Welcome+to+the+Putnam+Northern+Westchester+BOCES+SLMS+Learning+Community!

A message from our School Library System Director, John Monahan:

I am pleased to welcome your participation in our professional forum, the Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES SLMS Learning Community. This Wiki will provide us with an additional forum to share professional information, identify best practices in school librarianship and especially provide us with a collaborative tool to share our ideas and teach each other as members of a unique professional community. School library media specialists are certified teachers who by the nature of their assignment are also "Department Leaders" of an instructional program that impacts all students, teachers, administrators and parents of a particular school community. There are 700 school districts in NY State and only a small amount of large districts have a full-time administrator assigned as District Director of Library Services. With this situation not likely to change, school library media specialists meet formally in some school districts but more often if they do not have a BOCES or a Big Cities Network, they are often left with little opportunity to share professionally with colleagues. This forum will complement our library network meetings. Any initiatives that are discussed at our network meetings will gain new life as ideas are exchanged and shared in this professional learning community. Please join us. We want to hear from everyone. I know that you will be enriched, renewed and supported in many different ways as we jointly engage in welcoming both challenges and opportunities through the 2010-11 School Year.