California Model School Library Standards Approved Unanimously!

Finally, after many decades, the California State Board of Education approved the Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools today (17 Sep 2010), unanimously! The Librarians Association of the University of California passed a resolution (pdf) supporting this effort, as did the California Federation of Teachers, and both deserve much thanks for their strong support.

Free In Second Life-IL Keynote Address: Saturday, 10/2

The following message has been cross-posted to a number of lists.

The 7th annual Georgia Conference on Information Literacy is scheduled for October 1st and 2d in Savannah, Georgia. For details about the RL (real life) conference: http://ceps.georgiasouthern.edu/conted/infolit.html

Anyone interested is invited to attend (in Second Life) the keynote address I will be giving there, “Dream a Little Dream of US… United for Success!”

Date & Time: Saturday, October 2d, 5:30 am – 6:30 am SLT/PT (8:30 am – 9:30 am ET)
Keynote Abstract:
http://ceps.georgiasouthern.edu/conted/infolitkeynote.html
Bibliography:
http://bit.ly/dyghof

Please RSVP in order to receive the SLURL (Second Life URL):
http://bit.ly/d3KOw5

Basic SL accounts are free, though you will need to download SL software in order to participate: http://secondlife.com/

Caveat: Please be aware that SL connectivity can be problematic, so it is possible that we will not be able to connect after all, though we will certainly try.

Questions? Esther Grassian estherg@library.ucla.edu
OR
IM Alexandria Knight in SL

9/13/10 "Back to School Special: Making You & Your Library Indispensable"

From a tweet by gwynthjones...

Making You & Your Library Indispensable

Monday, September 13th, 8 pm (EST)--5 pm (PST)

"A casual discussion to generate ideas on how to build school allies, support new teachers, & become indispensable to admin & staff at the beginning of every school year.

Guests:
Gwyneth Jones, Shannon Miller & Keisa Williams
Host: Gwyneth Jones"

Final Exams at Harvard passe

This tweet may be of interest...

FluffTheBunny

Harvard Univ - Final exams are passé: http://harvardmagazine.com/2010/07/bye-bye-blue-books

ALA Needs Rep to NCATE Board of Examiners

From the Chair of ALA's EBSS...

Dear Colleagues,

I'm writing with an exciting opportunity to nominate yourself or a colleague to be the ALA representative to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Board of Examiners from 2011-2014. Members of the NCATE Board of Examiners (BOE) perform the most essential component of the NCATE process—the voluntary peer review of the professional education unit at a college or university. All on-site visits to schools of education are conducted by BOE teams of 3–6 persons. The BOE is comprised of approximately 400 members of the professional education community representing teachers, teacher educators, policy makers, and specialty areas.

The selection process is as follows:
* October 15: Deadline for applications (see below for more information)
* October 15 – November 1: The EBSS Executive Committee reviews applications submitted and prepares recommendation.
* November 12-26: ACRL Board discussion and virtual vote period
* December 3: ACRL Board submits ACRL’s recommendation to the ALA Executive Board for consideration.
* Midwinter 2011: ALA Executive Board votes and the successful candidate will be appointed to a three-year term as the ALA representative to NCATE Board of Examiners.

Nominees must submit:
* A letter of application articulating qualifications (see the list of qualifications as outlined by NCATE)
* A current vita

Please send application materials directly to Stephanie Davis-Kahl, Chair, Education & Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS) (sdaviska@iwu.edu) by October 15, 2010.

For more information, please see the post on ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org/node/110823). If you cannot view the post, please email me and I will send you the document.

I hope you will consider this opportunity!

Thank you,

Stephanie Davis-Kahl
Chair, EBSS

Free IL Elementary & High School Assessments (TRAILS)

Correction to last blog post--annavan's tweet refers to grades 9 and 12, as well as elementary school grades 3 and 6. "TRAILS Announces New (and Free) Information Literacy Assessments for Grades 3, 6, 9, 12 http://trunc.it/ajfvw"

Free IL Elementary School Assessments (TRAILS)

Tweeted by annavan today: "TRAILS Announces New (and Free) Information Literacy Assessments for Grades 3, 6, 9, 12 http://trunc.it/ajfvw"