International School Library Day

International School Library Day
Fourth Monday in October each year

(From International Association of School Libraries' - IASL's -  website) 

International School Library Day was proclaimed by the IASL President, Dr Blanche Woolls, in 1999 and reaffirmed by the IASL President, Peter Genco, in 2005.

The first International School Library Day was celebrated on 18 October 1999, with the theme, "A Day in the Life...".

The ninth International School Library Day will be held on 22 October 2007.

International School Library Day 2007
Date: 22 October 2007
Theme: Learning: Powered by your school library
Join us in celebrating this day!
IASL's Coordinator of International School Library Day is Rick Mulholland of Canada

Give me a reason

Most English teachers will tell you, "Kids just don't read like they used to." I disagree. Recently my high school treated students who passed all classes with a trip to Stonebriar Centre. Upon arrival, a large group flocked straight to Barnes & Noble, where they stayed until the bus ride home. On the bus, they exchanged books and discussed favorite authors. If high school kids are willing to dish out $17 on books at the mall, then why isn't a room the size of a basketball gym full of books free of charge appealing to them?

from Give me a reason to go to the library by student Andrea Drusch in the Dallas News, Saturday, September 29, 2007. (Thanks to Mary Ludwick for sharing this on LM_Net.)

School library media specialists, are we listening or simply going into a defensive/reactionary mode?

My next library catalog needs

The Follett folks are always after me to upgrade our good old CircPlus/CircCat system to their (ominous-sounding) Destiny. I just can't get too excited about it. I think I will wait for at least some of these features in our next major upgrade:

1. Federated searching of periodical databases, e-book collections, subject databases, encyclopedias, pre-selected web sources. (Think everything that Google doesn't cover.)
   
2. Concordance searching Google Book Search or Amazon Search Inside the book) Search by phrase any book in the LOCAL collection.
   
3. User defined tags (del.icio.us). For students and staff, of course. Think of the collection development possibiliites!)
   
4. User reviews (Amazon). Think of the cred.
   
5. Readers' Advisory service. (Amazon, Netflix) Students who checked out this book, also checked out... Based on your past reading history, we think you'll like...
   
6. Ready-made citations (NoodleTools)
   
7. User collection development (LibraryThing.) How I wish I had a list of all the books I've read in my lifetime!
   
8. User networking tools (Ning, wikispaces) Collaboration on projects made simple.
   
9. Seamless interface with student information system and data mining program. Allow searching and sorting by NCLB "student groups" to track circulation. Will SIF do this now???
   
10. Patron privacy protection. Automatic deletion of patron and title links, but preserving the ability to look at trends and track student reading habits. Contradiction?
11. Patron access to circ status. I want to log in to find out what stuff I have out.
    
12. Free and remotely hosted. (Ad sponsored.) Not my favorite idea, but seems to be the web model.
    

OK, I have not done my homework here. I am sure there are newer circ/cat systems that do some (many?) of these things.

But my point is that our students are accustomed to having these tools and features on web sites they already use. If library resources are to remain relevant to them, shouldn't we offer these things as well?

I'd welcome your ideas of what your next circ/cat system should include. Or tell me where the features I'm dreaming about already exist in a commercial product for schools.