Library Services Standards

For those of you who would like to read the document yourself, here it is (and a hat tip to Richard K. Moore over at CALIBK12 for providing the link).

California to have school library service standards!

By unanimous vote today, the State Board of Education authorized:

"...the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop statutorily required standards for school library services, as model standards."

What does this mean? I exchanged emails with CSLA president Connie Williams and her take is:

This is truly the first step towards any number of possibilities - getting standards written and approved lays the groundwork for a wide variety of legislative actions down the road.

The devil is in the details. The standards are cool, but it is those legislative actions to implement the standards that could shape our profession in California unlike anything from the past.

CSLA 2008, Post 6

Why do I go to CSLA? Could I be doing other things with my time? Yes, I certainly could. Could I be content only with what happens in my library? Yes, I certainly could. Could I decide that I have all the information that I will ever need for my job? Yes, I certainly could.

There are so many reasons why I go, but some of the ones that come to mind for me are:

• Learning something new. I can assure you that I take something away from every presentation (although it isn't always what the presenter had in mind).
  


• Meeting people with shared experiences. We are a passionate bunch and they get me.
  


• Getting to spend time with the TLs from my district. Sometimes that can be harder than it sounds. Getting away makes it easier.
  


• Because I am CSLA and so are you. I am on the CSLA Northern Section board because I think there is strength in numbers.
  


• If my job is on the line, I know that people will come to demonstrate, write letters, and be supportive. These are those people.
  
  
• Free books on Saturday afternoon!
  


• The exhibits and getting to know the reps. Most of them I will never buy from, but it does give me the opportunity to see their wares.
  

And so much more. I encourage you to come to CSLA 2009. You will not be disappointed.

CSLA 2008, Post 4

An observation

How organizations are formed and who eventually joins an organization is of some interest to me. Sometimes it happens that organizations end up looking a certain way very much based on who joins. Based on the Joe McHugh presentation this morning, it is very obvious that the California School Library Association is:

a. overwhelmingly white

and

b. overwhelmingly female.

I make this statement with no intention in mind other than to note the fact. When we get together in a large room like we did this morning, it is very noticeable.

I suspect that CSLA reflects the library profession at large. In my own district, we reflect that and only a minority of our TLs and techs are members of CSLA.

CSLA 2008, Post 2

I went to The Best of the Best: What's New in YA Literature. Michael Cart was the presenter and while there well may be someone on the planet that has a greater sense of YA literature, I doubt it.

His format is very straight-forward. "Here's a list of books. I am going to talk about that list of books until my time is up. There will not be time for questions."

It works. I see why people pay extra to attend the workshop. Yes, when I get home I will be purchasing a number of the books he showcased.

Since you are so nice, I will give you one of his lists called "Traditional" YA:

• The Possibilities of Sainthood (Donna Freitas)
• Peeled (Joan Bauer)
• Suite Scarlett (Maureen Johnson)
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (E. Lockhart)
• Sunrise over Fallujah (Walter Dean Myers)
• Mexican White Boy (Matt de la Pena)
• How to Build a House (Dana Reinhart)
• He Forgot to Say Goodbye (Benjamin Alire Saenz)
• What they always tell us (Martin Wilson)
  

The first one I am going to read and booktalk is The Possibilities of Sainthood. It is the story of an Italian-American girl who starts writing the Vatican to let them know that there are living saints and that she is one of them. Among other saints, she says she is "The Saint of the First Kiss." Tell me I can't sell that book to some of my middle school students!

CSLA 2008, Post 1

I have arrived at CSLA 2008 in Sacramento. As always, I am reminded at what Sacramento gets right that Fresno gets so wrong. Sigh.

Yes, I will be blogging the conference. I am already checked in, got my name badge with the cute blue sticker that signifies I am a presenter, and I am good to go. I am signed up for one of the workshops, so that is likely to be the next post.

I am fortunate that my school and my principal sees value in sending me to the CSLA Conference. However, since they do pay for it, I feel a real responsibility to bring back things that can improve our library program.

Library Summer Camp already?

We have already started working on Library Summer Camp 2009. This is an annual event in CSLA's Northern Section Region 3. This has become a quite successful event and we get about 150 paraprofessionals to attend. While we have not narrowed down a date yet, it will be the first week of August 2009. It is unclear which school will host, but we have a couple of possibilities.

The last meeting and the next meeting have been at my school. Most of the people on the committee have jobs (like district librarian) that make it easier to be gone. Because I have several things going on, it makes it a little more difficult for me. So, they decided to make it easier on me and we meet here. I thought that was nice of them.

CSLA Conference in November

Are you looking forward to the California School Library Association Conference in Sacramento? I know that I am. I learned so much last year and I can only imagine that I will learn as much this year.

Also and importantly, I am a presenter this year. I will be moderating a panel discussion on building a successful library career. Note that I said moderating and not actually being an information-provider.

Who is part of the panel? It is an all-star library cast including:

• Jo Ellen Misakian, Fresno Pacific University
• Barbara Jeffus, California Department of Education
• Margaret Baker, Selma Unified School District
• Jackie Siminitus, AT&T

My theory is that library careers do not happen by accident. Yes, you need to do tremendous work in your library, but there are also specific steps to take to move to that next level. This panel will outline those steps.

Librarians are the bomb!

This past Saturday I went to my first-ever meeting of the board for the California School Library Association's Northern Section. As loyal readers may recall, I was recently drafted by the amazing Margaret Baker (president-elect of CSLA NS) to be one of the northern section's Region 3 representative.

It was up by Sacramento, but out in cow country (and I say that also living in cow country).

And what did I discover? It is a good group and I am glad that I opted to get involved.

Graphic Novels Poster Contest

One of the things that I brought back from CSLA 2007 was the desire to create a graphic novels poster contest. One of the major reasons was that I have no artistic skills whatsoever, but I wanted to have some unique posters around my new graphic novels section.

I have spent the last two weeks handing out paper for the contest. Students turned them in last Friday and they have been judged. The students were very enthusiastic about participating in the contest. Part of that enthusiasm was certainly due to the lack of access to art in our middle school. Getting big pieces of paper to draw on is, apparently, very cool.

Some good that came out of it:

• I got students into the library that I do not know (because it was announced every day).
• Students go to do art.
• I got wonderful posters with which to decorate my new section.

Response was so good that I may have a second contest in the spring where I have the students create their own graphic novels.

CSLA Poster Sessions

If you would like to see a slide show of the California School Library Association 2007 Poster Sessions, it is now available.

Clickable Resources from CSLA 2007

I have been meaning to put links to websites from CSLA 2007. It has become quite common to give conference participants additional resources on a website (be it a wiki, blog, or more traditional site).

Street Lit: Resources for Librarians (Miranda Doyle)

Exciting Genres by Tommy Kovac and Heather Gruenthal

ROAR Motivation PowerPoint (Megan Fuller)

Getting "Lucky" WithLM_NET (Peter Milbury)

Free Reference Books Online (Peter Milbury)

Did I miss yours? I am happy to include it in the list. Just leave a comment to this post including the URL and I get it done.

CSLA Wrap-up

The California School Library Association was an amazing event for me because:

• I got free books! I think I ended up with about 16 hard-cover books. That's easily a couple hundred dollars worth of books. (And, yes, I put this first!)
• Getting to bump into people like Barbara Jeffus and Martha Rowland who have had (and continue to have) these amazing library careers (and who are also neat people).
• Getting to hang out with my local library folks (whom it is often difficult to see).
• Having Margaret Baker show me publishers (and if you have never had that happen, you have missed out!).
  
• Seeing many of the students from Fresno Pacific's LIB 720 course (and, yes, this was an assignment for all of us).
• The great presentations from such experienced folks!
• Putting faces to names from CALIBK12
• Getting a sense of the "politics" of the organization.
• Getting to meet some of the authors.

I will definitely go again in 2008. Well worth the time, effort, and money. Being a first year library media teacher, I learned a great deal and, not the least of which, is that I made the right decision to become a librarian.

CSLA, Day 4 (Post 1)

While there were two sessions this morning, I skipped the first one in order to get bags to the lobby.

However, I went to a wonderful session called, "50 Ways to Succeed @ Your School Library." Blanche Woolls offered sound, practical advice about how to manage your library. She is emailing out her list and when it gets to me, I will post more on the subject.

CSLA, Day 3 (Post 6)

I had a ticket for the California Young Reader Medal banquet. Quite a nice event. It was a little disappoint because one of the big winners, Karen Hesse, was sick and had to back out. Still, it is a major event.

For those not in the know, the CYRM books are voted on by California students. The award is presented by the California School Library Association, California Association of Teachers of English, California Library Association, and California Reading Association.

I think I like it because it is what students have enjoyed. I am hoping to have students at my middle school read the nominated books this year and vote in the spring.

CSLA, Day 3 (Post 5)

Free books. I like free books. Capstone Press and Stone Arch (same company) were giving out free books. Get in line and you can get two books. And, yes, you could go through a second time. So I did.

Then I ran into Margaret Baker (District Librarian, Selma Unified and certified Library guru) who encouraged me to get in line with her. So I got two more. Then Margaret gave me her two.

Eight hard back books. Mostly graphic novels because I am really working at building up that part of the collection and Stone Arch has great graphic novels.

As it happens, I have an order in with them now for some and because of what I saw today, I will likely order more. Smart people. Leave us with a good impression.

CSLA, Day 3 (Post 4)

While not well-attended, the Membership Meeting is an important event for CSLA. It gives folks the opportunity to speak their minds on issues of importance. A couple of interesting announcements:

1. As of January 1, 2008, the credential issued to library media teachers will now say "Teacher-Librarian" instead of LMT. (See a post tomorrow for my take.)

and

2. The Standards published by CSLA will now be available for free. (This came, I believe, out of many posts on CALIBK12 asking for them to be made available for free.

There were a number of people who came forward to speak. It was interesting to see what is important to some and not on the radar of others at all.

CSLA, Day 3 (Post 3)

Miranda Doyle, who is fast becoming one of the experts on urban (or "street") lit. Her presentation, "Urban Fiction and Teens," was a wonderful opportunity for those of us who work in urban areas to find books that our students will actually read.

Importantly, Miranda has lists. Many lists! And, because I love you, you can find them here. Great site and valuable information. One thing I liked was that she carefully differentiated between what is acceptable for middle school and what is acceptable for high school.

CSLA, Day 3 (Post 2)

I went to see "School Library Learning 2.0: California's Summer Fun." This was more a celebration of those who completed this training as well as a discussion of how it came about.

Importantly, Winter Fun was announced. Same training, but a new place to start and over some vacation time. It begins December 1 - April 1. For someone like me who has not finished the first round, I can just pick up from where I left off. It is definitely, though, for new people.

CSLA, Day 3 (Post 1)

And I found my #2!

As I mentioned upstream, I hoped to bring back two things to implement right away. The first was analyzing my library based on the presentation by Helen Cox (Long Beach USD) from a presentation yesterday.

Today I went to see a presentation (by Tommy Kovac and Heather Gruenthal, both from Anaheim Union USD) called "Creative and Exciting Genres to Reach Every Student!" This was the one that works for me.

This presentation has two basic premises:
1. After students read a book, they often like to read books within that same genre; and
2. Because of this, you should create book displays and bookmarks (with booklists on the back) based on genres.

The genres they talked about were such cool things as Chick Lit, Vampire Romance, Pirates, Manga-Lovers, and so on.

And, importantly, I am going to make your day. This entire presentation and more is up on their Wiki. It includes original and exciting artwork by Mr. Kovac. You really need to go and take a look at this.

This gets implemented in December with two genres and more to follow!