Planning for the third annual PA Forward Information Literacy Summit is underway! The 2015 IL Summit will take place on July 29 and, as in previous years, will be held in Penn State University’s Paterno Library. Having had the opportunity to attend the first two IL summits, I can say that it is a one of my favorite professional development opportunities of the year. The summit is a day-long event where participants benefit from the perspectives of their colleagues in academic, school, and public libraries.
So, what can we expect for 2015? This past year has seen some major progress on initiatives that will affect information literacy education in both academic and K-12 environments. For school librarians, there is the question of what all the national debate surrounding the Common Core means for the PA Core Standards. What are the implications for the Model Curriculum for PA School Library Programs? On the academic side, the proposed Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education is set to replace the IL standards that have guided our work for over a decade.
According to Debbie Malone (DeSales University), who is organizing the summit along with Liz Berilla (Misericordia University and co-chair of PA Forward’s Information Literacy team), the summit will provide a forum for updates and discussion on these topics as well as others. The implications of these initiatives and the challenges of implementing them are sure to provide fodder for many interesting presentations. Malone suggests that possible topics could include how to talk about the new framework with our faculty colleagues, practical ways to implement it in our information literacy programs, as 
well as an update on what is happening with the Model Curriculum for PA School Library Programs and the PA Core Standards. If you are interested in getting more involved, why not develop an idea for a breakout session? Keep an eye out for a call for proposals sometime in early March.
Malone reports that there were over 100 attendees at both previous summits. This year’s summit is sure to draw a good crowd, as well. Given the changes afoot, how could it not?
In the meantime, you can still check out the presentation handouts from the 2014 PA Forward Information Literacy Summit: http://tinyurl.com/PAFILSummit14