Heading to ALA Midwinter in San Diego

Representatives from the MSLA Executive Board will be in San Diego, CA next week for the ALA Midwinter Meeting.

MSLA Secretary Judi Paradis and President Gerri Fegan will serve as our rep's to the AASL Affiliate Assembly. AASL's Region 1 (New England) is represented by two of our Board members - Ann Perham is the current Director of Region 1 and our President-Elect, Valerie Diggs, is also Region 1 Director-Elect. Executive Director Kathy Lowe serves on the AASL Nominating Committee and will be helping out at the Candidate's Forum and generally keeping the rest of the crew in line.

We're looking forward to finding new resources in the Exhibit Hall, meeting lots of authors throughout the conference, and seeing some of San Diego. We'll be reporting back here soon!

The School Librarian's Role in Reading

The AASL Task Force on the School Librarian's Role in Reading walked us through their position statement and the wealth of resources in the wonderful toolkit they have developed.

A colleague from Maui sitting nearby just showed me that she has included my photo on her blog, so here is evidence that I am actively engaged in this conference presentation.

Follow us on Twitter & Flickr

I've not had a moment to contribute to MSLA en Mass. Thanks to Karen Kosko for her post. I know there are many MSLA members here, but we've been scurrying in all directions! Valerie Diggs, Linda Friel, Gerri Fegan, Chris Swerling and I are all presenters this year. Fortunately, there are many attendees posting on Twitter (#aasl2009), Flickr and the AASL conference blog.

Main libraries of Charlotte

I was very happy to find that my hotel is right across the street from the Main Library at Charlotte and just a few blocks from Imaginon (the complete building dedicated to Charlotte children's public library and the Children's Theatre of Charlotte).

I was immediately impressed by the architecture and attention to detail in both spaces. Quotes about reading and learning surround you. Everything looks new and bright and inviting. The library has careful designed the space with collaborative work in mind. Long gone is the endless and overwhelming maze of stacks - here things are laid out for you, easy to find and enticing. Much like a bookstore.

One of the highlights of the main library is the Virtual Village - with 90 computers available for public use. Reminiscent of an Internet cafe, it was busy on a Wednesday morning. The library even includes a game room and various conferences areas throughout.

Imaginon is amazing - three stories of space dedicated to children. The younger children's library was a bustle of activity. The space is extraordinary - with art both both by children and adults surrounding you, interactive exhibits and a full functioning children's theatre. The young adult wing was laid out with teens in mind - using booth seating and displays. I can't wait to go back.

We're revving up for Charlotte

MSLA members will be flying south to Charlotte, NC soon for the AASL national conference, Rev Up Learning @ Your Library. You can follow our escapades right here on MSLA en Mass.

Monday Highlight #2: ACRL Science and Technology Section Poster Session (ACRL-STS)

I love Poster Sessions.

The ACRL Science and Technology Section Poster Session, unfortunately, was not as centrally located as most of the sessions that I attended. The trek, though, was a completely worthwhile one.

Themed "Big Science, Little Science, E-Science," the above-linked website describes the Poster Session as follows: This program will explore the science librarian's role in the emerging conversation concerning data and data curation in scientific research with the goal of raising awareness and empowering science librarians to approach faculty members about these issues.

While ostensibly geared to other Science Librarians by providing those models, as a side benefit, there was much to be found in the way of resources for k-12 students and teachers, particularly those at the high school level. I had an especially good conversation with the presenters of "Physics Education Research (PER) Central: Expanding the Scope of Digital Libraries by Promoting Resources Through Assisting a Conference" from the University of Oklahoma who shared a model of supporting Physics and Astronomy Education via serving as the repository for conference materials. comPADRE looks like a great resource to bookmark and send on over to your Physics and Astronomy teachers. (free, but requires registration)

Monday Highlight #1: BIGWIG Social Software Showcase 2009 (LITA Blogs, Interactive Groupware Wikis Interest Group)

I watched much of NECC on ISTE TV and attended the "Web 2.0 meet the Standards for 21st Century Learners" (AASL) with Joyce Valenza, Pam Berger, Wendy Stephens, Christopher Harris, Lisa Perez and Jeff Hastings (all on the same stage!!! with a guest appearance from David Loertscher!!!) -- to me, what was unique about the BIGWIG Social Software Showcase 2009 amusingly, was the diversity of the attendees. Because time is so precious, we tend to focus on niche events to exchange ideas with those in a similar position to ours, who best understand the environments in which we work. Being with public, academic, medical and special librarians, with a few trustees tossed in and an ALA reporter to round out the group while exploring implications and use of emerging social software was a fascinating experience. I am still sifting through the ideas that I generated as a result of hearing other attendees projects, questions, ideas and concerns. Don't be surprised if over the next few months I end up posting to the MSLA Listserv with questions related to implementing some of these...

Go check out all three links above -- NECC, the AASL session and the BIGWIG session. If you are interested in more educational technology PD, just wait until next week. EduBloggerCon - East Coast is on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009, followed by November Learning's 2009 Building Learning Communities conference.