Why?  How many times does a five year old ask that question in a day?  It is one of the most important questions. In general, adults squelch it by saying “because I said so!”   

The annual national conference of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) will be held this fall in Sacramento on September 19-21, 2008.   The conference focus is for libraries serving a population of 25,000 or fewer. Conference information and registration is available at www.webjunction.org/arsl .  This link also takes you to the WebJunction Rural and Small Library community page, a portal to a plethora of resources.

The keynote speakers and workshops for the conference include

In light of recent conversations regarding teaching students in the 21^st century, this article from eSchool News  provides information from recent research in regard to technology and student learning.

Tech encourages students' social skills
Studies illustrate how some classroom technology can lead to student collaboration

We spend a lot of time in the World Café looking at issues, and the interesting thing is that it almost always comes back to our own perceptions of how I (the individual) can fix things. 

Well, if you can't attend an actual World Cafe conversation, why not attend a virtual one?  The good folks at the World Cafe have just announced they're on Second Life!  If you don't know what Second Life is, by all means read the World Cafe article--it explains a great deal about it and the conversations they're putting together online.  Sweet!