November
2006
Blogletter #80
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SURVEY REMINDER / SCHOLARSHIP REMINDER/ NEW GRANT FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES / AUTHORS HONORED
SURVEY REMINDER
Thanks to all of you have filled out and returned a 2006 Alaska School Library Census Form. This information is not only useful for me, but it may be useful for you as well. The Alaska Association of School Librarians and the Alaska Library Association are working to propose a school library collection development grant to add to your library materials budget. Their efforts will be more effective if they can explain to legislators what the current situation with school libraries is, particularly the current per student expenditure on library materials. This information is not available statewide from any other source but from you who work in school libraries. So far the responses I have received for school library budgets have ranged from $0 (several) to $75,000 (a one-time federal grant). For those of you who haven’t sent me a completed form, I urge you to take a few minutes to fill one out. Please remember to indicate the name of your school and the number of students that you serve at the top of the form. If you won’t have time until next week after the holiday, that’s fine. Have a great holiday, and then take about 5 minutes to fill out the form when you return next week. If you no longer have the form I sent out last week, don’t be shy. Just write to me at the address below, and I’ll be glad to send you another one.
SCHOLARSHIP REMINDER I have been asked to remind you that if you are pursuing a masters degree or school library certificate, or if you know someone who is interested in doing so, you should check out the information at the AkLA/AkASL scholarship site at: http://www.akla.org/scholarships/index.html The deadlines for the two types of scholarships offered are both January 15, 2007. NEW GRANT FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIES “Where can I get a grant for my school library?” is one of my most frequently asked questions. As of this year, there is a new award program, the Sara Jaffarian Award, from the American Association of School Librarians. The award is for $4,000 plus a plaque to the selected school library that has conducted “an exemplary program or program series in the humanities.” The program should have been conducted in the previous school year with a humanities focus, which might include social studies, poetry, drama, art, music, literature, foreign languages and culture. “Programs should focus on broadening perspectives and helping students understand the wider world and their place in it.” Award rules and an application form are available at: www.ala.org/jaffarianaward and the deadline is February 28, 2007. Other awards available through AASL are to be found at: http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslawards/aaslawards.htmThe deadline for most of them is February 1, 2007. AUTHORS HONORED Earlier this fall, children’s book illustrator David Macaulay was honored with a “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for his works that “demystify the workings and origins of objects as mundane as a stapler and as monumental as a cathedral.”
More recently M. T. Anderson’s novel THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING, TRAITOR TO THE NATION, VOLUME ONE: THE POX PARTY (Candlewick Press) was named the 2006 National Book Award for Children’s Literature.
Anderson’s earlier work, FEED, was a finalist for the 2002 award.
Enjoy your holiday!
