The other candidate was the amazing Ann Dutton Ewbanks. She is a very articulate and passionate voice for school libraries, so I was honored to be on the ballot with her. In the months that followed, we had the candidates forum at ALA Midwinter, as well as the chance to pass out some bookmarks and stickers! Besides a few posting on my Facebook page and a few emails sent to friends and colleagues, that was about all there was to campaigning.

Voting began in mid-March and ended on April 23rd. The results were announced on Friday. It was quite a day at school. Luckily the bulk of my day I had classes in working on research projects, so it gave me little time to wonder as I waited for the phone call. I have such an amazingly supportive school family. Teachers and staff came through all day, “Have you heard yet?” “Have they called?” “Make sure to tell us as soon as you hear.” About 2:30pm, the phone rang with Julie Walker, AASL Executive Director, on the other end to share with me that I had been elected the 2011-2012 AASL President.

I am so honored and humbled by the opportunity the members of AASL have given me. There are amazing leaders on the AASL Board and I’m excited about the chance to work with them to continue to move our association and profession forward. I’m sure in my three years I’ll serve (President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President) there will be successes and challenges. I look forward to all of it because I know we have an amazing group of leaders, members, and staff who will help work through it all together.

I believe that life often presents us with a variety of opportunities. Some of them turn out better than others, but you never know what will happen until you say “yes!” I am so excited about this next adventure and glad I said “yes” when this opportunity came along. We all have a variety of circumstances in our professional and personal lives, but I hope when the next opportunity comes your way…you’ll consider saying “yes”, too. You never know where it might lead.

The day was filled with sharing and talking about the who, what, where, why, and how about our job.  We took a little time to talk about the gloom and doom of school funding in both our states, but for the most part we really tried to stay focused on discussing the craft of our field.

Over the years we’ve all developed some tricks and techniques that work in all our various roles.  From instruction to administration, we find ways to make our job easier.  We find ways to make our jobs more effective.  I know I get up everyday and think how can we move our program to the next level.

I’m a huge fan of networking and sharing.  As a matter of fact I met one of the colleagues from Michigan years ago when we were both leaders in our respective state associations.  We always talked about having a day just to share and learn from each other, and a few weeks back she emailed and asked to visit.   I replied back with a resounding yes.

I believe that conversations like the ones I had with my friends from Michigan are what helps us become better school librarians.  The chance to share our success (and failures), absorb new ideas from others, and just reflect a little bit on where we are and how far we come is so important.

There are lots of ways to do that – whether it be face to face like my visitors from Michigan or whether it be an online Skype™ conversation with another colleague.  These interactions are what help us to grow and develop as school library leaders.   We often get isolated in our jobs, and this is a way to make connections so we don’t feel so alone.

But, we need a place to start making those connections.  For me, it was my involvement with our state organization, AIME, and then our national organization, AASL, which led me to begin making those bridges and connections to colleagues all over the country.  The colleagues and network I’ve built will serve me well for many years to come.  They can support me in the time of need and help me celebrate in the time of successes. Its one of the reason I value those memberships in my professional organizations so much!!