As a blog, we’re nearing our third anniversary…which, in web years, means we’re feeling pretty mature. So we thought we’d spruce things up a bit – not just with a new look and feel, but with some new bloggers, too!

Here’s a recap of the big changes you’ll now find on OOM:
New look: The incredible design you see now is courtesy of Maria Cunningham and Erin Davis, while Miles R. White built the back end and transferred our archived content. We wanted the blog to reflect who Scholastic is as a 21st century company, and who we are as bloggers. It’s fresh (notice that the header image rotates each time you land on the blog), it’s functional (with a host of new capabilities), and it’s fun (because, let’s face it: there’s nothing more fun than spreading the message of literacy.).

More bloggers: OOM has seen impressive growth over the past months and years, including a near doubling of the number of posts we publish. That’s a lot of blogging! Beginning today, we welcome four new bloggers to the masthead: Dante A. Ciampaglia, Yanique Hart, Kristen Joerger, and Michael Strouse. They, of course, join Amanda Hebert, Ivy Li, Tyler Reed, Jessica Watson, and yours truly. Any time you want to know more about the OOM blog team, check out The Minds.

New categories: If you’re a regular reader, you’ve noticed that OOM talks about many different topics – books, of course, but also the state of education, how technology is being used in schools, what constitutes reading, the role of libraries and librarians in this digital world, the role of parents in promoting literacy, and fun stuff, like exciting giveaways and exclusive videos. To help clarify our posts, each post will now be categorized under Books, Education, or More News; so if you’re here just for news about education, you can easily access just those posts that are categorized as such by clicking to your favorite category in the top navigator.

This messy sketch turned into what you now see on OOM.

Dedicated feeds: As a reader of the new OOM, you can subscribe to the blog in several ways depending on your needs. Just click on Join OOM in the right navigator and you’ll find RSS options for the entire blog (so you’ll never miss a post!), or for category-specific posts – so, like the above option, if you’re here mostly for book posts, you can subscribe to receive just the posts that focus on books and authors. Please note: if you were previously subscribed to OOM, you will need to update your RSS. (Sorry for any inconvenience, but hey, it gives you a chance to decide which feed you prefer!)

Navigation: While OOM now looks fancy, it’s still your basic three-column blog. All the latest posts will be shown in chronological order in the main (middle) column; on the left, you’ll see links to need-to-know information like who we are and giveaway rules, the latest comments left by readers, a drop-down of our archived posts, and some of our most frequently used tags. On the right navigator, you’ll find share buttons for those of you who are socially inclined, a rotating OOM Today thought/fact/quote (updated weekly), and videos and polls of the week. Go on, try them!

Commenting: One piece of feedback we heard most often from readers was about the old commenting structure. Now, in new OOM, commenting is much easier; simply enter a name (real or fake, your call), an email (which will not be displayed), an optional URL, and your comment. We hope the new look and ease will mean even more conversations!

And here’s what hasn’t changed: We’re still at oomscholastic.com, and all of our content has moved over with us. As we continue transferring over our old content, it may look different (and, dare we say it, wonky at times) – but please bear with us, as it will all be fixed and formatted for optimal reading soon!

And, finally, we’re still here to talk to all of you about the topics we all care so much about: children’s books and authors, literacy and the changing state of education, how and why we read the way we do, and, of course, The Baby-sitter’s Club. (I couldn’t resist.)

I’ll leave you with this: five words from each of the bloggers about the new OOM.

Dante: Love that new blog smell!
Yanique: New, smart, Fun, innovative, news-you-can-use
Amanda: More exciting than a Bieber concert!
Kristen: You’re going to love it!
Ivy: My patronus is new OOM.
Tyler: Your OOM experience now rocks!
Michael: Fancier than an Oscar gown!
Jessica: Better than a new e-reader!

Thanks for being an OOM reader. We hope you’ll let us know in the comments what you think of our new look!

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