Buffy Hamilton, Slide Share, Photos & Libraries

I only got half-way through Buffy Hamilton's Slidedeck called "Beyond Balance: Participatory Librarianship for Creating,Connecting, Conversing and Contributing." I stopped when I had overwhelming contrary urges. The first urge was to want to throw something at the laptop screen. The second urge was wanting to dance and read something techy simultaneously. I attribute both urges to the fact that it's late on a Friday night and it's been a hellish week, both personally and in my library.

My first urge deals with the thought that has been running through my head for the last 48 hours. I'm flat-out exhausted and frankly frightened that I may be headed for a case of depression. I sat in my car yesterday and realized I didn't want to go home because going home was even more exhausting than being at work. (Our dryer went kaput and we've had 2 different plumbers in to deal with a septic system back up in our basement and my daughter is fighting a virus that I'm afraid will land her in the hospital with chest issues - again.) Balance sounds positively heavenly right now, because my life is completely unbalanced. I am certain that I am not the only person in the field going through something similar right now. I'm sure there are many t-l's who are wondering if they're going to be able to breathe anytime before Christmas. And yet.......

The second urge speaks directly to my love of my job and my passion for making the library at my school a relevant conversation! I've always believed that libraries are conversations and that learning is so central to what we do that we must be experts in all the different ways to draw people into the conversation and explore this amazing world of ideas. I get so excited thinking about the possibilities, particularly the use of technology to expand the conversation beyond the walls of the building. Buffy's use of Slide Share and the images she chose speak so powerfully to my own values, that I was bouncing in my seat...Okay, bouncing in my head. My body is too tired to bounce much right now. I envy the Minnesota teacher librarians who will get to discuss and share these images and thoughts. How energized they will be after this session. If it could be bottled and sold - I'd buy a bottle of it immediately, but I'll have to make do. I'll be sharing this with my district colleagues when we meet for the first of our monthly meetings next week. Perhaps the images will inspire me to try a few more photos at school to show the possibilities of student use of technology to my staff.