Blogworthy ...

EVENTS

• Further to the "Up Mary-scope" blog (see below) photos from last week, I have now identified in the captions the venerable people with whom Our Mary was conversing about literacy and school libraries. By following her around with my camera, I was lucky to meet them all too. Check out as well the answers now inserted into the questions in the Serendipity blog from last week so that now you can identify the quotes and personal factoids.
  
• Next week is TL Studio at Kerrisdale on Wednesday. Ithink we should try social bookmarking and Michele wants to show you Scratch. I promise the coffee will be de-caf as the experience alone is enough to get one wired! That's wired ... not weird!
  
• Are you wondering how Val H is doing? You can check out her latest blog entry. Or if you want to see if she has slowed down, how about this great collection of BC history and 150-year Anniversary websites which Val has created for the BCTLA website. I would suggest bookmarking this page. She is using a social bookmarking tool (it's Web 2.0 because a group could build a list together) called diigo which I confess to showing her. Val now accuses me of causing her to lose many hours of sleep. Here's my diigo collection-in-progress with lists, called TLBookmarks.
  
• Announcement: 2008 BC Book Prizes Winners! -- Finalists -- Author Tour includes Gladstone! Check out the Soiree, VPL Fair, Local Events, including an evening with Joy Kogawa at her heritage home in Marpole, and of course the Gala, all part of BC Book and Magazine Week, April 19-26. Mark your calendar.
  
• Annual District Purchases: Note that all shortlisted books for the BC Book Prizes will be included as items for your choice with 2007/8 District funds. We have expanded the choices of for BC Books to include current and past items in the various BC Book Publishers' catalogues, and more titles as well. You will receive lists of BC books to choose from both ULS and Kidsbooks, in conjunction with the current BC Books for BC Schools catalogue. Our goal is to ensure that Vancouver's children are raised on a fare of BC writers and with opportunities to build knowledge of their own landscape, history, heritage, literature, and culture, that they are immersed in a rich array of resources that describe their own experiences. We are also providing support for local and Canadian publishing.
  

RESOURCES

• Here's a great resource from the BCTLA Forum: The Encyclopedia of Life.
  
• Webbits this week highlights the VIRTUAL MUSEUM OF NEW FRANCE and invites you and your students to "celebrate the 400th anniversary of Quebec City with a visit to the Virtual Museum of New France .... virtual exhibitions, collections of artifacts, ancient images and maps, chronologies, educational games, glossaries, genealogical data, and suggestions for tourists interested in following in the footsteps of their ancestors."
  
• International Children's Digital Library: The mission of the International Children’s Digital Library is to excite and inspire the world's children to become members of the global community – children who understand the value of tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas - by making the best in children's literature available online. Check out some facts about the ICDL, especially that it is searchable, free, and available currently in 9 languages.
  
• Professional Reading: Are you feeling the need to keep up with directions in the field? Try Literacy, Libraries and Learning: Using books and online resources to promote reading, writing, and research (eds: Marlene Asselin/Ray Doiron. Markham, ON: Pembroke, 2003). I got my copy at the UBC bookstore -- it's a textbook, of course --but top-notch assistant Diane has found it is cheaper to use Amazon or Chapters online, and probably cheaper still from ULS. So far, I've read the Intro which tackles the outdated notion that the school library "provisions" the classroom or the TL teaches "library skills" in order to give the classroom teacher a "prep". It then examines the changed nature of the relationship in terms of literacy programs.
  
  There is an essential role for the TL who is needed to help navigate the new learning environment, in particular, the new and dynamic array of learning resources, and who is an instructional leader often with the key to ways to integrate these new resources into both teaching and learning. Further, Ray and Marlene point out that literature-based programs need access to "a greater and richer collection of resources than a single classroom could possibly have." Connecting just the right resources to the needs of instruction calls for building the connections between classroom teachers and TLs.
  
  School libraries offer opportunities for sharing both the rich, diverse, inclusive, and dynamic collections and the expertise of TLs in integrating technology across the curriculum by supporting teachers and students, by "scaffolding" the learning, and by being there to lead the way. Marlene and Ray have gathered the evidence, explored the territory, and examined the tools that are useful to the partnership of teachers and teacher-librarians as they make literacy and reading a priority. This book is a great item for your personal professional reading.

More next week ....

Summary Email Morphs to Blog

Here is me "bloggin' it" ....

The TD books The Zlooksh are on their way. If you have submitted your numbers (grade 1s, plus any who sit in classrooms with grade 1s, so there are no tears or tantrums … oh, how much we who have dwelled only in secondary have to learn!) as requested by email this week, then expect these to be delivered early in the week. Morna is phoning for missing numbers and Kim, our clerical assistant, is waiting to count out your books for sending by blue bag. This is the only notice you will get … speak to your administrator if you want to be the one to give these out! Each school, I understand, has its own way of doing this.

Also due next week is Vol 1 Issue 1 of the TL Special News, my first-ever newsletter which, even as I have taken it to press, I am realizing what I left out!

Bulk ordering:

23 schools have given me names as being interested in a possible bulk order of the 2008 World Book (print edition). List: $882.00 ;
9 schools are interested in World Book Library of Natural Disasters List $340;
Lands & Peoples – now Scholastic Online – 3 schools;
Webfeet – 3 schools;
Make it Work – Geography – 1 school.
Any more titles or interested schools, pls let me know this week.

ERAC: Please go to online application form to apply. No district committee is being struck so let’s make sure TLs are available for the 3-day video and DVD selection event, April 30 to May 1. If you are successful in applying for this, ERAC provides release time. You may have colleagues who should be encouraged for their particular expertise.

WEBFEET: I gave erroneous information at one session of the multivendor display. This is not free but I am looking for the balance of a free trial so that those who hadn’t seen it can. Here is the SLJ review, however:

WebFeet Online. RockHill Communications, 14 Rock Hill Rd., Bala Cynwyd,
PA 19004; 888/762-5445; www.rockhill press.com. $495 for schools with under
1,000 enrollment and public libraries serving populations of less than 10,000.
Gr 5 Up--This database of Web sites has billed itself as "the premier
Interact subject guide for middle school, high school, and public libraries."
Unfortunately, it does not even come close to living up to that billing.

· Any feedback on the multivendor display would be appreciated. It was a real disappointment not to see S&B this year due to problems with the transport company. It was a real disappointment for this vendor to have 20 empty tables.

· I have had an opportunity to speak with Ed Devine of Baker & Taylor. We will be exploring possible savings on US titles using this vendor. In the meantime, I have attached more information for your consideration.

· Next week, David and I will split the list of schools not yet subscribed to The Sun or The Province free online subscription and register you, setting the password as library. There is still a hole in the security we need to close.

· Have a look at this: Teachers' Domain is an online library of free multimedia resources as well as professional development courses developed by WGBH - Boston's PBS station - that help teachers enhance their students' learning experiences and advance their own teaching skills using media from NOVA, Frontline, American Experience, and other public broadcast programming. I watched a fantastic video clip about frogs that freeze solid in the winter. Am I smarter than the average grade 5’er? Not even close.

· TORONTO, Tuesday, November 13, 2007 -- The Royal Canadian Geographical Society launched the second generation of its groundbreaking Canadian Atlas Online at a public event held today at the Ontario Science Centre. Check out this great resource.

· ALERT! I hope everyone got the important email message about the pornographic link that needs to be removed from the two titles (multiple sites) we have in the Magic Attic series in Vancouver elementary school library collections. I sent the email last weekend with a red exclamation mark.

If you are interested in, or know someone who is interested in, being part of a TL cohort to start next fall (you can be part-way through your diploma, just beginning, or just taking courses for interest or refreshment!) … let me know.

· I signed up for and get a newsletter from Teachingbooks. This is an excellent teacher resource. Password only: library1.

· Maryann was sighted in the building today … not by me, but others report she was here. Suspect it’s that Reportsmith thing!

Thanks for advice from one TL on the once-a-week summary email – BUT it all gets a red exclamation mark because I am trying to reduce things to ONE you can read over a cup of coffee or over a couple of days. It’s 4 pm and I’ve had enough. I’ll send these on Fridays, as required, with only time-sensitive items in between. Going home! Have a great weekend.