Chapter News from Vancouver

The Vancouver Teacher-Librarians' Association (VTLA) has undertaken to support an interesting community literacy project. The VTLA received a request from community literacy worker Amanda Grondahl to help with her book club run out of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre. In particular, Amanda needed help in providing sufficient books for up to twenty women. Titles include Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill, The Liar's Club by Mary Karr, Missing Sarah by Maggie de Vries, and The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood.

A group of Vancouver teacher-librarians decided to read the same books and meet monthly to discuss the titles and, if group members wanted to, donate the books for Amanda's group. The book club will hold its first meeting this month to discuss Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill. At the December meeting, the book club will be discussing The Liar's Club.

In addition, the VTLA has garnered funding from the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association (VESTA) and expect that support will also come in the form of additional funding from the Vancouver Secondary Teachers' Association (VSTA). To date, the Vancouver Teacher-Librarians' Association has raised $1000 for this project.

Adapted with permission from email by Moira Ekdahl

Recent School Library Journal Issues

In addition to the 50th anniversary issue of BCTLA's own The Bookmark, two Canadian school library journals have recently published issues online.

The new issue of School Libraries in Canada (v. 27, n. 3) is available here. The theme of this issue is, "We will remember them... / Nous nous souviendrons d'eux...". The issue contains articles such as "The Virtual Library as a Learning Hub" by Anita Brooks-Kirkland and "Engage and Grow With Questions" by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan.

In addition, the latest issue of Literacies, Learning, and Libraries from the Alberta School Libraries Council has been made available here. The theme of the issue is "Collections and Inquiry: Partners in the Process". Previous issues of the journal can be found on the ASLC wiki here.

Book Levelling Position Statement News

BCTLA's book levelling position statement, ratified at the 2009 BCTLA AGM, is making an impact in B.C. and beyond! Reactions to the statement continue to be positive and word has really been getting out this Fall.

• In mid-October, BCTLA heard that the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association General Meeting had endorsed the position statement.
• In late October, the position statement was sent to the American Association of School Librarians' Forum (AASL Forum) in response to a request for policy on the levelling of school libraries.
• In early November, BCTLA received an email from The Association of Library Coordinators of Ontario (TALCO) expressing interest in the statement.
• On November 14, BCTLA Liaison Chair Moira Ekdahl presented by invitation on the position statement as part of a panel at the 2009 BCTF Public Education Conference in Richmond, B.C.

If you haven't already read the position statement, "Book Levelling and School Library Collections", it is available here on the new BCTLA website.

DEAR Participation

BCTLA would like to ask everyone who participated in Drop Everything and Read 2009 to please submit your DEAR participation numbers! We would like all to encourage all participants, even those who already sent in your participation information in another way, to complete the survey, which is also available through the BCTLA website.

SUBMIT YOUR SCHOOLS' DEAR PARTICIPATION <<< HERE >>>

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Al at literateowl@gmail.com.