Session Details & Resources

Concurrent Sessions 1: 10:20-11:10

How to Throw a Literacy Festival with Maximum Joy + Maximum Ease:

Would you like to harness the power of books, words, and stories to radiate joy, foster hope and build connectedness in your community? Would you like to position your library to inspire others, without having to rely on endless social media promotion? I’ll show you how to throw an ease-filled annual event that plants the seeds for this & more! This will be a hands-on workshop, get ready to play!

Presenter(s): Abby Levin

Level: Elementary

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Narrative Nonfiction: The Art of Explaining Complex Science Through Deeply Personal Narratives

Join local sexual health author and educator Rachel Ginocchio for a discussion of how real-life narratives can turn complex science into informative, validating, bite-sized pieces for students. She’ll also share the process of turning book concepts into lessons for the classroom. Her work explores modern family formation and human reproduction (in vitro fertilization, donor conception, and surrogacy), but her ideas can be applied to any STEM concept.

Presenter(s): Rachel HS Ginocchio

Level: Middle / High School

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BCCCA, ORCA & OBOB: Engaging & Building a Community of Readers With OASL Reading Programs

Join us for an engaging session of OASL’s 3 statewide reading incentive programs, Oregon Reader’s Choice Award; Beverly Cleary Children’s Choice Award; & Oregon Battle Of the Books. Carrie Light, former Committee Rep - ORCA grades 3-12, will share terrific tips on how your students and you can become involved. Libby Hamler-Dupras, BCCCA Committee Chair grades K-5, will share how to promote a wide variety of books nominated in honor of Beverly Cleary. Elaine Ferrell-Burns, OBOB Board Liaison - grades 3-12, will share pointers & resources for participation. Learn how each of these reading incentive programs encourage & recognize students, broaden reading interests and ultimately increase their love of reading. Posters & bookmarks of each program’s curated list of titles available while supplies last.

Presenter(s): Carrie Light, Libby Hamler-Dupras & Elaine Ferrell-Burns

Level: All

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Gale OSLIS Resources 101

Join us for an informative workshop designed for newcomers to OSLIS’s Gale resources. Discover how Gale resources can enhance research, support curriculum development, and foster information literacy. Learn how to navigate the platforms, access a wealth of authoritative content, and utilize features such as Topic Finder and Google/Microsoft integration. This workshop will equip you to make the most of these powerful resources and help your teachers and students do the same!

Presenter(s): Stacey Knibloe

Level: All

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Money-Saving Magic for Librarians

Discover a treasure trove of ways to maximize your library's budget. We'll explore a variety of tools that will empower you to do more with less. Don't miss out on this opportunity to uncover the secrets to stretching your library's dollars further than ever before!

Presenter(s): Lori Lieberman

Level: All

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Be Who You Needed When You Were Younger

In this session, author, educator, and activist Phil Bildner will share strategies and tools to help us connect with students and readers, especially LGBTQ+ students and readers. Through the lens of "be who you needed when you were younger" and by focusing on small moments, Phil will show and remind us just how much of a difference we can and do make in the lives of young humans.

Presenter(s): Phil Bildner

Level: Elementary / Middle School

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Concurrent Sessions 2: 11:15-12:05

Build Your Own Database Escape Room Using OSLIS’S Gale Resources!

Database Escape Rooms are a unique way to engage your learners, and Gale is here to help you build them! We’ll explore our pre-created content-specific and blank Escape Rooms to help your students explore your Gale resources from OSLIS and help you create your own by sharing Escape Room development and implementation tips. This is a popular activity to incorporate gamification into your library!

Presenter(s): Stacey Knibloe

Level: All

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Media Literacy: A Vital Need in Divided and AI-infused Times

Media literacy - the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in varied forms - is a vital skill for all members of our democracy. As students are bombarded emotionally and cognitively with vast amounts and diverse forms of media, including AI-generated “deepfakes”, schools must help students develop these abilities before they enter society as adults. This presentation will provide a shared definition of and pressing need for media literacy, its connections to general literacy and mental health, the key role schools hold in developing media literacy, and existing implementation strategies and resources as well as emerging needs from the field.

Presenter(s): Tina Roberts & Brian Baker

Level: All

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Robot Dogs in the Library? Why? Why Not! STREAM, Makerspaces & The Engineering Design Process!

Why do you need a Unitree Go 2 Robot Dog for your library? Why not!!! STREAM Programming (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art and Math) is essential for 21st century, robust school libraries. Join Jen as she shares practical ways to integrate STREAM, Makerspaces and jazzy technology integration into your regular practice! (she'll have her Unitree Go2 Robot Dog / will demo and share how Siuslaw libraries are incorporating K12).

Presenter(s): Jennifer McKenzie

Level: All

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Environmental Sustainability in School Libraries: Some starting points and ideas

This session will share ideas around school library programming that addresses climate justice, sustainability, and environmental science. Ideas range from collaboration to displays, from social media posts to book lists. Come and share how your library is promoting environmental sustainability.

Presenter(s): Amanda Graham

Level: All

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Library Lesson Planning for the Classified Crowd

Classified library staff are often tasked with creating and teaching library lessons. But where to start? Kelsea Jones, M.Ed. will share her process of writing a full year’s curriculum for a fourth grade library class. The presentation will focus on analyzing the OASL standards, intentionally choosing great read alouds, and creating low prep assessments. She invites classified library staff to meet, connect, and collaborate on lesson plans for every grade!

Presenter(s): Kelsea Jones

Level: All

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Concurrent Sessions 3: 1:30-2:20

How to Start your Makerspace With Little Or No Funding

Creative ways to start a maker space in your library. If you have very little or no, funding, or space. in your library you can still have a maker space. This presentation will include information for getting supplies with little to no funds. Including recommendations on how to have a maker space even if you have no space.

Presenter(s): Gigi Michaels

Level: All

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Beyond Books: Exciting and Entertaining Programs For Your Library

Presenter(s): Lori Lieberman & TuesD Chambers

Level: Middle / High School

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Fun S**t We Do in the Library

Presenter(s): Eila Overcash, Katrina Bailey, Laura Home Kaiser, and a Rag-Tag Collection of Bend-La Pine Library Staff

Level: All

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Mac's Big Wish & The Power of Service Dogs

Virtual Author Visit: 2024 Patricia Gallagher Children's Picture Book Award (OSLA)

This is a collaborative session with OASL President (and former Walter Reed Army Medical Center Acting Company Commander) Jennifer McKenzie along with the author, Peter Vanderwall, and project coordinator, Dr. Kathleen Vanderwall. Peter’s book, Mac’s Big Wish, is the winner of the 2024 Patricia Gallagher Children’s Choice Picture Book Award. His book helps us understand the true value of friendship. After spending much of his life alone at Puddleton’s Pet Rescue watching other dogs leave happily with new owners, Mac almost gives up hope for a loving home. But then he gets a special job at Oak Knoll Care Center and learns that he too has much to give. This session will discuss the power of therapy dogs in hospitals and school libraries, and will take a deep dive into Peter’s creative writing journey from produced screenplays to a children’s picture story book, and review strategies to foster self-regulation, motivation, and engagement in readers. Session attendees will learn to access free classroom lessons developed by Oregon teachers targeting Mac’s Big Wish. Conference attendees may order a personally inscribed and autographed hardcover Mac’s Big Wish at www.PeterVanderwall.com/ Use coupon code OASL-10% for ten percent off.

Presenter(s): Peter Vanderwall, Dr. Kathleen Vanderwall & Jennifer McKenzie

Level: All

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Collection Development 101: Key Principles & Tips

Did you wind up in a school library with no training in how to run one? Need help with collection development? Yes? Then this session is for you! Come learn about key principles, tips, and resources that will help you build an excellent library collection by making intentional and defensible choices about what you buy and what you weed.

Presenter(s): Jen Maurer

Level: All

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Concurrent Sessions 4: 2:30-3:20

Building Community Partnerships

Building partnerships with your community can be daunting, but the rewards are huge! Watch a short presentation about ways to engage local businesses and organizations in your school library program, then have a chance to work with peers to troubleshoot and create at least one way that you can partner with your local community that will impact your school library program. Examples with easy-to-modify instructions will be available.

Presenter(s): Treasa Street

Level: Elementary / Middle School

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7 Kinds of Truth: How Nonfiction Opens Hearts and Minds

Journalist and author Dashka Slater will investigate the meaning of “Truth" using her award-winning nonfiction narratives Accountable and The 57 Bus as examples. What is truth and how do we find it? Can we be honest and empathic at the same time? And in this era of contested and invented facts, how do we establish a common understanding?

Presenter(s): Dashka Slater

Level: Middle / High School

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Oregon School Library Advocacy Update

School library programs in Oregon are in crisis! Come hear about the current focus and status of legislative advocacy efforts for school libraries in Oregon. We need your help to achieve real change! Join us to learn about actions you can take to help move school library programs forward.

Presenter(s): Jean Gritter & Kate Weber

Level: All

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Student Helpers in the Library

Training methods to help school librarians/media techs include student helpers in your library. Offering various jobs that students can be successful in when helping in the library. This training can be for students from Elementary through Highschool.

Presenter(s): Gigi Michaels

Level: All

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Enriching the Reading Lives of Special Education Students

Any school librarian who works with students with significant learning needs can easily begin supporting them through the curation of reading materials and collaboration with special educators to determine best approaches for each student. Attendees will learn how an AASL national conference session led to writing and being awarded a Connie Hull Grant and how the grant was implemented in the classroom. Lesson plans and book lists will be provided.

Presenter(s): Paige Battle

Level: Middle / High School

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Concurrent Sessions 5: 3:30-4:20

Librarians Without Libraries: Career Options Working Remotely, District-Level & More

Traditionally, school librarians work in one building, running a library. But there are other options. Join us as panelists explore what it's like to be a librarian without one single library. District-level librarians may support many buildings and a variety of staff. "Remote librarian" is a growing field, where a licensed librarian Zooms, emails and sends videos to support staff working in person in a far-away district. Some school librarians work for Education Service Districts or other organizations. Hear about the work lives of librarians in these jobs, and ask questions of our panelists!

Presenter(s): Miranda Doyle & Panelists

Level: All

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Electives in the Library: Thinking Outside the Box

Wondering what electives your Library might offer to middle schoolers? Ready to go beyond teaching Google slides? Come get inspiration for engaging students while connecting with their interests and your Library's offeirngs!

Presenter(s): Emily King

Level: Elementary / Middle School

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Printz and a Reading Revolution in Library Programming for Teens

Have you wondered what it's like to serve on the Michael L. Printz committee? Ever wanted to host your own Mock Printz? Wonder what titles might be in serious contention for the 2025 podium? These questions and others will be answered in this session hosted by two library professionals who served on the 2016 Printz committee (you know, the one that only had TWO honor books!). Presenters: Paige Battle, NBCT librarian, Grant HS, and Brooke Young, Manager of the Glendale Branch Library in Salt Lake City.

Presenter(s): Paige Battle & Brooke Young

Level: Elementary / Middle School

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Hacking Digital Tools: Diving Into Digital Goodies Including AI 2024

Library tech mojo is just one session away! This lightning fast session will jazz up your library by introducing new tech tools, and finding new purposes for some tried and true favorites. Geek out with the best of us as we share as many as we can in 45 minutes! By the time you are done you will be spittin’ tech fire!

Presenter(s): TuesD Chambers

Level: All

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Statewide Organizing - Oregon Education Association

OEA would like to have a presence at the conference because they want to access school librarians in order to better advocate for us.

Presenter(s): Matt Reed

Level: All

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