It is time for the AASL membership to elect the volunteers who will lead our organization. Candidates will introduce themselves in a series of blogs, and were asked to prepare answers to the question:  They have also written answers to the following question: “Which part of the AASL strategic plan speaks to you most and why?” Please read through their answers below and be sure to vote when the ballot arrives in your inbox.

Statements and/or videos were a voluntary option offered to all candidates.  Voting for the 2025 ALA elections will open on Monday, March 10, 2025 and close on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

The candidates for the President-elect position are:

Maria Cahill

April Dawkins

 

President-elect:

Maria Cahill

Hello AASL friends! I subscribe to the AASL Vision that every school librarian is a leader and every learner [deserves] a school librarian.

For the past 15 years, my research agenda has encompassed school librarians’ evidence-based practices. I am particularly interested in the “evidence of practice” components that involve school librarians collecting and analyzing evidence to determine if their practices make a difference and then sharing those results with stakeholders. Thus, I can’t help but be excited about all three AASL areas of strategic focus. Meaningful engagement, leadership engagement, and purposeful engagement go hand in hand: school librarians increase their visibility and position themselves as leaders when they gather and analyze evidence of practice to inform and improve their programs and when they translate that evidence to influence policy by communicating to leaders and decision-makers exactly how the school library program contributes to student outcomes and school culture.

I hold a joint faculty appointment at the University of Kentucky: my research, teaching, and service is split between library and information science and educational leadership studies. I recognize how very fortunate I am to be able to conduct formal research investigations of school librarian practice, to guide educators of all types to be leaders, and to prepare to-be school librarians for the best profession in the world!

Throughout my professional journey, AASL has supplied countless meaningful engagement, leadership engagement, and purposeful engagement opportunities. What a blessing to have traversed this path with a thousands-strong professional organization leading the way!

 

April Dawkins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi everyone! I’m April Dawkins, and I hope that you will consider voting for me as your president-elect. Through my involvement as director-at-large on the current AASL Board, I participated in the development of AASL’s new strategic plan which is centered around Engagement. The use of engagement to tie together the three areas of focus is especially meaningful during these times of uncertainty. All three areas, meaningful, leadership, and purposeful engagement, are essential for both the school librarian profession and our association. They are intrinsically tied together – through meaningful and strategic engagement, school librarians will feel empowered to become leaders at the local, state, and national levels, resulting in our ability to influence policy and changemakers.

Meaningful engagement is the area that speaks to me as an educator of school librarians. Through meaningful engagement, AASL will provide for our members to grow as professionals, understand and use research as advocacy tools, and develop partnerships with other organizations that share our goals. My intention is to help each school librarian find their own unique path to leadership and advocacy. To me, engaging with AASL and our profession in meaningful ways includes taking advantage of opportunities for personal and professional growth such as webinars, live virtual meetings, and conferences. It involves developing a mentor network for new librarians and for experienced librarians to grow in leadership as they reach beyond their local school setting. Additionally, this involves highlighting the work of school librarians as advocates for student access and the freedom to read.

What does meaningful engagement look like to you? How can AASL and the AASL Board support you in your work? I look forward to hearing your ideas about increasing and deepening engagement in our association, and I hope you will join with me as we continue this important work.