Yes I Am in Seattle! to support Fund Our Future Washington!

Well, two posts ago I talked about not being in Seattle for the Washington Redskins playoff game. But today I WILL leave for Seattle for a much more important reason. I am headed to Olympia, Washington to support the "Fund Our Future Washington" campaign. Check out their website http://www.fundourfuturewashington.org/index.html The state of Washington citizens are calling on state leaders to ensure that all Washington elementary and secondary students have full-time access to school libraries and a certified teacher librarian.

As the elimination of school librarians is not unique to Washington I hope this will be a model that will draw the attention of other states that are suffering from cutbacks and will spread throughout the country to ensure our students receive the education they deserve with library media programs as an integral part of the instructional process.

Of course, this is the prime reason school librarian media specialists need to be included in the reauthorization of NCLB. What is mandated gets funded. (See my previous postings on the SKILLs Act and NCLB)

There is also a feature story in American Libraries on this grassroots movement launched last spring by three Spokane women whose determination to strengthen school libraries statewide began by combating their school board's decision to close part of a $10.8-million deficit by halving the hours of the 10 full-time K-8 teacher-librarians still employed by Washington's second-largest district." This is the kind of vital support from parents that we need to see! These parents get it! They understand that libraries are important and that our children need school libraries and school library media specialists. I urge all of you to read the article
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2008/january2008/washingtonskills.cfm

I will post more as it happens!

ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia

Midwinter was certainly different for me this year! I found myself running from the convention center rooms to the meeting rooms in the Marriott and back again -- I was definitely burning a campaign trail. I visited meetings of the ALA divisions, round tables, committees, caucaus but time just did not permit visiting everyone. Even though the meetings were brief, for those that expressed their concerns and suggestions, I thank you, as I learned so much. I will remember to address them and will come back to you for more input. Hearing from the units was the highlight of the conference. It was an exhausting --but exhilarating six days! With all the campaigning, it was hard to meet my obligations with BARC and Council!

I was impressed with the start of a greener conference. The SRRT asked attendees to bring their favorite mug to conference. This I hope continues and is just the beginning of establishing a green conference. There are so many areas were we could easily become greener -- for instance, the amount of paper used/wasted particularly in Council is unbelievable and should be the next area addressed.

If you were unable to attend Midwinter or did not get to the Candidates Forum, my Opening and Closing Statement is on the home page of my website as is my campaign brochure. The questions and answers from the Council forum will appear in the March issue of American Libraries. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me and let me know! Also check the dates of my schedule and talk to me in person.

You're Not in Seattle????

No, I am not in Seattle. You can't imagine how many calls I received this morning from friends calling to see if I went to the Redskins vs Seahawks playoff game today. As much as I wanted to be there --(it was great to be at the Tampa Bay wildcard game two years ago) -- family commitments come first -- as they rightfully should! I missed the first quarter -- and the only highlight of the game was two scores in two minutes to take the lead in the third quarter. After that there was nothing!! But as Redskins fans all over will tell you -- there is always next year! So back to work and getting ready for ALA Midwinter in Philly. So this is the last football post until September!