For Immediate Release
Mon, 07/27/2020

Contact:

Jennifer Habley

Manager, Web Communications

American Association of School Librarians (AASL)

312-280-4383

jhabley@ala.org

CHICAGO – The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has released its inaugural list of Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning. Best Digital Tools combines the previously separate lists of Best Apps and Best Websites for Teaching & Learning. The new list follows the evolution of technology as websites develop apps and resources are produced which are not easily classified in either platform. By moving to Best Digital Tools, AASL can recognize the depth and breadth of resources available to educators. The list can be found at www.ala.org/aasl/best.

The recognition honors electronic resources that provide enhanced learning and curriculum development for school librarians and their educator collaborators. The digital tools recognized in 2020 are:

• codeSpark
• EmotionalABCs
• FabuLingua
• Facing History
• KidLit TV
• Masters of Tradition
• Parlay
• Talking Points
• TeachingBooks
• World 101
• Zoom

These user friendly tools are recognized for fostering the qualities of innovation/creativity, active participation, collaboration, exploration, and information/reference. The technology resources are also evaluated for their application of AASL’s “National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries” Shared Foundations of Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore, and Engage.

“With the likelihood of many of us continuing online instruction for the foreseeable future, it is exciting to have such a rich collection of digital resources consolidated into one place,” said AASL President Kathy Carroll. “I know I will recommend these tools to my colleagues and will use them while I continue to provide the best teaching experience I can for my learners.”

Launched in 2009, Best Websites for Teaching & Learning recognized 275 sites for fostering the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation and collaboration. AASL added the Best Apps for Teaching & Learning recognition in 2013. Since inception, 175 apps across devices have been recognized for their embodiment of AASL’s Standards and support of the school librarian’s role in implementing career and college readiness standards. All previously recognized tools are available at www.ala.org/aasl/best.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.

Summer Reading and Learning Wrap Up Join State Library Services and the Minnesota Library Association’s Public Library Division (PLD) and Children and Young People’s Section to talk about summer reading and learning in 2020. What went well and what didn’t work? What’s worth keeping in the future and what’s not? What strategies did you use to increase equity in your summer program? Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2–3 p.m. Register for Summer Reading and Learning Wrap Up. Share your learning and hear from colleagues around the state. Contact PLD Chair Julia Carlis if you have questions.

Whole Person Librarianship Online Let’s try this again! The Whole Person Librarianship workshops originally scheduled for March and April are moving online. Join us in September for a free series of two half-day workshops on what libraries can learn from social workers.  Led by Sara Zettervall, library trainer and co-author of the book Whole Person Librarianship: A Social Work Approach to Patron Services, we will examine social work concepts such as person-in-environment, cultural humility, and reflective practice. You’ll have space to apply social work concepts to your own work in a library setting. The workshops will be the week of September 21, with options to attend Monday and Wednesday morning, or Tuesday and Thursday morning. One set of workshops will be focused on the needs of urban and suburban libraries, and the other will have a rural library focus. More details and registration will be coming soon. While the primary audience of this workshop is library staff, especially those who directly assist public patrons, social work students and faculty are also welcome to register. Please contact Leah Larson, 651-582-8604, for assistance with any questions.

Updates from Our Partners

SELCO’s Camp Read-a-Lot For the twelfth year in a row, SELCO is offering Camp Read-a-Lot, a day geared toward offering learning opportunities for librarians serving youth. The event will be held virtually this year on Wednesday, August 5, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Participants can earn six CEU’s for attending the conference and reading five selections from suggested topics. Register to attend Camp Read-a-Lot. We have two terrific guest speakers this year: Jessica Anne Bratt is Youth Services Librarian at Grand Rapids Public Library in Michigan. Ms. Bratt’s talk is #StayWoke: Centering EDI in Meaningful Collection Representation: Whether you are the book selector, a book advocator, or a storytime read aloud connoisseur, curating or advocating for diversifying a collection can be difficult. Using a simple change management tool will help provide concrete steps to help maintain or increase representation of diverse books for youth at your library.  Iyekiyapiwiƞ Darlene St. Clair is an Associate Professor at Saint Cloud State University where she teaches American Indian Studies and directs the Multicultural Resource Center. The focus of the presentation will be on developing skills to better evaluate books for children and young adults about Native people. Ms. St. Clair will introduce a tool that she has developed, highlighting real world examples from published resources to unpack its use. Reading lists are useful, but educators will be shown how to develop greater capacity to evaluate materials and develop critical analytical skills to support learners.   SARS-CoV-2 Sticks Around The REALM Project has published the results of the second round of Battelle’s laboratory testing for COVID-19 on five commonly handled materials: braille paper pages, glossy paper pages, magazine pages, children’s board books, and archival folders. Compared to the results of Test 1, the results of Test 2 indicate that a slightly longer quarantine time for some types of cellulose-based paper materials sitting in a stacked configuration may be required to render SARS-CoV-2 undetectable. Join staff from OCLC, IMLS, and Battelle for a free WebJunction webinar to learn more about the testing process, how to present results to your stakeholders, project resources to inform your local decisions, and what you can expect from the project in the months to come. Registration for the webinar is full, but you can watch the livestream on YouTube at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4.   A Good Time to Talk About the Truth Mark your calendars for a statewide event featuring the current One Book | One Minnesota title, A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota. The discussion is free and is scheduled for Thursday, August 20, at 7 p.m. Register for the discussion with authors of A Good Time for the Truth. Editor Sun Yung Shin will be in conversation with contributors Taiyon Coleman, Shannon Gibney, David Lawrence Grant, Carolyn Holbrook, IBé, and Andrea Jenkins.

About State Library Services State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), partners with libraries to achieve equity and excellence in our collective work for Minnesotans. Division staff are consultants who help libraries plan, develop and implement high-quality services that address community needs. State Library Services administers federal grant, state aid, and state grant programs that benefit all types of libraries.

Welcome back! We have more books to share with you today.

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, a multitype library system serving all types of libraries.

This season we are suggesting books you might enjoy for our Goodreads group: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks. We give you a prompt connected to each state park, and you find a book to fulfill the challenge. You can use one of our suggestions, and you should feel free to read any book!

Old Mill State Park was founded in 1951. The park has a steam-powered flour mill, along with several other historic features. Enjoy this legacy with a book about a look back in history.

We give you links to each of these books on our show notes page, taking you to Amazon.com. If you click on any of them, and buy anything at all – including a nice book – Amazon will send us a small percent of the profits they made on these sales. Thank you for supporting CMLE!

Okay, the big announcement we’ve all been waiting for: the school reopening plan for September!

Yes, it’s going to be hard for everyone. Yes, it’s going to be expensive. So everyone take a nice deep breath now, and let’s get ready to make that happen as safely as possible for everyone.

Here is the report on the plan from our library legislative lobbyist.

Update from Capitol Hill Associates

Safe Learning Plan announced:   Governor Walz announced Executive Order 20-82, which outlines the framework for the safe reopening of schools this Fall.   The Minnesota Department of Education issued guidance for the plan.    Last Thursday Governor Walz announced a “Safe Learning Plan” that would allow for Minnesota students to return to the classroom in the fall if COVID-19 cases are low in the county their school resides in. The governor’s new plan aims to localize and regionalize the decision-making process for learning models as opposed to the state choosing one option for all public school learners this year.   During the announcement, Governor Walz stated the Department of Education will allow individual school districts to have the final say on the right balance of in-class, distance, or hybrid learning models. However, there will be a regulatory floor of expectations, including masks and social distancing and local districts will be allowed to implement stricter guidelines as they see fit. Students, parents, and staff now have to wait for individual districts to formulate and unveil their specific plans. Schools may dial up their learning model heading into September, but they may have to dial back the learning plan as MDH continues to track COVID-19 cases. Regardless of the learning plan chosen by the district, all schools will have to offer a distance learning option for students who don’t want to return to in-person learning this school year.   The Governor, in conjunction with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), presented guidelines on the mode of learning a district should have based on COVID cases per 10,000 in a county over a 14-day period. In districts that cover more than one county, data will be taken from the county with the highest number of cases. These guidelines include:   ● If there are less than 9 cases per 10,000, in-person learning is suggested for all students. ● For 10-19 cases per 10,000, in-person learning for elementary students and hybrid learning for secondary students is suggested. ● For 20-29 cases per 10,000, hybrid learning for all students is suggested. ● For 30-49 cases per 10,000, hybrid learning for elementary students and distance learning for secondary students is suggested. ● If there are 50 or more cases per 10,000 over a 14-day period, distance learning is strongly suggested for all students.   To support the safe learning plan, Governor Walz is making an additional $250 million available to schools from the state’s remaining Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) that were a part of the last federal relief bill. Combined with the $180 million already slated from the $140 million in ESSER funds and $38 million in GEER funds, the state is helping to push nearly $430 million to help schools prepare for the 2020-21 school year. However, the newly announced $250 million must be spent by December 31st of this year. Any unspent funds will cancel back to the state to assist with the looming state budget deficit.   The $180 million in ESSER and GEER funds may be spent through 2022 so districts should work to code expenses accordingly. These funds can be used to cover operational costs (ex: cleaning and screen supplies, technology, Wi-Fi, and mental health supports) and support to boost student, family, and educator support (ex: digital training, tutors, translation services, professional development). Page 18 of the MDE’s latest guidance outlines the distribution method for the new $250 million and more detail on allowable uses for these funds.   In addition to data tracking and additional funding, plans were announced for regional support teams, created in partnership with MDE, MDH, and MN’s regional service cooperatives. The regional support teams would be structured to promote efficient communication from the school and district level to the state level in the event of a confirmed case of COVID in a school building. The teams will comprise rapid response staff, health consultants and testing event planners. If a case is detected, this team would allow for service cooperatives to work with local health officials while the superintendent focuses on the needs of the school and community. When a case of COVID is detected in a school, whether that case is from a student or adult, students will have access to testing.   Educators will have one saliva test ready for them in the event a student is suspected to have COVID. Additionally, plans have also been put in place for a testing event, which may be warranted by a large outbreak. The Governor emphasized that safety practices will look different in varying communities around the state, with smaller communities with fewer COVID cases taking a less stringent approach than counties with more outbreaks. The plan seeks to increase schools’ readiness to implement mitigation strategies, with the goal of ultimately less-restrictive scenarios. However, if there is a spike in a specific community, districts’ final decisions will need to be made in consultation with the MDE.   There are many questions and more answers and guidance will roll-out as schools work through August to solidify plans for the start of the school year. We will do our best to keep you updated as more information is made available. Sam Walseth, Capitol Hill Associates

We have said this many times, but of course it’s worth repeating: school libraries are so important and so valuable!

There is a lot to do, to keep serving our communities no matter what happens next. But, of course, you are never alone in your library! We are here for you. And we have a lot of resources to share.

Check out all of these materials from the American Association of School Librarians:

• School Librarian Role in Pandemic Learning Conditions School librarians fulfill five important roles: instructional partner, teacher, leader, information specialist, and program administrator, all of which highlight the profession’s skill at building relationships and creating an inclusive school culture. During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools need this librarian skill set more than ever as they adapt to meet the current needs of learners in a constantly changing learning environment.
• Latest CDC Guidance on COVID-19 For the latest resources and developments on COVID-19, check out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 website. The site offers information on how the virus spreads, symptoms, and prevention and treatment.
• AASL Town Halls AASL for 10 weeks, AASL held town halls for school librarians to connect with AASL leaders and staff about the impact the pandemic is having on schools and the AASL community. For the archive, visit: AASL Town Hall: The Show Must Go On(line).
• FREE Vendor Resources for Online Instruction/Activities Check out the AASL Complimentary Resources Clearinghouse, which lists free activities and resources being offered by AASL vendor partners and exhibitors to school librarians and educators. Share the list with other educators in your school or district to help them engage with their learners. The list will be updated as new resources/activities become available.

You can find more resources on the AASL page.