Early bird registration ends Sept. 12 for AASL’s Fall Forum 2008

Contact: Melissa B. Jones


AASL Communications Specialist


312-280-4381


mjones@ala.org

For Immediate Release


September 2, 2008

CHICAGO –Early bird registration for AASL’s Fall Forum ends Friday, Sept. 12. The forum will be held October 17-19 at the Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort in Oak Brook, Ill., 20 miles west of Chicago. The rates on or before Sept. 12 are: $209 for AASL members; $259 for ALA members; and $319 for non-members. After Sept. 12, the prices will be raised $50 for each category. For more information or to register, visit
www.ala.org/aasl/fallforum.

This year’s gathering, “Assessment, Part II: Constructing and Interpreting Viable Tools for Effective Student Learning in the Library Media Center,” builds on the 2006 Fall Forum. New attendees will benefit from in-depth sessions that promise to teach how to take assessment results and apply them to create cross-curriculum collaboration opportunities. Attendees of the 2006 session will find that a lot of their ideas and questions will be further developed. This year, sessions will be led by four expert presenters, Judith Dzikowski, Julie Gedeon, Celeste Nalwasky and Barbara F. Schloman, and attendees will have the choice of three breakout sessions to delve deeper into their topics of interest.

These sessions include “Interpreting Authentic Assessment for Information Literacy,” “Data-driven Curriculum Decisions for Your Library Media Program” and “Integrating Authentic Assessment in Collaborative Applications.” The breakout sessions will offer the opportunity to network and work hands on with other school library media professionals to develop tools to take back to their school library media programs.

AASL will offer attendees many opportunities to network and share ideas with other attendees. Various networking breaks throughout the day as well as a networking lunch will allow for further collaboration of ideas. The weekend ends with keynote speaker Everett Kline, who will speak on “Our Beliefs, Our Practice: Ensuring That They Match.” Kline will speak at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19.

The American Association of School Librarians,
www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library media services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library media field.