This archive was originally posted at serrc.org/schoollibraries
April 13th – In This Issue…
Ward W. Wells. “Student and teacher in classroom in Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska. April 1967.” AMRC-wws-4501-011
SAYL News in Brief
Budget Cuts Impact Alaska Databases
With the planned cuts to the state library’s funding, the budget for databases has been significantly affected. The Alaska State Library will be making cuts to the databases it offers. The following state-wide subscriptions will not be renewed under the current budget plan:
- Auto Repair Reference Manual (ends June 30, 2017)
- GALE Testing and Education Reference Center (will continue as UA-only resource after June 30, 2016)
- Mango Languages (ends June 30, 2016)
- BrainPOP/BrainPOP Jr. (ends June 30, 2016)
- Teen Health & Wellness (ends June 30, 2016)
These Were 2015’s Most Challenged Books (Smithsonian)
“It happens every year: During National Library Week in April, the American Library Association puts out their list of the previous year’s most-challenged books. Usually, the list has a number of repeats that continue to be challenged by parents, library patrons and the clergy, alike, but every once in a while there’s a curveball, and 2015 was such a year.”
Sexual Violence in YA Lit (SLJ)
“April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Share these recently reviewed YA titles and resources with teen readers.”
How To Plan a Teen Poetry Slam at the Library (SLJ)
Library Leadership: “Lead the Change” Three Cities Tour in Alaska (Alaska State Library)
Scholarship, Grant, and Award Opportunities
Ongoing – Alaska Association of School Librarians Professional Development Grants
Deadlines:
Out-of-state travel: 80 days prior to conference
Deadline is May 16th for PNLA Conference, August 3-5
In-state travel: 60 days prior to conference
Online events: 40 days prior to event
Closing April 14th – NEA Challenge America Grant. $10,000 (minimum $10,000 match required) for programs that “extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations.”
Closing April 15th – Snapdragon Book Foundation Grant. $500 – $20,000 to improve school libraries for disadvantaged children (primarily project-based collection development).
Closing April 15th – Great Stories Club. “Libraries selected to participate in the Great Stories Club “Change” series will receive copies of three theme-related books to use in reading and discussion groups of 6 to 10 people; travel and lodging support to attend a national orientation workshop in June 2016 ; and a variety of programming support materials”
Closing May 2nd – National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize. $10,000 to an individual/institution/partnership “that has developed innovative means of creating and sustaining a lifelong love of reading”.
Closing May 2nd – FTRF and GSLIS at Illinois Intellectual Freedom Course and Scholarship Opportunities. $700 towards 2-credit course on intellectual freedom, August 23 – October 11. Open to LIS students.
Closing May 6th – Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming. $5000 to a “school library that has conducted an exemplary program or program series in the humanities during the prior school year.”
Closing May 9th – DOE Now Accepting Innovative Approaches to Literacy Grant Proposals. Estimated Range of Awards to LEAs and Consortia of LEAs: $175,000 to $750,000
Closing May 20th – SLJ School Librarian of the Year Nominations. $2,500 cash award, plus $2,500 worth of print and digital materials from Scholastic Library Publishing.
Closing May 31st – James Patterson and Scholastic Reading Club. $1000 to $10,000 for enhancements to school libraries.
Closing June 1st – 2016 Teen Read Week Activity Grant. $1000 “to help fund literacies-focused Teen Read Week (October 9-15) programs and activities that are especially geared towards youth who speak English as a second language.”
Closing June 31st – Capstone Interactive eBook Matching Grants. Double your Capstone ebook purchasing power. $750-$5,000.
Closing September 1st – ALAN Cart/Campbell Grant for Librarians. $500 and registration fees to attend Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE.
For the complete record of scholarships, grants, and other award opportunities posted in SAYL Mail, visit the SGA Archives.
Employment Opportunities
Additional and up-to-date information at Alaska Teacher Placement
Training and Continuing Education Opportunities
Webinars are no cost and run approximately one hour unless otherwise noted. Opportunities not fitting your schedule? Many of these webinars will later be available as archives.
Ongoing: Free subscription to ABC-CLIO School Library Connection and reVIEWs+ Online Professional Development Suite.
April 14th, 10 am – Considerations for Selecting Primary Sources (LoC)
April 18th, 4pm – TL News Night (TL Virtual Cafe)
April 19th, 10am – Find the Information You Need! (ALA/Booklist)
April 20th, noon – Incorporating eBooks into the Curriculum: Engaging Your Whole School Community with Digital (edWeb)
April 20th, 1 pm – Digital Collection Development – It’s Still the Wild West! (edWeb)
April 20th, 3 pm – Creating Digital Portfolios Using Google Sites (AASL)
Beginning May 16th: New on the Job (School Librarians). Six week asynchronous course. $250, includes text. (ALA)
July 25th – 29th – School-Public Cooperative Library (SPCL) Training, UAF
SPCL is an intensive weeklong workshop providing management and foundational library skills to non-certified school library assistants and public library directors without a Master’s degree in Library Science.
October 19th – 21st – ALA and Harwood Institute 2016 Public Innovators Lab for Libraries. $1,495 first team member/$995 additional team members. Apply for an AkASL PD Grant for this conference by August 1st.
Additional and up-to-date opportunities at the Library Development Training and Continuing Education Calendar
As Seen on Alaska School Librarians Facebook
A roundup of resources shared and questions asked on the Alaska School Librarians Facebook group. This is intended to give readers the chance to access resources at work if Facebook is filtered. Only timely questions, announcements, and links to non-Facebook resources are listed here.
4/3 – [An Open Letter to Our North Carolina Readers]
4/4 – Don’t forget to check out what’s new in the Puffin. Call for input: March and April displays, bulletin boards, as well as MakerSpaces. Have you joined the MakerSpace movement?
4/6 – Check out the amazing interactive presentation for School library month on the AASL site. Loaded with quotes, PD, and activities!
4/6 – As Mark Twain once observed, “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” My goal as a librarian and teacher has always been to create “life-long critical readers.” Citizens who not only can read, but do read.
Out of love of the act.
Out of a need to know the truth.
Out of the need to view the world through the eyes and souls of others.
Out of the need to be changed by what one reads.
Do we spend so much time getting students, especially struggling readers, to pass tests that we actually kill their enjoyment of reading? Solving illiteracy but creating masses of the illiterate.
[Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations in Reading]
4/6 – Did you know that the following databases will not be renewed if the Alaska State Library does not get full funding? Write a public opinion message TODAY or call your representatives and tell your legislature how important it is to fully fund the Alaska State Library so that our students do not lose these valuable resources!
· Auto Repair Reference Manual
· Mango Languages
· BrainPOP/BrainPOP Jr.
· Teen Health & Wellness
· GALE Testing and Education Reference Center
Almanac
April is School Library Month , National Poetry Month, Drop Everything and Read month, National Financial Literacy Month
April 23rd – 30th – Money Smart Week and Preservation Week
April 30th – El Día de Los Niños/El Día de Los Libros (Children’s Day/Book Day)
May is Get Caught Reading Month
Something You’d Like to See in SAYL Mail?
To share news, success stories, resources, and opportunities, please contact Jared Shucha. The next issue is April 27th. To get SAYL Mail updates sent to your inbox, subscribe to the AkASL listserv and ask a colleague to do the same!