Reading, Books Top AASL Conference

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By Walter Minkel -- School Library Journal, 12/01/2003

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If you think technology tops the list for media specialists, think again. Books and literacy were the rage at the October 22–26 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) conference in Kansas City, MO. In fact, there were half as many technology sessions as those focused on reading, and even then, attendance at tech seminars was lower than expected. What was the reason? Media specialists felt literacy was neglected at the last biennial AASL conference in Indianapolis, IN, in 2001, and this year's conference organizers certainly made up for it.

About 2,500 media specialists and 1,000 vendors attended the 2003 AASL conference, and sessions such as "Booktalking Young Adult Literature" with Ruth Cox, an assistant professor at the University of Houston, were jammed. Cox says librarians need to teach teens about reading for pleasure, and recommended attention-grabbing titles for 14- to 18-year-olds, such as Lucas (Scholastic/Chicken House, 2003) by Kevin Brooks and Wild Man Island (HarperCollins, 2002) by Will Hobbs.

"Helping Students Make the Leap From Beginning Readers to Novels" with Jennifer Richard Jacobson, an author and educational consultant, suggested ways to help elementary school students make the all-important leap from picture books to chapter books. Jacobson received enthusiastic applause when she told the audience that picture books "should be used at every level through high school" to teach kids reading skills, such as identifying points of view and making inferences.

Not all of the sessions, however, were book related. Many offered strategies for advocating the role of the media specialist in K–12 schools. Sharon Coatney, an acquisitions editor for publisher Libraries Unlimited and a former media specialist, and Judy McKee, a third-grade teacher from Oak Hill School in Kansas, offered ways to collaborate with elementary school teachers in "What in the World Will I Do With Those Primary Kids?" Stressing the need to teach kids the long-term importance of libraries, Coatney asked, "If what you do in your [media center] doesn't have an instructional goal, why are you doing it?"

"Student Achievement: It Just Doesn't Cut It" by Professor Ken Haycock of the University of British Columbia stressed that media specialists need to better promote their programs and their contributions to student learning. "We know our collections make a difference when they reflect the curriculum," he says. "But does everyone else in the school know that?"

The next AASL conference will take place in Pittsburgh, PA, between October 5–9, 2005. For more information, visit www.ala.org/aasl.