One prominent theme at this year’s SDCCEL was how to “level up” comics readership and support in schools and libraries. How do we move beyond excellent but well-known titles like Persepolis and Maus to include more diverse titles and ensure systematic buy-in with key stakeholders like principals and school board members? The July 20 session … Continue reading Comics in the Classroom: Beyond Maus and Persepolis
For kids, a library card is often their first entry to membership in grown-up society as individuals who are independent of their families. Library cards represent belonging for adults as well. For new immigrants, a library card may be the first material sign of membership in their wider new community. Whether one is a first- … Continue reading Sharing Our Cities, Towns, and Natural Places
Tagoe partnered with Catholic Charities of Dallas to add programs to the summer reading program and provide citizenship information for immigrants and refugees. Alexander stressed the importance of promoting and branding your library. “Promote like your life depends on it,” she declared. Using social media is a first step, but she also recommended involving teens in … Continue reading Serving Teens of Color
“We tie some education with it,” says Alice Reinert, school librarian at Wanamaker. “It’s geared to help our younger students learn their coins. And it’s also to try to get them service minded.” February is also when Wanamaker holds its Book Fair, so the month was a celebration of books and literacy, Reinert says. At … Continue reading School Raises Money to Support Haiti’s Libraries
The refugee crisis isn’t new. According to the US State Department, more than 3.3 million refugees—persons fleeing their home country to escape persecution, war, or violence—have resettled in the US since 1975. But the summit seemed timely, as the legality as to who should be welcomed within US borders is tested, and debate among the … Continue reading Resources for Resettlement
Ann Yawornitsky first heard of the Holocaust in 9th-grade world cultures class. She found the news so shocking that at first, she had a hard time believing it. “I remember going home to my mom and saying, ‘Is my teacher making this up, or did this really happen?,’” Yawornitsky says. “Then I read the diary … Continue reading ‘How Would I Respond?’
Sometimes collaboration is accidental. I’ve had lessons that just happened to coordinate with the curriculum. For instance, our library at West Magnet Elementary in Batesville, Arkansas, was able to give students a “virtual field trip” via live stream to see President Barack Obama answering questions at DC Public Library’s Anacostia branch. Our 4th graders were … Continue reading Partnerships Beyond Four Walls
In 2002, when President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, the previous ESEA reauthorization, the educational decision making and resource allocations were shifted away from the states. Testing requirements were significantly increased within legislation that also lacked language to include school librarians and libraries. Since then several iterations of … Continue reading ESSA and School Libraries
At “Inclusionary Practices to Support School Libraries,” a Thursday morning session at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress, librarians from Nigeria, France, Portugal, and the United States attempted to answer this question by examining inclusionary and accessibility strategies in school libraries. Clayton Copeland and Karen Gavigan, both … Continue reading Inclusive School Libraries
These editors started with the basics about their respective journals. School Library Connection publishes 10 issues per year, offers webinars, and utilizes reviewers. School Library Research is an open access journal that accepts submissions on a rolling basis. Its goal is to promote high quality, original research, and literature reviews. School Libraries Worldwide runs much … Continue reading What You Need to Know about Publishing Articles for School Libraries
AASL President Leslie Preddy opened the program by emphasizing the spectrum from public library to school library to academic library in each learner’s life. Communities with strong libraries have increased student success. Vailey Oehlke, Public Library Association president and director of libraries at Multnomah County (Oreg.) Library, explained how the provisions in ESSA are a … Continue reading Unpacking ESSA for the Library Ecosystem
Libraries have much at stake in products that align well with their strategies, resonate with their patrons, and facilitate the work of their staff. Previously established products are evolving to gain long-overdue modernization. In an era of web-based and cloud computing, library technology has held fast to aspects of the previous age of client–server computing. … Continue reading Library Systems Report 2016
