Inaugural+Meeting

=Inaugural Meeting=

During the weekend of February 16-18, the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland hosted a conference to establish a network of District Library Media Supervisors from the Council of Great City Schools. With generous support from sponsor Thomson Gale, this inaugural meeting brought together individuals responsible for library media services in large urban school districts from as far away as Alaska, Florida, California, and Texas. This new network will support information sharing, problem solving, and advocacy efforts to address the universal and unique challenges of developing effective library media programs that positively impact student achievement in the nation’s busiest school districts.

The conference opened on Friday evening with a welcoming reception giving the district school library supervisors a relaxed opportunity to meet each other, many for the first time. Saturday workshops were facilitated by UM faculty member Ann Weeks and Pam Berger, a Library Initiative Consultant with the New York City Department of Education. Dr. Weeks and Ms. Berger introduced the group to Café Conversations, a strategy for developing open dialogue among conference participants. Using the Café Conversation approach, attendees continuously moved between small work groups, meeting new people, exchanging fresh ideas and engaging in meaningful dialogue about the needs of 21st-century students and the challenges that urban school districts face in meeting those needs.

District supervisors also had the opportunity to share information about successful initiatives from throughout the country; identify common issues and challenges; and begin to create a blueprint for working together. Four work groups were established to concentrate on information tools and access issues, staffing concerns, marketing and advocacy efforts, and programmatic needs.

To build upon the work initiated during this conference, the CGCS Library Media Supervisors’ Network Wiki was created (http://greatlibs.wikispaces.com/). The wiki will facilitate communication between work groups and provide a public forum to report on their progress. News and contact information for individual districts will also be available.

> (Google login: "greatlibs". The password is "infolit")
 * Summary of District Questionnaire ('07)
 * Presentations
 * Handouts
 * [| Photo Gallery] (Picassa)