knitting librarian

LM_NET is a listserv I joined in 1999. It was not the first library list I joined—I believe that was YALSA-Book, but it is the one that I use the most for staying up-to-date on technology, controversy, professional development opportunities, and for feeling connected to other school librarians who care about the profession. The group is celebrating its 15th year with the semi-retirement of it’s founding fathers, Peter Milbury and Mike Eisenberg.

I’m grateful for this community of learners—because we’re that in addition to being colleagues of sorts—for helping to answer some of my most pressing questions in the last eight years that I’ve been a member. Technology has changed in the lifespan of the group, but it has not outgrown it’s usefulness, and I believe that email is the best means of communication for a group that has been as large as 16,000 school librarians from around the globe.

It’s on lm_net that I learned of school library leaders such as Joyce Valenza, Doug Johnson, and Keith Curry Lance (if I’d known who he was when he conducted his research in PA, I would have responded to his library survey, but I didn’t! Shame on me!) People like Alice Yucht help get new librarians up and running with her annual post for newbies.

I look forward to reading lm_net—and when I take a break, like I did last spring when I was on maternity leave, I miss important things like the new wiki that people can use to post all of the important attachments that still aren’t permitted in list messages.

I just wanted to take a moment to publicly (or maybe not-so-publicly, I don’t think I’m well-read in the blogosphere) thank Peter, Mike, and the whole lm_net community for all that I’ve gotten from the group over the years. In fact, I don’t know if I’d know about blogs if it weren’t for lm_net. So, thank you!

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