Banned Books

Stephen Chbosky - Perks of Being a Wallflower. Native of Pittsburgh. Jericho TV show - writer. Screenplay for Rent. Letter from a 15-year-old girl - book saved her from killing herself. He who saves a single life, saves the world entire. She got the book from her school library. If you fight at the right time, there is a trickle-down effect. When you reach out to that kid, you will save the world entire.

Sarah S. Brannen - Uncle Bobby's Wedding. Illustrated Marlo Thomas' Giving Thanks. She was in Massachusetts; same-sex weddings were becoming a part of the landscape. Over 1 million kids living in same-sex households. Important not to be didactic. Guinea pigs illustration - wanted it to be universal. Colorado challenge - Jamie LaRue's (librarian) letter to support. Link from her website sarahbrannen.com

Not every parent is looking for the same thing - described a mother whose husband left her for another man - h0w can she begin to discuss this with her son.

Intellectual Freedom Committee - self-censorship and administrators - important issues. AASL is sponsoring a program at DC - SLJ article. Best defense - draw a heart - when you are choosing a resource, is it internal - in your heart or guided by external fear. If you allow fear to guide your decisions, you are not serving your patrons. Challenges to their work vs. personal attacks. Administratos - prepare in advance - write policy. When a challenge happens, there is procedure. Contact ALA - if schools do not follow policy.

Have a collection development policy - does the book meet the criteria? The New Inquisition by Jamie Larue.

Information Literacy: An Online Library Media Course for High School Students

Margaret Lincoln - Lakeview High School Library, Michigan. Trails is administered as pre and post test.
http://remc12.wikispaces.com/ This is a wealth of information for middle/high school librarians.

AASL Charlotte

James Patterson: Check out his website http://www.readkiddoread/. He wrote the Maximum Ride books and created his website because of input when he was out speaking. Parents told him their kids were reading - his adult books. He and his wife encouraged his son, Jack, to read by finding books that would turn him on to reading - Percy Jackson series, The Warriors. Kids need to have positive experiences with books. School should be part of the community - invite public to author visits.

Got turned down 30 times before a book was published. Along Came a Spider was his first Alex Cross book. Sat on set when filming Along Came a Spider; he told the story of a sister for Alex Cross appearing in the film - not in the book.

Getting boys reading - Daniel X series. Parents need to read to their boys. Color photographs, words like toilets, underwear, aliens. No time to read because of homework. Patterson loves the read an hour a day programs. How wasy your day at school - don't accept a one-word answer. Why? Develop thinking. Graphic novels. Read Raising Cain. The Bone, Spiderwick Chroniccles - good stuff for boys.

AASL SPA session

Friday –
Ran into Carrie Gardner at breakfast. She is also here as a member of the ALA Board of Directors. Eileen and I attended an AASL/NCATE Program Review Training. Although I have served as a reviewer before, I wanted an update on new procedures. We heard a presentation, Preparing a Successful SPA report by Patricia Antrim and Jennifer Robins from the University of Central Missouri. They stressed the importance of collecting data for each indicator in a rubric assessment. The committee also discussed how important it is to have SPA standards delineated within each indicator. This makes it much easier for the program reviewer to check if all standards have been assessed. A second presentation by Lesley Farmer of California State University, Long Beach, discussed tips for report writers and reviewers. She offered the following suggestions:
· If the program has both face-to-face and online options, the report should show how the delivery and student performance is equitable.
· Need to align the standards with key courses and the degree to which the standard is addressed, i.e., introduced, mastered, or reviewed.
· The assessments must be aligned with courses that are required of all students in the program.
I have copies of handouts if anybody is interested.

Preparing for ALA Midwinter in Denver - Jan. 2009

Bob Flatley told us that the library now subscribes to Web of Science database which allows researchers to determine which articles are the most significant in a given field based on how often it has been cited. Unfortunately for us, it predominately documents science articles. Bob will put me in contact with the salesperson from Thomson Reuters (who will be exhibiting at ALA) to see what the timeline is for developing the same tool for the field of education. I was especially interested because Duane Crider and I are looking to do some research about online courses and need to cite an authoritative article in the field.
The other highlight of the meeting was to inform the group that we received a check for $200+ from Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD). Publishers send us books throughout the year. Twice a semester our students, alumni, teachers, and librarians come to KU to hear about books from the previous semester and select books for the next semester. Each person (we typically have 100 people attend) selects four books and submits a short review for the compiled booklist. In addition to being published by our department, the reviews are sent to CLCD for publication in the national database. Because of our submissions, the library receives the database at no charge and we receive periodic checks. It is very good timing. The money will be used to buy the latest award-winning books for the collection. All of the award winners will be announced in Denver on Monday (Caldecott, Newbery, etc.).
Direct flight to Denver – smooth flight – landed at 8:30 (Denver time, 10:30 KU time). Nancy Latanision and Eileen Kern (adjuncts) are with me. Nancy is the current president of PA School Librarians’ Association and is attending in that capacity. Eileen is on the national task force that is studying the librarian’s role in teaching reading strategies and engaging students in recreational reading. We will all be very busy in Denver. On the flight we discussed and worked on schedules. I also caught up on reading for my Children’s Lit class (Angelfish by Laurence Yep). If you’re really interested in children’s literature, ask me about my Kid Lit blog.