NEWS For Immediate Release March 12, 2013

Contact: Jennifer Habley

CHICAGO — Members of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) are invited to attend “A School Librarian’s Role in Preventing Sexting Cyberbullying,” a webinar presented by Laurie Nathan from the National Center for Missing Exploited Children (NCMEC) and hosted by AASL.  Taking place at 6 p.m. Central on Thursday, March 28, 2013, the webinar addresses ongoing Internet safety issues affecting children, including cyberbullying and sexting. To register, visit www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/upcoming.

During the webinar, media stories and statistics will be used to illustrate the prevalence of sexting and cyberbullying incidents occurring among tweens and teens across the United States. Webinar attendees will leave with an increased understanding of the factors behind these occurrences, including the widespread availability of the Internet and mobile technology, the sky-high hormone levels of young people and the difficulty that they can have understanding the consequences of their decisions. Participants will also be introduced to the free and easily implemented safety resources available from NetSmartz Workshop to help teach children, tweens and teens how to stay safer online and avoid precarious situations.

“A School Librarian’s Role in Preventing Sexting Cyberbullying” is open to AASL members and subscribers of eCOLLAB, AASL’s professional development repository.  Registrations will be accepted until 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27, and a seat in the webinar is guaranteed to the first 100 attendees. To register, visit www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/upcoming.

Laurie Nathan is the senior manager of national outreach and partnerships for NCMEC and brings a background in child abuse prevention to the fight against child endangerment. Laurie analyzed Internet-related child exploitation cases and worked closely with law enforcement to have them resolved while working as a staff analyst in the Exploited Child Division at NCMEC. As the director of programs at Prevent Child Abuse she focused on child abuse prevention campaigns for the Washington, D.C. area.

eCOLLAB | Your eLearning Laboratory: Content Collaboration Community, a repository of AASL professional development, provides members and subscribers with a central location to find and manage their e-learning as well as to connect with others in the learning community. eCOLLAB contains webcasts, podcasts and resources from various AASL professional development events, as well as access to a read-only version of the latest issue of Knowledge Quest. To begin utilizing eCOLLAB or to subscribe, visit www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library field.

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