Friday, June 13, 2008

Virtual Reading

The Spring 2008 issue of The Bookmark, all 46 pages of it, is now available online. Here's what you can read about during your prep block:




  • the October BCTLA PSA conference that will be held in Victoria on October 23-4 ("Mission: Literacy / Teachers and Teacher-Librarians: Not-so-secret Agents of Change"); workshop presenters will include such noted "literacy experts" as Susan Juby, Sarah Ellis, Sylvia Olsen, Diane Swanson, and Jennifer Branch.
  • retiring Okanagan TL Kay Treadgold's reflections on nearly thirty years of changes in our field from the early days of card catalogues as the primary tool for inventory to automation, from filmstrips and 16 mm film as the newest resources in educational technology to internet, videostreamiong, and a world of electronic resources, from the days of the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature to microfiche to online databases and the new focus on teaching for critical examination of information sources, ethical use, and effective search strategies, and from the despair of seeing the erosion of TL services to a note of appreciation for the enthusiastic new crowd coming into the field
  • what's happening with the Library 2020 initiative -- read Heather Daly's column "In circulation"
  • how to get a job teaching in an international school -- read the message from Evelyn on how she retired from being a TL in Vernon, having got her next job in Dubai
  • where the courses you need for TL'ship are being offered
  • other conferences further afield this summer, such as the IASL conference in Berkeley, and during the fall, why not attend Calgary's Kaleidoscope?
  • how to advocate for your program and support advocacy through your local specialist association, the VTLA
  • the educational oportunities identifed by Al Smith in the Web 2.0 application iTunes which he is finding useful for storing homework, podcasts, TV, as well as music and audio content, and for working with Google Tools, email, content management, blogging ... mind-boggling!
  • John Goldsmith's latest thoughts on social bookmarking and his substantial collection of New on the Net sites that span pedagogy and curriculum and many pages of this issue
  • Greg Smith's Top Ten Social Studies sites, times two, as this April and May lists are both here
  • Stew Savard's recommended titles for Science Fiction and Fantasy acquisitions
  • the online directory of lessons and units created by teachers and TLs, called "The Lesson Vault," including Lynn Turner's project Renaissance Idol and Karen Lindsay's InfoTech 101 ICT lessons for grades 7 to 9
  • how one district turned its failed TL PSA conference (we were on strike, if you recall) into literacy success with an author visit program
  • edited book reviews, always a Bookmark feature, compiled by Pat Parker and Carolyn Cutt, noting that there is a call for more reviewers on page 37
  • Al Smith's factoids about the world we live and work in

Further readings?

  • Try the 27th annual survey of our working and learning conditions, also online.
  • This came from Alan at Maquinna: How We Read Online
  • Thanks, Val, for this post to the BCTLA Forum: The 2008 Kids and Family Reading Report: Kids age 5-17 believe technology will supplement -- not replace -- book reading and say they will always want to read books printed on paper; tweens and teens who participate in online activities are more likely to read books for fun daily.
  • If you are looking for one more item to add to your collection for September, try Free Spirit: Stories of You, Me and BC by Gerald Truscott. Val H. bought it last week and showed me; she's right, it is fascinating. It comes with a DVD of BC tourism travelogues from the 1950s and 1960s. Appropriate for Grade 3 to adult.

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