Please welcome Laura Ward as the PSLA Executive Secretary.  She has been appointed to serve as Executive Secretary for a term ending June 30, 2019.

Laura, a librarian in Fox Chapel Area School District, most recently served as the Communications Committee Co-chair.  Laura was a participant and graduate of the 2015 - 2016 Emerging Leaders Academy. She has served PSLA in a variety of way including being a member of various committees and presenting at the annual conference.

What is a PSLA Executive Secretary? The PSLA Constitution and Bylaws allow the president to appoint an executive secretary with the approval of the board for the duration of the president's term of office. The person in this position attends Board meetings and takes part in association business, including being an ex-officio member of all committees.

Please find the relevant portions of the PSLA Constitution and Bylaws below:

Now that the mid-term elections are over, both the US Congress and the PA General Assembly are reorganizing. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Dem) has just been named Speaker of the US House and now committee assignments will begin. In our state legislature, leadership positions have been decided but committees not yet finalized. The PA House and Senate Education and Appropriations Committees will be most important for PSLA members as we push to have companion bills in both the House and Senate to ensure certified school librarians in every public school during.

Although the PA House and Senate remain in Republican control as the majority party, there have been many changes (see below) due to elections and recent redistricting.  

Go to the PA General Assembly site to lookup who represents both your home address and that of your school (https://www.legis.state.pa.us/). Scroll down to “Find My Legislator” and enter your addresses.

In coming months PSLA will engage in a vigorous campaign to support school library legislation. Know who represents you!

The PSLA Operations Committee would like to introduce you to the candidates who have agreed to serve on the PSLA Board of Directors.  The secretary and directors will serve for a two-year term while the vice president will serve a four-year term.   Serving on the Board of Directors means these individuals will be responsible for assisting the president in developing policies and procedures for the organization in all matters of state and national issues dealing with the school library profession.

Your vote is crucial for maintaining a strong, viable organization. Elections will be held from January 31, 2019 to February 21, 2019.  An email will be sent to all active PSLA members indicating when the election begins as well as directions for voting on the new PSLA website.  Complete biographical information will be included in the online ballot as well as the PSLA website.  As an active member of PSLA, you will be asked to vote for a vice president, treasurer and two directors.  The following information will give you the opportunity to learn more about the candidates including their backgrounds and their vision for PSLA. 

Each candidate addressed the following questions:

1. PRIORITY GOALS FOR PSLA:   What goals do you think should have top priority for PSLA in 2019-2021?  Please provide your rationale.
2. LEADERSHIP:  Briefly describe your leadership strengths and include examples if possible.
3. 2025:  What do you see as the role of the school librarian in 2025?

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 East Central Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (ECPSLA), led by Robin Burns of Salisbury School District, grew out of a PSLA Mini Regional Leaders Academy project.

The East Central Pennsylvania School Librarians Association is a regional group of the East Central area including Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, and Monroe counties. The purpose of the group is to strengthen the relationships of local active, student, retired/non-employed school librarians, and library advocates. ECPSLA strives to provide an extension of PSLA membership by offering local networking, professional development, and social activities.

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.