While my final day in Anaheim was on Tuesday, it has taken me a few days of adjustment back home to get time to write.  On the last day at ALA, we began early with a connection with NECC in San Diego.  It was a great opportunity to connect with our library media colleagues at NECC.  It is such a shame that the two conference overlap so often forcing a choice.  There are so many learning opportunities at both, it is often hard to choose.  However, my duties with AASL this time made the decision for me.

Following the connection, we ran to the exhibit hall and participated in Virtual Library Legislative Day.  I contacted all of my representatives stressing to them the importance of the SKILLS Act as part of the NCLB reauthorization.  Final pass through of the exhibit hall gave me time to connect with some publishers.

The afternoon followed with my first AASL Board meeting serving as Member at Large.  The meeting focused on introducing us to the process and procedures as AASL President Ann Martin presided over her first meeting.

The last several days provided a wonderful opportunity to continue to be involved in the national organization for school librarians, connect with colleagues and friends, and interact with vendors.

Today, I spent more time in the exhibit hall and attended the AASL Awards Luncheon. I had the pleasure of serving on the National School Library Media Program of the Year Award (SLMPY) committee this year, so it was so exciting to see the winning schools receive their award. Simsbury High School in Simsbury, CT and Luella Elementary School in Henry County, Georgia were this year’s winner. Simsbury wowed us with their assured experiences and Luella had an amazing library where every child would feel welcomed and clamor to spend time!

DAY 2

Yesterday I kicked off the day with a run through the exhibit hall. We ran through about 1/3rd of the hall hitting various vendors and catching up with friends and colleagues.

From there I headed to the AASL President’s Program. The program was kicked off by awarding the Spokane Mom’s the Crystal Apple Award. Meeting these amazing women was a highlight. It was so exciting to see the passion they had to preserver and improve their school libraries in Washington. Wouldn’t it be great to see this grassroots effort happening in every state! Read more about their efforts at: http://www.fundourfuturewashington.org/

In the afternoon I presented along with the assistance of Jay Bansbach the AASL 101 session. This program gave newbies information about AASL and how to get involved. While the crowd was small, we were able to share information about AASL and spending time in individual conversations.

I had a little more time for exhibits after the session and was able to catch-up with several vendors.

I ended the day at the ALA Scholarship Bash at Disneyland. There were a lot of people, but we had a great time!

DAY 3

This morning was AASL Affiliate Assembly. This is my last meeting on the Executive Committee as I now cycle off following my term as Past-Chair. Affiliate Assembly is a wonderful forum for sharing concerns with the AASL Board and for AASL to share with the states all that is happening. AASL President, Sara Kelly Johns, AASL President-Elect, Ann Martin, and a whole host of AASL Committee Chairs provided insights and updates on to what is happening in our organization. We also discussed and voted on several concerns and commendations that will now be sent to the AASL Board to consider. It was a very productive meeting.

In the afternoon I shared a brief AASL 101 in the exhibit hall. It mostly became a one on one conversation with a library school student, but it was a great chance to share about the wonderful things AASL does as an organization.

I caught a little of the Demco Book Cart Drill Team competition before calling it a day!

Bright and early I left Indianapolis (7:00am) and arrived in California around 10:00am. After getting settled in the hotel, I took a nice long nap. Working for C.L.A.S.S. this week on top of the early wake-up call this morning (4am) had just worn me out.

ALA started for me with American Association of School Librarians’ Affiliate Assembly meetings. The Executive Committee met first followed by Affiliate Assembly 1 from 8-10pm tonight. Affiliate Assembly is the heart of AASL. Each state affiliate sends two representatives. This body shares with the national organization the issues and concerns from all the states in the country. It allows our national organization to know what areas it needs to focus on across the country. Tonight we talked about lots of issues and Affiliate Assembly will vote on the most critical areas to send to the AASL Board on Sunday.

Even with my nap, it has been a long day. But, glad to be in Anaheim and ready to enjoy a great conference!

At the end of this week, I’ll be heading to ALA and hope to be sharing some of the interesting stuff I find in sessions and meetings on the blog!   Check out the AASL blog which is just one of the places where other school librarians will be sharing about the conference!