For Massachusetts SLM's about reports: Mass Ed Online,

[JCONSTANT@UMASSD.EDU]

                                        June 25, 1994

To Massachusetts SLM's about Mass Ed Online reports, Switched on Classroom,
and Strategic Plan for the Future of Library Services in Massachusetts.

Dear Colleagues:

        Have any of your superintendents received the first three of the
fifteen Mass Ed Online reports yet?  At a special teleconference in early
June,
Mr. John Phillipo of CELT told the audience that the first three reports
would be mailed to school districts before the end of the school year. In
addition to the printed copies,  districts would also receive text file
versions of the reports. The remaining twelve reports will be send sometime
during the summer.

        I have requested permission to borrow the disk version of the reports
so that I might copy them and make them available in the library for anyone
who wants to see them. They could also be uploaded to the LM_NET list for
library media specialists to examine them and comment about them.

        I haven't received a response to my request yet, and I wondered if
if was because CELT or the Executive Office of Education had not yet mailed
them to superintendents. It's also possible that they were distributed
first to persons in charge of technology in our district. They may be looking
at the reports first before distributing them.

        Since I really would like to see the reports. I thought I would ask
if any of you had obtained the disk versions. I've also asked to see a copy
of The Switched On Classroom" a planning guide for the successful use of
information technology in schools. So far, I've not had a response to that
request either.  This report published by the Massachusetts Software Council
was to have been mailed to school districts in late May or Early June.
Have any of you seen it yet?

        I have had the pleasure of seeing the Massachusetts Board of Library
Commissioners' Strategic Plan for the Future of Library Services in
Massachusetts.  Librarians in our state owe a debt of gratitude to the MBLC
and to all those who worked on the three task forces that worked for ten
months to produce this plan. This plan really should be scanned and posted
to LM_NET for all slm's to see. I've sent copies of the Strategic Plan to
our district Technology Planning Committe, our School Committee, and our City
Council and Mayor's offices. I've asked them to support the Strategic Plan
legislation when it is proposed this fall, because a statewide library and
information network and sharing of resources will effect economies of scale
that  will ultimately benefit all branches of government, including the
school department.  I've written to the MBLC and expressed my thanks for this
plan, and I've also asked if they might make it available on disk or online.
When I receive an answer, I'll post it to this list.

                                        Best wishes,
                                        Jane Constant
                                        Reference Librarian
                                        B.M.C. Durfee High School
                                        jconstant@umassd.edu