Free Holiday Song on iTunes

The free song of the week on iTunes is “Winter Wonderland” sung by Tony Bennett.

Busman’s Holiday at the Bloomfield Township Public Library

I am working at the beautiful Bloomfield Township Public Library on a project and it is bustling here! It is so satisfying to see a public library chock full of people using all kinds of resources on a Sunday afternoon. I’ve also been here on a Saturday and as it nears closing time I see a lot of people checking out DVDs for the evening. I was using a private study room but I was asked to leave if I had been there for my allotted two hours (I had). As I walked out the door of the room a woman was waiting with a student for a tutoring session. I moved to the business section to work at one of the nice big tables which is where I am now tapping away on my laptop and listening to Quicksilver Messenger’s “Fresh Air” on iTunes (yes, I have a “Rock” playlist). I’ve been here for nearly 4 hours and the time has gone by fast and it is enjoyable to be in such an inspiring and comfortable environment.

Article in the MACUL Journal

I was asked by the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) to write an article on the Michigan School Library Initiative Group for their Winter 08/09 journal. I just received two complimentary copies so the article is out. In the article I talk about how it all started through Nancy Robertson the Librarian of Michigan and how it evolved into the final product-a video on media centers and the 21st century skills. I’m not sure when MACUL puts the journals on their website but I will keep you posted.

Bloglines Down!

I knew something was up with my Bloglines account when I had 200 feeds for several sites. When I clicked on the sites they were old feeds to boot. Then I tried to get in and the sites wouldn’t load. Now you get the “Bloglines is down temporarily” message. At least it is lively and colorful!

MAME Conference Presentations

MAME 35 is over and it was a great conference. We held the conference at the Dearborn Hyatt and it was a very nice venue. The keynote speakers were excellent. Gary Schmidt gave a poignant talk about the inspirations for his books; Ross Todd inspired everyone to keep moving forward; and Michael Sullivan gave an entertaining talk about boys and literacy. The session topics were diverse and interesting and the roundtables were packed! Our roundtable sessions are 15 minutes long and each speaker presents his or her topic three times. They are so fast-paced and fun. I presented a roundtable called “Ten Search Engines in Ten Minutes” and my 100 handouts ran out for several people in the third session. If you would like my handout and other presenter’s handouts you can find them on the MAME Conference Wiki.