Middle School Maggie

When reviewing my notes from the videos for the Infinite Learning modules, I kept returning to the idea of learning everywhere. This is what my notes look like: As you can see, they are not super detailed but they distill down the elements of learning everywhere that resonated with me. What does “learning everywhere” mean? To me it means that we have a multitude of learning opportunities every single day, regardless of location. But I am curious about different locations of learning, especially library locations.  Thinking about locations and the physical places in which we learn, I became curious about unusual libraries. A quick Google search of “unusual libraries” was…

For reasons unknown to me, I have been struggling to come up with a compelling topic of reflection on The Power of Stories. I think we know inherently how powerful stories can be. And that there are so many kinds of stories to tell – long, short, visual, written, oral, and even just the story of our day. In pondering the elements of the readings, videos, and explorations of recent weeks there are a few items that keep popping up in my thoughts.  Get to Know Your Neighbor – Anythink Library I am entranced by this wonderful idea we learned about in Module 8 of setting up a sofa in…

Throughout all of the modules in this course so far, I keep thinking about the idea raised in the Hyperlinked Library Model Lecture that libraries “must reach all users, not just those who come through our doors” (Stephens, 2019). In fact, I have used that exact quote in a previous reflection so I hope I am not self-plagiarizing. But I can’t seem to get this idea out of my head. It keeps showing up in other readings and videos, including Pam Sandlian Smith’s TedX talk when she eloquently reminds us that “everyone has a seat at the table” in a library (Smith, 2013). Working in a middle school library presents…

This year, students at my school have been fascinated with the old yearbooks that we have in the library. They love looking through them to find older siblings and friends and to see what the school looked like decades ago. We also have a good number of teachers and staff who went to Montera along with lots of parents who attended as well. This fascination with the past got me thinking about how to connect our students with alumni in a creative manner. I had also been intrigued by the User Research from Pew data about podcasts that were provided in the CYOA module. Combining these thoughts together led me…

When the weather permits, I ride my bicycle through the Oakland hills a few times a week. I listen to music on my rides and mull over school assignments and work projects at the same time. Last week some of the musical theater songs that popped up in my Spotify playlist got me thinking about the intersection between theater and libraries. (My playlist is a bit eclectic.) It made me wonder about what kinds of partnerships exist between theaters and libraries? Do these two environments hyperlink with each other? If so, in what ways? There are many examples of libraries partnering with theaters or performing arts groups working together both…

For this reflection, I created a PowerPoint presentation. I’m not entirely certain of the best way to present it in WordPress so I’m including a link here: Hyperlinked Communities: Belonging and Identity I hope it works!

Throughout our foundational readings and explorations, I keep thinking about two ideas. First, Brian Mathews writes that “libraries are about people, not books or technology” (Mathews, 2012, p. 10). Second, Michael Stephens talks about the internal challenge that libraries and librarians face of “we’ve always done it this way” (Stephens, 2019). While these two ideas might not initially seem connected, in my library world they are connected in a way that challenges me to embrace change and become a “future-oriented librarian” and not one who is stuck in my old ways all of the time (Mathews, 2014, p. 9). When I first began working in a public middle school library…

Hello Hyperlinked Classmates! My name is Maggie Rogers (not that one, although I keep hoping I’ll score a nicer table at restaurants when I call ahead) and I live in Oakland, California. I’m not originally from California (my dad was in the Army and we moved around a lot when I was younger) but I landed here in high school and never left. I have a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from UC Berkeley and a Library Technology Certificate from Diablo Valley College. I have been happily employed as a Library Technician at a wonderful and supportive public middle school in Oakland for the past 8 years (hence, the title…