School Library Resources on the Internet

Reviewed By: Kathy Taylor

This website is part of the International Association of School Librarianship site. "School Library Resources on the Internet" is a gateway site linking librarians to five (yes, only five) websites about storytelling.

The site has valid links and is very professional looking. It is well-organized and includes a fairly comprehensive list of what to find at each link, eliminating extra surfing.

Perhaps we could send our reviews to the webmaster and some of our links could be included on this site to beef it up! It is a good start, but is not a resource in and of itself. It would be a good site to bookmark --- you would get five sites for one bookmark!

Overall, the site is well done for what little it does. Hopefully it is under construction. http://www.iasl-slo.org/storytelling.html

SCHOOL LIBRARY RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET

Reviewed By: CYNTHIA SLYE

REVIEW

The website is created by the International Association of School Librarians. It is on organization. The links are storytelling resources for school librarians. I found the School Library Resources on the Internet link-bottom of page- to be extremely beneficial- this provides a collection of IASL (International Association of Librarianship) internet resources-specifically for librarians. The following is a direct quote from the links page:

"The aim is to take teacher librarians to the best "starting points" for Internet exploration. The selection criteria include relevance of the resource to the work or professional concerns of school librarians, currency, timeliness, authority, organisation of the resource, and coverage." (I kept the misspelled word-but I really wanted to correct it)

--list of listservs is available-Librarians have the opportunity to communicate with "the librarian world" . I feel this is so important. I need my colleagues and value their opinions and advice.

--One particular feature I believe will be used often is the Today is... link. This page provides links to Internet resources that will help school librarians to plan special celebrations, author promotions, and curriculum units related to important celebrations. Information can be found for past or present. I also found the additional links off this page to be a great addition and easily accessed.

--The Special Links provide information for creating a Web Page for my school library and an international toolkit for IASL activities-resources for planning functions.

-- The IASL Home Page link is at the bottom of the site. This page is the Site Directory-helpful information into the IASL as an organization.

-The site provides the organizations contact address and contact email is also listed. This is necessary in order to ask questions regarding site's content.

-I strongly recommend this site and feel the simplicity is inviting and the resources profound.

Reviewed By: Sharlene Lien

Storytellers will find the website “Storytelling Resources For School Librarians on the Internet” a valuable resource to add to their collection. Created by the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL), this site includes links to various storytelling resources such as; Storynet, Australian Storytelling, Story Arts Online, Handbook for Storytellers, and Billy Bear’s Playground. Storynet was created by the National Storytelling Association and includes information about various storytelling organizations and sites. It also includes links to newsletters and lists of professional storytellers. Australian Storytelling is the website of the Australian Storytelling Guild. This site includes close over 100 pages of resources. Some of the resources included are books, festivals, workshops, and stories. Also included are 97 stories from Aesop’s Fables. Story Arts Online, created by Heather Forest, is a valuable resource for those that want to tell stories in the classroom. It includes lesson plans, activities, resources, curriculum ideas, and much more. Storytellers can also subscribe to “Musings”, a monthly newsletter. Searchers will find this beautifully designed site easy to search. Handbook for Storytellers is designed for those that want to know what they need to do to get started in storytelling. Filled with wonderful suggestions from Inez Ramsey, Professor Emeritus from James Madison University, this information helps guide you on your search for your individual storytelling style. Billy Bear’s Playground is filled with clip art, stories to read and create, and activities. This site is designed more for a source of graphics and activities rather than storytelling information. Although very colorful and animated, the number of advertisements and pop-ups that occur may be distracting when searching for information. Overall, the International Association of School Librarianship has created a useful site for the storytelling enthusiast. The various links of this site were created by credible sources and contained relevant, up-to-date information. I would highly recommend this site as a valuable resource.