Uelma Knows Volume 38, Issue 2 December 2016 UELMA WORKS Volume 38 ~ Issue 2 ~ 34 December Volume ~ Issue 1 ~2016 September 2013 A Utah Educational Library Media Association Publication An AASL Affiliate Working for Librarians, Teachers, and Students of Utah Page 2 Volume 38, Issue 2 UELMA WORKS UELMA December 2016 Utah Educational Library Media Association Publication Message from the President– Sarah Herron Dates Coming Up: UELMA Conference March 3 West Valley City UCET Conference March 16-17 Salt Lake City ULA Conference May 17-19 Sandy Newsletter Submissions: -Please send articles for publication to Sarah Herron at [email protected] or Elisabeth Petty at [email protected]. -Visit our website at http://www.uelma.org/Newsletters .html for more information. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is an important opportunity for school libraries to receive funding for programs, personnel, resources and professional development. For the first time in decades, school libraries are specifically mentioned in federal legislation. In October, UELMA hosted an AASL workshop in Salt Lake City exploring the details of ESSA; later that month, we were able to share that information again in southern Utah at the SUMS Conference. The details of the workshops can be found elsewhere in this newsletter. The resources for ESSA – the slide show presentation, the workbook, and the position papers - can be found our website (www.uelma.org). Each state must create a new ESSA educational plan to present to the Department of Education between February and April of 2017. It is important to note that while school libraries are mentioned in ESSA, there is nothing in the legislation that requires states to use the funds to assist school districts in providing for school library programs, access to and integration of technology, personnel and resources “in order to improve instruction and student achievement.” Because ESSA legislation is new, our Utah State Board of Education board members and personnel may not be aware that these funds can support personalized learning experiences in the school library. School librarians need to be at the table when these funding decisions are made. Take action! Now is the time to spread awareness about the amazing Why are you a member of UELMA? library programs that are happening As we have been recruiting new and could happen with funding from members, I have been asking UELMA ESSA in your school library. Write members why they have joined UELMA. Why do you spend your time to our newly elected Utah State and/or money to support UELMA? School Board members and make them aware of the addition of school What are the benefits, both professionlibraries to ESSA. Contact your dis- al and personal, to belonging to our organization? Is it the conference, the trict school board members so they resources, the comradery or unified can support you at the state level. voice for school libraries in Utah? I Build coalitions with community am interested to hear your answers. stakeholders such as businesses, Please e-mail me (Sarah Herron) at parents, students, organizations who [email protected]. cont... Page 3 UELMA WORKS President’s Message cont... benefit from students educated with the Library Media Standards by library personnel. Create “elevator speeches” to use at every opportunity, tying examples of the work you do in the library and how ESSA funding can expand learning opportunities for students. Resources are available to help you craft your messages. A brief description of the areas of ESSA that apply to school libraries and action steps can be found in the document, ESSA Opportunities for School Librarians. AASL has developed worksheets for coalition and message development as well a sample letter for legislators at http://essa.aasl.org/resources/. Please contact a UELMA Board member with any questions. We all know what we offer in school libraries is critical to our students, families, community and society. Please share your story and the opportunities that ESSA funding will provide with everyone you know. Sarah Herron UELMA President UELMA History UELMA was organized in 1972 by a group of about a dozen college educators. It was originally called UEMA (Utah Educational Media Association); the name was changed to UELMA in 1982. The group determined there was a need for a professional organization to expand and support the goals of existing organizations such as the Utah Library Association School Section. The newly found organization’s goals were fivefold: To unite people who are responsible for instructional programs To enhance the means to share ideas within that group To establish and maintain standards To act as an agency and representative for the school, public, and university libraries To act as a liaison organization with state and national groups that influence educational development Those goals have not changed significantly to this day. In fact, the comments of Don Smellie, UEMA’s first president, at the first convention in 1973 mirror the comments made by recent presidents. They are as applicable today as they were over 40 years ago: “I feel we are off to a great start with such programs as our newsletter, speakers bureau, legislative committee and convention. Our membership is growing fast as professional media educators in the state see their role as being responsible for the total UELMA was organized in 1972 by a group of about a dozen college educators. learning oriented media concept. This, of course, was the reason that UELMA was organized–to create a high quality learning oriented professional association for those who are involved in the many aspect of the educational media profession.” The 1970s was a decade where “technology” included filmstrips, slide projectors, phonographs, reel -to-reel tape recorders, 16 mm projectors and ditto printers. Although books were the most common educational medium, UELMA’s initial major focus was technology. An interesting antidote from UELMA’s early years comes from librarian Phyllis Shaw. She remembered asking Kent Wood at Utah State if she “should spend all her [library] money on records or buy some of the new funny little cassettes that were just being introduced at the time.” Although librarians today are not considering buying cassette tapes, the issues we face are still the same as librarians of the 1970s: how do we introduce technology into our libraries? What is the purchasing balance in our limited budgets between printed materials, eBooks, and other technology? How do we best meet the needs of our patrons? UELMA continues in the proud tradition of its founders to assist librarians as they strive to meet the needs of education and the students they serve. Source: “UELMA—Anchor in a Sea of Change,” UELMA Archives Page 4 UELMA WORKS UELMA 2017 Conference March 3rd, 2017 Utah Cultural Celebration Center West Valley City, Utah Page 5 UELMA WORKS 2017 Conference Announcements Conference Presenter Proposals UELMA is now accepting presentation proposals for the March 2017 conference. Please consider presenting. We learn and grow so much from each other. Our organization, our profession, and our school libraries collectively grow stronger by members like you sharing what you know and do. If you haven't presented in the past because the 45 minute session just seemed too long to fill, we are offering both 30 minute and 45 minute sessions this year. Just specify which time allotment works best for you and your presentation. Applications are due by December 16th. This call for proposals goes out not only to the certified librarians, but to the paraprofessionals as well. We don't typically have enough sessions geared to the paraprofessionals, so we need your help. Please consider sharing what you do with your colleagues. -Click here to submit a presentation proposal: UELMA Presentation Proposal Form -Click here to submit a poster proposal: UELMA Poster Proposal Form The links can also be found on the UELMA website (http://www.uelma.org/). Award Nominations UELMA invites you to nominate those individuals who make significant contributions to school library media programs in Utah. This is an opportunity to recognize outstanding individuals who make a difference in the lives of students, teachers, schools, the library profession, and the community. The nomination form will be available on the UELMA website on January 3, 2017. Applications will be due February 1, 2017. Online Registration Online conference registration will begin January 3, 2017. The registration form will be on the UELMA website. Or mail in the paper submission on the following page with a check now. Follow UELMA Can’t get enough of UELMA? *Check out our webpage at www.uelma.org *Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UELMA.org *Follow us on Twitter @UELMA_Utah *Follow us on Instagram uelma_librarians *Follow us on Pinterest UELMA Librarians Use hashtags #uelmatips #uelmareads #uelmalibrarians Page 6 UELMA WORKS Page 7 UELMA WORKS Advocacy: What’s Your Story? At the 2016 UELMA Conference we had Big Budah from Fox 13 join in on the fun. I love to meet folks, especially those that would have an interest in my students, so we took a selfie for my library social media, and I invited him to visit our school in September. I was warned that he might not come, especially if there was a pressing news story, but we planned for him and the students were excited. We prepared by inviting students to our launch of Norsémon GO! - our school wide reading incentive plan and let them know we were having a reading celebration. The day came and sure enough, Big Budah walked into the Norseman Nook. Then he asked me a question that has settled deep inside my librarian heart, “What’s your story?” I blinked and I thought, but I wasn’t sure how to answer. I babbled something and he looked at me and restated the question, “Why are you celebrating?” I was stumped. What is our story? At that same UELMA Conference, President Michelle Miles urged every librarian to become involved in advocacy, a word in my experience with negative connotations. So what is advocacy? The definition developed by the American Association of School Librarians, of which we are an affiliate states, “Advocacy: On-going process of building partnerships so that others will act for and with you, turning passive support into educated action for the library program. It begins with a vision and a plan for the library program that is then matched to the agenda and priorities of stakeholders.” It basically boils down to public relations and marketing, but as a teacher, I wasn’t trained for PR and marketing, so I thought. The AASL has a Toolkit for Promoting School Library Programs: Messages, ideas, and strategies for communicating the value of school library programs and school librarians in the 21st century. AHAH! Advocacy is also called promotion! That’s something that I do understand and it’s not scary. The goal of advocacy, according to the AASL Toolkit is: “To improve the school library program’s perceived value and ability to serve its constituents groups.” The chapter on advocacy suggests that it begins with a plan, the foundation of which are your everyday actions. Planning for Advocacy What is your library’s story? How does your well selected collection and instruction support student growth and learning? How does the contribution the library makes to your school improve student achievement? Take time to make a list of what is happening in your library. Advocacy doesn’t mean changing what you are accomplishing. It means to find and share the story of your successes. One of our responsibilities as librarians is to gather data. Find the numbers that show what is happening. How many classes come to the library? What are they doing there? Which lessons are collaborations with other faculty members? Did students take on the Maker challenge? Which books do your readers get excited about? What projects have your students created from their research? Capture the anecdotes through photos or the written word about the impact of the library. Then share these stories! Advocacy is Reaching Out The AALS Toolkit, which is available as a free download, includes pages of practical suggestions for reaching out. Start small by first reaching out to your patrons, the students. Our library is called the Norseman Nook because it is the Norsemen who have helped guide the development of our learning center. Students have the opportunity to recommend book titles, submit book reviews, propose library improvements or additions to the Maker Space, and other suggestions. One day after a particularly large class visited, a student cont... Page 8 UELMA WORKS Advocacy, cont... recommended that the Nook needed additional tables and chairs. Chairs once gathering dust in storage were brought up that very afternoon. Now with the support of administration, the school community council, and the after school program partners, the library has enough tables to accommodate even the largest class and multiple classes for activities. A student’s request for a chess set was easily fulfilled. One was acquired and it was a big hit. Now the library has many additional sets and our school started a Chess Club. Budding student authors were asking to use our Production Computer Lab before school and during lunch to write, so our NaNoWriMo Young Writer’s Program was started. When students have ownership in their school library they are natural advocates. They have great ideas, know what they need, and are the reason why we advocate to other shareholders, too. Other shareholders, or as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) calls them, our Coalition, include faculty, administrators, parents, caregivers and the community. Create an elevator speech, a brief message to share when people want to know about what’s going on in the library. The materials prepared by AASL about the ESSA includes worksheets to think through your coalition and write your own elevator speech. Take time right away to prepare what you want to share with others about your library. You never know when you might have the opportunity to share your story. November 8, 2016, I was invited to join an election day celebration. Little did I know that I would have the chance that night to meet with two senators and three congressmen. Fortunately, I had attended Sarah Herron’s workshop about the ESSA at the SUMS conference. We used time at the session to brainstorm and prepare our elevator speech, so I was ready. Speaking with senators is a rare occurrence, but I do see faculty, administration, and parents daily. Who do you see daily? Be prepared when someone asks, “How are things in the library?” Tell the Story Big Budah and my students saved me that morning in September when we went on air by sharing the story of a school library where wild Norsémon roam and students catch them by reading because, “Norsemen Read Every Day!” Ann Riding Advocacy Survey School Libraries need the voice of UELMA! Please fill out the Advocacy Survey to share your ideas and concerns. Page 9 UELMA WORKS How Tweet It Is? “Why should I use Twitter?”, you might ask. I was surprised to learn how many businesses and organizations use Twitter to find clients, customers, and to advertise their services. Many teachers use Twitter as a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Utah’s own UEN and UCET hold a weekly Twitter Chat from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm every Wednesday. Please join us. For more information, visit http://www.ucet.org/utedchat/. How does Twitter work? Hash tags categorize items into groups. #utedchat, #blendedlearning, #K12, #STEM, #hourofcode If you are looking for information about literacy, type “#Literacy” into your Twitter search bar. Click on the hash tag you want, and you will get lots of tweets featuring the same hash tag. #uelmareads #uelmatips & #uelmalibrarians are great hashtags for Utah School Librarians. #TheFranklinEffect is a hashtag created by principal Randy Miller for celebrating his school, Franklin Elementary in Salt Lake City. It enables him to tell their story to those who don’t follow the school itself. Scroll through the tweets to find those of interest to you. When a school library has a # that people follow, that library reaches beyond its own walls. Are you interested in school library makerspaces? Check out #worldsofmaking or #tinkeringchild. Want to know what’s going on at the U? Try the hashtag, #UniversityofUtah. Give Twitter a try! You might just find it useful! Leslie Lewis @MaripoZel UELMA Grant Opportunities *Attend the Fall 2017 AASL Conference in Phoenix! UELMA and SUU will help cover some of your attendance costs. Please fill out the AASL Grant Application here. *Build a Little Free Library and we will cover some of your building costs. Please fill out the LFL Grant Application here. Both of these applications are found on the UELMA website, www.uelma.org. Page 10 UELMA WORKS Workshop Updates On October 12th, we hosted an American Association of School Libraries (AASL) workshop at the Utah State Board Of Education (USBE) office. Ms. Wendy Stephens, AASL Director from Region V, presented a PowerPoint exploring the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and guided the group in developing advocacy strategies to be used with community stakeholders and elected Utah officials in order to ensure the inclusion of school libraries in the upcoming funding budget. Approximately 40 library personnel and advocates from across Utah, representing 10 school districts, 3 charter schools and 2 universities, attended the workshop. Ms. Stephens indicated the specific sections of ESSA that school libraries can target to advocate for funding and highlighted two federal grants that could apply to school library programs. Workshop attendees developed a list of community stakeholders, focused on how to garner their support for school libraries, and created “elevator speeches” on the importance of school libraries and how specific areas of ESSA can be addressed by school libraries in order to promote student success. The workshop was videotaped by the staff at USBE and will be available on the UELMA website (www.uelma.org). We are grateful to AASL for providing Ms. Stephens and the workshop materials free of charge and to the Utah State Board of Education for allowing us to meet at their office and for taping the presentation so we may share it throughout Utah. On October 26th, UELMA Board members travelled to the Southern Utah Media Specialists (SUMS) Conference in Cedar City at the invitation of SEDC/WCSD. Over 100 libr ar y pr ofessionals fr om acr oss southern Utah attended the free conference. SEDC/WCSD made a conscious decision to move the SUMS conference to October in order to make it more feasible for their members to attend the UELMA Conference in March. UELMA was asked to provide several session presentations and vendors for the conference. Selena Campbell gave a “standing room only” presentation on book talks, Ann Riding excited attendees about grant opportunities for libraries, Caitlin Gerrity joined a panel discussing collaboration between Utah academic and school librarians to increase college readiness in terms of information research skills, and Sarah Herron shared a condensed version the earlier ESSA presentation. Thanks to Randy Barron’s vendor recruitment efforts, the conference was able offer multiple door prizes and the vendors gained new customers. Larry Jeppesen and Emilee McCoy were so enthusiastic when talking about UELMA at our table that we gained 8 new members. It was a win-win event! Non-fiction Book Reviews Croke, Vicki. Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him save Lives in World War II. Waterville, ME: Thorndike, a Part of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2014. Print. Burma, 1920 – Elephants are the labor force for the British teak companies in the area. Billy Williams arrived in Burma straight after the first World War. He became a force for good in the lives of the elephants. He began both an elephant school and an elephant hospital. After the elephant school became popular, less elephants had to be captured wild. More elephants grew up learning about the teak business from their fellow elephants. In 1942, when the Japanese invaded, Billy and his elephants helped the war effort at their own peril and against impossible odds by smuggling British citizens out of the area to safety. McDermid, Val. Forensics: W hat Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us about Crime. New York: Grove, 2014. Print. Crime dramas on TV make all this forensics stuff look fast and easy. It isn’t. It has taken years to develop all the ideas and procedures and prove their value in court. Val McDermit gives a fascinating history of how discoveries in insect lives, fingerprint whorls, vein formation on bodies, blood types and DNA groups have helped thwart criminals and prove innocence. Leslie Lewis Page 11 UELMA WORKS Teachers and Technology Program Don’t forget to apply for the Century Link Teachers and Technology Program grant. Applications will be accepted till January 12, 2017. Grants up to $5,000.00 will be awarded. You can look at a list of the grants that were awarded last year to see what the readers liked. As of Friday, December 3, only 3 grant proposals had been turned in! Just do it! Join a Committee We are focusing on the areas of Membership, Advocacy and Professional Development this year. I have been impressed with the perspectives and ideas generated in our committee meetings to support all library personnel in Utah. However, we could use more members on each of the committees. Please consider joining a committee and sharing your ideas on how to make UELMA stronger. Attendance can be in person, via email, or possibly video conferencing. Please contact Emilee McCoy (Membership - [email protected]), Ann Riding (Advocacy - [email protected]) or Emily Davenport (Professional Development - [email protected]). Subscribe to Listserv Read All About It! This fall, there have been lively, engrossing online conversations through the Library Media mailing list ([email protected]). This list -serv is a supportive forum for sharing ideas and asking questions to library colleagues throughout Utah. Promoting active discussion has been a hallmark of UELMA. Don’t miss out! Not on the mailing list? Here’s how you join: To Subscribe to the Library Media Mailing List: Go to https://lists.uen.org/mailman/listinfo Review the list of available mailing lists Select the Library-Media list Follow the directions on the screen to subscribe / unsubscribe “Rev Your Page 12 UELMA WORKS UELMA Spotlight UELMA Member Heather Anderson Juab High School Nephi, Utah UELMA is happy to spotlight Heather Anderson. She is originally from Salina, Utah. She has lived in Nephi for almost 9 years and worked at Juab High School for that same amount of time. She has worked as the librarian for 4 years now and she loves it! Her hobbies include: reading, coloring, playing the piano, watching her kids participate in their activities, and binge watching Netflix. Her favorite genres are historical fiction and fantasy. Favorite authors: John Green, Harper Lee, and Kiera Cass. Asking her to pick her favorite book is like asking her to pick a favorite child…right now her favorite would have to be “The Selection” series by Kiera Cass, “Orbiting Jupiter” by Gary D. Schmidt, and “We Were Liars” by E. Lockart, and the Michael Vey series by Richard Paul Evans. Her favorite book characters are Scout from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Hermione Granger from “Harry Potter,” and Augustus Waters from “The Fault in our Stars.” Her favorite quotes are: “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love.” ―J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as well as: “Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.” —Natalie Babbit, Tuck Everlasting. She says the most challenging aspect of her job is trying to bring technology (ebooks mostly) to her school and getting students to use it. The most rewarding aspect of her job is being able to work with students on a more personal basis and see them succeed at different things. Overheard in the Library Librarian regarding a torn cover: What caused this? Female student: My backpack. It’s not a happy place. Female student holding a book above her head in triumph: Yes! Yes! It’s in!!! Me, upon seeing it’s Calamity by Sanderson: Ahhhh. Now I understand. Me to group of students: Boys, are you looking for some books? Assistant: We just got a bunch of new romance in! Male student: Bring it on. “I need to come here more often. They have all these books I didn’t know about.” Emily Davenport Page 13 UELMA WORKS Letters About Literature Letters About Literature is an annual national reading-writing contest for students in grades 4-12. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author (living or dead), stating how reading his or her work changed the reader or the reader’s view of the world. Letters About Literature is a program of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and is made possible by a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. The State Library coordinates the Letters About Literature contest in Utah. Entry form: Letters About Literature Guidelines and Entry Form (pdf) Entries must be postmarked by: Level 3 (high school, grades 9-12) December 2, 2016 Level 2 (middle school, grades 7 & 8) January 9, 2017 Level 1 (upper elementary, grades 4-6) January 9, 2017 For more information or assistance contact: Sharon Deeds, Utah State Library Youth Services Coordinator 801-715-6742 or [email protected] UCET 2017 Conference Registration for UCET is NOW OPEN! The Utah Coalition of Educational Technology is proud to announce their upcoming conference on Thursday and Friday, March 16 – 17, at the University of Utah. For more details and to register, please visit our website. Our keynote speaker for Friday, March 17 is Steph Davis. Page 14 UELM UELMA WORKS Page 15 UELMA WORKS UELMA Board 2016-2017 PRESIDENT Sarah Herron East High School 870 S 1300 E Salt Lake City, UT 84102 801-583-1661 [email protected] BOARD MEMBER (2018) Sonya Miles Eastmont Middle School 10100 S 1300 E Sandy, UT 84094 801-826-7050 [email protected] STATE LIBRARY LIAISON (2017) Sharon Deeds Utah State Library Division 250 N 1950 W Suite A Salt Lake City, UT 84116 801-715-6742 [email protected] PRESIDENT ELECT (2018) Selena Campbell Northridge High School 2430 N Hill Field Rd Layton, UT 84041 801-402-8588 [email protected] BOARD MEMBER (2018) Randy Barron Gumdrop Books 801-623-8038 [email protected] USOE LIAISON Jennifer Throndsen Utah State Office of Education 250 E 500 S PO Box 144200 Salt Lake City, UT 84114 801-538-7893 [email protected] PAST PRESIDENT Michelle Miles Riverton High School 12476 S 2700 W Riverton, UT 84065 801-256-5845 [email protected] SECRETARY Rose Cain Glendale Middle School 1430 W Andrew Ave Salt Lake City, UT 801-974-8319 [email protected] BOARD MEMBER (2017) Emily Davenport Frontier Middle School 1427 Mid Valley Rd. Eagle Mountain, UT 84005 801-610-8777 [email protected] BOARD MEMBER (2017) Caitlin Gerrity Southern Utah University 351 West University Boulevard Cedar City, UT 84720 435-586-1908 [email protected] BOARD MEMBER (2019) Melia Fidel Murray High School 5440 S State St Murray, UT 84404 [email protected] BOARD MEMBER (2019) Emilee McCoy Paradigm High School 11577 S 3600 W South Jordan, UT 84095 801-676-1018 ext. 307 [email protected] BOARD MEMBER (2019) Ann Riding North Davis Jr. High 835 S State St Clearfield, UT 84015 801-402-6532 [email protected] PARAPROFESSIONAL & ULA LIAISON (2017) DaNae Leu Snow Horse Elementary 1095 W Smith Ln Kaysville, UT 84037 801-402-7397 [email protected] UCET LIAISON (2019) Leslie Lewis Salt Lake City School District 440 E 100 S Salt Lake City, UT 84111 801-578-8405 [email protected] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Larry Jeppesen 435-512-6809 [email protected] Page 16 UELMA WORKS UELMA Vendors Here are trusted partner vendors recommended by UELMA ABDO Publishing Chuck Scheppy 303-257-2320 [email protected] Proquest Jeff Cutler 801-250-0568 [email protected] Alexandria Library Automation Stephen Kunzler 800-347-6439 x523 [email protected] Rainbow Book Company Dave Wirth 801-214-8216 [email protected] Bound to Stay Bound David McPhee 800-637-6586 x3539 [email protected] Scholastic Book Fairs Jeanne Eakland Dusty Beatty Tatum Telford 800-548-2665 [email protected] Davidson Titles, Inc. Brian Rollins 801-232-6531 [email protected] Follett Software Kristy Paul-Mathews 310-793-7250 [email protected] Gale/Cengage Learning Maureen O’Brien (800) 877-4253 x2130 [email protected] Gumdrop Books Randy Barron 888-421-7984 [email protected] Mountain West Digital Library Rebekah Cummings 801-587-8893 [email protected] Catherine McIntyre NN/LM National Library of Medicine John Bramble 801-587-3487 [email protected] Perma-Bound Larry & Kathy Kershaw 801-580-8594 801-943-7931 [email protected] Tales 4 Teaching Barbara Saylor 801-243-6619 [email protected] Utah Education Network (UEN) Rich Finlinson 801-585-7271 [email protected] Utah Educational Savings Plan Diane Johnson [email protected] 801-366-8463 Scott Pettett 801-321-7188 [email protected] Utah State Library Juan Tomas Lee 801-715-6769 [email protected] World Book Rob Geertson 800-975-3250 [email protected] Mark Swenson 801-821-8957 [email protected]
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