Hail to the Redskins!!!

On a this cold, rainy afternoon the Redskins hosted the Dallas Cowboys, their long-time rival at home - FedEx Field. This was it!! We win and we go to the Playoffs. It was a miserable afternoon and I was tempted to stay home where it was warm and dry and I could see the plays and hear the announcer. But I do remember all those years before season tickets where I would do almost anything to get a ticket to this game - but rarely got one. So because it was the Cowboys game, I put on everything I had to stay warm and dry and ended up looking like the Michelin tire man!!! What can I say other than it was definitely worth it! It was one of the best games I had seen and certainly the Redskins played better than they had all year -- holding Dallas to just one yard rushing. The defense was truly awesome! I didn't sit down at all during the game - it was so exciting!! Lots of noise, lots of yelling and lots of disappointed Cowboy fans. If we lost, we could still go to the playoffs if the Saints and the Vikings also lost. But no fan wanted to go in by the backdoor -- we wanted to go in right! Throughout the game, the scores of other games being played are posted -- all but the Saints and the Vikings -- Coach Joe Gibbs did not want to know until this game was over. As it turned out they both lost. The important score -- the Redskins beat Dallas 27-6 and are headed to Seattle for the Wildcard game on Saturday, January 5. If we win (oops -- when we win) we will face Dallas the following week in Dallas. Surprisingly, I stayed warm and dry, but I will admit I was so excited I doubt I would have noticed otherwise.

National Library Legislative Day

If you are on ALA Council, or have read-only privileges to the Council listserv you will have already seen this, but for those of you not on the listserv, I think it is a good time to begin the discussion of National Library Legislative Day. First a few (edited) excerpts from the posting that started the discussion.

. . .I have received a notice about registering for National Library Legislative Day. And it occurs to me .... that attending legislative day is a mystery to me. None of the folks in libraries I have worked at. . . have ever, to my knowledge, attended. And so I ask, because I am genuinely curious and wish to understand parts of the professional landscape that I don't frequent ...... do YOU go? Is it EXPECTED of you? Does SOMEBODY in your institution go? Is there institutional support for it? What do you hope to accomplish? Do you think you DO accomplish something?

Here was my response:
I for one, DO go to Legislative Day and encourage others to go. Two years ago, the spring class I was teaching at the University of Maryland on Library Administration met on Tuesday -- so I took my class to Legislative Day - and they loved it and got a lot out of it. It is not expected of me to go and several librarians at the central office level from other counties do go, and when we do we join up with our counterparts in the public, academic and special libraries to visit our Congressmen. The only institutional support I receive is that I do not have to take leave to go to Leg Day. (Granted a 45 minute ride on Metro gets me to Capitol Hill). Why do I go? - there are several reasons. 1)To attend the sessions the ALA Washington Office arranges and the overview which gives me a broad picture of what is happening politically in response to issues regarding all types of libraries -- it gives me the global picture so I can see the impact on myself and other libraries. 2)To have a chance to bring forth the issues affecting school libraries and hear from others around the country on how they are handling the issue or how it is impacting them and suggestions for us to join forces to address the issue. 3)To visit my Congressmen to - first thank them for their support in the past and tell them how it has made a difference and then to inform them of current concerns and ask for their help. What do I hope to accomplish? To make legislators aware of the needs of school libraries and when with my counterparts, how we work together for the needs of all types of libraries. Specifically, last year my interest was the introduction of the bill to include school librarians in NCLB -- the SKILLs Act. It was successful and got the attention of many and though there is still lots to be done -- I feel we (with the help of the Washington Office) did accomplish much! If we do not speak up for libraries -- all types of libraries -- who will? ALA Leg Day is not the only way to get our voice heard -- but it is an effective one. If we consistently advocate for libraries we can make a difference.

As a result of the posting I received several comments, one very interesting and which is one of those great ideas that comes from discussing a topic. Most of it centered around persons who would like to be involved, but for a variety of reasons cannot attend NLLD in Washington. The first comment was to have the handouts posted to the web so everyone can take advantage of them at the local level. Actually this is already done. The Washington office has been hosting Virtual Library Legislative Day for several years now, which is a great way to get involved if you cannot be there. The handouts are posted and there is an online Legislative Action Center (LAC) http://capwiz.com/ala that outlines all the pending issues and gives you an opportunity to send a fax directly to your legislators.

The next suggestion was to have a coordinated local event for those unable to attend. I wonder if the Federal Library Legislative Advocacy Network (FLLAN) might be the place to get such an action started -- ?? The FLLAN is a relatively new initiative by ALA's Committee on Legislation, the Public Library Association Legislative Committee and the ALA Washington Office to establish a more formal national grassroots advocacy network that is capable of responding to federal issues in an efficient and effective manner. Although developed primarily to get support when needed for an issue -- perhaps they could develop that support through a coordinated local event. Some states do have local events - perhaps they could be contacted to allow their success to be applied in other states to allow for a wider participation in our legislative actions.

The other suggestion, which I think is fantastic one and hope it is implemented -- is to web cast the various presentations at NLLD. This is simple technology and there are already web casts on the ALA page, so web casting the valuable presentations at NLLD and putting them on the web page with the handouts sounds like an easy way to get increased member involvement. It will certainly provide those unable to attend NLLD and who choose to work in local districts with the benefits those attending NLLD are able to gain, along with the ALA Washington Office staff's knowledge. I have emailed Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director of the ALA Washington Office requesting that this be explored for the NLLD this May.

IT'S UP! Visit My Webpage

My web page for the ALA Presidential Campaign is up and running. I invite you to visit it and to post your questions, concerns, issues or ideas for improving our association. You can communicate with me through the forum on the web page, here on the blog or directly by email. I would love to hear your ideas!

Web page: http://www.electlindawilliams.org/
Email: lwilliams@aacps.org or jw177@aol.com
Blog: http://www.lindasreflections.blogspot.com/

I also invite you to come to my campaign reception to meet me on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at the Philadelphia Marriott, Salon B from 4:00 - 6:00 PM. There will be snacks and a cash bar and plenty of time to talk with me. Hope to see you then!

Where's the Evidence? Understanding the Impact of School Libraries

The third SLJ Leadership Summit brought 250 librarians and vendors to the Arizona Biltmore, beautifully decorated for Christmas, complete with a huge gingerbread house. Arizona has been in a drought for many years as they have not received their annual 5" of rainfall. Surprise -- here we were in the hot desert and during the three days we were there it rained 2". Now, we were glad to "help out" but being rainy and cold did not allow us to take advantage of all the things to do in Phoenix, the Biltmore and nearby Scottsdale. We would have preferred warm and sunny conditions, but with such a wonderful event taking place it was really not an issue.

Speaking of Issues -- as a candidate for ALA President, during the vendor presentations on the second day, Gale's David Schroeter, presented me with a Gale tee-shirt with a great slogan, which should be mine! (see photo). I also want to thank Roger Rosen of Rosen Publishing for his very generous support.

The summit focused on Evidence-Based Practice as a way to understand the impact of school libraries on student achievement. Attendees had the opportunity to meet with their colleagues from across the county to learn, discuss and develop new practices. To paraphrase Brian Kenney, Editor-in-Chief, School Library Journal, Understanding and applying this methodology will allow building level library media specialists, district supervisors and state-level coordinators to answer the question "What differences do our school libraries and their learning initiatives make to student learning outcomes?" To implement Evidence-based Practice, we need to know and evaluate existing educational research, combine this with an effective library media program to collect the evidence that the school library is making a difference in student achievement. Using research in this way allows us to look beyond traditional measures and focus on information literacy, knowledge building and engaging students in reading.

The agenda was filled with well known names in the research field and users of Evidence-Based Practice. Opening remarks from Congress member Raul M. Grijalva praised school libraries and the future of the SKILLs Act. Linda Perlstein, author of Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade presented the Keynote Address. She spent three years researching this book at a poor elementary in my school district. The book needed to be written and should be a reading requirement for all educators and parents. It is a story of meeting the requirements of NCLB -- both the good and the not so good. Yes, the students' scores went up -- but did the students learn?

Dr. Carol Gordon, Rutgers University moderated an Evidence Across the Profession Panel, which included participants from the medical , architectural, and health sciences fields and the Director from the Center for the Advancement of Evidenced-Based Practice. There were three Case Study sessions, covering a variety of topics, which participants selected to attend. Opening the second day of the summit, Peter Pearson, President, Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library gave an informative presentation on Just Because They Love You, Doesn't Mean They Will Fund You. Dr Ross Todd, Rutgers University closed the two-day summit by summing up all the sessions and presentations and forming work groups for applications of the major concepts. I do hope SLJ continues this yearly leadership summit - it is the most thought provoking two days I have spent in a long time. -- Interestingly enough, I can see many areas where Evidence-based Practice can be applied in the ALA Organization to gain the evidence of what works best and how we can apply the evidence and what we know to make things work better -- hmm -- what a concept!