Hello everyone! My name is Erin Long. I am currently the librarian at Wade Hampton High School in Hampton, SC. Prior to this job, I was an elementary school teacher. If you had told me three years ago I would be working in a high school library, I probably would have said you were crazy, but I can’t imagine doing anything else. I graduated from Wade Hampton in 2005 and immediately went to school to be a teacher. No one in high school helped me complete the FAFSA, an application, or even suggested a college to me, as far as I can remember. My goal as a librarian is to make sure students are prepared for purposely designed career paths (which is also our school mission). I want to make sure students, teachers, and parents know what resources are available to them within the library, school, and community to better prepare for their futures. We have databases, books, and people available to help students succeed. I have recently been allowed to have a library assistant. This has allowed me to push into classrooms and teach students (and teachers) about technology and information literacy within the classroom.
When I’m not at school I can be found with my two sons and husband. We love to spend our days playing with chickens and goats on our small farm or hanging out at a campground. Our newest adventure is Cub Scouts and my boys are absolutely loving it! We had our first camp out in December and spent the night in a tent when the temperature was in the mid-thirties. Needless to say, my four-year-old and I did not make it all night, but we had fun and have some funny memories from the experience. I’m not sure I will be participating in another winter camping trip though!
One of the best educational online tools or apps I have used recently is Naviance. This is an online database purchased by our district. Students are able to take surveys and strength explorers to determine what careers match their particular personalities and skill sets. Students are then able to research those career clusters. The career clusters link to different colleges around the country. Naviance offers lots of information about each college, including price, demographics, acceptance rate, and much more. Students are able to use their database to apply to college and even apply for scholarships based on information they input. This resource may not seem important to all of my classmates, but has made a huge impact on the information students at Wade Hampton now know about career and college choices.
761 Informational Technology in the School Library 