A Great Way to Start Semester Two; Touring The Archives of The Henry Ford

Monday, 1-29-18 started the new semester at Carlson High School, but I started the semester touring the archives at The Henry Ford Museum for my Wayne RESA Library Leaders meeting. A few times a year I am fortunate enough to meet with other school librarians from Wayne County to learn about new topics and share ideas. It is a great way to to improve my skills as the librarian at Carlson High School.

Monday's meeting was special in that it was off-site from Wayne RESA and held at the The Henry Ford Museum. We spent the morning learning about the importance of being a a future ready librarian in a future ready school. The highlight of the day came after lunch when we had the chance for a private tour of the archives of The Henry Ford Museum.

My group started on the first floor which houses paper/print items. The amount of items was mind-blowing. Also, it was a rush to hold a correspondence penned by Alexander Hamilton.

Just one row of the paper archives

That is one old dictionary

Every year trim catalog for Ford Motor Company, including the 2003 Marauder

Here is that letter penned by Alexander Hamilton

The upper level of the archives holds the physical items, and this section was just as amazing. Artwork, quilts, clothing, toys, technology, a donut (no really a donut that was found in a donation), and Thomas Edison's patent models are just some of the treasures I came across during my hour in the upper-archives. The old toys really brought me back, including the Fisher Price camper toy I stumbled across. It brought me back to my childhood visits to my grandmother's house in Pittsburgh. She had two toys in the house: the Fisher Price camper and a Holiday Inn hotel play-set. My sisters and I spent hours playing with those things.....and for some reason we looked forward to playing with them every trip.

Items in the archives are protected from water and fire

Funny all the memories that come back because of a toy

Mrs. Firestone had a lot of shoes....a lot

Man, I wish I could have fired up the Intellivision

I always look forward to my Library Leaders meetings, but this one was a great way to kick-off the second semester. Not only did I learn a great deal but I was able to experience some interesting items/documents and hear how they are stored/organized. Yes, I am a Dork...or Geek, but man this was a cool Monday!

Your Own Personal Library Catalog

So, how many of you have remember using an old style, card catalog? You know, you want to find a book in your local library, so you pull out the long drawers flipping through cards. Well those days are long gone of course (thankfully) and nearly all libraries use an electronic catalog system to keep track of their collections. Many of the school districts in Wayne County are using a system developed by Follett . It is a great system for school age children and prepares them for many of the advanced catalogs available in public and university libraries. Catalog software is quite expensive and really impractical for home libraries. Some book lovers may create their own spreadsheet or database to keep track of their books, however there is a great (free) tool online to not only catalog your books, but also meet and communicate with other book lovers online. The site librarything.com is a wonderful site that lets you catalog your own home library. Think of it as a "Facebook

A Once-In-A-Lifetime Event

Back in November I wrote about what I believe to be the best part of my job; running into Carlson High School graduates that are success stories and hearing about how well they are doing in the "real world." Carlson High School graduate Nathan Matatall is clearly one of these success stories. After graduating from Carlson High School and Michigan State University Nathan has gone on to very successful career at Dell Computers. The News Herald even published a feature piece on Nathan a few years ago. This past week, Nathan provided my family with a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget. Nathan, my former public speaking student, contacted me via email a few weeks ago and inquired about taking my kids on a tour of Marine One (one of the helicopters used to transport The President of the United States and other dignitaries) and to possibly attend the landing of Air Force One when President Obama was scheduled to arrive in Detroit. I was very excited a

A Little R & R

I decided to take a little R & R before things get crazy with back to school. I wanted to spend some time with my family for these final weeks of summer, so I decided a break from writing was in order. A trip to Kalahari and fun times with friends and family made August fly by. So, what does school year 2014 bring for me? Quite a bit, as always: Back to teaching two courses at Wayne County Community College. Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings I head to Northline Road to teach college level English. I really love this second job! Tuesday, I start my 17th year at O.A. Carlson High School. While public education continues to face challenges, there is no other job for me at this time. I love my co-workers and students. Gibraltar is a great place to work. I will be running my kids all over as usual. Gymnastics, religious education, flag football (which I coach as well), and others events "to be determined." I would not have it any other way. I love watch

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