Now that the AASL conference is over, please post comments on "What Makes A Successful Workshop." As a presenter, "Is Powerpoint a thing of the past?" As an attendee, "Are speakers speaking too long?" And, "Do their handouts reflect the session attended?"  What would you do if you were the presenter? -Amy Bowllan   

Treasure Mountain Offers Up Pure GoldIt often seems as though librarians are from Jupiter and library researchers are from Mars. Fortunately for the school library community, the Treasure Mountain Research Retreat offers a venue where practitioners and researchers—often library school faculty—can spend a day learning from each other. The 12th Treasure Mountain retreat, (via Gargoyles Loose [...]

How do we bridge the communication gap that exists among media coordinators, school administrators, and instructional technologists? Professors Roma B. Angel and Robert L. Sanders, members of the Leadership & Educational Studies Department of Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, have some ideas. They have initiated a project that brings education and library science students [...]

Trying to get the attention of your school administrator? "Be naughty." "Think strategically," suggests Ross Todd, director of research at the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL) and AASL presenter. Start by sharing the evidence that school libraries and library media specialists have a measurable impact on student achievement. You’ll find it summarized [...]

Librarians, publishers, and vendors had an opportunity to meet School Library Journal’s new editor-in-chief, Brian Kenney, over breakfast at AASL. Attendees learned a little about Kenney’s career path before arriving at SLJ–from high school librarian to manager at Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library to editor of Library Journal’s netconnect. (Not to mention a stint at [...]

Roy Futterman (seated); Shaila Vasudev, Demetrius Watson, Ron Shank, Joe Murray –Kathy Ishizuka

SLJ Staffers Rick Margolis and Diane Carey enjoy a light moment at the SLJ booth. –Kathy Ishizuka 

–Kathy Ishizuka 

Here's a rare shot of a vacant exhibit floor at AASL. It was taken while attendees were gathering for their first morning session earlier today. –Kathy Ishizuka 

…was a small gem of a presentation I observed at AASL. Presenter Rebecca Wojahn, a former middle school LMS and education reference librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Eau-Claire, addressing a decidedly spare audience, shared inexpensive ways in which media specialists can help students with special needs access media center resources. She gave a brief tour [...]