KASL

AASL Affiliate Assembly, Dallas 2012

Gwen Lehman, President Elect; and Juanita Jamison, President

This meeting focused on advocacy and the importance of contacting your legislators along with an emphasis on local advocacy.  Some specific examples included inviting your school board members to the library and enlisting the support of your parent organizations or developing your own friends of the library.  If you’re really ambitious, you might start your own save the library campaign.

We also received a list of website resources from the AASL Intellectual Freedom Committee:

Freedom to Read Foundation 

Position Statement on Labeling Books with Reading Levels (approved July 2011) 

Essential Links:  Intellectual Freedom, Filtering, Censorship, Ethical Issues 

AASL Blog 

Banned Websites Awareness Day, September 25, 2012 

Choose Privacy Week, May 1-7, 2012 – 

Finally, reminders were given regarding:

AASL Standards for the 21^st Century Learner Lesson Plan Database

AASL Electronic Discussion List

AASL 2012 Fall Forum 

AASL School Library Month Promotion 

Information Provided by Gwen Lehman
Technology Integration Specialist
Larned, KS 67550
Tech Tidbits blog

Online Learning Opportunities for School Librarians from AASL

KASL Leadership

Gwen Lehman, President-Elect, and Juanita Jameson, President, at AASL Affiliate Assembly, ALA 2011 in New Orleans

Greetings Region IX Affiliates!

Affiliate Assembly met this week in New Orleans and states represented from Region IX were Colorado (Yvonne Miller and JoAnn Conlon), Kansas (Juanita Jameson and Gwen Lehman), and Nebraska (Carrie Turner).  Meetings of the Affiliate Assembly (AA) were held on Friday evening and Sunday morning.

There were eight commendations submitted from all regions with seven being approved to be sent to the AASL Executive Board for final approval.  A total of 14 statements of concern were originally submitted to the AA Executive Board with seven given to the AA for their approval.  Of those, six were approved by AA to be sent to the AASL Executive Board for final approval.  As soon as those actions are taken by the AASL Executive Board, I will post those Statements of Commendation and Statements of Concern which are given final approval.

Elections for AA Chair-Elect resulted in Pam Renfrow, Region IV, being elected. Devona Pendergrass, Region VI, was elected Recording Secretary.

Be sure to participate in the newly established Lesson Plan Database : Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.  This is an exciting tool that allows people to submit and use lessons plans.  These plans will go through a review process before being published so the end result will be a database of the highest quality.  There is a lesson plan template for those interested in contributing lesson plans, and  everyone should want to utilize this Learning4Life tool.  Participants are not limited to AASL members.  Please go to http://aasl.jesandco.org to view lesson plans or to register to contribute lesson plans.

Information on the upcoming 2011 AASL Conference being held in Minneapolis, MN October 27 - 30 is now available.  The "Turning the Page" preliminary program is available with 140 concurrent sessions being offered. In addition, there will be a orientation for first-time attendees, an Exploratorium, and the Closing Celebration will be held at the Nicollet Island Paviliion.  The "One Book One Conference" will highlight The Shallows:  What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicolas Carr.  There will be a discussion forum which will  be attended by the author.

Because this is lengthy, I will post more information at a later date.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Sincerely,

Linda A. Roberts

Region IX Director

School Libraries Count!

“School Libraries Count!” study now open
AASL announced the launch of the fifth year of its longitudinal study, “School Libraries Count!”, which gathers basic data about the status of school library programs across the country. The division will use this information to develop advocacy tools to support school library programs at the local, state, and national levels. The last day to complete the survey is March 18....
AASL, Jan. 10

AASL 2010 School Libraries Count! survey

According to the results from the AASL 2010 School Libraries Count! survey (PDF file), the educational resources of students in high-poverty schools have been most affected by last year’s economic downturn. Overall survey results show that school expenditures on information resources were approximately $12,260 in 2010, compared to $13,525 last year. However, average spending on information resources in high-poverty schools decreased 25%, or $3,557, on average compared to 2009 survey results....
AASL, Oct. 13

Vision Tour to Visit Exemplary School Libraries

AASL President Nancy Everhart is taking the division’ s Learning 4 Life initiative on the road with the Vision Tour, in which she hopes to visit a school library in every state in the U.S. The schools Everhart will visit were selected by AASL affiliate organizations as visual models to the general public of how good school libraries empower every student with the skills needed to be a Learner4Life. Her first stop will be at the Kailua (Hawaii) Elementary School library, and she will be blogging about her visits. The Friends of AASL is accepting donations to fund the tour....
AASL, Aug. 27

Introduction to A Planning Guide for Empowering Learners

AASL has developed a video introduction (6:36) to its newest tool, “A Planning Guide for Empowering Learners.” Advance orders are now available for the tool, which is expected to launch in mid-August. The planning guide is a program evaluation, planning, implementation, and advocacy tool that will ensure school library program planners go beyond the basics to provide goals, priorities, criteria, and general principles for establishing effective library programs.... (taken from AASL press release)

I just watched the introduction, and this looks very helpful. For $40 a year, this tool appears to be a manageable way to monitor and improve every aspect of the school library program. Sign me up! (MHouse)

Fall Forum Chats

AASL hosts Fall Forum coffee chats
AASL held its first coffee chat session (PDF file) on August 11 designed to help school librarians learn more about the division’s Fall Forum. Other chats are scheduled for August 18 and 27. The chats are also geared to help the presenters design their sessions based on feedback from school librarians. “In Focus: The Essentials for 21st-Century Learning” will be held November 5–6 in Portland, Oregon....
AASL, Aug. 13 

 

 

AASL Commendation

Kansas nominated the WAW State Book Award Program for an AASL commendation. The program was recommended to the Executive Board for being the first state book award that was voted on by students.  We were awarded the commendation with a letter and a certificate to present to the WAW Foundation. 

 

story and photo provided by Rita Shogren