About

Jane

Here’s a little bit about me, your instructor:

I am a Teacher Librarian at Mira Costa HS in Manhattan Beach, CA, where I work to empower students to be critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers, and ethical users and creators of information and support teachers with research resources and integrating technology into their curriculum.

Before working at Mira Costa, I was a Teacher Librarian and 7th Grade Language Arts Teacher at Lindero Canyon Middle School in Agoura Hills, CA. Before that, I worked as a technical writer in the software industry,but started my career as a librarian in a public library.

I served as 2012-2013 California School Library Association President and have had many other CSLA volunteer positions, including Conference Chair, Southern Region President, Region Rep, and Curriculum Committee Member. I currently serve as co-webmaster,  as 2015 Conference Social Media Chair, on the California School Library Foundation Board.

I am on the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Best Websites for Teaching and Learning Committee; and a member of ALA (American Library Association), AASL, YALSA (Young Adult Librarians Association), and CUE. At my school, I serve on the District Technology Committee, School Site Council, and as Chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee.

I am a Google Certified Teacher and Google Educator. I am an admitted conference social media and conference addict, and I present regularly at conferences.

I maintain two blogs, Jane Lofton’s Adventures in School Libraryland and the Mira Costa High School Library Blog,  a website for my school library, and am – of course – active on Twitter at @jane_librarian and on Google+.

I earned my B.A. at Stanford University and M.A. and M.L.S. at the University of Toronto. I completed my Teaching Credential at National University and my Library Media Credential at California State University at Long Beach.

I am a second generation Angeleno, but have also lived and studied at Stanford in Northern California; at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland; at the University of Toronto in Canada; and lived in Plano, Texas. I now live in San Pedro, the Port of Los Angeles, with my husband Clovis, adult daughter Elaine, and our dog Arlo.

In addition to being passionate about school libraries and their ability to change lives and the power of social media for learning, I am an avid reader and theater-goer, and traveler. And, I am also a big fan of avatars. Here are my two favorites you will see representing me online:

manga avatar    GoAnimate avatar

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