Author: Kate Gukeisen

  • Cool Tool: Storybird

    I have written about Storybird before, and tonight I was able to share some of my Storybird learning with my Information Technologies in Educational Organizations classmates during a webinar. I wanted to provide a few additional resource links here as a follow-up to that experience, and I wanted to share the learning with anyone else who may…

  • Wondering about Your Library

    Today I’m sharing an advocacy video I created for my Technologies class. In my “real” advocacy video, I would include photos from my school library. In this practice video, I enjoyed including photos from my volunteer experiences, library fieldwork, and visits to the local library with my preschool classes. Enjoy!

  • This is a Library

    Originally posted on Dog-eared & Overdue:    What’s a library? This is about the Carthage Free Library. I’d love to hear about your public, academic, or special library. My library is located in a charming building on Budd Street, but its services are at the Farmer’s Market, the school gym, and anywhere the community gathers. My…

  • School Librarian: Advocacy Leader

    This week in my Information Technologies in Educational Organizations course, we’ve been learning and talking about leadership, advocacy, and evidence-based practice. As future school librarians and engaged members of society, my classmates and I know that many of our country’s school and public libraries are in trouble. We know that user-centered, evidence-based practice and an effective advocacy plan…

  • Advocate, Don’t Whine

    Dear School Librarians and Fellow Future School Librarians, We are better than this. We are educators and information specialists, and we need to stop comparing ourselves to Internet search engines. I agree with everything this constantly circulated graphic says about what librarians do. However, I hate that the focus of the message shifts in one…

  • CyberHeroes & Anti-Cyberbullying

    In my last post, Intellectual Freedom & Internet Filtering, I shared a few ideas about how school librarians can help schools create and implement policies that both keep students safe online and provide them opportunities to develop the 21st Century Skills they need to successfully navigate our increasingly participatory culture. In that post, I referred to…

  • Technology in Schools

    “We do everything we can to get tech into the hands of our kids, and then we do everything we can to prevent them from using it.” -Scott McLeod at TEDx Des Moines What do you think? Look for my thoughts on this topic throughout the week.

  • Podcast for an Elementary School Library Program

    Comets in the Spotlight This is my first attempt at creating a podcast–and it was fun! I created this for my Information Technology in Educational Organization class, where we were asked to investigate the technical aspects of creating a podcast and then to reflect on that and think further about opportunities for utilizing podcasting in…

  • QR Codes? Really? Yes, Really.

    QR Codes often get a bad rap, and often for good reason. When I first encountered QR Codes, I downloaded a QR Code Reader app with some excitement and began to scan. I was immediately, and then repeatedly, underwhelmed. It seemed every QR Code I scanned led me to an online page with the exact…