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Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Spotlight on Books Conference

Press Release

Spotlight on Books Book Conference Coming in April

(Wednesday, January 16, 2013)

Moorhead, MN  – A conference for adults concerned with helping youth find involvement and satisfaction with the best books have to offer will be held April 11 – 13, 2013, at Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge Resort, Grand Rapids, MN.  This will be the 25th anniversary of the conference Spotlight on Books.

Conference workshops will include a Caldecott Crash Course where members from the 2009 and 2012 national Caldecott committee will describe how the annual award is chosen.  Featured authors for this year’s conference include Susan Marie Swanson, winner of the 2009 Minnesota Book Award, and Karen Cushman, author of Will Sparrow’s Road which was named one of Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of 2012.

“Over the years, Spotlight on Books has proven to be both entertaining and informative, helping people who work with young people share the joy of books,” said Kathy Enger, executive director of the Northern Lights Library Network (NLLN).  “This year’s program promises to fully carry on this 25 year tradition.”

A full conference schedule and registration can be found at http://spotlightonbooks.weebly.com or by calling the Northern Lights Library Network at 1-800-450-1032.  Early bird registration for the full conference is $160 per person and must be received by March 15.  Full time students can attend for just $85.  A special conference rate for accommodations of $90 is available from Ruttgers.  Visit http://nlln.org/Ruttgerslodging2012.pdf for resort registration.

Spotlight on Books is organized by the following library agencies:  Arrowhead Library System, Minnesota Library Association Children’s and Young People Section, Friends of the Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids Public Library, Kitchigami Regional Library, Lake Agassiz Regional Library, Minnesota Education media Organization Literature Special Interest Division, Minnesota reading Association, North Country Library Cooperative, Northern Lights Library network, Northwest Regional Library, Viking Library System

Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist

Girls + Games = Success in Math and Science

scienceResearch about girls and video games shows that girls tend to prefer games that include problem-solving, collaboration and real-life elements. Designers of educational technology have found that math and science-based games are most popular with girls when the concepts have some connection to real-world situations and can lead to a solution that supports a “social good.” KQED.org/Mind/Shift blog (1/14)

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Bill DeJohn, 1940-2012

This beautiful post was created by staff in our “sister multitype” in the Twin Cites (Metronet) in their Metro Briefs publication. Written by Ann Walker Smalley. I couldn’t have said any of it  better. Bill was quietly excellent, a master of his craft, and instrumental in helping MN libraries rise to  where they are today. He will be dearly missed.

DejohnThe library community mourns the loss of Bill DeJohn, retired Director of Minitex. Bill died Dec 31 at his home in Northfield after a brief illness.

Bill retired in Jan 2011 after leading Minitex for 27 years. He was a champion of all types of libraries & made sure that all had access to the Minitex resources, staff, & training. He was a leader in library advocacy efforts in Minnesota & conceived and supported new initiatives that expanded resource sharing.

Bill was a “mover & shaker” in the library world. It is easy to forget the leadership required to develop & implement the services & programs we now take for granted. Bill was instrumental in creating many library resource-sharing programs that have an impact on all Minnesota libraries & their users including ELM, MnLink, MDL, the Research Project Calculator, MLAC, bibliographic control & cataloging, automated library systems, training on products & services, & much more. Minnesota libraries are known for their collaboration in good part because of Bill’s leadership. As libraries continue to move forward, we can remember how Bill would ask questions, bring people together to talk, advocate for new ideas, continue the discussions, & keep working until library services are improved for all.

Bill graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Russian civilization. He earned a Master of Library Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to Minitex, Bill was the Head of Resource Sharing, University of Washington, Seattle, serving the Pacific Northwest libraries & before that was the Director of the Pacific Northwest Bibliographic Center (PNBC). He also worked at both the Illinois State Library & the Missouri State Library.

Barbara Fister (a librarian at the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library, Gustavus Adolphus College) wrote this remembrance Bill DeJohn and the Value of Sharing at Inside Higher Ed, Jan 3.

You can learn more about Bill’s legacy in his own words:
• Minitex 40th Anniversary Oral History interview with Bill DeJohn
• Bill’s retirement speech
• His departing thanks & well wishes for the future to Minitex participating libraries staff on Feb 14, 2012

Donations may be made in Bill’s memory to the American Library Association or the Newfoundland Club of America.

Images: Minitex

Academic, Check this out:, School Media Specialist

Workshops to Create a Virtual Learning Commons

Dhaivyd Hilgendorf, MEMO President offers this opportunity to all interested parties…. Dhaivyd writes,

“I will be conducting a series of three free workshops that will enable you to experiment with and create a VLC for your school. And, you will have something to showcase for Digital Learning Day in Feb. The  three  ninety minutes sessions will be Jan. 14, 21, and Feb. 4th at five pm Pacific/eight pm eastern on each of the Monday evenings.

Objective: To create a collaborative virtual learning commons that replaces the school library website. The site will contain five major  virtual rooms:

  • The Information Center,
  • The Literacy Center,
  • the Knowledge Building Center,
  • The Experimental Learning Center, and
  • School Culture.

We will focus on using Google Sites as the construction tool, but other software can be used. Participants will  construct either a sandbox prototype or a real VLC for their school. Opportunities to collaborate across participants will be the focus.

To sign up, just send an email to me at: reader.david@gmail.com

And, I would appreciate it if you would announce this across whatever state networks you have access to.

The website for the series is building at: https://sites.google.com/site/virtuallearningcommonsworkshop/

Please join us.”

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Recommended App: GoodNotes

GoodNotes is an app that comes highly recommended by many — especially those in the education field. GoodNotes allows users to take handwritten notes, draw/diagram,Goodnotes mark-up PDFs, and then save it all on a nicely organized “bookshelf”. In addition, GoodNotes allows for easy sharing, page turning, and highlighting. It also automatically saves your work and provides full backup to prevent data loss.

GoodNotes is compatible with iPad and requires iOS 5.0 or later, and is priced at $4.99. Find out more about GoodNotes on its iTunes Preview or at www.goodnotesapp.com