IASL School Library Happenings Worldwide

We are moving to IASL Meeting Place

kbonanno — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:37:23 +0000

IASL School Library Happenings Worldwide is moving to join lots of other IASL happenings and events. You will find us at the IASL Meeting Place. The idea is to have a central location for sharing and discussing IASL happenings, events and ideas. Please join us at the IASL Meeting Place.

Within a few weeks this blog will be closed down

IASL 2008 Conference Reports

kbonanno — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:45:08 +0000

If you missed being able to attend the IASL 2008 Annual Conference at the University of California at Berekeley, USA then take a visit to the IASL site to check out the conference short interviews captured by our Special Interest Group Co-ordinator for Information and Communication Technology.

Also, you can read a very comprehensive report submitted from conference delegates from Canada and take a peak at some school library visit photos.

IASL Award winners for 2008

kbonanno — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:41:29 +0000

The award winners for the IASL Awards program were notified of their success early in the month of June. A number of the winners will be attending the IASL 2008 Annual Conference and will receive their award benefits at the Awards Ceremony.

Media releases have been prepared for each award and the information is now available on the IASL website.

Eunice McKenzie (Jamaica) – Jean Lowrie Leadership Development Award

Jerry Mathema (Zimbabwe) – Ken Haycock Leadership Development Award

Dr Marcia A Mardis (USA) – Murofushi Research Grant

Madhu Bhargave (India) – IASL/Softlink International Excellence Award

ASLA Online Virtual Conferences: Australian School Library Association (Australia)
- LinksPlus Commendation Award

iBrary: Ray Doiron, University of Prince Edward Island and Marlene Asselin, University of British Columbia (Canada) – IASL School Library Technology Innovation Award

Books for Children Program - Kenya School Library Association (Kenya); St Joseph’s Primary School (Swaiziland) and Tipu Model School & College Kabal Swat (Pakistan)

Congratulations to all award winners.

What’s in a Ning?

kbonanno — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:26:51 +0000

Basically, a Ning is an online social networking platform. Anyone can build a Ning using the tools at the Ning website. A Ning can connect you with like-minded people on any topic and provides a variety of communication, connection, collaboration and information tools such as forums, blogs, groups, videos, photos.

Here are a few that may be of interest – Young Adult Literature established by Marita Thomson, Australia, Great School Libraries established by Pam Berger, USA, ASLA Online (Australian School Library Library Association) established by Karen Bonanno, Australia, and School Library Action Research established by David Loertscher, USA.

If you have come across, or established, a Ning that would be of interest to those involved with school libraries then please send in your comment.

Formalisation Network ENSIL

kbonanno — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:43:08 +0000

In March 2003 the network ENSIL was founded in Amsterdam by twelve people from eight different European countries. Now, in June 2008, the network has almost 80 members in 21 European countries.

Lourense Das, the co-ordinator and chair, has advised ENSIL was formalised into a foundation. “This foundation, which is based in the Netherlands, has now been legally formalised and will be known as the ENSIL Foundation (Stichting ENSIL).”

The new ENSIL Foundation (Stichting ENSIL) has made the following statement about its goals: “Based on international research which shows that the quality of students’ learning outcomes is greatly enhanced by effective school libraries, ENSIL promotes the basic principle that all pupils in schools in each country of Europe are entitled to quality school libraries/media centres and services run by professional and accredited school librarians/information specialists.”

More information about ENSIL Foundation (Stichting ENSIL) can be found on the website http://www.ensil.eu

UNESCO – Towards Information Literacy Indicators

kbonanno — Sat, 03 May 2008 03:57:59 +0000

UNESCO has published – Towards Information Literacy Indicators: Conceptual framework paper prepared by Ralph Catta and Jesus Lau. This paper provides a basic conceptual framework for measuring information literacy and is designed to serve as a reference to facilitate the elaboration of information literacy indicators.

The paper includes a definition of IL; a model that links information literacy with other adult competencies including Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills; and a description of IL standards in education. Issues of IL equality and the implications of cultural diversity are identified.

Impact of the digital agenda on school libraries

kbonanno — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:10:21 +0000

The ASLA Online III Virtual Conference to be held in May 2008 will focus on three strands:

Digital environments: Designing and applying collaborative tools for learning,
Digital literacy: Building and providing online literature experiences, and
Digital pedagogy: Crafting and exercising digital teaching and learning practices.

The theme for the ASLA Online III virtual conference was inspired by the work of Thomas L. Friedman (2006), The world is flat. The flattening of the world, according to Friedman, was triggered by ten forces – 11/9/89 (fall of the Berlin Wall), 8/9/95 (Netscape goes public), work flow software, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring, insourcing, in-forming and the steroids (Friedman 2006, pp. 50-200).

The focus for this conference emphasises the evolution of technology and the implications of rapid and significant change on the education agenda.

Each strand will host a lead paper and be supported by a number of general papers around the sub-theme of each strand. The papers will be available to registered delegates during April to allow participants to read, reflect and prepare for the discussions with presenters in the virtual forums in May.

The digital environments strand lead paper by Raylee Elliott Burns looks at a recombinant architecture approach to the design of learning spaces whereby familiar architectural forms and functions are transformed by the digital-online modes. Who and what is valued is an influential aspect of the learning space designing process. Anne Gillespie, James Herring, Pru Mitchell, Judy O´Connell, and Belinda Spry & Sarah Hayman present supporting papers that cover the provision of online environments for school libraries, the changing role of the teacher librarian, e-portfolios and professional learning environments, the effective use of blogs as professional learning tools, and Library 2.0 and collection development policy and
procedure.

Katina Zammit from the University of Western Sydney, Australia provides the lead paper for the digital literacy strand. Katina explores the concept of digital literacy within new modes of learning using new mediums and technology. The accompanying papers by staff from the Queensland Library Cyberschool and Julie Mabb provide different perspectives on literacy skills and learning environments, whilst Pat Pledger explores the literature blogosphere. Margaret Meijers encourages the use of video games to develop literacy skills.

Web 2.0 and information fluency by the lead presenter for the digital pedagogy strand, Joyce Valenza from Springfield Township High School in the USA, challenges us to consider how the information skills used in traditional information structures are merged with the skill set required to survive in the new information landscape. Valenza also includes reference to the Web 2.0 tools that students use to foster information fluency development. Gary Green´s paper within this strand continues the focus on how technology can be utilised by teacher librarians in the library and classroom to improve learning outcomes. Stuart King targets
YouTube as a useful tool to develop media literacy skills as well as relevant learning experiences. Barbara Combes presents initial findings of her research into the information seeking behaviour of the Net Generation and John Raiti explores the cultural changes schools will face and the role teacher librarians will play in the new technologies arena.

This year a social networking space has been established …..join in and invite your friends to the ASLA Online social networking pre-conference space for even more lively discussion.

Ontario Library Association Super Conference 2009

kbonanno — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:36:20 +0000

The call for session proposals is April 30, 2008 for the Ontario Library Association Super Conference 2009.

Broad topics and themes might include:

Connections within your school and community
New literacies and new learners
Integrating the social web
Reading initiatives, programs, collections.
Integration of ICT in your program
The new draft document and its implications
New directions in education and their impact on your library program

Conference dates are January 28 to January 31, 2009.

Information Literacy: Reports from the LILAC Conference 2008

tomkaun — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:29:23 +0000

Check out a series of recent posts on the Information Literacy Weblog about the LILAC 2008 conference held in Liverpool, England, Mar. 17-19. The whole series (four as of today) is worth perusing for insights into the world of academic information literacy in Great Britain.

One section referred to a series of podcasts produced by the radio station at the University of Cardiff in Wales called “Student Survival Guide To Writing A Good Essay.” The six shows are well-produced and professional in quality. They include interviews with university students about their experiences with writing reports (locating sources, procrastination, etc.) as well as comments from librarians, professors, counselors and other students about ways to overcome the obstacles to producing a good paper.

Worth a glance and even worth sharing with your students (even though the accents may be a bit foreign to our cosmopolitan, digital natives!)

Tom Kaun, Info Lit SIG Coordinator

SlamIT course – Lifelong Learning – Lithuania

kbonanno — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:37:10 +0000

The SlamIT course 2008 will be of interest to European colleagues — Lifelong Learning – School libraries and regional education centres supporting learning in the community. The location is Lithuania and the dates are 19 to 24th October 2008.

This course builds on the SLAM and GrandSLAM projects.