October on the Move

Professionally, we have so much to do in October, what with DEAR (the annual BCTLA promotion of Drop Everything and Read), the BCTLA Champions of Literacy Conference in Richmond, and putting our school library programs on track.

The Bookmark (last print copy, celebrating fifty years of publication) has gone to press. Copies will be distributed at next week's BCTLA Chapter Councillors' meeting in Richmond. The Bookmark is now an online FREE publication to serve our members' needs. But we are finding remarkable benefits to having a universal presence as well. More on this issue is available on The Virtual Bookmark. Thanks to our fantastic editors Angie MacRitchie and Al Smith, hard at work to meet your needs in the Okanagan.

There's more going on in October:

• TLs are gathering parents as Friends, then inviting them and colleagues to the October 27 evening meeting at Tupper. Friends Of the School Library (FOSL) will be co-hosting an event for parents, educators, and anyone interested in school libraries and literacy. Please consider attending as it is bound to be interesting.
  
  

  Topic: Issues in Reading and Learning for Boys
  Presenter: Dhanook Singh, Secondary Teacher, VSB
  Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 7 PM
  Tupper Secondary School, 419 East 24th Avenue
  



• TLs, also, are considering how to attend the after-school symposium event at UBC's Ike Barber on October 26. Videogames, Virtual Worlds, and Real Learning. You may attend virtually as well.


• I am working on a workshop for the 2009 Richmond BCTLA conference, Champions of Literacy, with Pat from Gladstone; our topic is Plagiarism, and we ask, are we missing the mark? More information and registration for the conference, including its kick-off event at the new Richmond speed-skating Oval are found here.


• A small group of Vancouver TLs will be off to the Legislature in Victoria for National School Library Day, October 26, including me.


• There is a first meeting for the new mentorship model planning team this week. Next we will be asking for names of those new and nearly new TLs seeking mentors.


• SLRCCC (School Library Resource Centre Consultative Committee) meets on Monday morning. A 20-page report on the state of school libraries in relation to the strategic directions set out by The Haycock Report has been prepared and submitted for consideration by SLRCCC.


• Thirty TOCs will receive training in two sessions this week: Horizon and Daily Operations of the School Library.


• Promotion needed NOW! Your attendance is invited to the YSL online course on School Library Design. Contact me for information about BCTLA participation.

Check this out: Human books, you ask?

Parkland's librarian presents human books by Jeff Bell of The Times-Colonist, October 8, 2008. Shared via AddThis

And Meredyth is into vampire books. For her reviews, read the Late Literacy blog (link found in the sidebar).

Generally, despite the pace, all is well, legs are often better but weekends are imperative to recovering capacity, and I must say that I do look forward to November!

Maryann is back on Monday. Bless her!