From time to time, I'd like to share with you what AASL has been working on from my perspective as AASL President. Here are just some of the highlights since July 1^st! From our amazing member leaders to our AASL staff, it is amazing to see all that has been happening in a short time. Events / Projects

• Congressional Briefing - Probably the biggest project we are working on currently is preparing to provide a briefing to Congress on the 21^st Century School Library. School librarians and school library stakeholders are encouraged to support the work of the congressional briefing by contacting their members of Congress and urging them to attend the briefing. We are currently working to raise funds to defray the cost of the briefing via the Friends of AASL. Read the complete press release.

• The timing of the briefing connects perfectly with the SKILLS Act and the reauthorization of ESEA which is on Congress's agenda. We are currently urging school librarians to call their Senators and ask them to sign on as co-sponsors of the SKILLS Act today! Get your colleagues and friends to call, too!

• Committee Chair Orientation - Over the course of 4 weeks, an online training for all committee chairs was held. We began with a webinar and then moved to online discussions in ALA Connect. It was a great way to get our committees all on the same page and get working on their Minimum Intended Outcomes!

• AASL National Conference - Minneapolis - Obviously a great deal of time has been spent getting ready for the AASL National Conference in Minneapolis. The committee led by Ty Burns and Cheryl Steele has been hard at work putting together an amazing professional development experience. I've been personally involved with the online book discussion of Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows on the conference Ning which has been very enlightening and engaging!

• ALA Campaign for School Libraries - ALA has started a task force to create a campaign in support of school libraries. Read the press release here. http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pr.cfm?id=8155 Working with ALA President Molly Raphael, we helped to set the stage for this group and appoint AASL members to represent us. AASL President-Elect, Susan Ballard, has agreed to co-chair this task force.

• Banned Websites Awareness Day - Sept. 28, 2011 - recently AASL sponsored the first Banned Website Awareness Day. This idea had been tossed around for years in blogs and articles such as this one by Doug Johnson < http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2011/blue-skunk-blog/2008/9/23/blocked-bytes-week.html>. The AASL Board in June of this year voted to have the first annual event this year during Banned Book Week. Thanks to Helen Adam and the Intellectual Freedom Committee as well as AASL Director-Elect Michelle Luthala for all their hard work on this project.

• AASL Executive Committee Meeting - In a few weeks the AASL Executive Committee will be meeting in Chicago. Our annual fall meeting allows us time to prepare for the Midwinter meetings as well as engage in a joint meeting with the Executive Board of ALA and all the ALA divisions.

• Treasurer's Training / MIO - In July I had the chance to travel to Chicago for AASL Treasurer's Training. Every 3 years we elect a new treasurer and Karen Lemmons began her term in July. The staff provides a training to help get the new treasurer up to speed, and since I live so close I drove up for the training. I also spent a great deal of my time in Chicago working on the Minimum Intended Outcomes for our committees this year!

Board Votes The Board has been working in between our Annual and Midwinter meetings. Two Board votes have been taken on position statements. Both statements below have been approved.

• Position Statement on Labeling Books with Reading Levels
• Position Statement on Flexible Schedule - To be posted soon

Press Interviews

• Education Writers Association Ning - Week long discussion with Education Reporters from all over the country.
• Augusta Chronicle
• School Library Journal
• Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• Banned Website Awareness Day
• New York Times
• TakePart.com
• School Planning and Management Magazine
• Podcast - American Radio Network
• Huffington Post - How will we read in schools?
  • Reprinted in Education News
  • Reprinted in Education Views
  • Reprinted in Bookseller

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AASL Candidates Forum Speech ALA Midwinter - January 17, 2010

One of the things most AASL presidents do is come up with a theme: something that ties together their twelve months in office and serves as a focus for the year. When I was running for election, I used the word “involved” a lot. But, as I continued to ponder all of what AASL has been doing and where we need to go, that word “engaged” keeps popping back up in my mind. Not only do we need to be involved, but we need to go deeper and be actively engaged! As that word rolls around in my head, it tends to gravitate toward three key areas where school librarians need to be engaged—now more than ever:

Engaged in our schools! We each have to be one of the key teacher-leaders in our schools. If we aren’t now, we need to figure out how to become a leader!

Engaged in the community! We have to be out there talking about school libraries with our students’ parents and other community members. We have to be active and talk with our community businesses, school board members, and legislators (both state and national) to spread the message about the important role of the school library in student success!

Engaged in the profession! Now more than ever we need each other. AASL helps to bring us all together as a profession, and we need to support one another and help support the work the organization is doing on our behalf.

Carl A. Harvey II