MSLA Does DC

Your Bloggers

2007-07-04T11:18:00.000-04:00

Here are the members of the Executive Board of the Massachusetts School Library Association who contributed to this blog.

In front: Kathy Lowe, Executive Director and Sandy Kelly, President.

In back: Ann Perham, our Webmaster, with Gerri Fegan and Linda Friel, Northeast Area Directors.

Thanks to the very gracious and patient photographer at the Polaris Library Systems booth, Jack Hartzman from Washington Talent, Photo and Video, who took the time to squeeze us all into one shot for a great memento of the conference.

ALA Reflections

2007-07-03T19:34:00.000-04:00

Now that I've been home a week, I have had some time to reflect on our experiences at ALA in Washington, D.C. There was so much to do and so many people to meet and listen to. The number of activities and events was simply overwhelming, especially for folks who have not attended an ALA conference before. I have gone to a number of AASL conferences and have loved going to them and meeting other librarians and library media specialists. This ALA, however, was much larger, with close to 30,000 people in attendance. Going to a conference, either ALA or AASL, is probably one of the most useful and fun professional development opportunities that will ever come along. All librarians and library media specialists should try to attend at least once or twice during her/his career. You will not regret investing the time, nor the money. Consider it an investment in your professional future and a gift to yourself that will keep on giving to your colleagues and your students when you return.

Many things made a huge impression on me. Some of those I am listing below (unfortunately, I can't list everything) :

Ken Burns and his presentation on the importance and power of history and a preview of his new documentary about World War II, entitled War. The documentary deals with the war as seen through the eyes and remembrances of regular Americans and brought tears to my eyes. I am eagerly looking forward to its debut on PBS in September, 2007.

Judy Blume's presentation when she spoke of how and why she became a writer and how she has become reinvigorated and eager to continue writing.

Meeting and chatting with author Walter Dean Myers during a Holiday House reception.

Meeting, talking, and having our picture taken with Nancy Pearl during a Publishers West Group reception. I have had her librarian action figure on my desk for several years.

Attendance at the two AASL Affiliates--this provided me with opportunities to see how AASL actually operates. I met many terrific and hardworking library media specialists from throughout the United States, and I look forward to meeting with them again at AASL in Reno.

The Library of Congress Reception where we were greeted by Librarian of Congress Billington and were allowed to wander into special exhibits and some parts of the building. The building itself is certainly noteworthy and beautiful. The exhibits served their purpose in whetting my appetite for viewing more of the extensive collection that the LOC contains. I still marvel that my fellow librarians and I were chatting, eating, and drinking while studying the Gutenberg Bible that was in a nearby case. I still shake my head when I think about it.

Seeing and listening to Julie Andrews and then nearly bumping into her in the hallway after her presentation.

Library Day on Capitol Hill when it was annnounced that the SKILLS Act had been filed in both the House and the Senate. This bill has the potential to enormously impact every media center in the nation, and the ramifications to student opportunities and achievement are mindboggling. Please write to your Senators and Representatives and urge them to support the SKILLS Act.

My reflections are complete, although, unfortunately, I don't have room to include all of them. I want to thank the four other members of MSLA who also went to ALA and helped me to have fabulous personal and professional experiences. I hope that all of you will attend a national conference. Consider it an investment in your professional future.

Harnessing the Hive

2007-07-02T08:24:00.000-04:00

One thing I haven't reported on yet is the RUSA MARS panel presentation on social networks and libraries with Matthew DeJune from Purdue, Tim Spauldling, founder of Library Thing, and Meredith Farkas, "Queen of Wikis". I was particularly interested in this session because Meredith will be presenting at our annual MSLA conference in November and I wanted to see her in action. She is an engaging presenter and her part of the presentation was well-organized, with a good PowerPoint to go along with it. She gave an overview of how public and academic libraries are using social networking tools, particularly wikis, and also spoke about something many of us probably haven't even considered - the issue of Knowledge Management - suggesting some ways we might think about using wikis to maintain institutional memory. I can see many applications for school libraries in the examples she showed and hope that her presentation in Massachusetts will inspire some of our K-12 librarians to delve into Library 2.0 tools. Meredith maintains Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki and blogs at Information Wants to Be Free. She also writes a monthly column for American Libraries on information technology. It was a pleasure meeting her in the Exhibit Hall at the Information Today booth and having her sign my copy of her hot-off-the-press book, Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication, and Community Online.

Library Day on the Hill: An Historic Day for School Libraries

2007-06-28T15:40:00.000-04:00

A large group of AASL members made it to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for the press conference announcing the filing in both the House and Senate of the SKILLS (Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries) Act. It was reported that there was great applause following its introduction on the floor of the Senate. Watch your email for more information to follow on how to contact your Members of Congress to support this act.

Sandy Kelly, Ann Perham, Gerri Fegan, Linda Friel, Alma Ramos-McDermott (shown in photo at left), Susanna Paterson and I were there for the rally and press release. Some of us stood right behind Senator Jack Reed when he made his announcement to the press. It was a boiling hot day in the sun, but we were there on The Hill for this historic event. Senator Reed announced that his legislation will ask for a qualified school librarian in every school by the year 2010.

Words, Wisdom and Wonder

2007-06-26T23:38:00.000-04:00

I had been waiting weeks for the day when I would finally get to see my idol, Julie Andrews, at the ALA Conference. So many of us have seen her in films and television, listened to her crystal voice on recordings and laughed at her performances. Growing up in the sixties, I was inspired by Camelot, The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins to learn to sing and kept it up in college at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. No doubt about it, I always wanted to sing just like her.

Of course, that would have been impossible. There is no one like Julie Andrews. Her appearance at the conference began with a video montage of her work as a child star in England and continued through her most recent performances in The Princess Diaries. As she entered the hall, she was greeted with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. She broke the news immediately: she was just that day asked to chair National Library Week, and was accepting without hesitation. Her work with Harper Collins to produce "The Julie Andrews Collection" imprint was going to reproduce out-of-print books that would keep alive the words that would lead children to a greater wisdom and understanding of literature that would again lead them to wonder about the world. "Words, Wisdom, and Wonder" is the motto that appears on all the books in the collection also produced by her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton. The mother and daughter pair have most recently collaborated on The Great American Mousical and both later signed copies of the book for 100 lucky ALA members. I was one of them.

I was able to talk briefly with her -- everyone agrees that she is radiantly beautiful and much younger looking than anyone who was born in 1935. Sandy was able to sneak a photo of her, and a smile, as she passed by with the security guards. Everyone who worked with her at the convention used words like "classy" and "graceful" and "generous" to describe her. Her dedication to children's literature was evident during her lecture, and I am thrilled that the 30th anniversary edition of The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles has been published. However, as I left the auditorium, I couldn't help but wish she had hummed just a few bars of something from one of her musicals. After that, I could have danced all day...

Eating in THE Library

2007-06-25T22:53:00.001-04:00

Today we had so many experiences that we will have to write about them over the next few days, but for now, you can look at all of our photos on flickr. Other people's conference photos are also posted on flickr. Also, there are many other people blogging this conference and AASL has an official conference blog, so you can read about all the other things going on.

We ended the day at a reception at the Library of Congress, hosted by James H. Billington, Librarian to us all.

Watch your local news tomorrow for Senator Jack Reed's press conference about his bill to include school librarians as highly qualified under No Child Left Behind. We'll be there cheering him on with thousands of our colleagues.

Three Days and Counting

2007-06-25T07:20:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning we attended a Scholastic Breakfast. This was an opportunity for Scholastic to introduce its new set of high interest books entitled Science Behind the Scenes: Forensic Files. The main speaker was Dayle Lynn Hinman, a renowned and famous criminal profiler who appears on Court TV's Body of Evidence.

Three of us went to AASL Affiliate. This body meets at conferences and discusses concerns and commendations that are passed on to ALA; it usually takes six months to move through the process. All regions of the country are represented, and it is wonderful to meet folks from other parts of the country.

We spent time in the Exhibit Hall checking out all of the vendor displays. The hall was huge, and we managed to to get lots of goodies that we will be giving away at our conference in the fall. It was a great opportunity to ask vendors questions and obtain information.

I attended the Judy Blume presentation in the ballroom. She has not presented at ALA for a number of years and was thrilled to be there. The bulk of her presentation dealt with how she became a writer and was both informative and moving. Judy thanked all of us for supporting her throughout her career and indicated that she still has many things to write and will continue writing books.

There are still many events and presentations to attend, and we are trying to take advantage of as many as possible.

Steet Lit

2007-06-25T06:50:00.000-04:00

The appeal of urban fiction to my high school students in Boston was undeniable. Sometimes raw and shocking to those of us who didn't come up on the streets, urban teens see themselves in it, along with hope that they will come through like the characters in the books. We had several copies of Teri Woods' True to the Game in my library, but once they went out, they were rarely returned - and if they were, they were dog-eared and tattered. I resorted to buying gently used copies to continually replenish our collection. My students acquainted me with other authors in this genre and their books also flew off our shelves.

I was intrigued when I saw a session on the program on Street Lit. It turned out to be a panel of three authors - Darren Coleman, T.N. Baker and none other than Teri Woods herself. My students would be beside themselves if they knew I had met Teri. She has an inspiring story for kids who are growing up on the street. Determined not to go down the same dead-end road as her peers, Teri self-published True to the Game in 1999 and sold it out of the trunk of her car. Over 1-million copies have now been sold. Her fans will be happy to learn that True to the Game II will come out in November. "People think street lit is too gritty, too explicit, but it was okay for me to live that life. I hope it opens up a bridge for communication for people that are living that lifestyle." Fiery, determined and outspoken, Teri has high expectations for herself and her readers. It was a delight to see and hear her in person.

If authors are stars...this a galaxy

2007-06-24T06:38:00.000-04:00

Author Simone Elkeles with MSLA board members Ann Perham, Gerri Fegan and Sandy Kelly.

I have been stargazing. From the receptions to the sessions to the vendor hall, the conference has authors galore; it's a chance to speak with an old favorite, or to discover a new gem. I confess that I have been dazzled by all of the authors....

I grew up with Judy Blume, so finding out that she is days away from her 70th birthday was a bit of a shock. Her speech was emotional and personal, revealing a dysfunctional childhood and her revelation that her writing saved her. Another entertainer that I grew up with is Julie Andrews who revealed that she has been writing for 35 years and has launched a book company with her daughter. For both the Blume and Andrews sessions, there was not an available seat and the audiences were captivated by these amazing women.

At a reception, we spotted Walter Dean Myers and we managed to "casually" join his conversation. I was wondering how to open the conversation, when he turned to me and said, "What should I write about for my next book?" Wow.....I shared with him that my students had dealt with a series of suicides and suggested that he might write about that. Kathy suggested that "snitching" would be a good theme.

At another reception for Michael Prinz winners, I spotted John Green immediately and made a beeline for his corner. He was surrounded by very young and attractive librarians but I managed to enter the conversation and informed him that my son Ross had read his An Abundance of Katherines when it came out in galley and that Ross had loved his book before the committee even nominated him for the award.

A special treat was the Bookcart Drill Cart Team competition, emceed by none other than Stinky Cheese Man Jon Scieszka and Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus Mo Willem!

A workshop on Young Adult authors featured Laurie Halse Anderson and her new book, Twisted. Cecily von Ziegesar and Alyson Noel shared how they got into writing. Sherman Alexie, author of Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian spoke passionately from the heart about his biographical novel and asserted that a movie deal has to include a Native American actor. I attended a workshop on the Alex Awards and got some great tips on titles to add to my high school library. Author Ron Rash read passionately from The World Made Straight.

Imagine "bumping into" Joyce Carol Oates or Paula Poundstone in the vendor hall....Yes, I confess that I gawked.

Something that resonated strongly in my mind after all these sessions and meetings was, "There is no age group more important than the YA Reading Group." It will take a while to digest all the authors I have met and even longer to sift through all the galley copies that I have picked up. I am looking forward to doing some beach reading!

Saturday's Photos

2007-06-24T00:01:00.001-04:00

Washington Convention Center

Exhibit Hall

Gerri meets Joseph Bruchac, author of Geronimo

Judi Blume signs books in the exhibit hall.

Ken Burns and War

2007-06-23T23:21:00.000-04:00

Today's auditorium speaker series featured film maker Ken Burns who discussed the importance of preserving the memories of war. His speech served as an introduction to a preview of his new work The War that will air on PBS this fall. Burns was, as expected, profoundly moving, as he emphasized the need to teach all aspects of human history, not just the crimes or the glories. There was a shocking moment when Burns quoted a survey that said that ninety-five percent of this year's high school graduates thought that, during World War II, the United States and Germany fought on the same side against Russia. It asks the question, what do our students really know about war? Burns spoke about the impending loss of recovering the personal histories of the remaining World War II veterans as time passes, and that the authenticity of their memories may not be recorded for the future. His work The War will premiere on PBS on or about September 7th on local PBS stations. Librarians, get ready: your history teachers will want to create lessons to accompany this series, and you should get a headstart now!

Where did the day go???

2007-06-23T23:07:00.001-04:00

One thing about these conferences..the days just fly by. The weather today was picture perfect and I tried to walk outside as much as possible..which regrettably was not enough. Started the day with Keith Curry Lance and his report of the data he has collected in a longitudinal study which AASL has sponsored. This type of data is always difficult to collect, especially if trying to get a random sampling. Since AASL members were involved, the response was excellent, about 4500 completed surveys, although they were more concentrated into particular areas. I will be reporting back on our listserv on the details about median expenditures and staffing that was determined for school libraries across the country.

Gale is great about providing bus transportation between venues but it sure does get confusing because there are, for example, 3 different Marriotts, 2 Renaissance hotels, etc...last night Kathy and I spent $10 on a cab to get to McCormick and Schmick's only to find out we went to the wrong one and ended up almost back across the street from where we started!! You've definitely got to have a sense of humor!!

Spent a good deal of time in the vendor hall today and collected all sorts of goodies and books to give away at our conference. Saw Jack Gantos, Mitali Perkins, Nancy Garden, Joseph Bruchac among others... Once again Google has a great booth but looks like if you won a Google tee shirt last year it is a "collector's item." The only prizes this year are collector pins. This year's big treats will be the commemorative Harry Potter bags that Scholastic gave out at their Harry Potter party, along with Harry Potter cake and "butter beer".

Another highlight of the day was the President's Opening Session. Speakers were Vartan Gregorian and Senator Bill Bradley. Both gave a good talk. Next thing we were swept away by a caravan of buses to the Hilton in Georgetown where we attended the Proquest Scholarship Bash and saw Mark Russell and the Capitol Steps. A great time was had by all...and now it is 11:30 PM and I really wish I could take a walk around town. The buildings look beautiful at night, all lit up...oh well, maybe tomorrow! Off to the Scholastic Breakfast at 7:30 and then the Affiliate Assembly where I will be on a panel with other reps from P21 states. More later. :-)

Stargazing and The Goddess Nancy

2007-06-23T00:29:00.000-04:00

Publishers Group West hosted a reception at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel where we were able to meet some of their authors, most notably, the inspiration for the Library Action Figure and author of Book Lust, none other than Nancy Pearl! She is very excited about her new book, Book Crush, and stopped by our table to regale us with stories about the Chinese manufacturers of her action figure that call her "The Goddess Nancy".

At another another reception at the same hotel hosted by Holiday House, we were charmed by our conversation with Walter Dean Myers. He asked us what we thought the subject of his next book should be. Maybe one of our suggestions will show up in his next novel! Ann is a hero to her son because she met John Green, Prinze Honor Book Award winner for An Abundance of Katherines.

The first meeting of the AASL Affiliate Assembly was very productive. Affiliate reps worked on seven concerns to send to the Executive Board and will meet again on Sunday to continue their work and take up other issues. We had a very long first day at the conference, but the weather is beautiful and everyone's spirits are high. We hope to be able to add more to the blog tomorrow and will upload some more photos, too.

We're on our way!

2007-06-21T21:00:00.000-04:00

Several members of MSLA's executive board are heading to Washington, D.C. first thing tomorrow morning for the Annual Conference of the American Library Association. The program is chock full of speakers, workshops, author readings, and meetings. There is an exhibit hall the size of a small city, with many vendors giving away books and promotional items. On Tuesday, thousands of librarians will descend upon our nation's capital to lobby their legislators and advocate for libraries during Library Day on the Hill. There will be a parade of Bookmobiles and Senator Jack Reed will hold a press conference to announce his bill to include school library media specialists in the highly qualified category of No Child Left Behind.

I am very excited to be attending this conference - which by all indications will be have the highest attendance of any ALA conference ever - with my colleagues Ann Perham, MSLA web master, Sandy Kelly, President, Gerri Fegan and Linda Friel, Northeast area directors, and Bob Roth, Legislation co-chair. We're not too sure with all that's going on how much we'll actually be able to post, but we will do our best! Watch this space for daily updates.