Alaska Association of School Librarians

Advancing high standards for the school library profession in Alaska

Alaska Association of School Librarians - Advancing high standards for the school library profession in Alaska

Tag Archives: ALA

Urgent – Action needed on Net Neutrality

In simple terms, Net Neutrality means that the Internet as we know it is used by everyone equally.  There are powerful entities trying to create a “paid for” space that would have priority over bandwidth and scew access for all.  Read more from AKLA list serve post:  (While this is an AKLA post— the issue is National!)

Dear AkLA members–

There is legislation proposed in the US Senate that will overturn net neutrality, the concept promoted by libraries, the Federal Communication Commission, and others that the internet content should travel freely and that those who can afford to pay should not have priority status on the internet.  The vote may be as early of Tuesday, November 8, so there is not much time to act.

Please take a few minutes to read the letter below and write to Alaska’s senators, particularly Senator Murkowski.

The letter that follows is from the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries, and Educause addressed to U.S. Senate leadership. The key concept is that “there is great risk that prioritized delivery
to end users will be available only to content, application and service providers who pay extra fees, which would be an enormous disadvantage to libraries, education, and other non-profit institutions.  In short, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should allow users the same priority of access to educational  content as to entertainment and other commercial offerings.”

I will send a second message with a suggested template that you can use or use as a model if you wish.  Essentially if the net neutrality were ended those with large amounts of money could obtain priority use of the internet, and libraries and others that offer access to public content or licensed databases would have less or lower access to internet space.

If you do not feel comfortable writing a letter or calling the Senators’ offices, please pass this on to someone you know who would be interested.

Thanks–Sue Sherif

 

 For more info on Network Neutrality and the what’s current visit these links:

ALA Network Neutrality Page

House passes measure to repeal Net Neutrality

Please write to your legislators.
Senators Murkowski and Begich to request that they vote against a resolution SR 6
introduced by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas that would end net neutrality
and would have significant impact on educational and library uses of the internet
for our library users and for ourselves.  Please take time to write or call today.
Because of the short timeline, you may wish to call or email.

Senator Murkowski: Washington Office 202-224-6665, Fax:202-224-5301 Website:
http://murkowski.senate.gov/public/ (Send emails or find local Alaska offices))
Senator Begich: Washington Office, 202-224-3004, Fax: 202-224- 2354] Website:
http://begich.senate.gov/public/

This is not a topic that the general public is going to be very aware of, but it
has potentially a large impact on us all.  Thanks for phoning, calling, or email
today or this weekend.

ALA |Ask Your Senators to Co-Sponsor the SKILLS Act

ALA | Home – American Library Association.

Thanks to Suzanne Richards for posting this reminder to take action in behalf of school libraries on the Facebook Alaska School Libraries page.

With funding for school libraries in jeopardy, the American Library Association is ramping up its efforts to bring attention to this important issue. But we need the help of library supporters across the country to get the message across to the Senate. 

Last week many of you made phone calls asking your senators to co-sponsor S.1328, the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLS) Act. Thank you to all who called in support of school libraries but there are still only 5 co-sponsors of the SKILLS Act in the Senate. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee will be writing federal education legislation on October 18, so the time to act is now!

This week, we aim to double the amount of calls to the Senate and get more co-sponsors! Whether you have called already or not, please take the time to bring attention to the SKILLS Act. Here’s how you can help.

1. Go the ALA Legislative Action Center by clicking here: SKILLS

2. Read over the talking points and type in your zip code to find the phone number for your senator’s office (you will see additional talking points). You can also be connected to your senator’s office by calling the capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121

3. Call both senators and ask them to co-sponsor the SKILLS Act using the provided talking points and your own stories about why school libraries are so important.

 

 

ALA Annual Conference Report

It’s been over a month, and as I think back on the conference these are some of the highlights for me.

Orson Scott Card. (Note Janet’s picture in her entry) Like many middle school librarians, I love Enders Game. It was great fun to listen to Orson talk, and to pick up the first book in his new YA series called the Lost Gate. BTW – It’s awesome. Readers will note similar character traits between Danny and Ender, even though this new series is fantasy instead of science fiction.

2.0 to P21 – Using Emerging Technologies to Embed 21st Century Skills into your Library’s Instructional Program: Michelle Luhtala, the Librarian at the New Canaan Library in Connecticut is doing some amazing things with her students. Her students won the ALA “Why I Need My Library” video contest, well worth your viewing time. It’s on her website at http://www.nchslmc.org/ She blogs at http://bibliotech.me/. Great reading. I’d love to have come up to Alaska! I left her very short session jazzed and ready to try new things. Oh, and she’ll be in Minneapolis this fall, just in case you are going.

AASL’s Best Websites for Teaching and Learning: It’s always better to have someone demonstrate websites for you, but this session also included video clips of the creators chatting about their sites. Check out the sites for yourself at www.ala.org/aasl/bestlist.

And finally…. QR codes are coming to your library soon! They were everywhere at the conference. When I got home I noticed they are even on my phone book. To learn more about them check out http://lib-girl.blogspot.com/2011/07/holy-bodacious-barcodes-using-qr-codes.html.

10 reasons why

After attending the National ALA conference in New Orleans, I came up with 10 reasons to attend a conference out of state. I’m sure there are lots more, but here are the ones that struck me:

1. Sparks. Although you zip through sessions quickly, you do hear things that spark an interest, and encourage further investigation.
2. Connections. You connect with librarians facing similar challenges and get a new perspective on yours.
3. Confidence. You discover that some of the things you do are way cool already.
4. Fun. New cities are always fun to explore.
5. Inspiration. You see something cool and know that you could do it also.
6. Awe. Who isn’t awed by some our amazing YA and Children’s lit authors?
7. Money. Your wonderful AkASL offers grants that help fund your travels.
8. Renewal. Feel like you’re in a rut? A conference will nudge you out of it.
9. Exposure. You hear about cutting edge programs and meet the people involved.
10. Free stuff! Everyone wants to give you stuff to take home! (Remember you have to haul it all back on the plane.)

Wendy Leseman,
Hanshew Middle School Library

Report from ALA- New Orleans!

AkASL Professional Development Grant recipient Janet Blalock, Mat-Su Career and Tech High School, shares notes from her first trip to ALA!

ALA New Orleans: ALA was great!  It is the first time I have been to a national library event and it was worth the time, effort and costs.  From the ALA website: http://www.alaannual.org/ “Visit more than 6 football fields of exhibits featuring the latest in publishing, furnishings and technologies for your library. With over 900 exhibiting organizations, exhibit hall features include 10 pavilions of targeted products and 4 stages with the hottest authors, chefs, poets, and illustrators.”  This meant lots of walking and the convention center is huge and ALA took up only the G-J portion. So between sessions and events you could wander up and down the rows.

BOOKS & AUTHORS: It was a persons dream around all the books and publishers.  One could walk up and down the aisles and pick up free books.  The hard part was restraining

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

oneself and only picking up books appropriate for a high school library.  If they were selling copies of books they were usually $5 for hardbacks and $2-$3 for paperbacks,

advance copies were free.  Many great authors were there and if you didn’t mind waiting in line for Cassandra Clare, Claudia Gray, Orson Scott Card, David Weber, Maureen Johnson,

and Sarah Dessen (who I missed) to name just a few. http://alaannual.org/authors One thing I did notice is that many authors

are now writing for young adult and adult books so be careful when buying titles that you don’t just assume the author’s new book is a young adult.  Ellen Hopkins new book is for adults but Harlan Coben has a new young adult series, A Mickey
Bolitar novel called Shelter of which he was signing advance galleys.  This is a great book and would be good for High School Battle of the Books. I finished it on the plane ride home.

 

PRECONFERENCE: Top 25 Web Sites for Teaching and Learning: Categories, Criteria, and Collaborative Strategies http://alaprecon2011.wikispaces.com/Content+Collaboration

“Take an in-depth look at AASL’s 2010 Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning. During this fast-paced, hands-on, collaborative workshop you’ll learn which websites best support the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, inquiry learning and the curriculum. You’ll be actively involved as we Skype, tweet, survey, organize, create, click, video and

have fun learning about these Web 2.0 tools.”  This was a day spent looking at websites and how to use them.  The best ones I will use are in the Manage and Organize section:  Icyte, Evernote, and Livebinders.  I set up accounts in all three and will keep trying them out this school year.

Harlan Coben JA Jance

Harlan Coben JA Jance

AUDITORIUM SPEAKER SERIES: The mystery panel of J.A. Jance and Harlan Coben was very interesting in learning how they create and expand their characters. I think I have read all of J.A. Jance books. DANIEL ELLSBERG: “WAR AND SECRECY” was the person who released the Pentagon Papers in 1971.  He is glad that the papers are now released under the Freedom of Information Act but kept mentioning that if you had Senators Mike Gravel’s biography that you could be arrested as there is still information in there that has not been officially released.

SESSIONS:  There were too many to choose from and fit into a schedule but I did manage to go to:

1.  There’s a Map for That: Maps and Tools You Didn’t Know About! This covered two hours on searching digitized maps, using interactive maps, and how to create your own maps online.

2. Teens Reading Digitally: Going Handheld and Mobile. This is on devices teens can use to read all types of materials from books to textbooks, to learn how teens are reading digitally, what’s available in the digital reading world for teens, and how you can support teens digital reading needs and interests. Clearwater HS in Florida has given all students IPad 2s for their textbooks and to use in classes. Using figment.com for young adults to post their works, get tips and advice

3.  Best Practice Websites for Teens: The presenters showed various library websites and how to set them up to appeal to teens.

4.  The closing general session featured Molly Shannon.  She was really funny describing her childhood to her break on SNL and why she wrote the book Tilly the Trickster.

Go to the AkASL PD Grant page to apply for a grant to attend AASL conference in Minneapolis!

The State Library, through Alaska State Museum and Library Services and Federal Source CFDA 45.310, has generously provided funding for grants to AKASL members to attend conferences and other Professional Development opportunities.