Reading the Times ...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Shopping in Abano Terme: Not sure they need a special day to say Grazie! Note
the Parma hams and other epicurean delights, and no turkeys here in September!

With Special Thanks to ...

• all of you for a clean start and your energy and enthusiasm for the work.
• Kim Turner for the clarity with which she helps make sense of "the books" in the Accounting for TLs 101 workshop this week.
• Kam for the Kidsbooks excursion where, all reports have it, much buying and chatting and sharing took place.
• Nanci Farrell whose place I was able to take this week to hear the remarkable educator Andy Hargreaves talk in Coquitlam about The Fourth Way, a direction in education that draws on the directions education has taken since the '60s and that offers inspiration and hope for educational change that respects the knowledge of teachers; Andy was also the keynote speaker at this year's BCTF Summer Conference. I am into the book now.
• our team in MLST and the wayward, ever-moving Maryann who might be entering a new decade in her thinking about life and work later this month.
• those who enabled five Vancouver TLs to journey to Europe this summer to affirm and enrich and provide momentum for the work of teacher-librarians.

Nope. Not Scaredy Squirrel! Book shopping in Ferrara en route to the IASL Conference,

lest you think we weren't the hardest-working TLs ever!

Readings ...

Getting into the spirit of professional development and October (school/library month), I pass along these readings:

• Things That Keep Us Up at Night: Joyce Valenza and Doug Johnson have an eye to the future. Read their SLJ article for October 2009. Seems we may be expendable if we don't attend to the shifting landscapes of learning. Hmmm! I think I said just such a thing on Monday night at the Secondary TLs' Department Heads' meeting. I think James Henri hinted at this point a year ago August when he came for our VSB Summer Institute, The Changing Landscape for School Libraries.
  
  What do Joyce and Doug suggest for teacher-librarians? In the face of rapid educational and technological change, with severe economic conditions forcing re-thinking about all aspects of schooling, we could, with just 14 changes in the way we conceptualize and undertake our work, sleeping soundly knowing that we have viable and meaningful "libraries" that meet the needs of the whole educational community.
  
  Thanks, Annabelle, for this timely reminder. There's sleep coming ... but maybe from exhaustion of just trying to keep the pace! The biggest nightmare, Valenza and Johnson remind us, will be not attending to the urgency for change.

• Tough Choices, Tough Times: This next reading is related, substantial, and predictive of important changes for the American education system which inevitably seems to impact our system in Canada.
  
  While acknowledging that it refers to the American labour force, our Italian connection and IASL Conference Organizer Luisa Marquardt of the Faculty of Education at the University of Roma Tre the Executive Summary from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, suggesting it provides opportunity "for reflecting on the relationships about the poor/high quality in education/training and the quality of less/more skilled workforce. World class education for a world class economy is based on the combination of several skills and competencies (p.6) which contribute to building imagination, creativity, vision."
  
  I like the parts about re-thinking teacher compensation, meaningful assessments that are grounded in important learning, "second chance" learning, early childhood education, and resourcing schools for success. While I wonder about "contract schools," it is note-worthy that the NCSAW based its findings on research in Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, and New Zealand.

• "Beyond the Stacks: The School Librarian in the Digital Age" by Cindy Long (NEA): An interview with a high school TL places things in perspective -- kids need to learn to think critically to find reliable information sources, they need to be digitally literate, and educators needs to be working with TLs!

DEAR: The BCTLA Executive won the Angela Thacker Memorial Award last year for its DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) campaign. Sylvia and I are very proud of this award and of our district's participation and support. Again, our Trustees and District Management have endorsed the initiative which is a wonderful thing.

Largely through the efforts of Victoria TL and BCTLA VP Advocacy Karen Lindsay last year and again this year, the momentum is picking up. Can Vancouver boast 100% participation on October 26, with every child and every member of the school/educational community dropping what he or she is doing to read for 20 minutes to celebrate school libraries and the joy of reading? Did every school get the lovely poster with photo by Kelowna TL Al Smith, our BCTLA publications guy? And we are awaiting word of Legislative participation this year so things are looking very exciting for this project.

Here's one TL's idea of a deeply engaging "authentic" DEAR project:

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

TL Studio 2 at Gladstone: Wednesday, October 14. Pat, Alan, Frances and I will be there with great anticipation of the many technology-related interests you will bring!


The Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable’s
Fall Breakfast with Gregory Maguire

Saturday, October 17, 2009UNIVERSITY GOLF CLUB
5185 University Boulevard
8:30 am. Registration & Book Sales
9:00 am. Breakfast

Dress code: Something Wicked!

Gregory Maguire is the author of more than a dozen novels for children and, to date, five novels for adults, including WICKED, the basis of the Broadway musical of the same name.

Word from Linda Dunbar is that there are still a few more seats. Call Linda at 604-822-8783 to reserve a seat and you can pay by cheque at the door, after reserving.

FOSL

I am sending out the most recent Friends of the School Library forms by email attachment. Note that there is a new location for submissions. There are also translations in progress. Watch for these. Our first event for our Friends will be held on Tuesday, October 27, and will celebrate National School Library Day and the critical role school libraries play in relation to student learning and enrichment.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Mine starts now.

The Web is The Thing!

*

Great Web-things:

Whoo-hoo! The long-awaited FALL Issue of The Bookmark (49:2) is available FREE and online:

• This the link for future access to this and other BCTLA publications.
• For direct download in pdf format, click here.

In this edition of The Bookmark, linked to more in The Virtual Bookmark (it's an interactive supplement / blog format), you can read about the IASL Conference in Berkeley, Smartboards (yes, that's our Sylvia!), Canadian Science Fiction, the BCTLA Conference in Victoria, book reviews, the experiences of new and "seasoned" TLs (well, it's Sylvia who is not so "seasoned" as some), and many many great web-things from John Goldsmith and Greg Smith. A huge thanks to Editor/TLs Al Smith and Angie MacRitchie from the Central Okanagan for all the hours that went into this latest great edition.

Simply Books: a wiki that promotes reading and literacy for boys

Library Thing and Library Thing (French Version) -- from a earlier post to this blog, LibraryThing Releases One Million Free Covers [Library Journal] -- This is very good news for teacher-librarians, who may have been contravening copyright in order to beautify their OPACs and webpages. Hooray for LibraryThing!"

Bookwise Quotes on youtube: The Importance of Literacy

Joyce Valenza's "Neverending Search" blog in School Library Journal: recent article on Web 2.0 and intellectual freedom

Kathy Schrock's "Kaffeeklatsch" blog on Digital Pioneers, a position she takes on the Prensky terms Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

The NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) statement on 21st Century Literacies

The AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Standards for the 21st Century Learner and the second draft of the Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action, for response.

Have you checked out the Google News Canada feature? How about the French version of Google News Canada? And here's an interesting article from BBC News ("Old newspapers get online launch," by Maggie Shiels, Technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco) about Google's latest new initiative to bring to the web old newspapers that pre-date the digital age. Google has partnered with around 100 newspapers to digitize them and make scanned copies available online.

"Ressources" (French Primary) are available for parents and students online from the Delta School District.

I have added my first-ever RSS Feed (or Really Simple Syndication): Check out the daily comic strip from Unshelved by clicking the link at the bottom of the left-hand sidebar (under the bookshelves) of this blog. Just moving along the tech-learning continuum here!

"The Database Bundle" -- at $1 per student per year, districts are buying into databases, the licensing rights to which have recently been negotiated in a multi-sector deal (public and academic libraries are included). As you know, for us in Vancouver schools, this represents little change as we were already subscribed to EBSCO and World Book. Do your administrator and teacher-colleagues know about these resources (and other databases available through our Webcat) and their value to learning? As you, the teacher-librarian, are the ones defined in our local contract as the educator whose job it is to "promote the effective use of resources," now might be a good time to make an appointment with your principal to show him/her what is there, and then ask for time on the staff meeting agenda or an upcoming Pro D day to give a demo.

Proquest Workshop for eLibrary (elementary and secondary versions) and Culturegrams databases went really well. More than 30 TLs were in attendance. Thanks, Maryann, for bringing in the very engaging Tasha from Toronto. We saw all kinds of fantastic features. If you search a French terms in the newspaper section, the results are French news sources! Try "autotochtone" for example.

Here's a free online set of databases from IBM Canada K–12 Division’s The Edmark House Series. These interactive software programs are for students pre-K to Grade 2 to build basic learning skills, and you will also find lesson plans, print activities (both in-class and take-home), and teacher guides, downloadable in pdf format. I am willing to bet that these go well with the new Smartboard technology in primary classrooms. This set includes Early Reading with Bailey’s Book House, Exploring Numbers with Millie’s Math House, Life Sciences with Sammy’s Science House, and Social Sciences with Trudy’s Time & Place House. Or just search "Edmark" in the webcat for the direct link! That's our Maryann at work ...

Every link to the FREE Sun and Province subscriptions has been checked. There seems to be a growing interest. Don't forget to show this link and the ways to read it, along with its various features -- remote access, translations, audio, custom print, 30 days of back issues, and access to all the other Canwest papers -- to your principal and teacher-colleagues as well. While the goal is to get them to design assignments that have our students familiar with the online newspaper, it is important for teachers to see the value first.

GET READY FOR THE COUNTDOWN TO DEAR

In addition to many posted local ideas and resources, here is a repeat of an earlier post about more resources from Rick Mulholland, local TL/teacher, co-ordinator of International School Library Month for the IASL:

ISLM resources webpage: letter or 11x17 sizes.
ISLM 2008 Bookmarks -- Literacy and Learning at Your School Library [PDF 111 k]
ISLM 2008 Flyer [PDF 181 k]
ISLM 2008 Flyer [PDF 126 k]
ISLM 2008 Tabloid format [PDF 221 k]
ISLM 2008 Tabloid format [PDF 323 k]

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PS: Have you checked here for teaching ideas? TLSpecial ("the wiki") ... be sure to click onto Sidebar on the right hand sidebar to see the pages you can choose from. Many at the Accounting workshop found the Managing Your SLP (notice the Excel template for school library accounting) to be quite helpful.

Have a good weekend.

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 ....

WINTER TONICS

Have you registered for Winter Tonic?

Here are some other February "tonics" if you are looking for something to replenish your spirit, a little flair or fun or food for thought or passion to enhance your work in school libraries. Why not choose one or two --

• find a great gift or "branding" item for a teacher-librarian or for yourself at Cafepress. Here's where Sylvia got her bumper sticker that reads, "I am the librarian your mother warned you about." A new wardrobe item always helps the spirit.
  
• check out the best source of powerpoint templates at Brainy Betty. Put PIZZAZZ into your presentations.
  
• how about something fun to do on FAT Tuesday (Feb 5) or Mardi Gras? Try heading out to hear The Burke Street Blues Band now booked for Mardi Gras night (8-11 pm) at DaDeO New Orleans Diner and Bar, 3305 Cambie (at 17th-- former Tomato Restaurant location) 604-874-1053 -- and it's our friend Alan Zisman on keyboards!
  
• read this article to affirm the importance of your work as the information literacy specialist in your school: The more things change ... by IVOR TOSSELL from Friday's Globe and Mail, January 24, 2008.
  
• read this Richmond News Community Profile for Family Literacy Day; it's about Richmond TL Carole Wilson who is still making a difference after thirty years in the teaching business. Some of you may know Carole in her capacity as an instructor with the UBC Teacher-Librarianship program.
  
• find out more about blogging and its applications for school libraries: Teacher-Librarians Connect ... by Publishing Online, from Charles Best (Coquitlam) TL Judith Comfort provides lots of ideas. Check out her BCTLA workshop, online resources and activities which are blogs.
  
• register for something -- Feb 8 is Literacy Day at Killarney or Technology Day at Magee; Feb 12 is Winter Tonic at Gladstone; Feb 6 is Shari Graydon here at the VSB; Feb 18 is TL Studio at Kerrisdale; Spring Weeding (two sessions, last week of Feb and first week of March) at Dickens and Cheriee is promising much livelier refreshment to make the session fun... see VSB website and click onto Current Professional Opportunities.
  
• choose to attend one or two events put on by the Vancouver Children's Literature Roundtable: Authorfest 2008 is Feb 6 at UBC. Serendipity 2008 is, this year, to be a celebration of First Nations Children's Authors and Illustrators and is being held at the First Nations Longhouse at UBC all day Saturday, Feb 23. Membership to the Vancouver CLR is $15. For more information, read Tough City Writer's blog.
  
• bone up on the issues around new proposed Canadian copyright legislation which, as secondary TLs heard from Aaron M at their monthly meeting, could seriously affect us in schools because of the omission of educational fair-use clauses and of any educational representation. Aaron referred us to Michael Geist's blog for more information. Dr. Geist is the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the U of Ottawa and was educated at Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, Cambridge University, UK and Columbia Law School in New York. He is concerned with internet and technology law as well as privacy issues.
  
• read some more: I am passing along this Michael Geist article "Law Eases Net Snooping: Privacy watchdog fears new copyright regs" (Tuesday's The Tyee). Anne S forwarded it after our discussion at our secondary TL department heads' meeting.
  
• check out this article from eSchool News to consider the perspectives of American educators on educational fair-use clauses: "'Fair Use' confusion threatens media literacy."
  
• attend a lecture at the VPL: Speak Up 2008: My Virtual World, Tuesday Feb 19, 2008, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM, Alice MacKay Room. The Speak Up series brings together many voices, perspectives and experiences, and provides an opportunity for public dialogue. This year's series explores the role of technology in our lives. "Online Privacy: Is There Any?" will feature panelists Mary Carlson (Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, Province of BC); Inspector Kevin McQuiggin (Vancouver Police Department); Richard Rosenberg (BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Asosciation). And it's free!
  
• find out who's blogging and what they are talking about. Click onto one or more of the Related Bloggers in the sidebar of this blog to see what the discourse is, more globally, for school libraries. Susan at Magee suggests Kathy Schrock's Kaffeklatsch blog January entry entitled Youtube is Cool! which would follow nicely with the secondary TL department heads discussion last week.
  
  I have recently added Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk blog. I enjoyed reading, amongst his archives, articles with such enticing titles as Rules for Pod People..., "BS" Literacy, and Librarians Behaving Badly. Joyce Valenza's Neverendingsearch on SLJ offers such articles for your consideration as these: Google as white bread? (and ICT lit matters) or Databases: Can We Get Teachers to Love Them? I have also added James Herring's Weblog. Schrock, Valenza, Johnson, Herring ... have I missed any of the BIG names in the world of school libraries?
  
  Thanks, Lana at Byng, for passing along this link to school bloggers with loads of examples, as well. Reading Rules is only one example of a school library application for blogging. And we are awaiting a new blog from one of our own French Immersion TLs, to be launched next week, I believe. I will be linking it here.