The Busy Librarian
Author:
Matthew Winner
School Librarian
Ducketts Lane Elementary School in
Ducketts Lane, MD
Platform: Blogger
Audience: This blog is aimed at
school librarians to share ideas and activities.
Frequency of Posts: Matthew has
been blogging since 2010, and he usually posts two or three times per week.
Format/theme/loading: The site
loaded quickly. The format is two columns with blog posts on the left and links
on the right. The right column contains: Popular posts, archives, Shelfari,
Awards the blog has won, and a short list of links to other blogs.
Navigation: From the home page, a
reader could follow the blog in the traditional reverse chronological format or
use the archives. There are a few tabs
across the top of the page to other sites that he is a part of: “Let’s Get
Busy” podcast, his Tumblr, his Pinterest, SLM Shelf Challenge, and the Level Up
Book Club.
Content of Posts: He posts about
school librarianship professional development and networking, things that are
happening in his library, lesson plans, and technology.
Strengths: I think Matthew is best when he’s posting about projects and activities that he’s doing in his library. He integrates video games and technology into many of his ideas. The Lets Get Busy podcast includes author and illustrator interviews that are incredibly interesting.
Weaknesses: While his posts do have
labels, there is not a list of labels to choose from so navigation to posts
about a particular topic is difficult. He does not include very many book
reviews, and the ones he does include are mostly brief summaries. His writing
style is not very conversational, and the tone is mostly factual.
Uses: A librarian could get ideas from this blog for activities to get involved with the larger blogging community. Matthew’s resume is impressive, and his articles and workshops would be interesting to explore for ideas.
Read Alikes:
- Abby the Librarian www.abbythelibrarian.com
- The Daring Librarian www.thedaringlibrarian.com
- The Adventures of Library Girl www.librarygirl.net
Awards:
2013 Bammy Awards nominee – School
Librarians
Top 50 School Library Blogs
2012-2013
2012 Edublog Award Nominee – Best
Librarian Blog
2012 Edublog Award Nominee – Best
New Blog