Special pre-conference type events include a trip to Falling Water
on Wednesday October 6 and a twilight diner cruise “Fill the boat” on Thursday
October 7. The Saturday Gala event will be at the Senator John Hines Regional
History Museum.AASL Delegate Report
ALA Mid-winter conference
Spring 2005
Buffy Edwards, Affiliate Delegate
AASL President Candidates Each candidate spoke at Affiliate Assembly and shared their vision for AASL. These notes are taken from their presentation.
Gail Dickinson-Gail considers the nomination for AASL an honor and knows that with that honor, if elected, comes responsibility. She has been Chair of the Affiliate and she believes in the Affiliate Delegate organization. She is highly interested in National Board Certification and the implications it has on our profession and really wants to capitalize on the opportunities. She believes evidence based practice is critical.
Cyndi Phillip-is a library media specialist from Michigan and has 20 years experience. She is on the 2005 AASL conference committee and is a member of the ALA council. In the capacity as member to ALA council she has initiated resolutions supporting school libraries and fought for those resolutions. Cyndi compares AASL to quilting. She believes that you have to have the “big” picture in mind just like in quilting. You have to be creative and enhance each small step to make the whole pattern, or organization complete. She believes that AASL and quilting are the same in that we are cut apart but together and quilting takes determination and patience. We need support from each other. She is highly interested in state library studies so we can learn where we need to focus our energies. Visit www.schoolwave.com/phillip
AASL Conference Update
October 5 – 9, 2005
Pittsburgh, PA
Early Bird registration ends June 17th!!!!! Don’t miss your chance to save some money.
For details and information about AASL, visit the AASL Conference site at http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/conferencesandevents/national/2005pittsburgh.htm
Special pre-conference type events include a trip to Falling Water
on Wednesday October 6 and a twilight diner cruise “Fill the boat” on Thursday
October 7. The Saturday Gala event will be at the Senator John Hines Regional
History Museum.
AASL is pleased to announce actor LeVar Burton,
star of the long-running PBS series, Reading Rainbow, dedicated to
sparking interest in reading and learning for young viewers, as well as Star
Trek: The Next Generation and Roots, as the keynote speaker at the
Opening General Session.
Margaret A. Edwards Award winner Chris Crutcher,
author of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes and Whale Talk, will be
featured at the author banquet on Friday, October 7.
Jerry Spinelli, author of Maniac Magee,
winner of the Newbery Medal, and Stargirl, a New York Times
bestseller, will be the featured speaker at the author brunch on Sunday, October
9.
The Closing General Session on Saturday, October 8 will feature a
panel discussion with Steven Baule, Mike Eisenberg,
Keith Curry Lance and Ross Todd, and moderated
by Ferdi Serim , about the latest research data on student
achievement and how school library media specialists can use it.
You’ll have the opportunity to enhance your conference experience
with outstanding preconference
workshops presented by Patrick Jones, Ellin
Oliver Keene, Keith Curry Lance, Joyce Valenza
and Carrie Russell beginning on Wednesday, October 5.
1 book one conference planned – This book, bagel, and breakfast
non-ticketed event will feature Chris Crutcher’s Whale Talk.
David Loertscher Ban Those Bird Units model testing
David is looking for library media specialist/teacher teams to participate in a research project to measure the impact on learning and collaboration of high-level learning activities in information-rich and technology-rich environments. If you would like to participate you will be asked to teach a unit that has been transformed according to the guidelines given to you by David Loertscher and that both you and the classroom teachers will complete an evaluation form following the completion of the unit.
If you are interested in participating or need more information contact davidl@slis.sjsu.edu
ALA Election
Be sure to take the time to vote! Look at the candidates carefully and note those who are school library media specialists. It is very important that we have school librarians on the ALA Council.
Legislative Update
National - Ruth Toor presented the
legislative update and shared some suggestions/information from Emily Sheketoff
at the ALA Washington Office. In regard to No Child Left Behind and
qualifications, there has been discussion on Library Media Specialist being
highly qualified and extending NCLB to high school. Some states have LMS as
highly qualified while others do not.
Emily Sheketoff’s suggestions:
Think about making your case. Why do you need what you are asking
for? Programs, students, products? Be specific.
Partner with other associations
National Library Legislative Day is May 3 and 4. It is
critical that school folks are there! Collect anecdotal stories, share
good stories, and tell your story.
Grants-Literacy through schools grant. 700 – 800 applications
were received and 90 were awarded. The grants are read by a committee ($500.00
payment for being a reader) and it was noted that only 20% of the readers are
school library media specialists.
Charge to each state-have a sub-committee for legislative issues.
Write to Washington DC with concerns. Have one person in each state be
responsible to get alerts and disseminate. Oklahoma’s legislative committee
does a good job on this!
AASL Legislative Committee
NCLB will be on every Affiliate board agenda
There will be a column in KQ taking on the format of “nagging
cheerleader” to raise awareness of SLMP
Subscribe to LMNet to stay informed
We are encouraged to attend state and national library Legislative
Day
Lobby on an ongoing basis to have good communication established
but lobby especially when alerted about issues needing our attention. It does
not take many contacts at the legislative level to make a difference.
Legislative Action Center
You can reach the Legislative Action Center (LAC) by going through the Washington Office page located at www.ala.org/washoff, or go directly to the LAC page located at http://capwiz.com/ala
Freedom to read
It is requested that we consider supporting the Freedom to Read campaign. Of the 23 cases pending over half involves school libraries or school librarians.
ALA Strategic Plan
The ALA Ahead 2010 strategic plan was presented. It did a good job of including LMS. The recommendation was made that when referring to library staffing that the words full time and Masters in Library and Information Studies or equivalent certification be included.
Affiliate Delegate Database online
The Affiliate Delegate Database is now online and can be accessed at: