Much of the consternation we are dealing with in finding an ebook delivery model that will  work for our district, our students and staff comes from the fact that book publishers have not yet figured out how to accommodate libraries in their pricing structures. The good news is that discussions are taking place between publishers and the library world. For a concise look at the situation read this editorial from the Philadelphia Enquirer, written after the Public Libraries Association annual conference a little over a week ago.    Katie

This map of wind patterns is too cool. Share it with your students and teachers!!! Just wish it included Alaska.                                                                    Katie

  1. Read
  2. Write
  3. Type
  4. Communicate effectively, and with respect
  5. Question
  6. Be resourceful
  7. Be accountable
  8. Know how to learn
  9. Think critically
10. Be happy!!

These come from an article in eSchool News, an online education newsletter and there is much more information in the writeup about each item listed, as well as comments from readers. I would think about using this information in your school newsletter and get the link to the article home to parents. To be effective these ten skills need to be taught as a team effort! 

Our super Library Associates hard at work during a recent Professional Development.
We learned about an awesome organizational tool for Web resources called LiveBinder.  We used Livebinder for presenting the agenda and topic ideas for our meeting. It worked great and will be shared so that everyone has access to all of the important information presented. No need to take notes when you have access to Livebinder!

Check out the guidelines and criteria at the AkASL page for applying to the Book Bonanza where you might win $$$$ to buy books for your library.        Katie

We just received six new Meet-the-Author links from teachingbooks.net this week. We've uploaded records for Jo Ellen Bogart, Marie-Louise Gay, Kevin Henkes, Barbara Reid, Melanie Watt, and Kadir Nelson. You can find short films, a link to the author's own website, and even an audio clip pronouncing the author's name. To find these (and the rest of the 63 authors we currently have access to) make sure to change your search box so you are searching all of FNSBSD and search teachingbooks.net.

This is a test of a web 2.0 tool I found which I think could be both fun and useful. It is called Answer Garden. I hope to embed the survey portion of it next and we'll see how it works!! I need to use you as guinea pigs here, I confess. You can help me by supplying some answers to my simple question. My hope is that we'll all see the answers displayed below as they come in. Repeats should make the word/phrase larger. Let's see how it works. Hope I have it set up right!!                         Katie

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"School Library Journal’s Battle of the Kids’ Books is a competition among 16 of the very best books for young people of the year, judged by some of the biggest names in children’s books." This started last week over Spring Break but it's not too late to get in on the action. Don't delay however!  You can get in on these matches in the last half of Round 1 -

Match 5 (March 19, Judge Barbara O'Connor)

Drawing from Memory vs The Grand Plan to Fix Everything

Match 6 (March 20, Judge Sarah Weeks)

Heart and Soul vs Inside Out and Back Again

Match 7 (March 21, Judge Lauren Myracle)

Life: An Exploded Diagram vs A Monster Calls

Match 8 (March 22, Judge Jeff Kinney)

Okay for Now vs Wonderstruck

.......check out this BBC article/video called "Fiction Gets Technology Makeover". They talk about books moving into the realm of "transmedia," a term you're going to hear a lot more of in the near future.                                                   Katie