CTLA News

We are very sad to report that Maude Muhammad, our Recording Secretary for the last six years and dear member for the last ten years, passed away on Friday, December 26, 2008. Maude had attended our December 13 meeting, as pictured at left, faithfully reading the minutes from the November meeting and then recording the December minutes. Her niece, Bonnie Hill, is a member and had assisted Maude this fall with taking minutes. Maude was especially close to Ann Adams, long-time member and past president, who together had grand plans to go to Barack Obama's January 20 inauguration festivities in Washington, D. C. Maude had retired in 2006 from Los Ninos Heros School as their teacher-librarian and previously worked at Dunne School.

Her funeral was Wednesday, December 31 at Cedar Park Cemetery Chapel at 12540 S. Halsted St., Calumet Park, IL. Visitation was at 11:00 am and the service at 12:00 noon. CTLA sent a flower arrangement, and President Annie Culverson attended the service joined by other members. Condolences may be sent to: 8301 S. Blackstone Ave., Chicago, 60619-6505. Maude is survived by her husband Clifton Muhammad along with many extended family members. At our January meeting, we will have a tribute and moment of silence to remember and honor Maude's life and service.

May Maude's soul rest in heavenly peace with our gratitude and with prayers of eternal comfort.

Oct. 2008: Special Guest Speaker W. Nikola-Lisa informed us about Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator websites: www.scbwi.org and www.scbwi-illinois.org (Illinois chapter) Note: these sites have been added to our Links column to the left.

Sept. 2008: CPS Dept. of Libraries was awarded a major grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities last spring to provide every school with the "Picturing America" series. Delivery was scheduled by early September. As First Lady Laura Bush describes:

"Picturing America is composed of forty, carefully selected works of art spanning several centuries—all by American painters, sculptors, photographers, and architects. The NEH will distribute large, high-quality reproductions of these images, along with a teachers resource book, lesson plans, and materials, to schools and libraries nationwide. Including the newly unveiled website, PicturingAmerica.neh.gov, Picturing America's resources unlock the potential in each work of art to enhance the study of American history, social studies, language arts, literature, and civics.

Irish Leo-Bain (Librarian at Crane) found a supplemental website through ALA that matches a set of 22 books with this theme called "We The People Bookshelf". As a bonus, 4000 schools that apply (one-page) will be selected to receive this collection. Otherwise, please seek out these books from local sources.

Chicago Public Library - Teacher in the Library Program: The Teacher in the Library (TIL) program makes available after school homework help and guidance provided by caring, trained, accredited teachers who can address each child's individual needs. Serving children ages five and up, the Teacher in the Library program provides high quality, professional after-school homework help to Chicago's at-risk children and youth a half million times each school year. TILs explain homework assignments, suggest strategies for completing assignments, contact teachers, speak to parents and collaborate with Library staff. The TIL program currently operates in 38 branch libraries throughout the city. For more information, please contact the Branch Manager or Children’s Librarian.

For CPS librarian positions, whether subbing, part-time, or full-time, please contact Merril V. Stegall, Area Librarian managing Certification and Placement at 773.553.6224 or mvstegall@cps.k12.il.us. She can place you on her mailing list, which includes regular vacancy updates throughout the year. A special request now is a one year substitute for grades 3rd, 4th and 5th at Gary School, 3740 31st Street 60623 (for a maternity leave).

CTLA mourns the loss on June 4 of our active and beloved member Nancy Volkman, teacher-librarian at Norwood Park Elementary School. Nancy served as an officer of CTLA in the past and also hosted a monthly meeting at her school library. Nancy had just renewed her membership for two years to show her enduring support of our association and her vocation. She had just attended our March and April meetings in good spirits as a tribute to her courageous will to keep learning and growing with her colleagues. We will dearly miss you Nancy! We bid you eternal peace and comfort! Thank you for being such a wonderful colleague, friend, and true professional through the years! Dr. William Meuer, principal of Norwood Park Elementary School, lovingly expressed his school's sorrow and gratitude with a note to his school community on June 4 (from their homepage's "Dr. Meuer's Notes..."):

It is with sadness that I share the news of the death of Mrs. Nancy Volkman, our school librarian. Mrs. Volkman passed away this morning after a courageous battle with brain cancer... Nancy Volkman was an outstanding librarian and was held in high regard by all of us, including the staff of the Department of Libraries for the Chicago Public Schools. During her fourteen-year tenure at Norwood Park, she was credited with building an exemplary library with a vast collection for students, staff and parents. Mrs. Volkman's particular talent was in matching each student's reading interests with "that perfect book" which would inspire and advance the student's love of reading. As a voracious reader herself, she possessed an invaluable knowledge of literature for both adults and children. As a school community, we owe Mrs. Volkman a huge debt of gratitude for our modern, up-to-date library which she created for all of us. Services for Mrs. Volkman were held at Piser Funeral Home, 9200 Skokie Boulevard, Skokie, Illinois, on Friday, June 6th at 2:00 PM. The family invites students and parents to the service. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to ENH [Evanston Northwestern Healthcare] Foundation, 1033 University Place, Suite 450, Evanston, Illinois 60201.

Please regularly check the CPS Dept. of Libraries and Info. Services' website for full Dept. news, events, calendars, and on-going services and programs. In particular, there are links to their on-line, subscription-based "Library Databases" and their "Professional Library" computer catalog (maintained by CPS Professional Librarian Lisa Perez). On the "Professional Development" page is a link to our CTLA website!

***NEW for Sept., 2008: CPS DLIS has created a wiki "as a means to communicate, collaborate, and share ideas and information with our schools, CPS librarians, and the broader community." Check it out at: cpslibraries.wikispaces.com!

The CPS Librarians Listserv facilitates collaboration between librarians to share successful pedagogical information, literature-based discussions, news of upcoming events, technology-based applications, and evaluation of resources. The listserv is hosted by the University of Chicago eCUIP. Click here to join the listserv using your CPSmail address. If you don't want to receive e-mail, you may still stay informed by reading the archives of all the threaded postings at: http://lists.lib.uchicago.edu/pipermail/cpslibraries!

Andy Larson, seen above at the March 1 meeting, informed us that Follett has many extra award posters, such as Caldicott and Newberry, from previous years. These posters have full color thumbprints of all the book covers. Andy suggested these posters could be cut up by students and used for games, such as Go Fish or Bingo... or make up your own game. Just contact Andy at 888-511-5114 x3765 or andy.larson@flr.follett.com (or any Follett rep.) and he (or she) will gladly send you as many as possible.

Ann Adams mentioned the Digital Wish website at the March 1 meeting where you can qualify to win up to 43 grants, plus the CPS "Free Things" website at our December 15 meeting. In addition, check out the CPS "Competitive Grants" website.

Marge Fashing, our Historian officer, related many wonderful information websites and a special poem during her "History Moment" at a past meeting-- click here to check it out. In tribute to our CHICAGO BEARS and their 2007 Super Bowl effort, Marge also compiled a reference sheet... check it out and GO BEARS!