Presented by Dr. Joyce Valenza, Associate Professor of Teaching, Rutgers University, School of Communication and Information; Michelle Luhtala, Library Department Chair, New Canaan High School (CT); and Grace McCusker, Certified School Library Media Specialist, Rutgers University, School of Communication and Information

Sponsored by Mackin Educational Resources

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Wouldn’t it be great to have a super-charged research guide that met all research needs for all learners in your learning community? Do you feel as if you have something, but it isn’t quite enough? Do you ever feel as though it is terribly inefficient for such a thing to be built school by school instead of crowdsourced? Well, the solution is here! Dr. Joyce Valenza and her team of Rutgers University students, alumni, and NJASL members have developed a replicable prototype of a brilliantly curated state digital collection.

In this edWebinar, Joyce, her student School Library Media Specialist Grace McCusker, and Library Department Chair Michelle Luhtala provide a tour of this curated digital collection that will transform learning communities everywhere.

This recorded edWebinar will be of interest to teachers and librarians of grades 6-12.

About the Presenters

Dr. Joyce Valenza is an associate professor of teaching at Rutgers University, School of Communication and Information and Coordinator of the School Library Concentration. She earned a Ph.D. in information science from University of North Texas and master’s degrees from Queens College and Villanova University. She has 25 years of experience as a school librarian, and also served as a public, reference, and special librarian.

A frequent keynote presenter and author, Joyce writes the NeverEndingSearch blog for School Library Journal, contributes to several other library and edtech publications, and speaks globally about the thoughtful use of technology in learning and the power of librarians to lead. Her research interests include search, youth information seeking, educational technology, social media curation, OER, emerging literacies, social media, and online communities of practice.

Michelle Luhtala, Library Department Chair at New Canaan High School in Connecticut, was one of five school librarians named as a “Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal in 2015. She is the winner of the 2011 “I Love My Librarian” Award and the Library Association’s 2010 Outstanding Librarian Award. The New Canaan High School Library won AASL’s National School Library Program of the year in 2010. Follow Michelle on Twitter @mluhtala.

Grace McCusker is a recent graduate of the Master of Information program at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information, with a concentration in school librarianship. She is passionate about providing students accessibility to information and was a collaborator on the SchoolLibraryNJ guide to help bridge information inequity during the pandemic and beyond. Grace also has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design and 20 years of professional experience in creative arts and technology. You can follow Grace on Twitter @mccuskerlibrary.

Closed captioning will be added to the recording within 2 weeks of the live presentation.

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Mackin is one of the top providers of library and classroom materials for grades PK-12. Working with over 18,000 publishers and a database of nearly 3 million printed titles, and more than 1.9 million digital titles, Mackin supplies print books, eBooks, online educational databases, audiobooks and video resources to schools around the globe.