As the ALA/AASL spring election season approaches, AASL is using this public forum as a venue to introduce our 2018 slate for the AASL ballot. Each candidate was given the opportunity to respond to this question: “What is the biggest/most important change that AASL could make in the next 3 years?” 

Read the candidates’ responses over the next few days. Be informed. Be involved. Your voice and your vote make a difference. As the election opens on March 12, be ready to cast your vote. It is important for all AASL members to exercise the right to vote in ALA’s spring election process.

The candidates for the Supervisors Chair-Elect are:

• Sedley Abercrombie
• Susan Gauthier

Statements and/or videos were a voluntary option offered to all candidates.

Sedley Abercrombie

Now is an exciting time to be a school librarian. Information moves at lightning speed and the technology landscape is always changing. Keeping up with these changes requires a school librarian to be flexible, dynamic and informed. As a result of these changing times, AASL responded with the newly launched National School Library Standards revealed in November 2017.

In the next three years, the most important task at hand for AASL is to help current and future school librarians unpack the AASL Standards and learn how to view school librarianship through this new lens. This change in the AASL Standards is monumental and will require many avenues of communication in order to make the paradigm shift. It will take time for university programs to integrate the standards into curriculum, for states to adopt the standards into school library evaluation instruments and for districts to grasp the AASL Standards as an instructional model. In order to achieve this goal, AASL will need to continue offering learning opportunities through face-to-face workshops, webinars, social media and making resources available through the website.

Although the National School Library Standards are new, the core principles of school librarianship are very much staying the same. Although the new AASL Standards add a layer of complexity to our profession, it still remains that our foundation is built upon our dedication to providing equitable access, democracy, privacy, social responsibility, intellectual freedom and lifelong learning.

Susan Gauthier

AASL recently launched the new National School Library Standards. Many librarians will review and look for direction in the implementation of the framework within their local communities. The continuation of the support of the AASL Standards is the most critical change AASL could make in the next three years.

There lately has been an increased use of social media (FaceBook group discussions, Twitter chats, Twitter hashtags, and website forums) to provide support to the library community. AASL should continue this trend and develop resources to sustain best practices in the transformation of learning. We need to share the positive stories of library service which genuinely impact student achievement. Many librarian positions are becoming extinct, and librarians need assistance from AASL in becoming curriculum leaders to demonstrate their value in the school culture.

Author: Audrey Church, Leadership Development Committee Chair and 2017-2018 AASL Past President

Categories: Community