AASL NEWS
For Immediate Release
January 11, 1998
Contact: Steven Hofmann
Phone: 312-280-4389
Fax: 312-664-7459

AASL announces 1998 ICONnect Mini-Grant winners

Five mini-grants to support the use of Internet technology in the school library media program were announced January 10 by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

The mini-grants were awarded as part of AASL's ICONnect technology initiative. This was the third year of the mini-grant awards. The recipients were announced during the 1998 ALA Midwinter Meeting in New Orleans.

Each mini-grant recipients received $1,000 to be used toward the purchase of technology for use in the library media center or to support travel for the team to attend a state or national conference. The applying school library media specialist was required to be an ALA/AASL member and to collaborate with a teacher on the curriculum project submitted. The curriculum project had to include the use of Internet resources.

1998 ICONnect Mini-Grant winners are:

Jo Ann Wahrman, school library media specialist, and Sharon Palmquist, participating teacher; Goodland High School, Goodland, KS; for "Assassinations and Julius Caeser"
Constance Vidor, librarian, Ellen Baru, technology coordinator, and John Lawes, social studies teacher; The Cathedral School, New York, NY; for "Lives of Ancient Romans"
Nelda Brangwin, school library media specialist, and Christine Hauser, first grade teacher; Cherry Valley Elementary School, Duvall, WA; for "A Day in the Life of a First-Grader in Washington State"
Shelby Bivens, library/media specialist, and David Mittel, language arts teacher; Kyrene Middle School, Tempe, AZ; for "Author Study"
Carolyn Karis, school library media specialist, and Elizabeth Wade, French class teacher; Urban School of San Francisco; for "Francophone African Study Unit"

Summaries of the winning curriculum units are available online.

Members of the 1998 ICONnect Mini-Grants Subcommittee were Judy Lira (chair), Pam Spencer, Elizabeth Miller, Allison Kaplan, Mary Anne Parks, Cathy Berner and Suzy Hawley.

Application guidelines and evaluation criteria for the 1999 ICONnect Mini-Grants will be available this spring. Information about the ICONnect technology initiative is available via the Internet. ICONnect information packets are also avialable by mail from AASL. To request one call 800-545-2433, ext. 1396, or e-mail ICONnect@ala.org.

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