WebJunction - School

Teachers needed to sponsor young writers

2009-07-28T00:20:57Z

A call for young writers:

American Veteran Essay Project: This essay project is open to all teens from the ages of 13 – 17

You may select a veteran who has served in WWII or any preceding period all the way through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The veteran might be a member of your family or a person you have known growing up, as long as you admire them for inspiring you or they exhibited the ability to be a role model. If you do not have someone to write a story about the AWON, (American WWII Orphans Network) organization is available to match you with a hero to write about. Make sure you explore how that person has shown the “power of one” and has made a difference in the lives of others. The essay collection will be published in a featured book in 2010 through AuthorHouse. Top essay winner receives a camp scholarship at a National Aviation Museum: www.museumofaviation.org and the 2nd place winner will receive a $50.00 cash award.

Deadline for finished essays is: October 15, 2009

For more information, visit www.americanvetpowerof1.com

New Location for National School Libraries Data Project

2009-06-09T20:36:44Z

This group has decided to use a wiki for its project. Please visit us and participate in the discussion at http://schoollibrarydata.pbworks.com/

All the information that previously was posted at this site has been relocated.

DATA SUBMISSION

2009-05-01T16:30:37Z

QUESTION: Why don’t my numbers from last year appear when I activate “show last year’s answers” function?

ANSWER: I was wrong about this in the instructions. It has to do with complications arising from the transition from last year’s district-based to this year’s school-based data gathering. Next year, the 08-09 data will appear.

QUESTION: I cannot find a "submit" function after entering my data. Where is it?

ANSWER: We have a nomenclature issue. Your responses are submitted every time you “Save,” go to a different section, or log out. The web application has a submit function but it actually locks the data so you cannot return to it. I decided to avoid confusion by not pointing it out.

FINANCES

2009-05-01T16:21:14Z

R02-Library revenue
E01-E07-Expenditures

QUESTION: None of these appear on the worksheet but they appear in the web submission site. I cannot enter amounts. When will this be fixed?

ANSWER: I intended that omitting the questions on the worksheet would clue people that they report only donation and grant amounts. The financial questions appear in the data submission site because the database needs a place holder for when the financial information is obtained elsewhere.

The Program Finance Division of Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) collects the library media center revenue and expenditure information along with all the other financial information submitted by your school district. The division has exclusive responsibility for vetting the financial information. The information can and often does change between the initial district submission and the final approval. To prevent the annual report from having incorrect data, I have to obtain the financial data from Program Finance.

FACILITIES SECTION

2009-05-01T16:07:11Z

F02- Computer labs and F04- Lab computers

QUESTION: How do i account for the two mobile computer carts that serve as computer labs in classrooms?

ANSWER: For the 08-09 filing, count each mobile cart that the library media center has responsibility for as a computer lab (Question F02) and include the number of computers on the cart in F04. If you are not in charge of the carts, do not include them in your count.

Next year, the report will distinguish between the mobile carts and the stationary computer lab.

Including the carts and their computers in F02 and F04 in 08-09 will avoid appearing as if you had a large increase in computers between this year and next.

PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENT SECTION

2009-05-01T16:02:04Z

P10a Preparation for information and technology classes.

QUESTION: I devote many hours of preparation in the areas of information and technology for presentations to regular classes that use information literacy and technology for assignments. Do i include this activity in the time log?

ANSWER: The question intends to learn if the library media specialist is given time away from other duties in order to plan instruction. Consequently, yes, include this activity in the time log.

Library Partnerships

2009-03-09T20:25:31Z

For Immediate Release.

Library Partnerships

New Book Helps School and Public Libraries Connect, Partner, and Share Resources to Improve and Expand Services Even During Times of Extreme Fiscal Restraint

March 9, 2009, Medford, NJ—Information Today, Inc. (ITI) has announced the publication of Library Partnerships: Making Connections Between School and Pubic Libraries by Tasha Squires. In the new book, young adult library consultant Squires demonstrates a range of ways in which school and public libraries can create mutually beneficial relationships.

According to Library Journal’s 2009 Budget Survey, most libraries are anticipating and preparing for budget cuts during this fiscal year. This means that libraries and librarians are facing the task of doing more with fewer resources. In Library Partnerships, Squires offers practical strategies for school and public librarians to appreciate, communicate, and build on the benefits of public/school library relationships in order to make the most of tight budgets, create resource rich environments, and promote the development of lifelong learners.

For public and school librarians to reap the benefits of working together, they must embrace one of Squires’s core principles: collaboration. “While we all know what collaboration is, and we know that we are supposed to be doing it, we don’t always find the time for the one type of collaboration for promoting literacy in the youth we serve: collaboration between school and public libraries,” Squires said. “This is a disservice to the youth we worry about night and day, trying always to increase their desire to read, learn, and grow, both within and outside our library walls.”

“When library partnerships are born and nurtured between school and public librarians, programs flourish that service young people in extraordinary ways,” according to Gail Bush, PhD, Director for the Center for Teaching Through Children’s Books, writing in the Foreword to Library Partnerships. “Generations mingle, artifacts are displayed, hot books are booktalked, summertime is reading time, and exhausted librarians are fulfilled.

“As funding is cut at many school and public libraries, partnerships become even more important,” said Amy Alessio, a teen librarian and co-author of A Year of Programs for Teens “This practical guide offers many time-saving paths to successful cooperation.” Jennifer Bromann, school library media specialist at Lincoln-Way (IL) Central High School, called Library Partnerships “the most comprehensive and practical source available on partnerships between public and school libraries.”

Library Partnerships includes the following chapters:

1. Relationships Take Work
2. Partnership Basics
3. Changing Seasons
4. After-School Blues
5. From Basic to Bravo!
6. Using Technology to Partner
7. Resource Sharing
8. Visits
9. Garnering Support
10. Keeping it Going

In addition to the Foreword by Gail Bush, Library Partnerships features an Introduction by the author, interviews with school and public librarians who are currently involved in collaboration efforts, numerous helpful sidebars, a recommended reading list, and an index. This practical and timely book is a must-read for school and public librarians who want to successfully connect and collaborate with other youth-focused professionals in their areas.

About the Author
Tasha Squires currently works as a young adult consultant for the Shorewood-Troy Public Library District in Shorewood, Illinois, collaborating on programs for teens while completing her certification as a school library media specialist. She was the young adult librarian for the Fountaindale Public Library District in Bolingbrook, Illinois, for more than eight years. She has contributed articles to Know Kidding: The Best of the Best in Youth Services (Wheeling, Illinois, 2003) and the Info Career Trends electronic newsletter. Tasha holds an MLIS from Dominican University.

Library Partnerships: Making Connections Between School and Pubic Libraries
(224 pp/softbound/$39.50/ISBN 978-1-57387-362-8) is published by Information Today, Inc. It is available in bookstores and direct from the publisher by calling (800) 300-9868 [outside the U.S., call (609) 654-6266]; faxing (609) 654-4309; emailing custserv@infotoday.com; or visiting the ITI website at www.infotoday.com.

WJ and media specialists, your advice?

2009-02-18T19:42:07Z

I’m new to WebJunction, and am thinking of starting a group for MN media specialists. Does anyone have guidance, best practices, or portable wisdom of any kind to share in terms of offering service to media specialists through the WJ site? Thanks in advance! Matt.

RE: School Library Guideilnes

2009-02-17T23:29:48Z

Attached are the Administrative Rules of Montana related to school library programs and staffing.

RE: School Libraries Count! Survey

2009-02-17T19:47:11Z

I thought this might be of interest for the Feb. 18 meeting. I recently inquired with AASL about getting Montana data from the School Libraries Count! survey. Here is the response:

Colet,
AASL is in the process of developing an online tool to pull the information as well as a licensing agreement for states to purchase their entire state raw data. We are hoping to have the tool online by mid-year, but I should have details regarding licensing the information by next month.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I will be in touch once the licensing options have been finalized.

Take care,
Allison
Allison Cline
Deputy Executive Director
American Association of School Librarians
a division of the American Library Association
www.aasl.org
1-800-545-2433 x 4385
acline@ala.org

School Libraries Count! Survey

2009-02-04T18:40:43Z

Today I learned of the "School Libraries Count!" survey launched by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). I do not know much about this survey but here's some basics.

Survey is available at: http://www.aaslsurvey.org
"All K-12 schools, public and private, are invited to participate on a voluntary basis."
This is the 3rd year of the survey.
"This survey is being conducted by an independent, third party firm, KRC Research."
AASL Contact: Jennifer Habley 1-800-545-2433 x4383 jhabley@ala.org
Technical problems with survey contact: krcresearch@int-research.com

RE: School Library Guidelines

2009-01-30T16:24:02Z

The Minnesota Department of Education does not have standards. The Minnesota Educational Media Organization, the state's professional library media specialist's organization, has created Minnesota Standards for Effective School Library Media Programs available at http://www.memoweb.org/htmlfiles/linkseffectiveslmp.html

School Library Guideilnes

2009-01-22T20:33:49Z

Our school library guidelines are not quantitative and I have heard from many teacher librarians and other school personnel in Iowa that they wish they were. What have other states done? Our guidelines are at:
http://www.iowa.gov/educate/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=959

Teacher Librarian Certification

2009-01-22T20:31:35Z

In Iowa, we are going to start the process of reviewing our certification standards for teacher librarians. They have not been reviewed since 1985. I would be interested in knowing about states that have recently updated their certification stanards.

RE: Minutes from National Committee

2009-01-12T15:07:35Z

They had been attached to my original post. After your email, I checked and learned they were no longer there. I've re-attached them.

Minutes from National Committee

2009-01-09T23:11:21Z

The message states that the minutes are posted but I don't see them. Am I supposed to be looking somewhere else for that part?

Great wiki for school library media specialists

2008-10-01T23:59:18Z

Thanks to Helene Blowers for her blog post about this great wiki:

WebTools4U2Use

“The purpose of this website is to provide a place for K-12 school library media specialists to learn a little more about web tools that can be used to improve and enhance school library media programs and services, to see examples of how they can be used, and to share success stories and creative ideas about how to use and integrate them. Hundreds of free and inexpensive web tools are available for school library media specialists to use that can make us more productive, valued, and, perhaps, more competitive.”