As a last hoorah in the College library, my lovely students compiled a list of books that the "differently insane" should read nbefore they die. There was considerable discussion about whether we were nerds or geeks but the label "differently insane" proved a winner!
So here it is:

1.    The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

2.    Fullmetal Alchemist (series) by Hiromu Arakawa

3.    Foundation (series) by Isaac Asimov

4.    The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

5.  ...

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Today the SecEd ran an article on the Campaign for the Book which included comments by Hilary Moriarty, national director of the Boarding Schools Association, which have enraged librarians. Her comments included "you really don't need the books... and a severe librarian in residence... if ever there was a time to say something has become redundant, surely now is the time for school libraries?". I've emailed a response to the editor of the SecEd about this appalling piece, below:

Dear Mr Hens...

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Phil Bradley's sharp riposte to Bob McKee's blogpost on Twittering has made my Monday; Phil said everything so many librarians have been feeling as regards to CILIP's lack of communication with its members and non-members alike. Bob's point - that microblogging is not officially "sanctioned" space and his doubt that anyone will read his blog entry is borne out by the fact that I, like many others I suspect, found his comments because we read Phil's response first. Phil, in contrast to CILIP, ...
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It's that time of year again - deciding whether or not to take out membership of CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Informational Professionals) and be able to call myself a Chartered Librarian. I'd really like to and I feel it's important for our status, both in schools and within CILIP itself. But it is darned expensive just after Christmas and I've never really felt that I got anything for the money, other than a cosy glow. (My students love that my postnominals used to spell ALABAM...
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Hi
I'm Ruby, and this is my brand new website. Here I'll be blogging about stuff that concerns my profession - librarianship. I'll also be putting my creative writing online and hopefully some writing by my lovely students.
I'm Chairperson of the 2020 Library Vision Group in Leicestershire and we're concerned with promoting school librarianship as a vital and positive career that impacts greatly on school and student achievement - we're all for raising our professional profile.
Stay tuned!
Ruby
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