It’s an exciting, festive time of year and maybe you’re feeling that there’s so much you need to do to get ready for the holidays. You probably have a holiday checklist to make sure everything gets done. Perhaps you’re reflecting on this past year and deciding that professionally, you want to push your boundaries, take chances, and try something new as a school librarian. As John A. Shedd said, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”  One really amazing thing you can do to meet all of these goals is submit a conference proposal for the 2025 AASL Conference in St. Louis.  

I am doing this, and it is definitely pushing my boundaries and making me examine my practice. Some questions I’m asking myself are, “What am I doing in my school library that is working really well, or that is unique, or that students and teachers love?” My personal roadblock is thinking, “I’m not doing anything that others aren’t doing,” but that is most likely not true. We need to get into the mindset that we are doing amazing things, and the school librarian world wants to know all about it. Last month’s KQ blog post “Level Up Your Leadership” by Lindsey Kimery https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/level-up-your-leadership-present-at-aasl-2025/ had excellent suggestions and encouragement to get started with the proposal process. You can also read this KQ blog post to learn about the different proposal opportunities and deadlines: https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/submit-your-proposals-for-the-aasl-2025-national-conference/ 

The AASL downloadable application https://aasl.secure-platform.com/2025/ explains and gives tips for the entire conference proposal submission process. You just need to come up with the idea. 

So, in this busy season, add reflect on your amazing school librarian practice and come up with a proposal idea for your holiday checklist. Then, add submit an AASL Conference proposal to your 2025 goals. To quote Mark Twain and continuing with our boating theme, “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  

 

Let’s not stay in our safe harbors. Let’s do this.