This is a request for feedback from the ALA Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE). In anticipation of a new edition of The Intellectual Freedom Manual, COPE is in the process of updating professional ethics documents.

COPE would appreciate feedback on "Copyright: An Interpretation of the ALA Code of Ethics" by Wednesday, January 9. The current interpretation was adopted by ALA Council in 2014. Please feel free to share this message widely.

Feedback can be posted in the following two ways:

“Behind the Scenes” the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Board of Directors and Committee Co-chairs embrace the bumpy road to make a meaningful and (hopefully) visionary difference for the members of our association. The bumpy road is not easy, but we believe in the future of PSLA and realize we can only be successful if we all work together.

Looking Back 

The PSLA officers and directors value our history, so the Board initiated a small history project. Cathi Fuhrman, President-Elect, worked with Marge Tassia Outstanding Contributor (1995)/Past President; Sharon Nardelli, Past President; and Celeste Nalwasky, Outstanding Contributor (1991)/Past Board Director, to put together a PSLA History Timeline and Narrative to share how the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association began.  Thanks for revealing our roots!

You can also find a few other historical documents on this page:

Happy New Year!! 

It was an amazing year for literature in 2018. As usual, the end of the year brings the annual "best of" lists. Below are a few that may help kick start your 2019 reading list and get you ready for awards season coming in January!

Happy reading and see you in 2019!

The ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) is looking for feedback in anticipation of a new edition of The Intellectual Freedom Manual, the IFC is in the process of updating intellectual freedom-related documents.

The IFC would appreciate feedback on "Challenged Resources: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights" by Monday, January 7. The interpretation was adopted by ALA Council in 1971, and amended in 1981, 1990, 2009, and 2014. Please feel free to share this message widely.

Feedback can be posted in the following two ways:

• Post feedback on this Google Doc draft. The IFC requests that you post comments on the document, rather than edit the document directly. To post a comment, select "Insert" in the top menu, and then click "Comment." Comments may be posted anonymously (if you're not signed into a Google account) or publicly (if you're signed into your Google account).
• Using "track changes," add comments and edits to the attached Word doc draft. You can email it to me ([email protected]) or post it as a comment to this ALA Connect post, and I'll forward it to working group members.

A note about paragraph four of the draft: This quote is from the current "Diversity in Collection Development" interpretation, last amended in 2014. It does not reflect the revisions proposed in the interpretation draft that was sent to the library community. The quoted material in "Challenged Resources" may be altered if the revisions for "Diversity in Collection Development" are adopted.

"Behind the Scenes" the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Conference Committee has been working over the past year to bring a quality professional learning and networking experience to you at the 46th PSLA Annual Conference.

This post will not come close to doing justice to the work the entire conference committee completes over the course of the year, so I will share some highlights. Please visit the conference website for more information.

The Pennsylvania School Librarians Association annual conference is entirely planned, organized and implemented by volunteers. The president appoints an Executive Director of the Conference for a term of two years with the approval by the board. (Conference Policy) For the past four years, Caitlin Linsenmann has filled this role and worked with Jennifer Bates (2016), Allison Mackley (2017), Cathi Fuhrman (2018) and Robin Burns (2019) as conference co-chairs. Before Caitlin took on the enormous task of planning the conference, Connie Burlingame served as the previous Executive Director of the Conference.

Requests for Proposals and Contracts

 Feedback Wanted for New Library Bill of Rights

“Behind the Scenes” the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Board of Directors, committees and partners want you to be informed. There has been a concerted effort over the past few years to provide varied communication methods to ensure that school librarians across the Commonwealth receive timely and meaningful information.

PSLA Pulse
The PSLA Pulse is the blog of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association.  It highlights the accomplishments of PSLA members, teaching and learning resources, legislative news and a “Behind the Scenes” feature. 

Pennsylvania Key Communicators Network: Network News
The Network News, which is funded by the PSLA LSTA grant, is a collaborative project between the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association and the University of Pittsburgh’s School Library Certification Program. Find archived newsletters dating back to the first publication in October 2017. Every school librarian in Pennsylvania should receive the newsletters as they are passed through a regional and district structure. 

Each week the Teaching and Learning Committee plans to highlight one app or website from either the 2018 AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning or the 2018 AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning. Share with any stakeholders who may benefit! 

Want some holiday season entertainment? Try getting a VR headset (Google Cardboard is a cheap option) and play Google Spotlight! I have used this as an extension during makerspace time and it is fascinating to watch. Many of the stories are available on YouTube as well.

"Behind the Scenes" the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association’s officers, board, and committees are working very hard on legislative and advocacy efforts for you. Below are just a few recent efforts. This list is not meant to be all-inclusive.

National

In March 2019, during the SXSW EDU conference in Austin, TX, I will present on a panel moderated by John Chrastka of Every Library, to discuss ways high-level policy can be introduced nationally. Other panelists include Keith Curry Lance, Kafi Kumasi (Wayne State University), and Azadeh Jamalian (Teachers College Columbia University).

Deb Kachel, PSLA’s Legislative Liaison, is working with unwavering efforts at both the state and national levels to advocate for school librarians. 

The Pennsylvania School Librarians Association has local affiliates that advocate for strong library programs, advance information literacy, and provide professional learning.  Regional local affiliates serve in the following ways:

• Provide a network for continuous communication
• Serve as a conduit for the flow of information
• Broaden the base of the profession through the increase of personal and professional memberships

We would like to congratulate our newest PSLA local affiliate!

The South Central Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (SCPSLA), led by Sarah DeMaria of Hempfield School District, grew out of a PSLA Mini Regional Leaders Academy project.

The Pennsylvania School Librarians Association is pleased to announce that Corey Hall, PSLA Communications Co-chair has been selected as one of the 2019 ALA Emerging Leader participants sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) in the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2019 Emerging Leaders program. The Emerging Leaders program enables newer library workers from across the country to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. 

We are proud of Corey and all she does for PSLA, the Manheim Central School District, and school librarians across the Commonwealth.

ALAnews Press Release (November 19, 2018): http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2018/11/corey-hall-selected-2019-aasl-emerging-leader

For more information and a full list of participants visit http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2018/11/ala-announces-emerging-leader-participants-class-2019 

Looking for useful professional development and ways to connect learning communities? Try edWeb, and you'll never be without ideas!

Each week the Teaching and Learning Committee plans to highlight one app or website from either the 2018 AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning or the 2018 AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning. Share with any stakeholders who may benefit! 

This week we want to highlight a website by the AASL which is chock full of goodness! The Knowledge Quest website is the perfect spot to get bite-sized information to help you in your library. 

Recent posts include:

Concerns submitted to the AASL Affiliate Assembly from each of the regions across the United States are important communication links between the AASL Board of Directors and school librarians at the front lines. Concerns enable the AASL Board to keep their fingers on the pulse of the profession across the country and develop strategies for the issues facing the profession.

Presenting the concerns at Affiliate Assembly meetings builds awareness and provides an opportunity for input. Affiliate Delegates are able to network, share, and brainstorm strategies at the state and regional levels. This essential and highly effective process makes the association and Affiliates responsive to the needs of the profession and strong advocates of school library programs across the country.

Commendations are similar to Statements of Concern, the difference is Affiliate Assembly Delegates nominate outstanding programs and events deserving of recognition at the national level. Receiving validation and praise at the national level for successful programs or events that follow the mission and principles of AASL is a powerful advocacy tool.

 

Programs or events must align with AASL's guidelines, mission, and principles as expressed in AASL's mission and vision statements. While many individuals are worthy of recognition, Commendations are limited to programs or events.

 

Commendations recognize programs and events outside of the state's school library organization.

Pennsylvania school librarians: be sure to read the inspiring op-ed article in the Reading Eagle by one of our Board Directors, Ann Schmidt.  Ann is the teacher-librarian at Conrad Weiser High School and plays a crucial role in the school's STEAM initiative. 

 "Behind the Scenes" the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Board of Directors reviews and updates the PSLA strategic priorities every three to five years to identify critical issues impacting PSLA and its members, as well as the library field, in general.

During the PSLA Summit in July 2018, thirty-four representatives worked with consultant Michael Kumer from Boards Made to Order to review our mission, vision, and strategic priorities.  After a lively and passionate full day of discussion, collaboration and consensus building, we walked away with a framework from which to craft a final document.

The difficult work continued through August and September with eleven volunteers, in a Tier I and Tier II review structure, who brought multiple voices and a broad range of perspectives to finalize the project. 

On October 6th, 2018, the PSLA Board approved the following:

The Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA)  represents the interests of its members through collegial networking, professional development, and intensive advocacy efforts to ensure that all Pennsylvania students and teachers have access to an effective school library program with appropriately trained staff as stated in the American Association of School Librarians’ position statements. To that end, PSLA recently endorsed the library staffing certification guidelines established by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) that state that school districts “must employ at least one certified Library Science educator when providing a school library program.”

Using nationally required data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Keith Curry Lance (2018, March) found that between 2009-10 and 2015-16, Pennsylvania ranked 6^th among the states that lost the largest numbers of school librarians (p. 37). Although PDE publishes staffing guidelines, staffing decisions are controlled by local school districts and their boards. Local control, unfortunately, has caused vast inequities across the 500 Pennsylvania school districts in terms of access to effective school library programs with certified librarians. According to PSLA’s 2017-18 staffing survey, 22 districts in Pennsylvania no longer employ school librarians and 115 district have only one librarian for the entire district. These districts represent 27% of all Pennsylvania school districts—a statistic that increases each year as librarian positions are eliminated.

Since the recession, PSLA has intensified its engagement and prioritized legislative advocacy to staunch the loss of school libraries and librarians. The PA General Assembly is the largest, full-time state legislature in the nation with 203 Representatives and 50 Senators. Therefore, educating these decision makers is an enormous and ongoing job, especially as legislators change with elections and redistricting.

Large, professional organizations that care about education, such as PSEA and PaPTA, carry a great deal of influence due to the size of their membership, particularly with state legislators who control school funding. It is critical that PSLA maintains a robust membership in order to advocate for school library programs. It is understandable, however, that school librarians want to be sure that their PSLA dues are making a difference and they are getting a return for their membership dollars. The following outlines PSLA accomplishments and the many resources it provides. Member participation and dues enable this work.

Why Is It Important to Encourage Voting in the 2018 Mid-Term Elections

 (And What Does that Have to Do with School Libraries)?

October 9 - Deadline to register to vote (new voter) or update your registration (recently moved and need to change your address and polling place). Application Link.

October 30 – Deadline to apply for an absentee ballot for those unable to appear in person at their polling place (college students not living at home, disabled/medical, vacationing or traveling for business, etc.)

Each week the Teaching and Learning Committee plans to highlight one app or website from either the 2018 AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning or the 2018 AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning. Share with any stakeholders who may benefit! 

Want to send one final Library Card Sign-Up Month reminder out to folks? Remind them to use Libby for their ebook app needs!