NEMA-AASL Highlights

ALA Announces Literary Award Winners

2008-01-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

The American Library Association announced the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults - including the Caldecott, King, Newbery, Schneider Family and Printz Award Winners - at the ALA MidWinter Meeting in Philadelphia.
John Newbery Medal - Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
Caldecott Medal - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Michael L. Printz Award - The White Darkness
Coretta Scott King Award - Elijah of Buxton
King Illustrator Book Winner - Let it Shine
Schneider Family Book Award - Kami and the Yaks

Make Your ALA Mark Vote in the 2008 Election

2008-01-22T11:27:00.000-08:00

AASL members are encouraged to vote for J. Linda Williams for ALA President-Elect. Linda visited the NLA/NEMA Conference several years ago and would be a good voice for school library media programs.
ALA polls open online March 17-19 and close at ll:59 p.m. CST on April 24th.
Be sure and vote!!

Schools Libraries Count

2008-01-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

The second annual AASL Longitudinal Survey will be conducted between January 22 and March 1, 2008. The brief survey's 20 questions cover the library media center's hours, staff and selected staff activities, collection, technology, usage, and expenditures. These basic statistics provide AASL and other advocates for school library media programs with critical data about the current and changing status of library media programs and library media specialist nationwide. Go to http://www.aaslsurvey.org to complete the survey. All K-12 schools, public and private, are invited to participate.

2007-10-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Carrie Turner!! Carrie was selected to participate in the ALA Emerging Leader Program. She will be attending the ALA Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia and the ALA Conference in Anaheim next summer. Carrie is secretary of the Nebraska Educational Media Association.

2007-09-20T15:03:00.001-07:00

AASL National Conference is "going green"

AASL is pleased to announce that its 13th National Conference &
Exhibition in Reno, Nev., October 25 - 28, 2007, is “going green.”

“As we think about the future at the AASL Conference, we are focusing on
what our library media programs need to look like to help prepare our
students for the future,” explained Carl A. Harvey II, co-chair of the
National Conference Committee. “We also want to think about what we can
do now to help preserve the environment our students will be living in.
To that end, we found ways we can ‘go green’ for the 2007 AASL National
Conference."

Read full news release at
http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2007/august2007/aaslgg07.htm

See more details at
http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/conferencesandevents/national/green.cfm

2007-09-17T07:59:00.001-07:00

We need your help - ALL LIBRARIANS AND LIBRARY ADVOCATES - to ensure the inclusion of the Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries
(SKILLs) Act in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act(NCLB).
This is the single most important piece of legislation concerning school
libraries that will come before Congress this year.
On September 24, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on
Education and Labor will be considering reauthorization of the NCLB. In
order for the SKILLs Act to be included in NCLB - that is, to place a
highly qualified school library media specialist in every school - each
member of the House must co-sponsor the SKILLS Act.
Please contact your Nebraska House of Representative member and tell them to support this very important legislation!
http://fortenberry.house.gov/feedback.shtml - Jeff Fortenberyy
http://www.house.gov/formleeterry/IMA/issue.htm - Lee Terry
http://www.house.gov/formadriansmith/issues_subscribe.htm - Adrian Smith

AASL 13th National Conference

2007-08-03T05:52:00.000-07:00

COUNTDOWN TO RENO:

Register this summer and save!

Register now for the AASL 13th National Conference and
Exhibition in Reno, October 25-28, 2007, by visiting
AASL's conference web site at http://www.ala.org/aasl/reno

Don't wait till the last minute - register before the
advance registration deadline of September 28 and you can
save $50!

The conference will feature an Opening General Session with
keynote speaker Dan Pink, author of "A Whole New Mind,"
special appearances by award-winning authors Wendelin
Van Draanen and David Lubar, and Omar Wasow, co-founder
of BlackPlanet.com, as the Closing General Session speaker.

Learn more about AASL's events in Reno at
http://www.ala.org/ala/reno

Urgent Action Needed on SKILLs Act

2007-08-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, August 2, Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) sent a Dear Colleague letter asking Members of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 2864, The Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries or SKILLs Act.

The SKILLs Act

- Requires school districts, to the extent feasible, to ensure that every school within the district employs at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in each school library;

- Defines highly qualified school library media specialists as those who have a bachelor's degree and have obtained full state certification as a school library media specialist or passed the state teacher licensing examination, with state certification in library media in such state;

- Establishes as a state goal that there be at least one highly qualified school library media specialist in every public school no later than the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year;

- Broadens the focus of training, professional development, and recruitment activities to include school library media specialists;

- Ensures that funds will serve elementary, middle, and high school students; and

- Requires books and materials to be appropriate for and engage the interest of students in all grade levels and students with special learning needs, including English language learners.

Urgent Action needed: This legislation is critical to the future of school library media specialists. Please contact your Representative immediately and ask them to co-sponsor the SKILLs Act.

For more information visit
http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslissues/SKILLS_Act.cfm

Visit ALA Washington Office's Legislative Center at
http://www.capwiz.com/ala/home