Food for Thought...Also Links

Once again, I am working the entire weekend of ComicCon in New Orleans. Dang! And Rob Guillory is going to be there! I wish I could get him to sign my copies of Chew!

If you are there, I'm insanely jealous of you. If you meet Guillory, I'm even more jealous.

I ran across this article today:

School libraries shelve tradition to create new learning spaces 

The title is misleading. The article describes various school libraries' attempts to create inviting spaces for reading and learning. In fact, it seems all the schools mentioned have placed a decided emphasis on encouraging reading print. 

Still, some of the incorporated ideas seem odd to me - notably, one school's decision (which I think is completely crazybeans) to take all nonfiction books out of the library and place them in classrooms, "leaving the library purely for the discovery and enjoyment of literature." 

What about those kids who enjoy reading nonfiction, or who are interested in learning about a topic not covered in their particular classroom(s)? Do they have access to nonfiction items located in other classrooms? Do we really want to teach kids that libraries are solely for pleasure reading - that their information needs are best met elsewhere? And, let's not forget, boys who are reluctant readers are often hooked by nonfiction reading. 

So, yeah, I'd not take the nonfiction out of the school library - not if you truly want to foster literacy and encourage reading.


Links!

• Libraries, Books, & Authors
• Happy birthday, Simone de Beauvoir! "At age 21, French intellectual Simone de Beauvoir...became the youngest person to pass the agrégation—a nationwide post-graduate exam—in philosophy. She missed coming in first by a narrow margin. That honor went to Jean-Paul Sartre." (Source) Although she is now recognized as an important philosopher, particularly when dealing with feminism, she saw herself primarily as an author and Sartre's companion. 
• World Mourns Victims of Charlie Hebdo Attack Related: Charlie Hebdo "This morning in a Tweet Bredebieb asked me 'what should public libraries do,' about the Charlie Hebdo attack. It was frankly a bit of a humbling and scary question. After all, I am not in Paris, and I cannot claim to know everything that French libraries do now. However, it would be an obvious act of cowardice to simply claim ignorance or to respond with some high level non-answer like 'help the communities have a conversation.' So I provided some ideas..."
• Check out Time's lists of The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time and The 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time. 
• How Middle School Reading Lists Have Evolved Since 100 Years Ago 
• Chattanooga Public Library to send 25 people to online high school 
• Net & Tech
• The recurring Facebook privacy hoax It's driving me crazy...
• FCC Boss Now Making The Case For Reclassification, Rather Than Against It Related: On net neutrality, Internet providers are betrayed by one of their own 
• Democrats' bill would ban paid prioritization by ISPs 
• School buses bring Wi-Fi to impoverished families Genius!
• FCC aims to pinpoint 911 calls 
• Is Facebook Censoring Posts To Please China? 
• The new Nabi kid-friendly Android tablets are seriously huge 
• New Gadget Can Turn Any HDTV Into A Desktop Computer 
• New Wind Turbine That Looks Like A Tree Is Coming To Paris 
• Science
• World First: Scientists Observe DNA Shuttling Between Cells, Triggering Tumor Growth "Not only could these important findings help further our understanding of cancer and other diseases, but they raise the tantalizing possibility that one day, it might be possible to replace faulty, disease-causing genes with synthetic, custom-designed mitochondrial DNA in a bid to fight a wide variety of illnesses."
• NASA's Exoplanet Travel Series posters are cool!
• Discovery channel new boss promises more 'authenticity' Thank goodness!
• Other
• Congress' First Act: Attack on Social Security 
• After long delay, Obama declines to rule on petition calling for firing of DOJ officials over Aaron Swartz’s suicide 
• Fox News Host Asks How We Can Tell 'Bad Guys' If We Can't See 'Tone Of Their Skin'? 
• Cleveland fiscal manager cites killing of Tamir Rice in resignation letter 
• Hotel du Pont cancels reservation for homeless on Christmas