ISLMA Conference 2007 Highlights

by Christina Stoll, MLS, Lisa Perez, CPS, and Harry Hoynes, CPS

The Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) held their Annual Conference on November 1 – 3, 2007 in Springfield, Illinois.  The conference theme for this year was Making Powerful Learners Virtually Everywhere, and included featured speakers Raymond Bial, David Warlick, Monarch Award Winning Illustrator Mark Buehner, and Rebecca Caudill Award Author Sarah Weeks. 

Lisa Perez, Area Library Coordinator for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) through the Department of Libraries and Information Services, and Chicago Public School Librarian Harry Hoynes, from Lake View High School, share their experience of the event. Perez and Hoynes answered the following questions. 

Which sessions stood out the most?

• David Warlick’s keynote on “Literacy & Learning in the 21st Century” was right on target when he discussed how kids think about and use technology to collaborate and communicate. Examples given included chat speak used for instant messaging, and social networking software, such as kids using digital video to communicate as the newest trend. Kids are taking their own videos, editing, and then sending videos over the internet to talk with each other.  Warlick’s complete keynote can be found at http://landmark-project.com.

• Patti Foerster, Librarian at Vaughn Occupational High School, presented a session on Saturday, titled “Is ‘Library’ for Special Needs Students an Oxymoron?”  Patti’s presentation focused on how to make your library more relevant for the special needs students.  She provided some great examples of how to adapt your library for students in your school with special needs, such as practical tips, games, and activities.

• Alexandra Tyle’s session for creating online tutorials, which showed participants how to use screencasting technology to create an online video for students on using the library and its databases.

• “The Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award @ Your Library” session brought together participants to share ideas on successful promotion within the high school library, discuss how to motivate students to participate, and offered input on how to make the program even better.

Of the sessions attended, what will you be sure to implement back at your library:

• OPAL (http://www.opal-online.org/) was so impressive that the CPS Department of Libraries and Information Services immediately subscribed and now has its own OPAL room to deliver Professional Development to its School Librarians.

• The “Digital Natives Program” by Erin Wyatt, Highland Middle School, and Katie Kirsch, Lake Bluff Middle School, inspired the exploration of using blogs and wikis at my library.  Their presentation can be found at http://www.4shared.com/file/28996677/faecd8dc/ISLMA2007.html.

• Michael Cart’s “The Very Best in YA Books” was an inspiration to all.  Recommendations from this session will be added to our school library’s collection development and library program.

Any new trends or hot topics heard at the conference that the larger school librarian profession should be aware of?

There was buzz from the AASL (American Association of School Librarians), a division of ALA, about new national standards that were launched at the conference, and some early conversations about how they will look and be implemented.  The new standards can be found at http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/learningstandards/standards.cfm.  

Technology continues to be a hot topic, with particular discussion and presentation of examples of how to use it for collaboration and communication. 

Anything else you’d like readers to know?

The ISLMA Conference had a virtual component for the first time this year.  Four sessions were presented in OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries), which allowed conference attendees who couldn’t physically be at these sessions to still participate virtually. 

One of the sessions presented through OPAL was:

• “Virtual Book Club” by Linda Ryan and Sally Tibbets, Maine West High School. Linda and Sally spoke about their own library’s virtual book club and how they’ve used technology to connect with kids using Moodle (http://moodle.org/) an open source classroom management.  Check out their PowerPoint at http://webpages.maine207.org/west/departments/lrc/Documents%20Index/ISLMA%20Powerpoint%20final.ppt.

The virtual sessions were very successful for those who couldn’t make the conference in person.  In addition, the OPAL technology allows any participant to later review any of the recorded sessions.  To learn more about OPAL, visit http://www.opal-online.org.

This year’s ISLMA Conference also saw for the first time a CPS bus of 30 school librarians sponsored by the Department of Libraries and Information Services.  The feedback on offering the bus and security for parked cards left behind was very positive. The supported transportation helps participants attend the conference when it’s outside of the Chicago area.

For complete information about this year’s conference, visit the ISLMA web site at http://www.islma.org or the 2007 ISLMA Conference Wiki at http://islma.pbwiki.com/.

Published December 12, 2007 in vol. 1, iss. 22 [View]