The OLD Top Shelf

The TASLA group broke into smaller groups by Regional Service Center to draft a list of needs/issues that we would like to see addressed by TSLAC and/or TEA. These are some of the ideas that were submitted:

*commissioner’s rule to make library standards part of the accountbility system
*certified librarian at each campus required
*recruitment incentives for new librarians
*per pupil allotment for library resources in addition to local funds or mandate a percentage of the district budget be spent on library resources
*require each ESC to have a consulting librarian on staff
*state funding for libraries meeting exemplary on school library standards

Possible dates for next year – June 11, 12, 13

Here we are on the last day of TASLA 2007. After a wonderful breakfast sponsored by Permabound, we heard Gloria Meraz on the just completed legislative session.

Gloria began with the biggest school library news to come out of the session – the $2.5 million dollars for library online resources. She credits this win for school libraries to all of the librarians who wrote e-mail and made phone calls to the legislators.

The next step is to plan for what happens in the future – getting the databases funding in TEA’s budget, rather than on a rider; incorporating online resources into the curriculum; working on the school library study of issues and needs that was also mandated by the legislature.

The study opens the potential to bring up the issue of requiring a certified librarian on every campus.

Question – Who gets the results of the study? Governor, Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House and others
It falls to us to make sure that the results of the study are well-known to agency staffers as well as legislators. We will use this as a forum to begin conversations about additional funding, staffing, etc. It’s critically important that we work with and educate other school groups about these issues to create allies.

Thank yous to the following legislators are in order:
Lois Kolkhorst
Warren Chism
Dan Branch
Judith Zaffirini

Q: What are the legislators expecting to see?
Some kind of communication and assurance that now all students have access to quality online information. Letters/pictures from principals, teachers and students regarding how they are using the resources would be great.

Someone brought up the point that training in the use of the databases is huge. It is important that TASLA members work on promoting use and sharing training materials created, so that districts without library leadership or even certified librarians can take advantage of these resources as well.

TLA thanks TASLA for donating $1000 to the Legislative fund, which pays for legislative day and other opportunities for communicating with legislators.

Other bills of interest:
SB 1788 – Shapiron
Deals with distance ed for high school; mentions online library resources
passed

HB 2930 -
offers exemptions to certain school districts for size of science labs and libraries
did not pass

Bill to put 65% rule into law put forward by Sen. Patrick went nowhere

Rep. Dutton’s bill regarding putting school libraries into the state accountability system died in committee, due to the revision of PEIMS. The issue, however, is not dead and with the completion of the school library study will be revisited.

Presenter: Nancy Kubasek, Richardson High School, Richardson ISD

Nancy does several staff development sessions and she offered us a taste of two of them.

Booktalking

All of us need a pleasurable experience with reading every day. Kids will give us 3 opportunities to recommend a book to them. After three failures, their trust is broken.

Paper bag project – Librarian booktalks several books; students read them, then put items in a paper bag that represent their books and give their own presentation; Librarian comes to the classroom to listen to their booktalks

Don’t talk about books you don’t like personally. Talk about books that suck you in and won’t let you go.
Examples:

The Red Thread by Roderick Townley

Runner by Carl Deuker

Desert Crossing by Elise Broach

The Silent Room by Walter Sorrels

Classic/Contemporary Connections

Nancy’s English teachers were sick of reading research papers, so they came up with a way to spice up the typical literary research paper by pairing classic and contemporary literature for a comparison. Contemporary fiction answers the question “who am I?” Pairing it with a classic piece helps students to make that connection between themselves and the classic work. Students don’t look for differences, but similarities instead.
Process:
Students come to the library to get the books they are to read. After doing the reading, they return to the library for literary research on the classic they have read. The next library visit is for literary research on their contemporary book.

What would classic would you pair with these titles?
The Raging Quiet by Sherry Jordan

The Crucible?

Truesight
by David Stahler

Farenheit 451? Brave New World?

These are just two example of pairs. The key to the success of this project is booktalking the contemporary fiction.

If either of these is of interest to you as a librarian, please post a comment.

Dr. Johnson, Associate Commissioner of Education, affirmed the job that school librarians do and vowed that TEA continues to support school libraries and librarians. He recommended that librarians start NOW to work on legislative issues for the 81st legislative session. The 80th session included legislation that shows some movement in the area of school libraries. Rider 88 deals with Library Resources and specifies that TEA shall transfer amounts not to exceed $2.5 million each year of the biennium to TSLAC for online research and information resources. SB 913 calls for TEA and TSLAC to conduct a joint study of school library needs and the respective roles of those agencies in meeting those needs.

TEA contact for libraries:
Karen Kahan, Instructional Materials and Educational Technology Division

I’m back for Day 2 at TASLA!

This morning’s program was a fantastic example of the incredible things that can happen when a principal and librarian work together. The presenters were Deana Harrell, principal, and Debra Marshall, librarian, at Wilson Elementary School, Coppell ISD.

As a new principal with a passion for reading, Deana did away with the computerized reading program that had previously been in place on her campus. She replaced the paraprofessionals running that program with a strong librarian who shared her vision for creating a community of readers, who read for pleasure instead of for prizes. Deana placed the librarian (Debra) on the campus leadership team, giving her the status of a team leader, and the two of them met weekly to map out a plan for bringing Deana’s vision to life. With the help of the assistant principal and the literacy coach, they implemented many new programs in order to bring reading to life on the campus:

Faculty book study facilitated by principal and librarian: Strategies That Work (Stephanie Harvey) for 3-5 grade teachers

Meet & Model Mondays – grade level meetings with literacy coach to discuss guided reading, differentiation, etc.

All faculty meetings had an instructional focus and included staff development provided by the librarian on World Book Online, Teachingbooks.net and NetTrekker d.i., etc.

Book Character Parade

BookWORMS book clubs – 1-3 book clubs at each grade level facilitated by principal, librarian, literacy coach, assistant principal, and parents. Clubs met at lunch to discuss books and funding was provided by a grant from Coppell’s Education Foundation.

Charlotte’s Web Literacy Night – Coincided with the opening of the movie. The librarian created literacy stations that were manned by teachers.

Three (!) author visits – Rick Riordan, Rochelle Strauss, and Kate McMullen

Dr. Seuss week had daily activities based on Dr. Seuss books, including Wacky Wednesday, when the librarian turned things upside down all over campus.

Texas Bluebonnet Award program – 35% of eligible students voted

8th grade reading buddies for 2nd grade students worked on conventions of non-fiction

As a result of their efforts, TAKS scores improved in the area of critical thinking. Library circulation increased by 25% and kindergarten teachers allowed their students to take books home! The book clubs proved so popular that some are continuing to meet over the summer at the local Barnes & Noble. Several veteran teachers formed their own book clubs in their classrooms.

Plans for next year include a library facility upgrade, a student library advisory council, collaboration on lesson plans between librarian and three grade levels, author visit by Claude & Monte Montgomery(Hubert Invents the Wheel), and the formation of a Friends of Coppell ISD libraries.

A great example of what a librarian can do with a collaborative and supportive principal!

TETPC is the Texas Educational Technology Purchasing Consortium for Electronic Library Resources (Region 11). Cherry Fuller is the contact for this program.

Background
Four years ago Region 11 began providing databases for their districts and has since started offering their consortium pricing statewide.

A new RFP was done this year in order to add several new vendors to the list of offerings. Any district in the state can order databases from Region 11 by completing the Interlocal Agreement on the TETPC website.

The goal is to create statewide buying power for school libraries and negotiate a better price for everyone.

Pricing is on the web site. [PDF file]

Some new vendors are:
Journey Back in Time – database of historical material/primary source documents
Teen Health and Wellness – Rosen Publishing
World and I – global information about current events

Each vendor has information regarding trials on the web site. Just click on the link to the resource in which you are interested.

A school librarian is a manager; 60% of a manager’s job is resolving conflict. It is very important that school librarians are skilled at conflict resolution.

The same behavioral expectations apply to volunteers as to other staff members.

Retention and Recruitment of New Librarians
Julie suggests writing a paradigm shift from the classroom teacher to librarian (Three things that are different) to share with teachers.
Bring prospective librarians to TLA.

Julie Todaro, presenter
Dean, Library Services
Austin Community College

Julie shared many tips about staying legal while dealing with personnel. It was interesting to note that HIPAA regulations do not allow employers to create a file of emergency medical information for employees anymore. If an employee has a medical condition that an emergency worker would need to know about if the employee is incapacitated, the information should be kept in their wallets or a certain desk drawer that the employer knows about. Also, discussing an employee’s medical condition in his absence is illegal as well. Even telling other workers in the office the medical reasons that another worker is taking time off is illegal. If the information comes from the person, it is not a violation, but third-hand, it is.

Peggy Rudd, Texas State Library and Archives Commission

TEA Rider 88 provides up to 2.5 million from TEA’s technology allotment for library online resources, which only is 65% of previous funding for TLC. TEA and TSLAC will enter into an interagency contract to transfer the funds. It is unknown at this time when the funds will be transferred and in what amount, but TSLAC hopes to have a program in place by September. The vendor has not been selected at this time. There is a fact sheet online that can provide more details.

There is a possibility that TexShare will be an option for school libraries.

Last year TSLAC went under sunset review and was given a directive by the legislature to work with TEA to determine the needs of school libraries and figure out which needs should be met by TEA and which needs should be met by TSLAC. The study must be completed by December 31, 2008 for the 2009 legislative session.

Another Rider directs TEA and TSLAC to explore creating an after school homework assistance program with their current budget.

Greetings from the Texas Association of School Library Administrators annual summer conference in Austin! My posts this week will give you a little insight into what we are spending the week talking about.

Book Clubs! – presented by Cris Espinoza, librarian at LBJ Middle School in Pharr-San Juan ISD. Cris has a phenomenal book club program that she described for us this morning. It is based on Oprah’s idea of discussing a book over a meal. All students are welcome to read the book of the month and participate in the Book Club meeting on campus. Students who want to go beyond that may write a review or summary of the book. These reviews are scored on a rubric based on TAKS writing criteria. The top six students are taken to lunch at a local restaurant for a more intimate discussion. In addition to the meal, what is different about Cris’ book club is that she invites district personnel, parents, teachers and community members to participate. The superintendent of the district has participated in every book club meeting since the club started. The program is funded by sponsorship from local businesses. The sponsors help to provide a copy of the book for each book club member, refreshments for the meetings and the lunches out. In 06-07, the book club had over 200 members and book club members had a 92% TAKS passing rate. These are students with a low SES and very little reading material at home, so it was quite an accomplishment! The LBJ Book Club was so successful that it has now expanded district-wide.