A Warm Welcome to the 17-18 School Year

As I watch the news and see the messiness of life, fires and floods,  political clashes and rising nuclear tensions, I’m concentrating on the things that I have control of. I’m working at being intentional in my gratitude for all that is right in my very small slice of the world. For my own good health and that of my children, well enough to beat each other senseless every day of our summer vacation.  For loving friends, an abundance of books, good wine (see statement re: healthy children),  for a supportive spouse, challenging job, excellent colleagues, curious students, and for you, my dear friends of AISL.

I’m grateful to this community, for the depth and breadth of knowledge that you so freely share, for your words of encouragement, your generous hearts, for the fun times we’ve shared and the fun times to come (I’m lookin’ at you Hotlanta!). On behalf of the AISL Board of Trustees, I wish you a most excellent 17-18 school year and I challenge you too to live this year with an attitude of gratitude.

Before we look too far ahead, let’s first take a moment to congratulate Caroline Bartels for her successful Summer Institute. Fourteen librarians came from far and near the Big Apple to discuss All School Read programs, to benefit from Caroline’s wisdom and, among other things, to learn from fellow AISL’er Nancy Florio. The response has been so very positive. Thank you, Caroline, for hosting! Attendees left feeling invigorated and inspired which, to me, is the mark of a successful institute. Read Laura Bishop’s awesome account of the program here.

SI2018 takes us back to the West Coast! Be on the lookout for communication from Cathy Leverkus and Sarah Davis for what I know will be another excellent offering.

I want to give you a brief look at the year ahead and call to your attention some things that the Board has in the works:

April 18-20 AISL Atlanta: Making Connections

Led by the intrepid Melinda Holmes, the ATL planning committee has got their act together and is planning a fantastic few days of PD for us. Their call for session proposals just ended. Hope you got yours in. 🙂

Affordability Scholarship

A HUGE thank you to Phoebe Warmack for her astute handling of the Board’s Affordability Scholarship program these past two years. Remember that this scholarship, in the amount of US $1,000.00,  provides 100% conference registration with the remaining balance to be applied as reimbursement toward documented travel and lodging expenses to defray the cost of attending the recipient’s first AISL annual conference. She hands the baton to new Member at Large Barbara Share. Barbara will work with the Atlanta planners to announce the scholarships in conjunction with registration opening.

Mentorship Program

Continuing in that vein, I want to say “thank you” to Allison Peters Jensen, who spearheaded our first ever Mentorship program in 16-17. In case you were already in vacation mode and missed it, check out her June 6th year in review. Thank you, Allison, and thank you to all of our participants! New Member at Large Kate Patin will put her own spin on the program this year. Go Kate go!

New Webinar Series

Beginning this month, we’ll begin a monthly webinar series, alternating between a product/tool of interest and hearing from a member with a particular passion or expertise. I put out the call for input and 54 of you answered. Thank you!  I’ll be in touch with those you requested ‘more of’ (past bloggers, conference presenters, etc.) to see if they’re willing to share and will let you know once I have a schedule worked out. We’ll alternate start times and will record every webinar for those of you with time zone or scheduling conflicts so that you can watch at your leisure.

Mark your calendar for the kick off event:

AISL Exclusive Webinar: Improving Student Research with Credo
Tuesday, September 19th at 12:00 PM EDT

Discover how Credo can help your school meet students’ research needs and teach valuable information literacy skills through a combination of innovative technology and
great reference content. Channel Manager Lara Kraft will provide a tour of SEEK, Credo’s one-stop exploratory search platform and SKILL Modules, Credo’s information literacy instruction modules as well as demonstrate how these products can impact college readiness and student learning outcomes. Join us to find out why School Library Journal calls the SKILL Modules “well-organized,” “adaptable,” and “intuitive.” AISL members also qualify for special discounted pricing, to be announced during the webinar.

Register for the webinar Here.

On this Labor Day, I think it fitting to wish you an excellent school year. Don’t work too hard. Live a life full of gratitude for blessings large and small. And if you see me coming with three Tasmanian devil children tussling around my ankles, save yourself man! Run! Back to work (and school!) we go! Thank you teachers!

Have a great year, ya’ll!

One thought on “A Warm Welcome to the 17-18 School Year

  1. Katie, thanks for this great summation of all that AISL has been up to for the past year and summer. We’ve been a very busy group of librarians! It’s hard sometimes to keep up with everything, so it’s especially nice to have a clear concise overview.
    Have fun with your Tasmanian Devils this year– such a lively visual!

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