OEMA Newsletter

An Electronic Newsletter

of The Oregon Educational Media Association

Welcome to the first electronic version of the OEMA Newsletter. This electronic version will be in your e-mail box 5 times a year. It will arrive on the 5th of September, November, January, March, and May.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE -- Jeri Petzel

I don't know when I have been so excited at the beginning of a new school year. It is not only my year as OEMA President, it is my 28th year as an educator. It is also my first year in a new school and library. After several years of planning and construction, Boones Ferry Primary School is a reality. I have spent the last several weeks unpacking, planning, and admiring my new surroundings. Since our network was not up and running in the beginning of our move-in process, I haven't had to think too much about the technology end of things. (It can be somewhat liberating not to think about e-mail and network troubles.) It also pointed out to me how dependent we have become on technology and what it has brought to our lives - both good and bad.

You are reading OEMA's first electronic newsletter. This is a good thing. Using our listserve and web site to distribute the newsletter was a decision that the OEMA Board considered carefully. We know what an integral part of our job effective use of technology has become, so it only made sense to distribute the newsletter electronically. As you read the newsletter, keep in mind any suggestions that might be useful for future electronic newsletters. The OEMA Board welcomes feedback as I am sure, Sheryl Steinke, our newsletter editor will. (You will have to continue to watch your mailbox for the Interchange. The summer edition, which you will be receiving soon, is full of information about Fall Conference. I know you won't want to miss those two incredible days in Seaside.)

Our focus this year will be the distribution and marketing of the Oregon Study: Good Schools Have School Librarians. We are currently printing copies to distribute to OEMA members at Fall Conference. Please keep in mind that having the Oregon Study results is not going to be enough to convince some that our position in the schools is important. We must market ourselves. We have to be visible in our schools, in our school districts, and in our state. OSLIS, CORE, presentations at ODE's Reading Summit and COSA as well as other projects in which OEMA has been involved have all helped at the state level. For yourself at the local level, consider taking a marketing course. Try the one online at http://www.clmc.org. (It is not free.) It was developed by a group of Special Librarians in Colorado. They first targeted school librarians with this marketing course because that is often the first experience people have with a librarian and can influence a life long view of libraries. I am planning to set aside some time this school year to go through this course. I hope some of you will join me so that we can have a discussion via the listserve.

And so the year begins with some interesting changes. I hope that you will contact me with any issues you have concerning OEMA. Just email me at jpetzel@canby.com. Until next time… the network is up and running and I have work to do.

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New Board Members were welcomed

District Representative - Janice Parret	Region 3 Representative - Melinda Warburg
Middle School Representative - Ruth Murray	Interchange Coordinator - Garnetta Wilker
Commercial Representative - Phil Orlowski	Interchange Advertising - Mary Lou Bayless
Region 1 Representative - Kathy Chan	Scholarship Chair - Jenny Takeda

OEMA Junior Book Award: At the August OEMA Board retreat held at the idyllic Namaste Center, board members approved Jann Tankeresley proceed with the OEMA Junior Book Award. Jann is spearheading OEMA's efforts to establish a state-wide contest and award for fiction and non-fiction books written on the 2nd-3rd grade reading level and of interest to elementary school students. During the 2001-02 school year, the committee will gather nominees for the award. This list of 5-10 nominated titles will be published in the spring. Students from all over Oregon will read these books during the 2002-03 school year and a winner will be announced in the spring of 2003. Also during the 2002-03 school year, a new list of nominees will be selected for the following year.

Publications: The board was pleased to hear that publication are all on track. The OEMA Newsletter will be e-mailed electronically 5 times a year and posted on the OEMA webpage. Watch for the Interchange in your mailbox in September. It's an issue filled with advance information about the upcoming Fall Conference in Seaside, articles about the presenters, and other information you can use.

Interchange will publish four themed issues with a Guest Editor for each. Topics and guest editors are listed below. If you wish to contribute to an issue or if you have information you'd like us to include in an issue, contact Garnetta Wilker, Interchange Coordinator (wilkerg@loswego.k12.or.us) or one of these guest editors:

Summer 2001	Kathy Jensen	Fall Conference
Fall 2001	Kelly Kuntz	The Oregon Study
Winter 2002	Allen Kopf	Teacher/LMS Collaboration
Spring 2002	Ruth Murray & Paul Gregorio	Reading Promotions

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Registration packets were mailed to all OEMA members in August. Media Waves of the Future will be keynoted by Peter Milbury, librarian at Chico High School and founder of LM_NET. Friday night dessert author is Jane Kirkpatrick, an Oregon author of several historical novels set in Oregon. Ben Mikaelsen who has had 3 books on the YRCA list will speak at the Saturday night banquet.

Friday extended sessions include 2 all day sessions: Peggy Sharp with her great literature ideas, creating a web page for your library. Half day sessions include sessions by Peter Milbury, secondary books that support the CIM requirements, websites to support the curriculum, hands-on in-depth time to delve into the OSLIS pages including EBSCO search strategies, and book repair. Most Friday sessions are at Astoria High School.

Saturday sessions will be at the Seaside Conference Center and be chocked full of more than 30 concurrent sessions. A session entitled Biography Research for Middle and High School Students was added after the program information was printed. Arlene Cohen, NorthWest LINK Reference Referral Center Librarian from OSU will present this session. Arlene writes that the session will be an enjoyable way of learning research and also developing literacy skills. A Guess Who? story form will be distributed with instructions for implementing the activity. Arlene will perform a biography story that she wrote on Han Christian Anderson. Arlene has been a reference librarian and professional storyteller for 17 years. An orientation to LINK free reference services and samples of reference questions that LINK has answered for schools will also be provided.

Contact Kathy Jensen is conference chair and will respond to questions that you cannot find the answers to on the OEMA website conference pages http://www.oema.net/fall_conf_01.html. Kathy is available at kjensen@woodburn.net

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Region 1: Kathy Chan represents Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook, Washington

Region 2: Jean Townes represents Benton, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Yamhill

Region 3: Melinda Warburg represents Coos, Douglas and Lane

Region 4: Edith Fuller represents Clackamas, Hood River, Multnomah, Sherman, Wasco

Region 5: Judy Hall represents Curry, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake

Region 6: Allen Kopf represents Baker, Gilliam, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa

Region 7: Kate Grant-Ratliff represents Crook, Deschutes, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Wheeler

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Two students have been selected as recipients of the OEMA 2001 scholarships. Each will receive $800 to be used toward their library media classwork during the 2001-02 school year. We are pleased to honor these library professionals and support them through OEMA.

The first winner is Karey Shawe, a student at Portland State University, where she is working on her Library Media Endorsement, as well as Oregon State University where she is working on the Basic Teaching License in Educational Technology. Karey did her student teaching with Jim Tindall, who describes her as an able Webmaster and sensitive instructor.

Anne Ekker will also receive a scholarship from OEMA. Anne is enrolled in the Educational Media/Librarianship program at Portland State University, and is presently employed as Librarian at St. Mary of the Valley Grade School.l Her principal commended her professionalism, great work ethic, leadership and innovativeness.

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Lake Oswego Junior High School has received national recognition for its "Voices of Injustice" program. Voices of Injustice is a special project created by a team of eighth grade Language Arts/Social Studies teachers and the librarian at LOJHS. The primary goal of the collaborative project is to challenge students to look at different perspectives, especially the perspectives of individuals who have suffered injustice, and to acquire a better understanding of the complexity of the human experience. Garnetta Wilker, LOJHS librarian, and teachers Donna Bates, Aletia Cochran, and Barbara Soisson received the award from the National Middle Schools Association. Along with a cash award, they will also receive a paid trip to the NMSA national conference in Washington, D.C.

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Judy Dickson, librarian at Scappose Middle and High Schools and OEMA High School Rep, suffered a stroke about the time that school was out in the Spring. At the summer board retreat President Jeri Petzel read this message from Judy. "I am working hard daily so I'll be able to return to school in August. When people me ask me, "what did you do this summer?" I want to tell them "I learned to talk, write, and eat; with my right hand."

Gary Ross started in July as Media Supervisor at the Lane ESD. Previously Gary worked at the Springfield S.D.

Astoria School District is building a new elementary school, Lewis & Clark Elementary School. Library Media Specialist Gloria Roberts has been consulting with the architects. Scheduled completion date will be July 2002.

Thanks to the library media specialists who helped cover the OEMA booth at the COSA conference in June -- Mary McClintock, Roseburg High School; Gayle Whitney, Warrenton High School; Jordan Martin, Astoria Middle School; and Gregory Lum, Astoria High School.

Thanks to these OEMA members who helped staff the OLA/OEMA booth at the Oregon State Fair. Kelly Kuntz, Jann Tankersley, Mary Beth Pearl-Gent, Romona Greeno, Earnie Greeno, Margo Jensen, Jeri Petzel, Sheryl Steinke

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Junior Division 4th-6th grades

Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Bunnicula Strikes Again by James Howe

The Landry News by Andrew Clements, Brian Selznick

Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm

Ramona's World by Beverly Cleary

Tucket's Gold by Gary Paulsen

Zooman Sam by Lois Lowry; Diane De Groat (Illustrator)

Intermediate Division 7th-9th grades

Alone at Ninety Foot by Katherine Holubitsky

Backwater by Joan Bauer

Can of Worms by Kathy Mackel

Jason's Gold by Will Hobbs

Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer

Midnight Magic by Avi

The Mirror of Merlin by Thomas A. Barron

Skellig by David Almond

Senior Division 10th-12th grades

Biting the Moon by Martha Grimes

Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan

Rewind by William Sleator

Ties that Bind, Ties that Break by Lensey Namioka

Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star by Randy Powell

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Oregon Reference LINK at http://www.olaweb.org/LINK/index.htm (Library Information Network for Knowledge) is a FREE reference referral service for all libraries in Oregon established to expand the reference capacity of libraries.

The LINK Library serving your county can provide ANSWERS to patron's questions that are beyond the resources of your library, and SEARCHES of specialized materials, collections, databases, and online resources. Contact the LINK librarian serving your area.

LINK CONTACTS

Central Oregon-North Information Network (CONIN)
(covers these counties: Crook, Deschutes, Hood River, Jefferson, Sherman, Wasco)

Martha Pyle	541 617 7085 voice; 800 727 5630 (toll free for LINK business)
Deschutes County Lib.	541 617 7083 Reference Desk
507 NW Wall Street	541 617 7083 fax
Bend, Oregon 97701	marthap@dpls.lib.or.us

Eastern Oregon LINK (EO LINK)
(covers these counties: Baker, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wheeler)

Connie Johnson	541 962 3699 voice
Pierce Library at Eastern Oregon University	541 962 3335 fax
One University Blvd.	eolink@eou.edu
La Grande, Oregon 97850	cjohnso2@eou.edu

Multnomah County Library
(covers these counties: Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington)

Arden Shelton, Reference Librarian	503 988 3238 (for Reference LINK questions - has voice mail)
Multnomah County Library	503 988 5475 fax
801 SW 10th Street	503 988 5328 fax center for problems with questions
Portland, Oregon 97205	ardens@multcolib.org

Northwest LINK
(covers these counties: Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook Yamhill)

Arlene Cohen	541 737 0564 Reference Desk
The Valley Library at Oregon State University	541 737 8224 fax
Corvallis, Oregon 97331	nwlink@orst.edu
800 689 9991 (toll free for link business - has voice mail)	arlene.cohen@orst.edu

Southern Oregon Libraries Information Cooperative (SOLIC)
(covers these counties: Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Lane)

Sarah Kaip, Reference Librarian	800 866 9047 (toll free for LINK and SOLIC business)
Jackson County Library	800 564 6817 (toll free fax for LINK and SOLIC business)
413 W Main Street	solic @jcls.org
Medford, Oregon 97501

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The Oregon Department of Education announced May 24 the funding of a TLCF 2001 grant of statewide significance to support the costs of the EBSCO full-text databases and the OSLIS project through the 2001-2002 school year at no cost to Oregon's schools.

The TLCF grant will enable OSLIS to further its mission to help all of Oregon's students use information resources effectively. The professional development focus of this grant will be to take OSLIS and the EBSCO databases to the schools where it has not yet been discovered. For more information about the OSLIS project and its free resources, visit the OSLIS website, www.oslis.k12.or.us/ More information about the grant and the EBSCO statewide materials, may be found at www.oetc.org/statewide.html

Nothing on the part of schools is required to continue the services or access to either EBSCO or OSLIS.

During the 2000-01 school year, the Oregon School Library Information System, also known as OSLIS provided all Oregon K-12 students with the rich array of EBSCOhost's online resources, as well as online curriculum developed to help all students learn how to locate, access and use information. The Oregon School Library Information System is funded by grants from the Oregon Dept. of Education and the Oregon State Library.

Evaluation of the Oregon School Library Information System project by Teaching Research at Western Oregon University provides evidence that students in OSLIS schools do better on statewide assessment than students in non-OSLIS schools. The research also reveals that students in low socio-economic OSLIS schools perform significantly better than their peers in non-OSLIS low socio-economic schools. Furthermore, the increases in statewide testing become more substantial the longer the school has used the OSLIS online resources.

OSLIS enhances instruction for the following reasons:
It is a SAFE site for student research.
There are a large variety of resources available at one location.
There are age appropriate articles with reading levels defined for K-12.
EBSCO at school allows access to low-income families who would not be able to afford access from home.
It provides the resources to instruct students on citing work and how to research.
Home-schooled and private school students can use OSLIS and EBSCOhost from home.
Content is varied and includes a multitude of magazine, encyclopedia and newspaper resources that libraries are unable to afford.
It provides the most current and constantly updated information.
All Oregonians will have equitable access to OSLIS and EBSCOhost through their schools.
Dialup access from home is available so students can do research at night and on weekends.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact oslisinfo@open.k12.or.us.

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October 12 - 13 OEMA Fall Conference - Media Waves of the Future
Seaside Convention Center
http://www.oema.net/fall_conf_01.html.

October 14 OEMA Board Meeting at Seaside

October 14-20 Teen Read Week
http://www.ala.org/teenread/

November 14 - 18 AASL National Convention in Indianapolis
http://www.ala.org/aasl/

*** 2002 ***

March 1       Online Northwest 2002, Eugene Hilton
http://www.ous.edu/onlinenw/

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OEMA Newsletter -- Editor: Sheryl Steinke, Eugene 4J Schools

Published bimonthly on the 5th of the month in September, November, January, March and May; also available on the web at <http://www.oema.net/newsletter. 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: 2405 Blacktail Dr. Eugene, OR 97402

Deadline: 1 week before publication, except 2 weeks for the January issue.

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