#AASLtwosday: Why Give On 2/22/22

By Kathy Lester & Becky Calzada on 02/21/2022 • ( 0 )

The AASL Distinguished Service Award has been an award to recognize a member of the library profession who has, over a significant period of time, made an outstanding national contribution to school librarianship and school library development. The AASL Board, building off of the work of the Distinguished Service Award task force, is working to reimagine this award as the AASL Distinguished Service Award and Scholarship Fund to annually honor an AASL member with a sustained record of service to our profession and to support the development of future school librarian leaders through a scholarship and mentorship opportunity.

Every AASL Board member has committed to donating to the AASL Distinguished Service and Scholarship Fund; each of us has voluntarily served in various capacities as a way to give back to our AASL organization and serve members and the library profession we love. The AASL Distinguished Service Award & Scholarship fundraiser is a donation opportunity to ensure every school librarian is a leader and every learner has a school librarian. It is a giving opportunity to recognize the past and support future library professionals.

The AASL Board has designated 2/22/22 as #AASLtwosday, a day of financially giving back to AASL. We are challenging ALL AASL members to join us by giving $22.00 on 2/22/22 (#AASLtwosday) which will be put towards the new AASL Distinguished Service and Scholarship Fund.

Your generous donation will support:

Annual recognition of the Distinguished Service Award winner
A leadership scholarship for a mid-career school librarian which would include:
- an ALA/AASL membership for three years,
- one national conference registration, including travel and accommodations,
- mentorship from the distinguished service award winner and,
  volunteer leadership opportunities

Our goal is to celebrate and honor the first AASL Distinguished Service Award recipient and Scholarship and Mentorship recipients at the AASL National Conference 2023 in Tampa, Florida.

Donating is easy and we’d love to count on every AASL member. The graphic below explains the impact everyone’s donation can make.
The AASL Board is committed to donating to the AASL Distinguished Service and Scholarship Fund and asking all members to do the same on #AASLtwosday, 2/22/22. We want to:

help honor an AASL Member with distinguished service
support a distinguished AASL member to mentor an emerging librarian leader
impact the growth of our profession
promote cooperation and social connection
encourage each member to give in order to make an impact

Our AASL Board believes giving is contagious, inspires others, and can be an expression of gratitude and appreciation. According to the National Institute of Health, giving evokes positive feelings in individuals. It also feels good to give to a cause you believe in; we believe giving back to a profession we are passionate about is the best way to pay it forward to support future library professionals. We want to harness the power of the entire AASL community; it is in our nature as school librarians to support each other!
Previous AASL Distinguished Service Award winners have included:
2020 – Mona Kerby
2019 – Joyce Valenza
2017 – Lesley Farmer
2016 – Hilda Weisburg
2015 – Ann M. Martin
2014 – Debra Kachel

These previous award winners are still impacting our profession in so many impactful ways. We would like to continue to recognize future individuals who have a sustained record of contribution to our profession while also providing for a scholarship and mentorship for a mid-career librarian.

Our tagline is “Recognizing the past to build the future”. You will see various opportunities to make donations via social media including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. AASL will also be sending an email to all members which will also include donation information. We hope you will thoughtfully consider giving $22.00 on 2/22/22 #AASLtwosday!

Click here so we can count you in, and then show your support in your signature and on social media with the “I GAVE ON #AASLTWOSDAY” button.