Krystal reflects on her teaching journey, highlighting insights gained from a recent learning retreat, particularly on designing accessible digital learning materials, which has revitalized her approach to teaching.
Author: Krystal Gagen-Spriggs
Teacher Librarian, avid reader, educator, technology enthusiastic, gym owner, powerlifter, life long learner.
To remove or not to remove
Edited on 25/07/2025 to add reference to and discussion of the ALIA Code of Ethics – Cannot believe I missed this! 🤦‍♀️ I recently wrote the following piece to share my thinking and decision-making process with my students, following questions raised about the inclusion of an author’s work in a particular subject. I thought it…
Who am I? Recovery, discovery, and peace.
It’s undoubtedly been a long time since I last posted on my blog or any of my social media accounts. Some of you may have been wondering where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing, and others may not have even noticed my absence at all. Honestly, if the shoe were on the other foot,…
Tidying links for APA7 reference lists
Ever been pulled up for untidy links in your referencing? Did you know that when you copy and paste a URL from a source you’ve come to through a search engine, it might have some extra details that you don’t need? Well, now you do! Here is a quick guide on how to clean up…
Opinion: 2023 Softlink report – Part 2/3
Welcome to part two of my opinion piece on the 2023 Softlink report. The first part, available at this link, covers my thoughts on this year’s participant numbers. My plan for this post is to dive deeper into school library budgets and staffing. I think understanding these aspects is powerful, as they are crucial for school…
Research tips from SICS Academics
I recently attended the School of Information and Communication Studies (SICS) Research Retreat, which was held in person on the Wagga Wagga campus. During that time, I picked up some great research tips from my colleagues. So, I thought I’d share them with you: It was really affirming to see these things reflected in my…
Paraphrasing is not *just* about avoiding plagiarism
One of the adjustments I had to make when stepping into the world of teacher librarianship was my understanding of paraphrasing. During my schooling and first couple of uni degrees, I was operating under the assumption that paraphrasing was changing someone else’s writing to not be word-for-word when using it in my writing. How wrong…
Book-sell blurb: Fuzzy Mud
The biggest bully in the school is missing, there’s this weird rash spreading up Tamaya’s arm and there’s this weird mud spreading throughout the town that has the US Government all freaked out… Tamaya usually walks home with her neighbour, Marshall, but one day, he demands they cut through the woods. Tamaya knows her mum…
Book-sell blurb: How To Be Happy
Ok, so, how do you know if you’re ‘normal,’ and should you even be worrying about that? Figuring out who you are is difficult enough, but when you just can’t seem to get it right, and everything is going wrong, what else can you do but become someone totally new… Enter ‘Crazy Dave’… This is…
Book-sell blurb: They Saw Too Much
Being on the run for your life is not easy, but it’s even harder when you don’t know or trust the only person who understands – the person who witnessed the murder with you… Partnered together for a school art project, John and Ceri decide to take photos at the beach. At first, it’s fun,…
The Lifting Librarian 