The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for its week-long Summer Institutes for K-12 educators. Held at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., these professional development events provide educators with tools and resources to effectively integrate primary sources into K-12 classroom teaching, with an emphasis on student engagement, critical thinking, and construction of knowledge.

The Library is offering five Institutes this summer.  Three of the Institutes are open to teachers and librarians across the content areas, one focuses on civil rights, and one concentrates on primary sources for science education.

Open Institutes Open to K-12 teachers and school librarians across the content areas

Institute Session 1: June 22-26

Institute Session 2: July 6-10

Institute Session 3: July 27-31

Civil Rights Institute Open to K-12 teachers and school librarians with teaching responsibilities related to the Institute focus

Civil Rights Institute: August 3-7

Science Institute Recommended for K-12 educators who teach science or collaborate with science teachers

Science Institute: July 20-24

Applications are due March 24^th and require a letter of recommendation. Read more and apply now:

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/teacherinstitute/

Western Balkan Information Literacy Conference:  JUNE 17th-20th 2015 Juni na Uni 2015. – Hotel “Opal” Bihać, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Conference website: http://www.wbilc2015.kbbi.ba/en/

Call for Papers

Theme: Information & media literacy for lifelong learning: digital citizenship for a digital age.   In this Information Age the rise of digital and social media tools has brought with it some amazing innovations and immense challenges. The challenge to achieve information literacy (IL) in this information rich society is vital for lifelong learning and allows us to capitalise on the diverse and often overwhelming range of information choices which we have been confronted with by the power of the Internet. This great power has forced all of us to develop strategies for confronting issues concerning accessibility, reliability, authenticity and validity as well as information overload. Information Literacy is a vital transferable skill for lifelong learning in both formal and informal learning environments throughout people’s lifetimes. Information literacy facilitates active citizenship of individuals. Information literacy prepares people for lifelong learning because it enables them to find the information they need for any task or decision at hand. In helping to provide and expand access to information, helping to facilitate full participation in Society- our role is crucial. We must prepare for a Society full of Information, prepare for Digital Citizenship for a Digital Age.

Main Themes and Topics: Western Balkan Information Literacy Conference.

1. Information literacy in the modern world
2. Librarians as support to the lifelong learning process
3. Media and information literacy – theoretical approaches (standards, assessment, collaboration, etc.)
4. New aspects of education/strategic planning, policy, and advocacy for information literacy in a digital age

Paper submission: Submissions in any of the following forms are accepted: presentation, roundtable discussion, poster, Train-the-trainers workshop, PechaKucha. Full paper will be published in conference proceedings

Important Dates

Abstracts submission deadline April 17, 2015

Notification of abstract acceptance April 24, 2015

Paper submission deadline May 15, 2015

Notification of acceptance May 30, 2015

Dissemination of final programme June 02, 2015

Deadline for authors to submit slides June 04, 2015

For further information: please see the Western Balkan Information Literacy Conference website for additional details at:http://www.wbilc2015.kbbi.ba/en/

Please note: all expenses, including registration for the conference, travel, accommodation etc., are the responsibility of the authors/presenters. No financial support can be provided by the Conference Committee, but a special invitation can be issued to authors.

IASL Europe Director Luisa Marquardt took part in the UIA Round Table – Europe, that was held in Dublin on Nov. 13-14 (see programme  here: http://www.uia.org/roundtable/europe-2014).

UIA  is the acronym of  the “Union of International Associations”, established in 1907 by Paul Otlet (one of the founders of information science) and Henri La Fontaine (Nobel Peace Prize winner). Some 120 representatives of international associations from different sectors (e.g., culture, health, education etc.) gathered in Dublin to discuss concerns, challenges, goals.
How to enlarge the membership base, how to deal with reduced budget or a high turnover of volunteers, have been some of the issues discussed. Effective communication is a key factor to overcome many of the challenges. The organization of the meeting was simply perfect: interesting and useful presentations, followed by lively discussions, and a rich cultural and social programme.

Several entities provide free webinars of interest to school librarians. Here is a sampling:

http://www.webjunction.org/find-training/free-events.html

http://www.slj.com/category/webcasts/

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/category/webcasts/

http://education.sla.org

http://www.ala.org/onlinelearning/schoollibraries (see are fee-based)

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ld/workshops/webinars/index.html

http://www.follettsoftware.com/webinars.cfm

http://ideas.demco.com/category/webinars/

https://oclc.org/events/webinars.en.html

Are you involved in an interesting project or in an area of work that you would like to discuss with or show to other congress attendees? Why not present your work in the IFLA Poster Sessions?

Format & Presentation

Your topic could be described on a printed poster or by photographs, graphics and pieces of text that you attach to the presentation panel. All IFLA official languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish – are welcome.

Presenters of a poster will be expected to be present on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 August 2015 in order to explain their poster and to hand out any leaflets, or other information materials, they have available for viewers of their poster. Each presenter can therefore only present one poster. Any organization that submits more than one application should indicate a priority to their submissions.

Proposal

Conference participants interested in presenting a poster should complete the online application form.

It is important that applicants describe how they intend to illustrate the project in the poster format. The poster has to be an experience in itself for the one who looks at it – and should show awareness of the poster format.

Special consideration will be given to ensure that a variety of topics and geographical/cultural range will be represented.

The deadline is 2 February 2015, after the deadline applications will no longer be accepted.

A jury representing the IFLA Professional Committee will review all submissions and at the congress they will select the winner of the IFLA Poster 2015 based on the criteria below.

Does the topic of the poster:

• Look interesting and/or inspiring;
• Look lively;
• Lend itself to a poster session; is not too abstract;
• Present new ideas or present an application of technology;
• Appear to be clearly explained;
• Not duplicate another poster, nor have the same presenter as another poster (a presenter must be present during the poster session to explain the poster to viewers);
• Have a relationship to the theme of the WLIC;
• Have a clear library relevance or perspective;
• Describe a project that is ongoing or near completion, not one that is yet to start.

For complete and up-to-date information concerning Poster Sessions, please see the Call for Posters webpage on the IFLA WLIC 2015 conference website.

If you have any further questions, please contact [email protected].