Several entities provide free webinars of interest to school librarians. Here is a sampling:

http://www.webjunction.org/find-training/free-events.html

http://www.slj.com/category/webcasts/

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/category/webcasts/

http://education.sla.org

http://www.ala.org/onlinelearning/schoollibraries (see are fee-based)

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ld/workshops/webinars/index.html

http://www.follettsoftware.com/webinars.cfm

http://ideas.demco.com/category/webinars/

https://oclc.org/events/webinars.en.html

Are you involved in an interesting project or in an area of work that you would like to discuss with or show to other congress attendees? Why not present your work in the IFLA Poster Sessions?

Format & Presentation

Your topic could be described on a printed poster or by photographs, graphics and pieces of text that you attach to the presentation panel. All IFLA official languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish – are welcome.

Presenters of a poster will be expected to be present on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 August 2015 in order to explain their poster and to hand out any leaflets, or other information materials, they have available for viewers of their poster. Each presenter can therefore only present one poster. Any organization that submits more than one application should indicate a priority to their submissions.

Proposal

Conference participants interested in presenting a poster should complete the online application form.

It is important that applicants describe how they intend to illustrate the project in the poster format. The poster has to be an experience in itself for the one who looks at it – and should show awareness of the poster format.

Special consideration will be given to ensure that a variety of topics and geographical/cultural range will be represented.

The deadline is 2 February 2015, after the deadline applications will no longer be accepted.

A jury representing the IFLA Professional Committee will review all submissions and at the congress they will select the winner of the IFLA Poster 2015 based on the criteria below.

Does the topic of the poster:

• Look interesting and/or inspiring;
• Look lively;
• Lend itself to a poster session; is not too abstract;
• Present new ideas or present an application of technology;
• Appear to be clearly explained;
• Not duplicate another poster, nor have the same presenter as another poster (a presenter must be present during the poster session to explain the poster to viewers);
• Have a relationship to the theme of the WLIC;
• Have a clear library relevance or perspective;
• Describe a project that is ongoing or near completion, not one that is yet to start.

For complete and up-to-date information concerning Poster Sessions, please see the Call for Posters webpage on the IFLA WLIC 2015 conference website.

If you have any further questions, please contact posters@ifla.org.

The Welten Institute of the Open University Netherlands and Meles Meles School Library Service host the  44th Annual International Conference of the International Association of School Librarianship incorporating the 19th International Forum on Research in School Librarianship:  The school library rocks — living it, learning it, loving it!

 Subthemes

·         The school library as a space and place: meeting, sharing, discussing. Collaborative learning and growing.

·         The school library as learning environment: 24/7 access to materials, resources, teachers, electronic learning environment and more.

·         The school library as laboratory: experience and discovery in science, arts and media‐education

·         The school library as a window to the world: reading, writing and communication

 The International Association of School Librarianship http://iasl-online.org annual conference is taking place in Maastricht, Netherlands from June 28 – July 2, 2015 and we are calling for submissions of abstracts for papers and posters. The conference theme – The School Library Rocks: living it, learning it, loving it reflects the focus on pupils and students in libraries and in promoting school media centres in schools worldwide.  Find out more by visiting the http://www.iasl2015.org website, emailing  [iasl2015@meles.nl], liking our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/iasl2015/ or following us on Twitter @iasl2015.

Aim & Scope of the conference
School librarianship, Information & Media Literacy and Lifelong Learning.
The conference aims to bring together researchers, information professionals, media specialists, educators, policy makers, employers and all other related parties from around the world to exchange knowledge and experience and discuss current issues, recent developments, standards, techniques, challenges, theories, and good practices.

Objectives / Goals (but not limited) of the  Conference are

·                Advocate the important role of the school library function in compulsory education in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, rest of Europe and globally

·                Bring together stakeholders and influence the decision-making process for the implementation of school libraries and school library training

·                Professionalise school librarians, teachers and other stakeholders

·                Promote exchange and sharing of information on school librarianship

·                Promote IASL and its role in school librarianship in the region

·                Offer a platform physically and online for school library professionals to meet, create networks and make friends

·                Arouse bustle and an atmosphere of ‘revitalisation’ of the school library

·                Give all participants a backpack full of information, ideas, friendships and positive feelings to take home with them

 We kindly invite school and teacher librarians, researchers in the field of school librarianship, educators, teachers, principals, school administrators, educational technologists, and all interested in the field of education, libraries, (media and information) literacy to submit a proposal for a paper, poster or workshop linked to our general theme and / or one of the subthemes.

Important Dates

First call:                                                             October 15, 2014

Abstract submission:                                    December 1, 2014

Notification of acceptance:                        February 1, 2015

Full paper submission:                                 April 1, 2015

Paper Submissions

The conference will be composed of several types of contributions, such as full research papers, professional papers, posters, workshops. Papers have a time allocation of 30 minutes (20 minutes for presentation, 10 minutes for questions); workshops 90 minutes and for posters there is a 90 minutes dedicated timeslot for short introductions and poster sessions during the lunch breaks.The conference includes a dedicated research strand of multiple timeslots (depending on the number of papers). Abstracts should be submitted per email submissions-iasl2015@ou.nl using the templates attached to this call by December 1, 2014. This call will also be available through the Conference website. At least one of the authors should register online via the Conference website and take part in the conference to present the paper. The proceedings of the conference will become available online for all participants of the conference.

Looking forward to your contributions to and participation in the Conference.

Submissions Contact submissions-iasl2015@ou.nl

General contact iasl2015@meles.nl

On behalf of the organising committee IASL 2015:

Welten Institute Open Universiteit Nederland | http://www.ou.nl/web/welten-institute

Meles Meles SMD | http://onderwijsmediatheek.nl

Lourense H. Das, Conference Director IASL 2015 

TD Canadian Children’s Book Week is the single most important national event celebrating Canadian children’s books and the importance of reading. Over 28,000 children, teens and adults participate in activities held in every province and territory across the country. Hundreds of schools, public libraries, bookstores and community centres host events as part of this major literary festival.

TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2015 will take place from May 2^nd to May 9^th. This coming year, Book Week is celebrating the remarkable variety of topics, genres and voices being published by and about members of Canada’s Indigenous communities. The official theme is Hear Our Stories: Celebrating First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature.

Manitoba is very fortunate to be hosting two authors. Award-winning actress and author, Meg Tilly, writes junior fiction and young adult novels. They include A Taste of Heaven, Behind the Scenes¸ and Porcupine.

Shelly Sanders is the author of the Rachel trilogy: Rachel’s Secret, Rachel’s Promise and Rachel’s Hope. Her presentations take audiences back to Imperial Russia and her books are widely used in Holocaust education.

For more information about TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2015, please visit www.bookweek.ca. There you will find author profiles, descriptions of their presentations, theme guide information and much more.

If you are interested in hosting a presentation at your school or library, online applications are available on the web site. The deadline for applications is December 31^st, 2014.

Gail Hamilton, Manitoba Book Week Coordinator 2015

204-654-3721            gmlhamilton@gmail.com