With Social Media and the Internet, The World is a Bit Smaller

Assemblyman Gary Schaer
and me at last night's
Board of Ed. meeting.

It's always amazing to me how many new people I know from all over the world because on the Internet. I am a child of the 60's, so the first time I used a computer was to type a report for my masters thesis. I had borrowed the Apple computer from the school I worked for, and saved my report on a 5" floppy disk. It never ceases to amaze me how far we have come over the last 25 years since the Internet was brought into our lives. Even State Senator Corey Booker follows me on Twitter! 

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by my teachers' union president that our local Assemblyman, Gary Schaer wanted to recognize my accomplishments at a Board of Education meeting in April. Me? How does he know about me, I pondered. How much information was there out there on me that I didn't know about? Time to Google myself and my blog. (Every so often you should do this; interesting results can come out of it.) I chose SEARCH TOOLS > PAST YEAR so I would get recent results.

So here's what I found out: The Pentagon (yes, that one) Library Intranet  lists my blog  as a "useful link for an eBook search". The AASL blog did a recent post about my 2013 Edublog Award for Best Library Blog, and said "Please check out this awesome resource and you will see why it was voted Best Library Blog in 2013!" American Libraries Magazine mentioned me and the list of poetry resources I had posted for National Poetry Month. eSchool News put me on a list with 10 Follow-Worthy Educational Blogs.

Now I know I have strayed a bit from my original idea, and thank you for allowing me to boast a bit. Last night at our Board of Education Meeting in the school library, Assemblyman Gary Schaer recognized my contributions as a media specialist and educational blogger. My administration all attended, including the Mayor of our town, who said some very nice things about me. (I'm not used to this, but it felt great!) The best part of the evening, is that two of my Library Council students came to the meeting! With the horrible weather, I couldn't believe they were there (it was raining buckets) with my assistant, a young blind man from the town who looks after the library and makes sure things run smoothly when I am not there. (He is not a full-time employee, yet he gives 110% every day) I was so happy to see their smiling faces when I arrived. Wow. How things have changed since the Internet entered my life.