Media specialists get a better reading on authors and literacy at annual summit

Media specialists focused on how to better use authors and literacy in their work at the fifth annual Media Summit held Wednesday at IBM. The teachers learned about the nuances of digital copyrighting from Barry Britt, director of copyright compliance for Soundzabound; held a grant-writing session for the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries; watched a webinar from TeachingBooks.net; and hear presentations from author L. Divine, marketing reps from Peachtree Publishing and how to give “book talks” from Tommy Johns.

Ten APS media centers were awarded $6,000 grants last year, and Media Coordinator Warren Goetzel hopes to increase that number this year. Media specialist Stephanie Gwinn of Parkside Elementary got a lot out of the summit, including the hope for one of the Laura Bush Foundation grants.

Goetzel noted the importance of collaboration among media specialists, and marveled at the strength and versatility of this year’s group of media specialists. “This is an extremely diverse group that wears many hats,” Goetzel said. “They’re librarians, they’re webmasters, they’re communications ambassadors, they’re partnership liaisons. They really step up to the increased demands and rigor in the education field today.”