Steel Away

Let’s face it. These are challenging times for school librarians. If they’re not being threatened with outright layoffs, they feel pressured to justify their existence and prove—quantitatively—the value of what they do. That’s, of course, if they’re not being ignored by teachers and administrators who view the library as little more than a nice place to check out books or park the kids during teacher prep.

Perhaps we exaggerate. But even the best-supported, best-equipped, most-collaborated-with media specialists sometimes run out of fresh ideas, or the energy to pursue them.

The antidote, of course, is a conference. And it turns out there’s a big one coming up next month when the American Association for School Librarians (AASL) holds its 12th national conference in Pittsburgh, PA (October 6–9). This year’s shindig offers an impressive list of sessions on some of the most pressing issues facing the profession, such as…

Teaching Reading. If you’re one of those school librarians who break out in hives at the thought of helping students learn to read, check out one of many sessions devoted to showing you the ropes, including Friday’s “Teaching Reading Strategies in the LMC. What Does It Look Like?”

Using and Collecting Data. Are you prepared to give a statistics-laden presentation to your principal or demonstrate the benefits of a great media center? Could you run an action research project in your library? If not, try to hit one of the many programs offering to take you by the hand through the growing body of school library research and its application in the LMC.

Improving Student Research. If you like the idea of “inquiry-based” learning but are mostly stuck helping kids with fill-in-the-blank reports, there are several sessions aimed at showing you and your teachers how to create inspiring units that will push students to think critically and do in-depth research.

Now that we’ve convinced you to go, check out the following list for an admittedly subjective selection of highlights from each conference day. By no means is this list complete. For that, you’ll need to check the complete conference program (www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslindex.htm). See you in Pittsburgh!

If you can attend today’s preconference programs, you’ll get to spend quality time with one or more of the library world’s heavy hitters—Patrick Jones, Joyce Valenza, or Keith Curry Lance.

Reaching Reluctant Readers: Tips, Tools, and Techniques—Patrick Jones. (9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.) Jones, the author of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries (Neal-Schuman, 2004), is an engaging, irreverent speaker. He’ll be joined by school and public librarians, a teen author, and, yes, some actual teens.

Improving Research—Joyce Valenza. (9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.) This high-octane school librarian can help you turn your library into a 24/7 operation, where students go for quality information whenever the need strikes. She’ll also show how to explain the concepts of information literacy in a language teachers and principals will actually understand.

Power Librarianship: Research-based Strategies for Leadership, Collaboration, and Technology Integration—Keith Curry Lance. (1:30–4:30 p.m.) Lance, a pioneering researcher on the effectiveness of school libraries and librarians, will share research-based strategies for becoming a school leader, working with teachers, and tying information literacy to the curriculum.

Comprehension Strategies: Applications for Content Areas and Research—Ellin Keene. (9 a.m.–12 p.m.) Hear a reading expert with a wide following among teachers. Keene is known for her book Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop (Heinemann, 1997), in which she and coauthor Susan Zimmermann lay out the thought processes of proficient readers and teach ways to develop those processes in students.

Action Research in Action—Carol Gordon and Susan Ballard. (8:30–9:45 a.m.) A professor and a media specialist from Londonderry, NH, explain how to write proposals and design lessons that generate evidence you can use to better do your job.

The Library as Sanctuary—Lynn Evarts and Brian Salzer. (8:30–9:45 a.m.) A high school media specialist and her principal explore the power of young adult fiction and show how to use booktalks and research to make the case for increasing your YA collection.

Help Every Child Succeed at Your Library by Marrying Theory, Practice, and Assessment—Carol Doll and Joette Stefl-Mabry. (8:30–9:45 a.m.) Two academics demonstrate how to use research in information literacy to design curriculum-based projects and evaluate students’ performance.

Using Primary Sources and Blogging to Support Inquiry Learning—Pam Berger and Barbara Stripling. (8:30–9:45 a.m.) Two school-library leaders offer an “active exploration” of inquiry-based learning and the use of technology to support it.

Building Evidence-Based Advocacy Using the Ohio Study—Ross Todd, Gayle Geitgey, and Ann E. Tepe. (8:30– 9:45 a.m.) Hear from researcher Ross Todd and people directly involved in the Ohio Study on how to use the same techniques to document the impact of your library on student learning.

The Alphabet Soup of Student Achievement: How to Decipher the Data and Make a Difference—Daniel Fuller and Cathy McLeod. (10–11:15 a.m.) An academic and a library supervisor explain how to interpret the data from high-stakes testing and translate it into action plans for the media center. A result? Positioning the library program “as the essential tool for student achievement.”

Making the Most of a Fixed Library Schedule—Douglas Johnson. (10–11:15 a.m.) Veteran librarian and tech expert Doug Johnson will teach ways to provide excellent service to students and staff despite having a fixed schedule.

The Big6 in Action: Implementation and Impact—Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz. (10–11:15 a.m.) A joint session with the two gurus of the Big6 approach to information literacy. They’ll talk about how to implement the approach as well as how to assess its impact on student performance.

A Data-Driven Food Chain: Evidence-Based Budget Development—Susan Ballard. (10–11:15 a.m.) A school library director shows how to align your program to instructional goals and use hard data to influence the funding decisions of school decision makers.

Teaching Reading in the LMC: What Does It Look Like?—Sharon Coatney. (1:30–2:45 p.m.) Veteran school librarian Sharon Coatney and members of AASL’s Reading for Understanding Committee discuss ways that librarians can help students improve their reading skills.

S*M*A*R*T Projects for Success—Alice Yucht. (1:30–2:45 p.m.) A longtime school librarian will explore ways to help teachers move beyond “ditto-driven” assignments to create resource-based activities that decrease the chance for plagiarism, connect to the curriculum, and require critical and creative thinking.

Do Your Students Only Google, Yahoo, and Ask Jeeves?—Barbara Fiehn and Mary Jo Taylor. (1:30–2:45 p.m.) Kids who think they know everything about searching the Web actually need help in finding high-quality resources online. Learn strategies to assist them.

What’s a Blog Doing in My Library?—Frances Jacobson Harris. (3–4:15 p.m.) Find out what makes blogs so appealing to teens and how libraries can use blogging to connect with them to promote reading and, yes, to enhance learning.

Chris Crutcher Author Banquet. (6–9 p.m.) The popular young adult writer is as engaging in person as on the page.

Forget Marion! Professor Harold Hill’s Lessons in Advocacy—Debra Kay Logan and Sandy Schuckett. (8:30–9:45 a.m.) Learn how to use and present information that will show key decision makers why school libraries deserve their support.

Beyond Book Selection to Student Achievement—Nancy Wilcox, et al. (10–11:15 a.m.) Media specialists share ways to help students become better readers and explain how to align library instruction with best practices in literacy in an era of standardized tests.

The Role of the Library Media Specialist in the Teaching of Reading—Jean Lowery. (10–11:15 a.m.) An elementary school librarian discusses how to incorporate literacy strategies into the media center. Also, books that promote these strategies and how to use them during read-alouds.

Ban Those Bird Units II—David Loertscher. (10–11:15 a.m.) The ever-amusing Loertscher is on a campaign to ban “bird reports,” the boring fill-in-the-blank assignments that add nothing to achievement. He’ll present 15 models for transforming these robotic exercises into learning experiences worth everyone’s time.

Principals: The Next Frontier for School Library Advocacy—Debra Kachel. (10– 11:15 a.m.) A leading school librarian and library educator describes an online workshop that taught principals about school libraries and Information Power. Learn what will persuade a principal to provide support in the areas of funding, scheduling, and resource selection.

Keeping the Heart of the School—and the Librarian—in Your Library—Linda Cruttenden, Nancy Westendorf, and Caroline Keeler. (10–11:15 a.m.) Three librarians from the Rochester, NY, school district discuss how, by making the library central to their educational mission, they’ve been able to maintain or restore full-time positions in all their schools.

Collaboration: A Primary Source Story— Valerie Edwards, et al. (1:30–2:45 p.m.) Hear a group of media specialists and teachers share how they created a collaborative social studies curriculum using primary sources.

Censorship Happens: How to Successfully Survive a Book Challenge—Judith Krug, Christopher Collier, Nancy Garden, and Robie Harris. (1:30–2:45 p.m.) The director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom joins three writers of frequently challenged (and admired) books to talk about what you can do when your library faces this sort of controversy.

Boys Succeed @ Your Library—Kathleen Baxter and Michael Dahl. (1:30—2:45 p.m.) Toilets, gladiators, warplanes, and bodily noises are just some of the booktalk subjects recommended by SLJ columnist Baxter and children’s writer Dahl to spark a love of reading in boys. The duo promises a “whirlwind, laughter-filled” presentation.

Student Achievement at the Closing General Session—Michael Eisenberg, Steven Baule, Ross Todd, and Ferdi Serim. (3– 4:30 p.m.) Serim moderates this discussion of the latest research on student achievement and how media specialists can use it.

Jerry Spinelli Author Brunch (9–11 a.m.) Don’t miss brunch with the Newbery-winning writer of great books like Stargirl (Knopf, 2000) and Maniac Magee (Little, Brown, 1990). Bring your favorite Spinelli titles for signing.