Cue the confetti. Madison’s Library, this little ol’ slice of the internet, is turning 10 years (and 6 months) old today. Okay, so I kind of missed the big milestone at the beginning of the year. I had no idea that I’d been writing, reviewing and sharing for 10 years. Here’s the old cliche, time flies. But serious. I would have guessed maybe 5 or 6 years. Not 10. Honestly, I’m pretty chuffed. It’s an epic milestone, one I only stumbled upon quite by accident this month. Hence the late celebration. But any excuse for cake and confetti.
So, would you indulge me a little as we go back in time to see where it all began, how it has transformed and what it has all become today?
Back in the day
So… 2015. Actually while the milestone might be recorded at 15/01/2015, this story began well before that. I am not one to just dive into something. I’d been pondering creating a blog for, well, probably a year or two (or honestly 3). And I would have been working on it and crafting in the background long before actually hitting publish. But on the 15 of January, 2015, my first book review went live. Because that’s what Madison’s Library was all about. Book reviews. Ah, the long-distant heyday of the book blogger. Yes, I wanted to be one. I’d been a professional reader (love that term) for years, reading for publishers via my local independent bookshop since I was 15. And I was sharing my book reviews in printed publications (the bookshop’s in-house pamphlets) and had moved online via review sites. But I wanted something all my very own. Turns out what I really loved what the process of creating a website. I dove into learning everything I could about designing and editing a website. Funnily enough, I hadn’t picked web design as one of my librarianship courses, not convinced I’d be any good at it, so I loved learning about creating a website. It became a space to share my reviews (which helped me access more review copies) but also indulged my love of learning and love of graphic design.
The brand and design
My header and brand design, the stack of books and flowers, came from an image my brother, a talented photographer, created for me, combing a stack of black and yellow books from my bookshelf with a photo of yellow ranunculus. My favourite flowers. And yes, I did actually grow them. I’ve never been able to replicate my success growing a crop of ranunculi again, but the blooms that year were glorious…and my favourites were the yellows. I adore that photo.
So, Madison’s Library was born.
The content
In June 2015, I started sharing my work in the school library … about Book Week, of course. From there, I shared displays I was creating and Book Week activity ideas. Collection development in the form of genrefication came next, as I documented the process we took to genrefy the young adult collection.
Now I have just over 1400 posts. Just over 1000 of them are book reviews. The rest is a mix of school library ideas and reflections.
In the following 10 years (and 6 months), I’ve had 849k views, by 516k visitors. That is seriously mind blowing.
My top most visited posts continue to be Book Week related. My all-time most-viewed post is my Book Week 2022: Theme Announcement post (go figure).
Followed by the Resource: Double-sided bookmarks with templates. Now that one I can understand. Keeping up with the demand for bookmarks in a school library is no easy feat.
After that in close succession are Book Week: Easy costume ideas from things in your wardrobe, Book Week 2023 Resources, Links and Ideas
The 2024 and 2023 Book Week Theme Announcements.
And then my review of Icebreaker. What makes me laugh is this review is not of the BookTok popular romance Icebreaker, but of a YA LGBTQIA romance called Icebreaker. Surprise. Hopefully they find a really excellent book to put on their to-read list.
In the non-Book Week related posts, Planning Library Displays for the Year and the Benefits of Reading Non-Fiction posts are popular, along with my review of Divine Rivals (yes, that one is the BookTok book).
The journey
In 2020, I moved to self hosting, learnt a whole lot more about website design and creation, and I have spent thousands of hours writing, editing, reformatting and generally just tinkering with my website. It’s one of my favourite things to do, just change something on the landing page, or redesign the header, or add a new image.
Writing has been my reflection and sanity. People often thank me for my work online, sharing what I do in my school library. And I’m so grateful and thankful that it helps people. But this whole thing started as a way to reflect on my own practice. I’m not an expert, just someone having fun in their library and sharing what they do. It’s a time capsule, a hobby, a diary, and an ongoing professional reflection all rolled into one.
I’ve joined basically all the social media platforms and found on them an incredible community of school library and book industry professionals. It’s a great place to find new ideas, be inspired and learn.
My website has opened doors that I never dreamed possible. I have presented at conferences around Australia and internationally (virtually) on topics I first wrote about here. I’ve been sent specially signed books from authors and formed incredible connections with them through sharing my reviews. I treasure those books and relationships. And I’ve connected with you. Yes you, who has read all the way down this long post (impressive) and stuck with me for 10 years (and 6 months). Or maybe you joined more recently. Either way, through this platform I have met, emailed, and connected with so many incredible people.
What’s next?
So what’s next for Madison’s Library? Sadly the book reviews have pretty much stopped altogether. Thanks to burn out at work, I’m just not reading much at all. Hopefully that will come back and I can start to sprinkle in some book reviews again. But I still love what I get to do each day in the school library, so I’ll be continuing to share my adventures from there. I am also working on a project that could be the next big step in this journey. Hilariously, I’ve been sitting and planning it for oh, about the last 5 years. See? I’m not one to just dive in. But maybe this is a good reminder to myself, to see what amazing things have come from taking that first step and where it has led. So, perhaps I will feel brave enough to share that project with you soon. For now, thank you. Thank you for being part of this community and adventure.