When I was in library school, I thought I would spend my days helping students find books that they would enjoy reading.  I really didn't know that much of my time would be spent as a tech trouble-shooter, online research detective, and web 2.0 guru.  I think all of us can relate to the days when we don't have the opportunity to talk about reading.

So, when I have a chance to talk about books, it makes my day!  I have been fortunate to become involved with the NC Young Adult Book Award in the past year.  I was thrilled several years ago when NCSLMA made the decision to begin offering an award for middle and high school books.  Becoming involved has made me more aware of what students are reading, the trends in YA fiction, and trying to get books into the hands of more students.  Those of you who are middle and high school teacher librarians know how difficult it can be to get students to read for pleasure.  In a small way, the creation of this award has allowed me to talk with students about reading by showing them the books that teens and librarians have nominated.

What do I do to encourage pleasure reading? 

•   display books (often centered around some kind of theme)

•   book talk new books

•   create book trailers

•   bookmarks and handouts with new books

•   sponsor a book club

•   create a contest for students trying to connect teachers with their favorite books

•   get your faculty talking about what they like to read

It is an amazing feeling when you connect a student with a book that they love.  One of this year's YA High School nominees is Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill from Wilmington.  I recommended the book to one of my students who stops by the library every afternoon on his way out to the bus lot.  Pablo reads voraciously, and his question every day is "Did you get any new books in today?".  Pablo read the book, loved it, and immediately wanted to know if there was a sequel.  I emailed David Gill and he replied that he had just sent off the first draft of the sequel to the publisher. 

In September as I was preparing a presentation for the NCSLMA convention, I visited Mr. Gill's website and saw that he had a few ARCs (advanced reading copies) of the sequel, Invisible Sun which comes out in April 2012.  I emailed him and asked if I could surprise Pablo by having Mr. Gill send him a signed copy.  To my surprise and pleasure, Mr. Gill did!  Pablo was thrilled to get a copy "before anyone else has read it!" and sent him a thank you e-mail.  Mr. Gill replied to that e-mail telling Pablo that a third book was in the works and asked if he could name a character in that book Hernandez after Pablo.  Wow!  This is not what I expected to happen when I introduced Pablo to a new author.  All of you will have the opportunity to meet David Macinnis Gill at next October's annual NCSLMA  conference in Winston-Salem.  He has agreed to be one of our featured authors!

By the way, Pablo let me borrow the book to read.  As Pablo says, "It was awesome!"



April M. Dawkins, MLS, NBCT
Media Specialist, Porter Ridge High School
President-Elect, NC School Library Media Association

The Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded Dr. Sandra Hughes-Hassell a $99,074 National Leadership grant to plan a summit addressing literacy in young African-American males. The summit, to be hosted jointly by the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) and the School of Library and Information Science at North Carolina Central University, will be titled "Building a Bridge to Literacy for African-American Male Youth: A Call to Action for the Library Community."

According to the IMLS Web site, "The summit will unite national stakeholders, including members of the library and education community, researchers, educational policy makers, national organizations focused on the needs of African-American youth, publishers and young black males, to focus on the role of school and public libraries in closing the literacy achievement gap of African-American male youth."

The two and a half-day summit will focus on three areas related to the central theme: research pertaining to the development and needs of literacy in African-American male youth, what programs and services currently support their literacy needs and what gaps need to be filled, and the kind of resources that are needed to enable school and public libraries to address literacy development and needs.

Interactivity and expanded dialogue will characterize the output of the summit. In addition to preparing a white paper, summit organizers will create a Web site with information created during the summit and a prominent blog feature, allowing visitors to participate in the conversation. The project team will also lead a national webinar based on the summit's findings.

"The summit will provide a forum for a diverse group of stakeholders from across the country to explore the complex processes and issues involved in closing the achievement gap for African American male youth," said Dr. Sandra Hughes Hassell, SILS professor. "Including the voices of Black youth themselves will be critical to our conversation, so a portion of the funding will be used to bring not only researchers and practitioners who have partnered with Black male youth in their research and programming efforts, but to also invite a group of teens from local schools to participate. We believe their experiences will better inform our efforts."

More details about the summit will be shared as they become available.

**********************************
Wanda Monroe
Director of Communications
School of Information and Library Science University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
100 Manning Hall, CB 3360
Chapel Hill, NC  27599-3360
Phone: 919-843-8337
Web: sils.unc.edu
Follow us on Twitter at: UNC SILS

Editor's Note:  Jennifer Umbarger is the Teacher Librarian at Rogers-Herr Middle School in Durham, NC and was the winner of the this year's NCSLMA's "First Time to AASL" Scholarship.  She will be blogging about her experiences as a first time attendee at the only national conference for school librarians.

Today was Librarian Lollapalooza for me!  I had scoped out some of the author autograph sessions, but lucked out as I happened upon many others...some at which they gave out free books!  This lineup of rock stars included Joan Bauer, Roland Smith, Laura Elliott, Pete Hautman and a few more new authors.  I even had my picture taken with Captain America and Darth Maul (my 8 year old son is jealous, and my husband thinks I am at a Star Wars convention).

I started my day off with a good session on assessment recommended by Kelly Brannock (she was familiar with the presenters).  I am eager to try the strategy of video interviews to assess students' learning and get their feedback on the research process in a collaborative project coming up next month.

Due to my paparazzi-mode author hunt, I was a tad late to the next session.  This meant several of the sessions I had listed on my personal agenda in the conference planner app were full.  This was a blessing in disguise, as I was fortunate to hear Tom Angleberger and Nora Baskin talk about "Authors and Autism".  I feel like Tom and I are old friends, after recently seeing him at NCSLMA and having him visit our school last spring.  Of course I missed both of them at their signings :-( Food for thought from these superstars:

Nora: Sympathy or Empathy?  Tolerance or Acceptance?  We shouldn't by sympathizing and merely tolerating those who have differences, but empathizing and accepting...and teaching our students the same!

Tom: His "superpower" is the constant stream of words in his mind.  We should encourage kids with this same superpower to get the words down on paper.  He commented on how he used his "disability" to his advantage when he had writing assignments in school.

Although my school district has not adopted a district-wide research model, I have been working with our teachers and students on the Big 6 method.  The next session I attended provided insight on a new method: the ASE model.  ASE is the "information detective" and the acronym represents both the process (Analyze, Search, Evaluate) and the method by which it was developed (Asking Students about their Experiences).  While the actual process is similar to that of the Big 6, it is an easy to remember, easy to use strategy, according to the presenters.

The final session of the day I attended dealt with a specific example of collaboration that incorporated 21st Century Learning Standards for authentic learning.  Students gained a better understanding of the 20th century by interviewing seniors and creating videos of their findings.

The highlight of the day was by far the author dinner (after a little wining and dining courtesy of ABC-CLIO).  Pat Mora started the evening reading from some of her books and encouraged us to celebrate childhood and bilingual literacy during "El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros.  (Sorry, I haven't figured out how to insert the symbols on pages yet.).  A few thoughts from her that stuck with me:

We cannot have a democracy without literacy.

We have books in our home and we are at home with books.

Andrea Davis Pinkney followed and invited us to all close our eyes for a couple of minutes and focus on what makes us happy.  This is how she starts each day, with 30 minutes of quiet meditation on what makes her happy, before she begins to write.  She discussed the "myth of genius", but that really all we need is "just the pen and the freedom to write anywhere, even on a flip-flop".  Yes, she showed the flip-flop on which she made notes once during her daily swim at the YMCA when she forgot her notebook.    She read from her new book Bird in a Box and shared with us her process for writing the book, which included boxing lessons.

Joan Bauer stole the show.  She was so captivating with her speech and weaved through the tables as she shared the following words of wisdom:

You don't have to wear a cape to be a hero.

Humor is the voice of an overcomer; victims don't laugh.

I help kids find the hero that they have inside.

I was a punk--slouched, head down, but my heart was open and I with my teachers knew that about me.

A great end to the second day of the conference!

Editor's Note:  Jennifer Umbarger is the Teacher Librarian at Rogers-Herr Middle School in Durham, NC and was the winner of the this year's NCSLMA's "First Time to AASL" Scholarship.  She will be blogging about her experiences as a first time attendee at the only national conference for school librarians.

Let me start this first post with a disclaimer: I am not a blogger!  In addition to the fact that I am new to the conference scene, I am new to blogging.  Sure, I utilize blogs with my students, and even have a blog of my own that I created as part of a technology challenge in our district.  But it has not become a habit for me.  As with everything, we improve with practice.  I don't anticipate becoming an expert blogger over the next few days, but I do hope to feel more comfortable sharing my thoughts, to stop wondering "who cares what I have to say?", and perhaps even have a new habit.

I can sum up my first day in one word: overwhelming!  I imagine this will be a running theme throughout the conference, but I'll just take it one day at a time. 

After winding my way through the skywalks from the hotel (great idea to be able to get virtually anywhere in the downtown area without even stepping foot outside!), I checked in at the conference registration desk and received a nice bag to add to my collection.  I figured this would be the first of many tote bags to come.  Prior to arriving, I had attempted to be organized and involved: downloaded the conference planner app and even added items to my agenda on the app; read and reread the article in Knowledge Quest "Conference-Going Strategies, Redux" (but still managed to forget the pre-printed mailing labels); and joined the Ning, just to name a few.  I was surprised to find that it was difficult to access all of these great tools.  Other than the Internet stations in the lobby of the Convention Center, we were informed in the program booklet that "free wireless access is based on a finite number of users, so please be considerate of other users and limit your time on the wireless network to 30 minutes per session".  Of course I could purchase access for a mere $14.95 per day.  I was reading this after finding out that there was a charge for Internet at the hotel as well.  Really?  I can go to my local Red Roof Inn and get free wireless for my $70/ night stay!  Ok, I'll stop.  Thank you for letting me vent!  (I can't promise this won't come up again, though!)

Anyway, I was finally able to access my email and verify the time that I would be meeting up with our very own Jennifer Northrup to watch her receive the Follett Challenge award.  Congrats to The Candid Librarian for winning $15,000 for her entry on "History Our Way" (http://www.follettchallenge.com/winners_view.cfm?winner_id=7).  This announcement and celebration took place at the same time as the opening session, but from what I heard, I was  better off toasting Jennifer and the other winners with a little bubbly!

The next two hours were spent wandering aimlessly around the exhibit hall trying to enter every drawing and grab up all the freebies, followed by another hour of aimless wandering trying to find somewhere to eat.  I returned to the hotel, debriefed a bit with my great roommate Kelly Brannock, and tried to develop a plan for day two.  I am sure I still had a glazed-over look as my head hit the pillow--from being overwhelmed, not the champagne:-).

--Jennifer Umbarger

The Librarian to Librarian Networking Summit is designed to encourage K-12 school media coordinators to communicate with each other and the educational community at large in order to promote the essential role they play in student academic success. The sessions, covering a wide variety of topics, will be primarily comprised of roundtable discussions facilitated by experts in the profession. Summit attendees will be given an opportunity to attend sessions of their choice.  This year’s summit will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012.

If you would like to serve as a facilitator for the 2012 summit, complete the online form found at http://www.ecu.edu/lib/trc/survey.cfm.  Proposals will be received through Friday, October 21, 2011.  Since the summit committee can only accept a limited number of sessions, please submit your proposal prior to the final deadline.  Acceptance emails will be sent no later than Wednesday, October 26, 2011.  If you have not been contacted by this date, please contact Alan R. Bailey at baileya@ecu.edu or 252-328-2579.

We are requesting that individuals "facilitate" and not "present" since the primary purpose of the summit is for attending media coordinators to network with colleagues and discuss current professional topics in a roundtable setting.  Responsibilities of the facilitator include guiding session discussion and learning, providing interactive activities when possible, answering questions, recommending resources and providing handouts if appropriate.  Sessions are one hour in length, beginning at 9:30am and ending at 3:30pm.   A limited number of instructional sessions will also be accepted.

To view agendas and facilitator biographies from previous summits, visit http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/trc/netsummit.cfm.

Teaching Resources Center
J.Y. Joyner Library
Mail Stop 516
1000 E. 5th St.
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC  27858-4353
252-328-2579 (Office); 252-328-6076 (Service Desk); 252-328-0918 (Fax)
TRC Web Page:  http://www.ecu.edu/lib/trc

Media Specialist, School Librarian, Teacher Librarian, Information Specialist, Cybrarian, Library Guru, or Book Dude….   No matter what you call yourself, call yourself “here!” at the NCSLMA conference in Winston-Salem, October 6-8. 

I'm personally looking forward to the keynote and sessions offered by the amazing Gwyneth Jones, a teacher librarian at Murray Hill Middle School in Laurel, Maryland, a member of the ISTE Board of Directors, a Library Journal 2011 Mover & Shaker, Gale/SLJ New Leader, and the author of the award-winning Daring Librarian blog.  (Think of a super smart “I Love Lucy” on steroids!)  She is an innovator, a techno-whiz kid with fabulous energy, and she always entertains, challenges, and inspires -- I can't wait!  

The Frances Bryant Bradburn Award Distinguished Service Award will be presented this year, on Friday October 7th.  It's not often that this Award is presented and this year's recipient is truly deserving -- I know this will be exciting and hope you can be on hand to congratulate the winner!  Bring your hankies…. this should be a good one.

Need a little advocacy??  Use the power of the force, the technology force, to build your skills in networking and advocacy – Nancy Mangum of the Friday Institute will be your Jedi Master.

How about “Web 2. Uh Oh! Making the Leap from technoPHOBE to technoFAB!”  a fab pre-conference con-fab presented by two of our state’s leading Jennifers – Jennifer LaGarde and Jennifer Northrup.  I wonder if they’ll mention eReaders or QR codes….? 

For you history buffs and literature lovers, you can’t beat the session on “Coming to America: Exploring Immigration through Children’s and Young Adult Literature” offered by the very smart and charming Maggie Gregor from App State’s Instructional Materials Center. 

And those are just some of the pre-conference offerings!  I can’t wait!

Check out the conference schedule -- there are lots of great learning opportunities for all you 21C school library types, including sessions on the new Information and Technology Essential Standards and the new professional Standards.   Plus, there’s free lunch on Friday.  Be there or be square! 

Are there authors??  Oh yeah!  Ever heard of Gloria Houston?  And what about that Origami Yoda guy (Tom Angleberger)?  They’ll be there.  I will be having lunch with noted author, Frances O'Roark Dowell – how about you?  Almost every one of this year’s authors is from North Carolina and they’ll be autographing books and sharing their inspiration.  Bring your books.  Bring your camera.  Bring your Flipcam!  I can’t wait! 

Poetry performed by Asheville’s amazing Allan Wolf, news from those “DPI people”, and a rock star, LIVE on stage, previewing his latest music video.  Did I mention . . . I can’t wait?!

Excitement, adventure, free stuff, and food!  Authors, books, library t-shirts, books, cool gadgets, and a road trip with friends!  I can’t wait!

Pre-registration closes on September 30th.  At $100 (including lunch on Friday), it's a great deal for high-quality PD (with CEUs)!  This year, the conference is on Friday and a 1/2 day Saturday to make it easier to get away and get smart!  Check out the schedule and start saving your nickels and packing your bags – it’s conference time!

I. Can’t. Wait!

DPI person & Conference Fanatic,
Kelly Brannock

This is an opportunity to serve the library profession that some of of you might be interested in.  It would be great to see some NC names within these committees! 


Here's an opportunity for you to expand the influence of school librarians within the American Library Association – a key part of the AASL Strategic Plan.  On July 20th, Maureen Sullivan, ALA President-Elect and chair of the Committee on Appointments, began to encourage members to volunteer for ALA committees. AASL needs your voice to represent school library issues and concerns on these committees which help to govern the largest and oldest organization devoted to libraries. It is important that school librarians play an active role! Members can volunteer by filling out the online form.

Serving on an ALA committee is an excellent opportunity to build leadership skills and networking opportunities.  ALA is looking for volunteers for the following committees:

• Accreditation
• American Libraries Advisory
• Awards
• Budget Analysis and Review
• Chapter Relations
• Conference
• Constitution and Bylaws
• Council Orientation
• Diversity
• Education
• Election
• Human Resource Development and Recruitment Advisory
• Information Technology Policy Advisory
• Intellectual Freedom
• International Relations
• Legislation
• Library Advocacy
• Literacy
• Literacy and Outreach Services Advisory
• Membership
• Membership Meetings
• Organization
• Policy Monitoring (current Council members only)
• Professional Ethics
• Public and Cultural Programs Advisory
• Public Awareness
• Publishing
• Research and Statistics
• Resolutions
• Rural, Native and Tribal Libraries of All Kinds
• Scholarships and Study Grants
• Status of Women in Librarianship
• Training, Orientation and Leadership Development
• Website Advisory
• ALA-Children’s Book Council (Joint)
• ALA-Association of American of Museums (Joint).

The deadline for completing the ALA Committee Volunteer form is Friday, Nov. 4, 2011.  

Carl A. Harvey II
President, American Association of School Librarians

Jessica Harden Moore, NCSLMA Communications Section Chair and media specialist at Winter Park Elementary in Wilmington, NC, and a second grade teacher at her school just won the Gale/Library Media Connection Teams Award for their collaborative project with 9 second graders and all 4 of the other specialists at Winter Park.

It all started with a single child's interest in a book and ended with the incredible digital story you can view at http://www.nhcs.k12.nc.us/wpark/Student%20Projects.html. Jessica and the second grade teacher have already presented The Lost and Found of Sabrina twice in New Hanover County and taught a workshop on enrichment groups at a summer institute. They will be presenting again at the North Carolina School Library Media Association's annual state conference in October.

Jessica and the second grade teacher will be accepting Gale's award on behalf of the enrichment team at the American Association of School Librarians in Minneapolis, MN on October 28. Three awards are given annually, one at each level - elementary, middle and high. Along with the award, they will receive a check for $2500 and an additional $500 in Gale products.

Click on the link above and view this incredible example of collaboration. It is truly worthy of this national recognition. This is what teaching is all about!

Thanks to Jessica's mom, Patricia Harden, media specialist in Wake County, for sharing the good news!

Deanna Harris, NCSLMA President

Posted by Ms. Dee at 8:11 AM

As the end of another summer break creeps closer, I adjust my sleeping patterns (fewer late nights and more early mornings), review my “to do” list and that stack of books I schlepped home back in June and revisit the media program goals we will use to focus our efforts in the up-coming year.  I know I’m not alone in this process because I’ve often commiserated the ever shortening summer days verses my ever higher expectations for what I can fit into these days with colleagues. This is not the only similarity educators, from the disciplines within a school, share; we are all cogs in the wheel attempting to mold our students into successful, productive, fulfilled graduates. I’ve spent many a meeting involved in attempts to write a vision statement, mission statement, etc. relating to “why we are here”. I’ve determined that while each discipline and/or grade level has responsibility for particular standards, goals, objectives (etc.) we are, ultimately, seeking to provide our students with the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful 21st century citizens.

As media coordinators we are in a unique position. Working with the entire student body allows us to see first-hand the interconnectedness of the curricula and the opportunities to connect these “dots” with students. This is why it is among our most important roles within the school is to educate and demonstrate the value of collaboration. Within the media program it is vital to build the 3 levels of collaboration identified by IMPACT: Guidelines for NC Media and Technology Programs. Level 1 integration, the media coordinator simply provides resources to support the classroom. Level 2 cooperative activities, the media coordinator prepares lessons to support classroom objectives as students are scheduled for instruction. Level 3 co-planning, cross-curricular lessons and units are planned, delivered and evaluated jointly by the teacher and the media coordinator. IMPACT identifies proactive methods that will help us (and our program) implement Level 3 collaborations. Revisiting these collaboration levels, seeking methods to build and expand collaboration have become part of my and NCSLMA’s annual “why we are here” exercise. 
           

In order to further incorporate collaboration, NCSLMA’s advocacy committee is focusing on outreach, communicating the value and importance of media programs to our education colleagues. In July as part of this initiative, I presented a session for the Sr. Teaching Fellows Conference “Survive and Thrive” at Elon University. The focus for my session, “The Perfect Pair: Teacher/Librarian Collaboration” included a brief description of the 3 collaboration levels and the growing body of research that confirms the value for students and teachers. These “baby teachers” (thanks Doug Jones) were receptive to the information shared. I encouraged each of the participants to incorporate a library-based lesson during their upcoming student teaching and collaborate with the media coordinator (at least once) to experience firsthand the value for themselves and their students. NCSLMA members, Jennifer Northrup and Renee Davenport from Flat Rock Middle School presented a session introducing the Big 6 research model and its application as a problem-solving model for students. Jennifer LaGarde, NCSLMA Advocacy and Governance section chair presented at the Junior Teaching Fellows Conference July 24. The theme of the conference, “Explore Diversity, In and Out of the Classroom” allowed her to draw a connection with the media program through her sessions “Bibliotherapy 2.0 - Using eBooks(and Print Ones too!) to Reach and Teach Diverse Student Populations” and “It’s a Small World After All --- Developing Personal Learning Networks for Students and Teachers”. 
          

The Advocacy Committee will continue to reach out to inform NC administrators and teachers this year with additional initiatives to ensure the media program’s role as a collaborative partner. Building on our first initiative with NC Teaching Fellows, Teaching Fellows coordinators at several universities have expressed an interest in hosting a 40-45 minute presentation during 2011-12 to introduce these future educators to the media specialist’s instructional role. An outline of the presentation is intended to serve as a framework that will be “fleshed out” by NCSLMA member presenters with individual examples and stories. If you are interested in preparing a session for one (or more) of the Teaching Fellows programs, please contact me for the specifics. The scheduled sessions include: Appalachian State, Campbell, East Carolina, Lenoir-Rhyne, North Carolina A&T, Queens, and Western Carolina. NCSLMA has a small budget to pay for transportation costs and supplies. 
          

As you can tell our NCSLMA Advocacy committee is working to “get the word out” about the benefits and vital role of media programs. It’s time to blow our own horn! 

Tammy Young
Media Coordinator
Charles D. Owen High School

Posted by mrsjustice at 6:56 PM

Never knew conference planning looked like this, did you?

This picture doesn't show it, but I can tell you there will be a lot of great sessions this year!

Posted by mrsjustice at 5:08 PM