The Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) & the University of Pittsburgh Announce Applications Open for the School Librarians Leadership Academy (SLLA) for PA School Librarians

The University of Pittsburgh and PSLA will offer its ninth Leaders Academy—the School Librarians
Leadership Academy (SLLA)—to 18 PA school librarians funded through a Library Services and
Technology Act grant awarded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, PA Department of Education.

The Academy will be held from February through September 2020. The application deadline is Friday,
February 7, 2020, and applications will be notified of their status no later than Friday, February 14,
2020.

If you’re a school librarian working in Pennsylvania with at least one year of experience (including the
2019-2020 school year), PSLA and the University of Pittsburgh have a “once-in-a-professional-lifetime”
professional development opportunity for you. Please consider applying for the ninth Academy, which
will be offered in a combination of face-to-face meetings and video conferencing, so that you can:

• Build and strengthen your content, interpersonal, communication, presentation, and leadership skill-set as part of a cohort of like-minded, supportive librarians mentored by experienced librarians; and
• Gain professional confidence to position yourself as a recognized librarian leader in your school and school district as well as in your professional associations.

If you’re a solo librarian in your school district, serve multiple schools or multiple grade levels, teach in a
subject area in addition to serving as librarian, and/or are new to the profession or a teacher who has
pivoted from the classroom to the library without much preparation, we encourage you to consider
applying.

Each participant accepted will be matched with an individual mentor to help the participant assess the
library situation, establish realistic priorities, and plan an effective library program that will help teachers
teach and students learn.

Since 2014, 125 PA school librarians have participated in eight Academies and have taken on new
responsibilities in their school districts, built peer and mentor networks of support and affirmation for
themselves, and become officers and committee chairs in PSLA.

Please visit the PSLA School Librarians Leadership Academy page or School Librarians Leadership Academy LibGuide for detailed information on applying and the application form.

If you have any questions, please contact Mary Kay Biagini quickly at [email protected] or 412-624-5138.

Won’t you please consider applying?

The deadline for applications is Friday, February 7, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. so apply now. Your Academy experience will be an investment in your career and provide you support and opportunities to grow professionally.

• Mary Kay Biagini, LSTA Project Director, Leadership Development for PA School Librarians VII; Associate Professor & Director, School Library Certification Program, School of Computing & Information, University of Pittsburgh
• Dustin Brackbill, PSLA Board Member; Librarian, Mount Nittany Elementary School, State College Area School District
• Cathi Fuhrman, PSLA President; Library Department Supervisor, Hempfield School District
• Deb Kachel, Adjunct Online Professor, Antioch University Seattle, WA
• Nancy Latanision, Instructor, Libraries & Learning Technologies, Kutztown University (retired)
• Allison Mackley, PSLA Grant Coordinator, PSLA Immediate Past President; Hershey High School Librarian, Derry Township School District.

This project is made possible in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Governor.