Read the press release.

AASL’s second longitudinal survey explores the use of social networking tools in schools
Selected questions from AASL’s second longitudinal survey focused on the use of social networking tools by school library media specialists and their teacher collaborators in elementary and secondary schools. The questions asked specifically which social networking tools schools utilized in preparing their students for learning in the 21st century. Preliminary findings from the study show that elementary, middle, and high schools are using social networking tools to prepare students for the 21st century. Final results of the 2008 survey will be released in August 2008.

Read the press release.

With the two conferences often overlapping, teacher-librarians feel they have to choose between ALA and NECC. Each has its appeal, yet it is difficult to attend both and feel as if you are truly a part of the conference. It is easy to feel a traitor to one side of your job, librarian vs. technology educator, when you choose.

We often feel that need to be in two or more places at once. We cannot be in the library and also in a classroom fixing a computer at the same time, but we can be at two conferences at once if these connections continue to grow. Many of the NECC sessions are available via podcast or video on the NECC or ISTE website, but face-to-face discussions are so powerful.

Be the leader in this collaborative effort to do videoconferencing in your school. Use the video equipment sitting in your back room or see if your district has equipment you can borrow. Start small, even within your own district. Last year my sixth graders filmed a claymation version of a myth and another school across the district had done the project, so we connected via video and my students asked them questions: What did they find difficult, how did they divide the work, etc.

The success of this year’s videoconference was a positive step towards future connections between librarians who spend their lives trying to be in multiple places at once. Aren’t we the main proponents of collaboration? Be the voice for using videoconferencing for professional development, student collaboration, or connecting teachers with other teachers.

To qualify for the Emerging Leaders program, you must:

1. Be under 35 years of age or be a new librarian of any age with fewer than 5 years post-MLS experience
2. Have a recent MLS degree from an ALA or NCATE accredited program or be in an MLS program currently
3. Be able to attend both ALA conferences and work virtually in between
4. Be prepared to commit to serve on an ALA, Division, Chapter or Round Table committee, taskforce or workgroup upon completion of program
5. Be an ALA member or join upon selection if not already a member.

About a third of the 100 or so Emerging Leaders in the cohort will receive funding in the amount of $500 from divisions or other ALA or state library and media organizations to defray travel expenses for each of the two annual conferences.

Don’t miss this opportunity to increase the voice of school librarians within the organization.

• Technology
• Collaboration
• Gaming
• Reading

The deadline for proposals is 4:30 p.m. CDT on Monday, September 15. Proposals can be submitted electronically to Kelly Bishop, manager of professional development, at kbishop@ala.org, or by fax to (312) 280-5276. They can also be submitted in writing to Kelly Bishop, Manager of Professional Development, AASL, American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60611.

It started me thinking about pathfinders, however, as I think there’s a similar issue related to them. They are as much a staple of school libraries as card catalogs, and my (middle school/high school) students and faculty love them. This is my first year at the school, and the teachers here had never seen a pathfinder before. They did as much to advocate for my program as anything else I did all year. Teachers would come in and ask, “Hey, can you make me one of those resource thingies the kids mentioned?” I was thrilled.

And yet. As the pathfinders grew more elaborate over the year, with links to the OPAC, databases, suggested books and long hotlists of websites, I started wondering if I were doing the students a disservice. Why spend two or three days teaching them how to search for and evaluate sites, then give them a long list of “approved” links? Wasn’t I defeating my information literacy goal? But teachers loved them.

I began to start each web section of the pathfinder with a group of portals and useful search engines, with a brief explanation of why they were useful and a good place to start their own searching. I also used wikis to create the pathfinders, gave students the password and encouraged them to add their own sites, making it a collaborative effort that also involved critical thinking.

If you’d like to peruse my ‘pathfinder evolution,’ you can find them here.

I’m still not entirely happy with the process; how do we balance findability with information literacy? It would be great to hear what other librarians are doing. Or is this already a settled issue and I just don’t know about it because I’m a newbie?

Virtual Library Legislation Day is Tuesday, July 1, 2008 — Participate!!!

Prepare now (so you know what you want to say and do when the time comes).

Take action on July 1st.

Here’s how:

PREPARE
Read the ALA Washington Office (WO) webpage about the SKILLs Act: http://www.capwiz.com/ala/issues/alert/?alertid=10223941

Write a short piece telling your Senators and Representative the importance of passing the SKILLs Act. Use information from the WO webpage together with with your own thoughts and experiences to demonstrate the vital need to enact SKILLs.

If any of your Senators and Representatives already co-sponsor SKILLs, include your thanks and appreciation.

If they do not already co-sponsor SKILLs, ask them to take this step now.

TAKE ACTION
2 parts to this — for those at ALA Annual in Anaheim on July 1; and for those anywhere else

At ALA ANNUAL in ANAHEIM:
Bring your prepared statement to the Virtual Library Day Pavilion in Exhibit Hall sometime between 8:00 a.m. and 12 noon on July 1.

You will get a t-shirt.

You will participate in the excitement and enthusiasm of people representing the entire library community coming together to empower their political voice.

You will contribute to the voice of school libraries within the entire library community.

You will see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a strong library supporter, who will be adding his voice to the call for political support of libraries.

For more information see the WO Virtual Library Day webpage at http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=498

Not at ALA ANNUAL in ANAHEIM
Sometime on July 1st, deliver your message to your Senators and Representative.

How to do this:

Go to the WO Take Action Webpage at http://www.capwiz.com/ala/issues/alert/?alertid=10223941

Enter your zip code in the field provided and the message page comes up addressed to your Senators and Representative.

Put in your message and with a click of the mouse send it your Congressional delegation.

Mark your calendar. On Tuesday, July 1 take a few minutes to participate in our democratic system. Serve your students. Protect school libraries. Let your representatives in Congress know that school libraries are vital for the education of our students and therefore for the good of our communities and our country.

Doc

Google then allows you to host the site on your Google homepage, your blog, or another website, and generates the embedding code.  Nifty, eh?

I will admit that, as a high-school librarian, I have issues with using filtered search engines; students must learn to find and evaluate their own sites. Still, this has real potential, and I can see some wonderful content-specific possibilities here.

Departments can create a subject specific search engine, or teachers create a search engine for a specific topic of study. The History department at my school requires students to use a minimum of seven primary sources in their research papers. I spent an inordinate amount of time this year hunting links down for the pathfinders (have you ever had to find seven primary sources on Zulu warriors?!), and worried I was doing the students a disservice by finding the sites for them.

So I plan to create a primary source search engine with ALL of the links from the various pathfinders. Students still have to dig and root, but with better luck. They’ll even still need to distinguish between secondary and primary sources, as some of the sites are a mixture of both.

Really, you have to love Google, sometimes!

AASL to sponsor two Emerging Leaders
For the third year, AASL will sponsor two members for the 2009 class of Emerging Leaders. Those selected will each receive $1,000 for travel expenses when attending the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference – $500 for each conference. AASL’s Emerging Leaders will have the opportunity to participate in projects crucial to their profession. During conference, they will also benefit from attending specific workshops geared toward networking with fellow peers in the program. For more information about the program, please visit the Emerging Leaders wiki or contact Beatrice Calvin at bcalvin@ala.org. Those requesting consideration for the AASL stipend should indicate that on the application. The deadline to apply is July 31. Read the press release.

AASL 2009 Nominating Committee seeks candidates for AASL offices
The AASL 2009 Nominating Committee is soliciting AASL members who might be interested in the following AASL offices. The Committee will select two candidates to run for:

• AASL President-elect
• AASL Division Councilor
• AASL Board Member-at-Large
• Region I Director-elect/Director
• Region III Director-elect/Director
• Region IV Director-elect/Director
• Region VI Director-elect/Director
• Region VII Director-elect/Director

Nominees must be AASL members. If you have an interest in being considered for nomination to any of the offices, please email one of the 2009 Nominating Committee members listed below:

Dee Gwaltney, Chair: deegwaltney@comcast.net
Linda Gann: linda.gann@mac.com
Laura Pearle: lpearle@gmail.com
Carol Doll: cdoll@odu.edu
Leslie Forsman: lforsman@hotmail.com

• Wear Comfortable shoes
• Carry address labels or business cards
• Have a tote bag

What are your other tips for successful conference going? How do you handle the exhibit hall?

When I go to the exhibit hall I take a map noting the vendors that I already deal with frequently. I may not have a question or concern but I like to stop by their booth and make contact. Sometimes they can tell me what new things are coming. Next I try to cover each aisle. I try to be careful with collecting freebies taking only items from vendors I may use. These freebies I take back to my school and in the fall during some inservice days use these as door prizes.