OEMA Newsletter
  
An Electronic Newsletter
of The Oregon Educational Media Association
Volume 15 No. 7
March, 2003

NOTES FROM THE PRESIDENT - Kelly Kuntz

*Kudos to Jeri Petzel and Margo Jensen who tramped through the halls of the legislature on February 18, carrying the message of school library power and its measurable impact on student achievement as documented by eight statewide studies performed by Keith Curry Lance since 2000. Thanks also to Sheryl Steinke, Frank Landrum and Steve Baker who gave yours-truly much support during the testimony before the Senate Education Committee for Senate Bill 238. This bill would authorize the State Library to begin to analyze and report annual statistics of school libraries in Oregon in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Education. Senator Bill Morrisette volunteered to carry and introduce the bill. As a former teacher at Springfield High School, he experienced the impact of a strong school library staff and program. And as always, Jim Scheppke, your state librarian, continues to champion and support school libraries. On Feb. 25 SB238 passed the Senate, 28 - 0 with 2 absent. The next step is referral to a House Committee. OEMA members are encouraged to contact your representative to the House to urge their support of this bill.

*Be sure to check out the OEMA website at http://www.oema.net which continues to evolve as a very useful tool under the capable direction of Patty Sorensen.

*Delighted to report we had 16 applications for the three Connie Hull MiniGrants of $200 each. It was really quite difficult to score the proposals, knowing we could only fund three. Those three included a storytelling festival, a parent/child book discussion for students in grades K-3, and a literacy program for teen parents and their young children. The Connie Hull committee evaluated the requests based on clarity and completeness, impact on student learning, promotion of literacy and sustainability. The award recipients are Hammond Elementary School-Laura Vogel, Menlo Park Elementary School-JoAnn Opp and David Douglas High School-Martha Decherd. Be sure to attend their concurrent session at the OEMA Keeper of the Keys Conference in Corvallis (October 10-11) where they will share the results of their projects.

*Need research data on school libraries and their impact on learning? Go
to Keith Curry Lance's newly redesigned website:
http://www.lrs.org/index.htm
Another very useful site is David Loertscher's:
http://www.lmcsource.com/tech/reviews.html
Click on Book Extensions and you will see the PowerPoint Presentations
with the results of recent research on school libraries.

OEMA SPRING REGIONAL CONFERENCES

Mark your calendars for OEMA Spring Regional Conferences. Here are the dates and the organizers who are working very hard to produce a quality Saturday spring mini-conference for you

OEMA KEEPER OF THE KEYS

Chairs of the concurrent sessions Judy Hale and Melinda Warburg report that they're lining up a great group of sessions. In addition to sessions from featured authors Pam Munoz Ryan and Will Hobbs, conference attendees will be able to select from almost 30 sessions. Saturday's sessions will end with the two very popular elementary and secondary book talks sessions provided by some of Oregon's children's and young adult librarians.

Concurrent session topics include topics such as "Working Smarter, On-line Solutions," "The New OSLIS," "An Artists Look at Caldecotts,"Connie Hull Mini-grant Recipients Reports," Beverly Cleary Children's Choice Award Activities," "What the State Library Can Do for You," "Young History Program," and much more.

Judy and Melinda welcome your suggestions for a session topic you'd like to attend, or even better a session you'd like to present.

OEMA 2003 SCHOLARSHIPS OFFERED

Two scholarships of $800.00 each are being offered by OEMA to individuals studying at the graduate level in the fields of educational media/instructional technology. The scholarship grants may be used to assist the recipients to further their education in a summer session or academic year of graduate study at any accredited college or university in Oregon. Programs of study may be at the Masters or Doctoral level.

Recipients are selected by the OEMA Scholarship Committee. Scholarship money must be used between July 1, 2003-June 30, 2004.

Deadline for submission of all application forms and letters ofrecommendations is May 1, 2003.
Judging results will be sent to all applicants on or before July 1, 2003.

Application forms will be available on the OEMA website at http://www.oema.net. Requests for application forms may also be made by e-mail to Jenny_Takeda@beavton.k12.or.us, by calling 503-524-1315 (work), or in writing to Jenny Takeda at the address listed below. Selection of finalists and award amounts is subject to budget restraints and quality of the applicant pool. All forms and letters should be sent to:

Jenny Takeda
OEMA Scholarship
Hiteon Elementary
13800 SW Brockman Road
Beaverton, OR 9708

OSLIS UPGRADES WEBSITE

Thanks to an LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) grant from the Oregon State Library, OSLIS is nearing completion of an upgrade that will provide schools, teachers, and students a new look. Because so many Oregon schools are operating without a licensed school librarian, the emphasis was to make the site more usable to aides and classroom teachers. The refreshed site will look familiar in many ways, but will have some significant improvements. The OSLIS consortium contracted with the OPEN Clearinghouse at Linn Benton Lincoln ESD, to provide the key leadership role in this revised network and to hire a Project Librarian. Donna Cohen, a former teacher and web developer was chosen for that role. Also contracted were some of the school librarians who were instrumental in getting OSLIS started. Mark Schalock, WOU-TR, (Western Oregon University) conducted research and surveys with educators around the state to identify what the needs were.

While the revision is not totally finished, those interested can go to the working “demo” site to view and make use of those sections that have been completed. Please be aware though, that not all of the links and areas are on the site just yet. They should be up soon. That site is: http://demo.oslis.k12.or.us. Initially, the site has the same general feel and look, but when you compare it to the previous one, you will quickly note that terminology has been changed for consistency between the elementary and secondary. “LMS desk” is now the “Librarian’s Desk”; the OSLIS Site Map is now listed on the front page for ease of location of specific areas, and The Oregonian is a button for quick access to that resource. The Oregon State Library will pay for access to The Oregonian for 2003-04 for all K-12, public and academic libraries. A direct link to EBSCO was retained. While not all districts are subscribing at this time, almost 2/3 of them did continue their contract with EBSCO this school year. OSLIS continues to work on ways to try to make EBSCO available to all schools for 2003-2004.

The tutorials and How tos have received particular attention. Please look at them and encourage students and teachers to realize the value of these aids. There is also a connection to the Oregon Standards and AASL (American Association of School Librarians) has permitted us to publish the Standards as indicated in their publication, Information Power.

Both the elementary and secondary sites now start with “How To” where a few key categories have been added and a consistency of approach has been cultivated. The new areas in the Elementary section include “Evaluate Information” and “Take Notes”. Each How To has a simple explanation of what it is, as well as a “Teacher Resources” link with worksheets and more resources.
The Secondary “tutorials” is now called the “Secondary How To” area. As with the elementary, all categories now have a “Teacher Resources” component. Added sections include “Evaluate Information”, “Gathering and Organizing Information”, and “Presenting Results”, a section that should be particularly helpful to students. Also note that the secondary has added icons next to each “How to.”

Jim Worden, OSLIS Trainer, will be available to provide presentations about OSLIS through mid-May. Some of the ESD’s are sponsoring workshops in their region, so you may want to contact your ESD to see if they are among them or contact Jim Worden <wordenj@attbi.com> directly to see if he will be doing one in your part of the state.

Ten of your peers put in many long hours and sacrificed weekends to complete this upgrade. They have done a terrific job. The secondary “writer/experts” were Nicki Maxwell, Garnetta Wilker, Dolores Johnston, Steve Bahr, and Sharon Porter. Elementary “writer/experts” included Melanee Lucas, Char Wisely, Cheryl Young, Jo Ann Klassen, and Melinda Warburg. OPEN staff instrumental in pulling it all together include Nancy Vollmer, Dennis Schultz, and Marilyn Kelly.

For information contact oslisinfo@open.k12.or.us and to make comments or ask questions osliswebmaster@oslis.k12.or.us.

2004 YRCA NOMINEES

*JUNIOR DIVISION (Grades 4-6)
DIAL-A-GHOST by Eva Ibbotson
EVERYTHING ON A WAFFLE by Polly Horvath
LOVE THAT DOG by Sharon Creech
ROWAN OF RIN by Emily Rodda
PARSIFAL'S PAGE by Gerald Morris
THE SCHOOL STORY by Andrew Clements
SKELETON MAN by Joseph Bruchac
WALK ACROSS THE SEA by Susan Fletcher

*MIDDLE DIVISION (Grades 7-9)
ARTEMIS FOWL by Eoin Colfer
FAIR WEATHER by Richard Peck
FLIPPED by Wendelin Van Draanen
THE OTHER SIDE OF TRUTH by Beverley Naidoo
A SINGLE SHARD by Linda Sue Park
TOUCHING SPIRIT BEAR by Ben Mikaelsen
WITNESS by Karen Hesse
ZACH'S LIE by Roland Smith
*SENIOR DIVISION (Grades 10-12)
THE BOY IN THE BURNING HOUSE by Tim Wynne-Jones
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS by Ann Brashares
SLAP YOUR SIDES by M.E. Kerr
TRUE BELIEVER by Virginia Euwer Wolff
WHALE TALK by Chris Crutcher

The Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award is the oldest children's choice award in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about the award (including a list of the 2003 nominees), check the website at www.pnla.org/yrca/index.htm.                              

Voting on the 2003 nominees will take place between March 15 and April 1, 2003. Please send the number of votes for each title to me, your Oregon YRCA representative.

Jackie Partch Voice: 503.988.6004
School Corps Librarian Fax: 503.988.5441
Multnomah County Library
205 NE Russell, Portland, OR 97212 jacquelp@multcolib.org

LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE CELEBRATION

The Letters About Literature Celebration will be held on April 7, 2003 at 4:00 p.m. at the Oregon State Library. The contest asks students in 4th-6th grade (Level I), 7th & 8th grade (Level II), and 9th-12th grade (Level III) to write a letter to an author explaining the impact their book has had on the student’s life. The 2003 contest instructions direct the students to tell the author how reading his or her work somehow changed their way of thinking about themselves or the world around them.

In 2003, 946 Oregon students entered the contest. All students send their entries to Pennsylvania where they are judged initially. Semi-finalists are selected and sent to the state centers for final judging. A panel of Oregon judges reviewed Oregon’s 85 finalists and selected a winner, runners up and honorable mentions for each level. Those students will be honored at the celebration at the State Library on April 7th during
National Library Week.

OEMA is a state co-sponsor of the program and has donated $200 for the contest prizes, as have OLA's Children's Services Division and Oregon Young Adult Network.

OREGON READING SUMMIT CANCELLED
Jim Tindall report that ODE staff have told him that budget cuts have forced the cancellations of such state conferences.

OREGON VIRTUAL REFERENCE LIBRARY PILOT SELECTS 2 HIGH SCHOOLS

The Dalles High School and Churchill High School in Eugene were selected as 2 of the 20 pilot sites for the Oregon Virtual Reference Library Project.
The project will create a model for a shared live-chat and email reference system in all Oregon academic, public, and school libraries. It will eventually replace the Oregon LINK tiered reference service.
Read more about the project at http://www.multcolib.org/products/orvs/ where you can also vote for a name for Oregon's e-reference service.

GRANT OPPORTUNITY FOR RURAL LIBRARIES

The Libri Foundation is currently accepting applications for its 2003 BOOKS FOR CHILDREN grants. A school library may apply only if it also serves as the public library (i.e. it is open to the general public and has summer hours).

The Libri Foundation is a nationwide non-profit organization which donates new, quality, hardcover children's books to small, rural public libraries throughout the United States. Since October 1990, the Foundation has donated over $1,840,000 worth of new children's books to more than 1,600 libraries in 48 states.

In order to encourage and reward local support of libraries, The Libri Foundation will match any amount of money raised by a library's local sponsor(s) from $50 to $350 on a 2-to-1 ratio. Thus, a library can receive up to $1,050 worth of new, quality, hardcover children's books. After a library receives a grant, local sponsors (such as formal or informal parent groups, civic or social organizations, local businesses, etc.) have four months, or longer if necessary, to raise their matching funds.

The librarian of each participating library selects the books her library will receive from a booklist provided by the Foundation. The 700-plus fiction and nonfiction titles on the booklist reflect the very best of children's literature published in the last three years. These titles, which are for children ages 12 and under, are award-winners or have received starred reviews in library, literary, and education journals. The booklist also includes a selection of classic children's titles. Please note: Rural is usually considered to be at least 30 miles from a city with a population over 40,000.

Previous BOOKS FOR CHILDREN grant recipients are eligible to apply for a second grant three years after the receipt of their first grant. Libraries that do not fulfill all the grant requirements, including the final report, are not eligible for a second grant.

Application (postmark) deadlines: March 15th, July 15th, and November 15th. Award dates are the end of April, August, and December. Libraries are encouraged to apply for the earliest deadline possible.

To have an application form emailed to you, please contact Barbara J. McKillip at librifdn@teleport.com, with the subject line: Grant Application.

For more information about the Foundation, please check the website at http://www.librifoundation.org.
Or, contact Ms. Barbara J. McKillip, President, The Libri Foundation, PO Box 10246, Eugene, OR 97440. 541-747-9655 (voice); 541-747-4348 (fax). Normal office hours are: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

STORIES BY THE SEA STORYTELLING FESTIVAL

The 9th annual festival featuring storytelling, workshops, and story swaps will take place on September 12 - 21. The festival <http://www.olaweb.org/csd/stories.html> is sponsored by Children's Services Division and the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts. Location is the Newport Performing Arts Center, 777 W. Olive, Newport, OR. For more information contact Rebecca Cohen,541-265-2153, storyweaver@newportlibrary.org.

OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESS LITERARY PRIZE

The Oregon Historical Society Press announces a new literary prize- the Jasper G and Minnia Stevens Literary Prize. Cash awards and publication recognizing the best work in fiction or non-fiction dealing with Oregon history. Manuscripts for adult and young readers welcome. Details may be found at the OHS website: <http://www.ohs.org>www.ohs.org. Kindly post on your list serve and/or newsletter. Please feel free to contact me if you need additional information. Thank you.

Dean Shapiro
OHS Press Fulfillment
(503) 306-5233
fax (503) 221-2035
<mailto:deans@ohs.org>deans@ohs.org
Hours: 9AM to 5 PM
Monday thru Friday

NECC IN SEATTLE JUNE 29 - JULY 1

The 24th annual National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) will be held at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle. Keynote speakers are Dr. Mae Jemison, Dr. Alan Kay, Dr. Don Knezek, Janette Racicot & Dr. Allison Rossett. At NECC 2003, you will have the opportunity to learn from well known speakers, participate in workshops, take part in an active learning environment, experience the latest in wireless and handheld technologies, enjoy social events and professional networking and visit the largest Ed Tech exhibit in the world!
For registration and other conference information, visit NECC 2003 online at www.iste.org/necc.

CALENDAR

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OEMA Newsletter -- Editor: Sheryl Steinke, Eugene 4J Schools
Published monthly on the 5th of the month September through May
To receive the OEMA Newsletter by email, subscribe to the OEMA mailing list using the form at http://www.oema.net and then scroll down to OEMA ListServe(s).

Send news items for the Newsletter to:
* Fax: 541-687-3463
* Email: steinke@4j.lane.edu
* Mail: Sheryl Steinke, 200 N Monroe. Eugene, OR 97402
Deadline: 1 week before publication, except 2 weeks for the January issue.