October Library Meetings 2014
Notes for both Elementary and Secondary
Introduction of the Library Media Services Advisory Committee!
We are so fortunate so have a strong ally and library advocate in Dr. Pauline Dow, Chief Academic Officer for our district. With her encouragement and support, we are re-organizing some of the roles we originally announced as belonging to the CLEVER committee and forming a NEW Library Media Services Advisory Committee. (The CLEVER committee will still continue to exist and will promote some of our social and less formal goals.) The NEW Library Media Services Advisory Committee will have the support, endorsement, and recognition of the district and will give us a direct line of communication to Dr. Dow.
The work of the committee will be to gather and assess relevant data in order to pass on formal written recommendations on library-related topics to both the Library Media Services department and the district at large. The committee will continue and complete some of the work others have started in the past, such as the revised librarian job description and evaluation, and then move forward with other projects, including but not limited to: staff development issues, research and evaluation topics, and creating a long-range development plan.
Membership in the committee will be determined by application. Our goal is to have a committee of 12 that represents the diversity of schools in our district (from early childhood to high school, as well as geography and demographics), and also members of the LMC staff. The committee's first task will be to ratify and adopt the draft charter to formalize the structure and functioning of the committee for the future. Currently, the draft charter states that meetings will occur once a month, after school hours, at the LMC.
Why should you apply for the Library Media Services Advisory Committee? This is an opportunity for us both to increase coordination and work more strategically inside our own department and to heighten our visibility, prominence, and credibility within the district. The committee's work will allow all of us to feel that we are not "going it alone," but a have a representative voice in the information-gathering and decision-making process for the Library Media Services Department. It will be a unique chance for you to work collaboratively and in-depth with other librarians and further the work of the whole department. Do it for you; do it for all of us!
Heather Stephens, librarian
McBee Elementary School
512.841.250
The new AISD digital press, Voiceprint!
From the website: An Austin Independent School District digital press where students, parents, and teachers publish their original writing.
http://www.voiceprintaustin.org
This is a great way to publish student work! The website is owned and operated by Austin ISD Office of Academics and plans to expand to include photography/video/etc. as it develops. There are three publication dates a year (the next one is 11/1/14) and are posted under announcements as they determine their dates. Check back often for information. All permission forms can be found under ‘How to Submit’ tab.
Humanities Texas and Traveling Exhibits: Sue King
www.humanitiestexas.org is the site where the different exhibits are listed
From Sue’s flyer:
“ACCESS is going to write a mini-grant to Humanities Texas to provide a number of traveling exhibits to schools in the Austin area. The exhibits are delivered to the school and picked up from the school at no expense to you. You provide a location and arrange for them to be seen and enjoyed, used for classes, etc.”
Contact Sue King by November 15th if you’d like more information or interested in having exhibit:
512-963-1497
provide her with the following information:
name, school, phone number, email address, exhibit you’d like to have, and the dates you’d like to have it
Amanda Brawner chatted with us about the RIF Read-a-thon!
Some students are natural readers. Others may take a little bit more to get excited about reading. Read-A-Thon is perfect for both. Students that love to read are encouraged to read even more. For more reluctant readers, Read-A-Thon is a fun program with competition, prizes, and a lot of extra encouragement. Parents have commented that participation in Read-A-Thon provided their children the extra incentive to really take off with reading.
Through participation in Read-A-Thon, students read as much as they can, solicit donations from friends and family to support their efforts and earn fun incentive prizes. Students learn about literacy challenges facing many children living in poverty in Austin and are able to spread awareness and educate others on the hurdles facing children growing up without early childhood literacy resources.
BookSpring invites you to register your school as a participating campus! Sign up at http://www.bookspring.org/2015-read-a-thon/2015-bookspring-read-a-thon-school-registration-form/.”
Thanks so much,
Amanda K. Brawner
BookSpring Read-A-Thon Coordinator
O: (512) 472-1791 x. 110
C: (816) 522-0820
Elementary Specific
Hollie Jenkins shared her Bat Scavenger Hunt and a sample of her Monthly report that she shares with her campus!
We also had some eye opening discussions about genre's, Learning Ally, grading math test, getting GT certified, amongst other things.
Secondary Specific
Antoniette shared her TRW smore (smore.com) she created for Teen Read Week, as well as her library Symbaloo. She talked about soliciting food coupons from local eating establishments to use as incentives for her reading programs. She also showed us her Live Binder from her previous work experience.
Some conversation started about creating a single district resource site (web-based types as shown in Antoniette’s Live Binders) instead of us each coming up with our own (this would be a joint effort by all librarians). Jenny piped in and showed us a glimpse of the new face of Sirsi once they get it updated. (No date currently set on when update will happen.)