Montana School Library Media Information

DRAFTs of Revised Standards Available for Review
6/6/08

The Library Media and Technology Content Standards Revision process began on January 11, 2008, in Helena. Library Media and Technology teams of writers spent four weekends (January 11-13, February 22-24, March 28-30 and April 18-20) revising the current Library Media and Technology content standards, benchmarks and performance descriptors. Members of the teams were nominated from various professional organizations to represent K-16 teacher experts in each area, geographic distribution, large/small districts, cultural diversity and at least one administrator.

The Board of Public Education will be taking action on the revised content and performance standards in July. A public hearing has been scheduled on Wednesday, July 17th, (Library Media - 9:00 a.m., Technology - 1:00 p.m.) at the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education Conference Room at 46 N Last Chance Gulch.

Drafts of the Information Literacy/Library Media and Technology Content and Performance Standards can be found at www.opi.mt.gov/Accred/cstandards.html.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS - A WORKING CONFERENCE JUNE 23-27, 2008

The Office of Public Instruction (OPI) is calling for Montana educators to convene in a working conference to develop the Essential Learning Expectations (ELE) for K-12 Science, Information Literacy/Library Media and Technology. The event is scheduled for June 23-27, 2008, in Billings, Montana at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The five-day OPI working conference is being held in conjunction with the June 23-24 Montana Rural Education Association (MREA) Northwest Rural Schools Conference. Travel, lodging, and per diem expenses, as well as an honorarium of $150 per day for team members, is being offered to those educators working to develop the OPI Essential Learning Expectations for K-12 Science, Information Literacy/Library Media and Technology. Please contact Donna Waters (dwaters@mt.gov) or Colet Bartow (cbartow@mt.gov) for more information.

MT_SLMD Listserv

School librarians now have their own listserv! OCLC is hosting the list on behalf of the Montana Library Association's School Library Media Division. Please send a message to LISTSERV@OCLC.ORG. The message should read SUBSCRIBE MT_SLMD-L. Do not include a subject line or a signature in the body of the message. The purpose of this new listserv is to improve communication between Montana's school librarians. The conversations on this listserv should focus on topics of interest to the school library media community, including the latest on school library media services, operations, and activities.

Informationally yours,
Colet (rhymes with Olé)