Enjoy Neil Gaiman talking about the importance of libraries

[professornana]

I am working with one of our doctoral students whose dissertation is about the perceptions librarians and administrators have about the roles and tasks of the school librarian. She quotes some really disturbing statistics about the decline in the number of school librarians both in Houston ISD and in districts across the U.S. It seems fitting, then, that I direct you to this post by Neil Gaiman:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming?CMP=twt_gu

As you read this post, Karin Perry and I are heading down to Pasadena (Texas) I.S.D. for a day of staff development tomorrow. As many as a hundred educators are taking a Saturday to come and talk about books and reading and how to motivate kids to read more and more widely. Books will be shared. Books will be given away. A local bookstore will be there to see books as well (Danger! Danger!). In another couple of weeks, I will be hanging out with Donalyn Miller in another school district (North Texas this time) talking about similar themes and topics.

It is my fervent hope that both these groups help spread the word about the important role school libraries and librarians play in reading.