February 16, 2013

DC Mayor Signs Law Requiring Youth Anti-Bullying Policies in Libraries, Other City Agencies

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District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray on Friday signed a bill that requires public libraries, schools, recreation centers, and other city agencies that work with young people to adopt and implement antibullying policies.

ALA Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution Supporting School Libraries| ALA Annual 2012

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Drafted by the Special Presidential Task Force on School Libraries, the resolution was “formed out of necessity” in response to the ongoing budget cuts and school librarian layoffs, says Sara Kelly Johns (right), the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Division Councilor and a media specialist at New York’s Lake Placid Middle/High School, who last Friday proposed the resolution at an ALA membership meeting, where it also passed unanimously.

Chicago Building Its First Joint High School/Public Library from the Ground Up

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Chicago’s taking the partnership between public and school libraries to the next level—it’s building its first public library as part of a school.

Utah District Restricts Polacco’s ‘Our Mothers’ House’ in Elementary School Libraries

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The removal of Patricia Polacco’s picture book about lesbian moms has created a stir after a Utah school district recently pulled the title from general circulation in elementary school libraries.

Interview: School Librarian, Robin Levin, Wins Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Award

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Robin Levin is in the news again. This time it’s for being the first school librarian to win the Arch Coal Foundation Teacher Achievement Award, which this year recognized 10 teachers in Wyoming for their leadership and contribution to K-12 education.

The New Standards Dovetail Elegantly with Inquiry, and We Know Inquiry | On Common Core

This is the worst time to be a school librarian and the best time to be one. Our profession is under daily threat of extinction, yet the implementation of the Common Core Standards affords incredible opportunity to make the strongest case for the importance of librarians and libraries in schools. Together we must commit to gaining a deep understanding of these new standards and determine to be at the fore of the Common Core conversations taking place in our buildings. We are uniquely suited for this because the Common Core Standards dovetail elegantly with inquiry, and we know inquiry.

Palacio’s ‘Wonder’ Launches Companion Anti-Bullying Campaign

Those of you who were moved by R.J. Palacio’s debut novel, Wonder (Knopf, 2012), will be pleased to know that her publisher has launched a campaign called Choose Kind to encourage kids, educators, and readers of all ages to join the fight against bullying.

WV Fifth Grader Donates $10,000 Prize to School Library

Usually graduates receive gifts—but 11-year-old Darius Atefat-Peckham decided to give one instead. He donated the $10,000 he won this spring in the Letters About Literature national writing contest to his elementary school library.

PA School District Bans ‘The Dirty Cowboy’ for Partial Nudity

Amy Timberlake’s humorous picture book, The Dirty Cowboy, (Farrar, 2003) is staying off elementary school library shelves in Pennsylvania’s Annville-Cleona school district.

Despite protests by free-speech organizations and an online petition with more than 300 signatures in favor of repealing the ban, the school board last week stuck to its decision that the book was too dirty for young eyes.

The award-winning book tells the tale of a freckle-faced cowboy who decides to take his annual bath in a nearby river and [...]

Oregon Merges Library Associations to Focus on Literacy

The Oregon Library Association and the Oregon Association of School Libraries have merged, giving the state a more robust organization that will focus on literacy.

Ban on John Green’s ‘Looking for Alaska’ Sparks Anger

A Tennessee school district has banned John Green’s award-winning novel Looking for Alaska (Dutton, 2005) from the school curriculum.

Canadian School District to Cut More Than Half of its Library Staff

Canada’s school libraries continue to feel the pain, too. A Nova Scotia school system has proposed cutting 56 percent of its library personnel for the 2012-2013 academic year to help close a $6.4 million budget gap, says its superintendent of schools.

Reading Challenge Nets WI School a $100K Library Makeover

Elementary schools in Racine, WI, were offered a tough challenge: read one million books during the 2011/2012 school year and win a $100,000 school library makeover.

We Need Tag-Team Librarianship: Active collaboration between public and school librarians benefits all | Editorial

Consider this number: nine percent. That’s how many public librarians say they “work directly with school librarians and teachers” on homework assignments. SLJ’s survey of public library spending on children’s and young adult services (see “It Takes Two” ) is eye-opening reading.

It Takes Two: The Need for Tighter Collaboration Between School and Public Librarians

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Numbers can be telling, and the story here presents a stark reality that signals an ideal opportunity to foster a stronger relationship between public and school libraries in ways that better support how kids learn and grow.

The results of SLJ’s first survey of public library spending habits on children’s and young adult services reveals a disturbing trend: only 30 percent of respondents say their library collaborates with local schools to coordinate book purchases to support the curriculum—leaving 70 percent that don’t.

Citizen Scientists | Focus on Discovery

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“Citizen Scientist” might be a newly coined term, but people have long assumed the role, jotting down crocus sightings in early spring, the number of loon pairs on the lake in the summer, and the first sign of frost in the fall or winter.