Author Archives

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For the Record | AASL President’s Report – Annual 2017
Having reviewed their 200+ page Board book, your 2016-2017 AASL Board of Directors met on Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago for two action-packed, business-filled Board meetings. Requests from four task forces… Read More ›
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School Librarians as Learning Leaders: #SchoolLibrariansTransformStudentLearning
It was very early in my career as a school librarian that I realized how important the principal was to the library program that I could create. Principals impact, influence, or control (choose the appropriate verb based on your experience)… Read More ›
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Advocacy Begins with Each of Us: #Leg2SchLibrary Part II
When I served as president of our Virginia school librarians’ association, the theme for my presidential year was “Advocacy Begins with You!” However, as I have reflected over the past decade or so, I’ve revised that slightly to emphasize that… Read More ›
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NLLD17: The Message, Ask, and Takeaways
A Bit of Background Information on National Library Legislative Day Held in DC in early May, day #1 of National Library Legislative Day consists of briefings given by the ALA Washington Office and other “in-the-know” folks in Washington. Seating is… Read More ›
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Empowering Students with Dispositions
If you are familiar with Andy Weir’s novel The Martian, you know that the main character, Mark Watney, is a botanist and an astronaut. He is the Martian because, thinking him dead after a horrible storm, his fellow crew members… Read More ›
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Let’s Get Out The Vote!
The 2017 ALA election opened on March 13. Have you voted yet? I have been a member of ALA and AASL for a long time–so long, in fact, that I have memories (nightmares) regarding “The Ballot.” Once upon a time,… Read More ›
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Take Action for Libraries: #SaveIMLS
At least $210 million in federal library funding is on the budget-cutter’s chopping block. Our champions in Congress need our help to save it and IMLS. What is IMLS? IMLS is the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Its mission is… Read More ›
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If You Invite a Legislator to the Library…
If you invite a legislator to the library… She will see an effective 21st-century school library program (perhaps very different from what she remembers from her K-12 years). If a legislator sees an effective 21st-century school library program… He will… Read More ›
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The Wait Is Over!
I will confess: I had barely returned from the 2015 National Conference & Exhibition in Columbus when I started looking forward to 2017 in Phoenix. Truly the only national conference devoted solely to the needs of school librarians, it is… Read More ›
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For the Record | AASL President’s Report – Midwinter 2017
Although the theme for the 2017 ALA Midwinter was “The conversation starts here,” for the AASL Board of Directors, the conversation continued at MW in Atlanta. Meeting on Saturday morning, January 21, and Sunday afternoon, January 22, Board members built… Read More ›