Why is AASL going back to a middle school mindset?

Ok, to be fair, it might have been a high school mindset when the Social Media Recognition Task Force came up with the Social Media Superstar program. When I started seeing tweets and comments about it my first thoughts were that it was interesting that AASL, which has (IMVHO) spectacularly failed to use social media…

What’s missing in this job description?

NAIS has a very little-used elist for librarians (I guess we prefer AISL's list, or local lists, or something run by ALA?).  Last week they asked for librarian's help creating the perfect Director of Libraries job description, I'm guessing to go along with their Guidelines of Professional Practice for librarians. Leaving aside the problematic use…

Fitting in

The NEAISL15 conference is over, and it seemed like everyone had a good time and got a lot out of it (whew!).  Several members were heading to Tampa for AISL15, a conference I haven't attended since 2001's Library Space Odyssey (don't ask).  In two months, I'll be in San Francisco for ALA Annual, but in…

Don’t let me be misunderstood

In my last post, I said that I was a failure - except, not really.  My programs are strong and by any standards other than those insisted on by the leaders in my profession a great success.  Which is why I'm not sure that the national association supposed to speak to and for me actually…

#YALSA and the badging program – #ALAMW14

Linda Braun made it clear - this is a work in progress: testers are needed.  Just go to yalsabadges.ala.org So what do we need to know beyond that?  Badges are a serious learning process, more about the learning than about the badge.  These are tied in to YALSA's Core Competencies, with the idea that they…

I’m looking through you… or maybe not

"Transparency" is one of those terms that's tossed around a whole lot these days, particularly when it comes to governance.  There's a lot to be said for it, and most of all when a governing body makes some sort of change.  As Karen says in her brilliant take on ALA's new Code of Conduct, some…

Where does the money go?

In November I had to prepare my AY15 budget. Yes, you read that correctly: November 2013.  The budget won't be finalized for several months yet, but it was an instructive exercize to consider what I'd be spending the school's money on from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015.  What was the proper amount for…

Hartford here I come…

It's not that far down the road (or perhaps slightly up? slightly east?) from where I am now, making it one of the very few conferences I've been able to attend while sleeping in my own bed. Besides vendors, the opportunity to meet with friends and like-minded colleagues will be refreshing.  Not that the teachers…

I wish it were this easy!

In a few weeks many school librarians will be congregating in Hartford (CT) for the biennial AASL National Conference.  I've been faithfully going since 1997 (Portland OR) but this time I was on the fence about attending.  That it's now about 10 miles from where I work made the decision easier, ditto the fact that…

A tale of two divisions

There's a lot of talk about replacing qualified librarians with volunteers or paraprofessional staff.  In part this is due to budget cuts, in part it's due to a lack of understanding about what libraries can and should be, and in part it's just silliness.  Silliness that affects people's lives and livelihoods, but silliness nonetheless.  It's…