August 2023
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With the advent of another school year, school librarians are gearing up to provide opportunities for students and teachers to access learning and materials. From the newest books to engaging technology tools, the quest to discover and share helpful information is a worthy cause. Read on to discover some ways to learn and grow throughout this school year.
With this book award, Oklahoma honors the Native American leader Sequoyah for his unique achievement in creating the Cherokee syllabary. Sequoyah chose eighty-five symbols to represent all spoken sounds of the Cherokee language. In so doing, he created a way to preserve his people's language and culture.
Voting for the current Sequoyah Masterlist opens February 1st and closes March 15th.
Winner of the current Sequoyah Masterlist is revealed on or before March 31st.
The 2024 masterlists are now available:
Want to apply to serve on a Sequoyah reading team? Apply on this form.
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 The 117th Annual Conference of the Oklahoma Library Association
The 2024 Annual Conference will be held March 6-8, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency Downtown in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Conference proposals are now being accepted on this form. The deadline to apply is September 30.
 Bringing Digital Literacy to Life Through Innovation, Technology & Student Voice
Join Shannon McClintock Miller for a day to celebrate the role Oklahoma school librarians have in bringing digital literacy to life through innovation, technology and student voice! She'll share inspiration, creative ideas and engaging resources. You will also create activities to take back to your school community and use the next day. It will be an event you won't want to miss.
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Thursday, September 28 - Broken Arrow
Central on Main
210 N Main Street
Broken Arrow, OK 74012
Friday, September 29 - Oklahoma City
Moore Norman Technology Center
13301 S. Pennsylvania Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73170
Schedule:
- Registration: 8:00-8:30 a.m.
- Start Time: 8:30 a.m.
- Lunch on your own: 11:30 a.m.--1:00 p.m.
- Afternoon Time: 1:00--3:00 p.m.
Registration is open from August 7-September 14.
Get more details at this webpage.
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The American Association of School Librarians publishes an annual list of the Best Digital Tools. These tools are recognized for fostering qualities of innovation/creativity, active participation, collaboration, user-friendliness, encouragement of exploration, and information/reference. In 2023, eight tools were added to the cumulative list.
- Adobe Express (Grades K-12)
- ChessKid (Grades K-12)
- Choices Program (Grades 6-12)
- Discovery Education (Grades K-12)
- MackinVIA (Grades PK-12)
- National Geographic (Grades PK-12)
- RumorGuard (Grades 8-12)
- WORD Force (Grades K-2)
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Legislation that governs school libraries is available on the Library Media webpage in the blue menu.
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Standards of Accreditation
- This document outlines guidelines regarding the collection, staff responsibilities, evaluation, staffing, seating, collection, and expenditures.
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House Bill 3092
- This bill requires school library media programs to be reflective of the community standards for the population served.
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House Bill 3702
- This bill requires public schools, universities, state agencies and public libraries to have technology protection measures for their digital or online library databases that prevent students from viewing or receiving obscene materials or content.
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Senate Bill 933
- This bill provides relief from spending expectations when school funding is reduced, but requires spending per pupil when funding is stable for two years or more.
 This month's school library of the month is Norman North. In the past 5 years, the library has received over 22 grants totaling $25,000 for virtual reality, 3D printers, audio and video recording equipment, so many books, and more!
 The library makerspace has two Prusa 3D printers, 2 Cricuts, Sphero robots, a Makey Makey, and other electronics sets. All the arts and crafts and cardboard supplies were made possible through generous donations from community crafters cleaning out their closets. The library also has two study rooms converted into audio labs where students can record podcasts, songs, raps, and more. The makerspace and audio labs are open by appointment and twice a week during lunches. During the 2022-2023 school year, the library filled 498 individual student appointments and over 118 open lunch hours. The audio equipment and 3D printing are the most popular items, but students also love to paint.
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Molly Dettmann is one of the teacher librarians at Norman North's library. As a recipient of the AASL Frances Henne award, she will attend the 2023 AASL National Conference in October in Tampa, Florida.
Molly uses social media to communicate with her students about the library's services and materials:
"For engaging my teens on Instagram, I try to add quick stories or specific posts highlighting books we have or services we offer. Interactive posts are usually the most engaging, so sometimes I’ll post a question in stories like 'Would you rather use an old sock for a bookmark or dog ear every page?' Or if there’s a post that features a student or teacher, those get more likes." (source)
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Would you like to have your library featured in an upcoming newsletter? Or would you like to nominate a colleague's library? Share a success story about programming, circulation numbers, a book display, and more.
Please email me.
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