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The Teaching Librarian Volume 10, no. 3 51 The afternoon's highlight was a panel discussion moderated by Dave Stephens of CBC radio. Annie Kidder, representing People for Education, discussed her group's annual school survey in Ontario, which has shown a steady decline in teacher-librarians since the intro- duction of Ontario's Student Focussed Funding formula by the Harris government in 1997. People for Education advocate a full-time teacher-librarian in every school. Heather Godden, a teacher-librarian from Newfoundland, spoke about the impact of recent cuts in Newfoundland as representative of what has happened across Canada with the underfunding of public edu- cation. Diane Mittermeyer, from McGill University, spoke about the importance of information literacy skills instruction for children and adolescents to prepare them for higher education, and Don Mills, from the Mississauga Public Library, described the partnership programs his public library has developed with school libraries in the local school boards. Patsy Aldana, repre- senting Canadian book publishers, explained the relationship between well-funded school libraries, Canadian culture, and a healthy Canadian publishing industry. Harry Chan, of Bibliofiche, emphasized the need for critical thinking and infor- mation literacy skills in the working world and considered the role of school libraries to be essential in the development of those skills. The day ended with a discussion about where to go next. Participants agreed that the school library com- munity has to form a broad-based coalition of library groups, parent groups, publishers' groups and busi- ness groups province by province since the situation has different parameters in each province. Work will be done during the summer to begin to form these broad-based groups. OSLA and OLA will be partic- ipating in the Ontario effort as part of such a broad-based coalition. The School Library Summit and the Haycock Report have both had favourable press coverage, with fea- ture articles in The Globe and Mail and The National Post as well as sev- eral CBC radio reports. A copy of the Haycock Report is in this mailing and is available on the OLA Web site at www.accessola.com for down- loading. What should OSLA members be doing to further the cause of school libraries? First, read the Report. The OLA is mailing your school's princi- pal a copy later this month. A copy is also going to your Director of Education and to selected supervi- sory officers. Be prepared to discuss the Report with them. Share it with others who matter like your federa- tion local representatives. Alternatively, forward only the exec- utive summary and follow it up with a discussion. We are being given the tools and the support. It is now up to us. z dateline TL OLA READING PROGRAMS 2004 Registration open. Inclusive fee: $20. October 23 / 3:00-4:00 pm Audio Connections teleconference TEEN PROGRAMS THAT WORK! RoseMary Honnold $44.00 (any number of people) Non-member $64.00 October 27 CANADA'S SCHOOL LIBRARY DAY http://slip.cla.ca for details. October 29-30 9:00 to 5:00 both days Intensive workshop for those who are serious about their web skills WEB SEARCH SKILLS FOR KNOW-IT-ALL SEARCHERS Rita Vine Cardinal Newman High School, Hamilton. Lab-based, hands-on. $440 incl. materials, lunches. Non-member, $499. From Nov. 3 On-line six week course FINDING AND USING KID-FRIENDLY WEB SITES Todd Kyle $139.00. Non-members $179.00. November 14 / 9:00 to 5:00 BEYOND GOOGLE: SEARCHING FASTER AND SMARTER ON THE WEB Rita Vine OISE, Toronto. Lab-based. $219 Non-member, $269.00. November 20 / 3:00-4:00 pm Audio Connections teleconference STORYTIME ACTION! Jennifer Bromann Back by demand. $44.00 (any number of people) Non-member $64.00 January 29-31 SUPER CONFERENCE 2004. All prices subject to GST. Register now at the OLA Web site. www.accessola.com Click on the appropriate date under The Learning Space.