The conference was attended by 67 school library media specialists from WSBOCES, ESBOCES and Nassau BOCES.聽 The winner of the 鈥淪chool Library Media Specialist of the Year鈥� award was Kim Bronzino from the Commack UFSD.聽 The winner of the 鈥淎dministrator of the Year鈥� award was Vincenza Graham, Director of World Languages, ESL and Library Media Services for the Smithtown CSD.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Marc Aronson, is a well-known author of nonfiction books for children and teens.聽 He is a professor in the Masters of Library and Information Science program at Rutgers University.聽 He speaks extensively about the Common Core State Standards and informational text.聽 Dr. Aronson鈥檚 keynote address 鈥淪haring the Future: How You Need To Think To Help Young People Think Past You鈥� stressed introducing students to the process real explorers use when gathering information to create a piece of nonfiction.聽 Nonfiction can be seen as a model of the inquiry process, research skills, and persuasive writing practices that students are learning.
Other sessions offered throughout the day included:
- A 鈥淢aker Spaces Panel鈥� (librarians Kristina Holzweiss and Gina Seymour) with a 3D printer shown in action by Solidoodle.
- An introduction to Lynda.com, an online resource for video clips teaching a variety of topics related to technology.聽 Lynda.com can be used with students for 鈥渇lipping鈥� the library or can be used with staff for professional development.聽 (facilitated by librarian Cathy Masrour)
- 聽鈥淯nderstanding the Children鈥檚 Internet Protection Act (CIPA)鈥� with Oscar Michelen, Esq. from the Nassau County Bar Association.
- 鈥淭ext Sets鈥� presented by Dr. Marc Aronson.聽 A way to assemble groups of materials (books, websites, articles, etc.) that center around one topic.
The conference was supported by eleven vendors who were present to speak to the school librarians about their resources.聽 Breakfast and lunch were enjoyed by all.聽 Evaluations completed by the attendees have been very positive.聽 See the “Links” page for links to the powerpoints, websites, and hand-outs shared by the presenters.