Vermont School Librarians put their collective best foot forward, and there will be 3 “library” strands each day (of 9).  Overall, there are 70 fabulous sessions to select from, all of which will be of interest to librarians as well as teachers, technology specialists, and administrators.  Keynote speakers will be nationally acclaimed school librarian Debbie Abilock of NoodleTools.com and international educational technology leader Ruben Puentedura.  Endnote speakers will be Tom Corbett of Cushing Academy, which eliminated books from its library last fall, and Ed Barry, who will speak on the new Vermont technology integration “scenarios.”

Register early- the Dynamic Landscapes Conference frequently sells out before the EarlyBird registration closes.  For those intending to spend Wednesday or Thursday night in the Burlington area hotels & motels, be aware that St. Michael’s College Graduation 2010 is May 12 and 13, so you will need to reserve a room as soon as possible.  Information on accommodations, dining, etc., can be found via the search function at the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce website.

Hope to see you at the Dynamic Landscapes 2.0 Conference in May!

Sue Furry-Irish,

Conference Coordinator

The call for proposals goes out to the technology, library, and education communities January 11^th, with a February 19^th deadline for receipt of proposals.  All proposals should be emailed to Sue Furry-Irish at suzanne.irish@cesu.k12.vt.us by February 19^th or before.  Proposals should be 75 words or less (with a catchy title!) on a topic related to technology in K-12 education. Presenters will receive free registration for one day of the conference (one registration per one-hour workshop).

VSLA aims to bring 24 presentations to the conference mix.  While we will be looking for proposals that relate to the library media center, we must remember that conference participants will be a mix of librarians, teachers, and technology integration specialists. Collaborative projects or library uses that could be duplicated in classrooms will reach a broader audience.  At the same time, we are mindful that the spring conference needs to meet the special interests of our library community.  If you have an important idea to propose or would like to help the conference committee, please contact Sue Furry-Irish at the above email address.

This collaborative conference is a new venture for both parties, so librarians, let’s shine! Share your expertise with others, encourage synergy, and benefit from others’ creativity. Are you using Skype, blogs, wikis, podcasts, Flip videos, or wish you were?  Do you need clarification on 21^st Century Learning Skills? Are you dying to discuss Fair Use questions or policies on publishing, Web 2.0, and more? Come learn, share, meet, and teach at the Dynamic Landscapes 2.0 Conference this May 13^th and 14^th!

When:     Thursday October 23rd 2008  9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Where:     U-32 School, Montpelier, Vermont
What:     The VSLA  Annual 1-Day Conference

Keynote: Susan Ballard: Director of Library, Media and Technology Services for the Londonderry (NH) School District.
Susan Ballard’s Handout (pdf) & Powerpoint presentation

Some of Susan’s documents that she links to in her Powerpoint can be found in this zip file :ballard-docs

Be sure to check out: Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action from the AASL

Susan Hennessey, Harwood Union High School
Library Research with Web 2.0 Tools
Learn how to use current Web 2.0 technologies to help students search for, organize, and synthesize relevant, credible information.  We will explore push technologies like Netvibes and Pageflakes, social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Diggo, and organizing tools from Intel and ReadWriteThink.org.  Best of all, all of these tools are free to educators

See the  VSLA Central Wiki & Susan’s Presentation Wiki Page

Pam Burke, Marlboro Elementary School & VSLA web person
Fun Connecting With Blogs
We’ll take a look at some excellent examples of using blogs in school library programs and discuss ways you can use this fun 2.0 technology to engage students. We’ll discuss best practices with blogs in the classroom, and ways to encourage your school to embrace these great learning tools. We’ll also look at how you can use blogs as a public relations tool to keep your library websites fresh & interesting.

Hands-On Fun With Blogs
In the afternoon, we’ll all register for a free blog with Edublogs and … play! We’ll try on some new themes, add some fun plugins, and learn a little about managing blogs. We’ll have time for lots of questions and if you’re interested I’ll show you some fun tricks too, like how you can grab your feed and display it on your existing website or use your delicious tags to maintain links on your blog. Registrants are encouraged to create a free Edublogs account before we meet; sign up at http://edublogs.org/

Pam’s Blog & Presentation Materials

Anne Gallivan, Barstow Memorial School Library & Mary Danko, Proctor Library
Book Talking & Web 2.0
Bringing Book Talks into the 21st century is easier than ever with all the great Web 2.0 technologies that are available.  Anne Gallivan and Mary Danko will give an overview of different options for you to consider.  Blogs, FaceBook, Delicous, Twitter & YouTube are just some of the social networking tools that can be adapted to publicize books to the tech savvy kids of today.

Mary Danko’s Slideshow & Anne Gallivan’s Slideshow (on Slideshare.net)

Michael Roche, Northeast Regional Library, Vermont Department of Libraries
Copyright in the Digital Age
Here is a zip file of Michael’s handouts (in Word format): copyright-vsla

Stephanie Chase, Stowe Free Library
Audiobooks & ListenUp Vermont
Find out about different formats (including mp3 cds and playaways), issues surrounding collection and downloadables, including DRM, copyright, and iPod compatibility.
Stephanie’s Handout (pdf) & The Listen Up! Vermont website

Peter Gould, performer and author of Write Naked spoke about his new book.

Pam Burke’s page of links to audiobook resources can be found here.

Lucie deLaBruere’s presentation materials (including videos!) are here.

A file of Shelia Kearns’ OPAC vendor information are here.

Check back soon for other links from the conference.