are some of the options you might consider:
Regional funds. Your local authority will have [...]