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November 2002
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Joan Collins
Co-Chair of the 2002 MSLMA Conference
Over 530 librarians attended the 2002 MSLMA Conference, Setting the Stage for Success at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center on Oct. 27 and 28.
Featured speaker, Pam Berger, lead us through inquiry based learning, free web tools, and web evaluation. Will Hobbs told us where his ideas for his adventure novels arise, and storyteller, Michael Parent, instructed us on how students can communicate through the art of storytelling. Attendees at Paul Gagne's session learned how award winning Weston Woods transforms picture books into animated film.
This year marked an historic opportunity for the membership to voice their concerns to Rob Maier and continue our dialogue with the Mass Bd. of Library Commissioners. We gave feedback on proposed changes. Free databases are important to us, but we are teachers, and therefore different from public librarians.
At the Legislative Update hosted by Doris Smith, our newly appointed executive director, we were urged to remain proactive on our legislation. We must continue to build influence and rethink our strategies as we proceed with legislative appeal.
Many of us left the conference with booklists from Cathie Mercier and Teri Schmidt reflecting the very best in what's new in children's books. Comfortably tucked inside our conference folders was a rubric to use as an assessment tool for school library programs.
After Monday's luncheon, students were awarded certificates of excellence for their work in the Student Video and Electronic Media contest, an event co-sponsored by MSLMA and WGBY.
Your presence at the conference shows your desire to be the best that you can be, and your commitment to professional development.