PARTNERSHIPS to Strengthen School Libraries #alaac17 Office for Library Advocacy and Chapter Relations Office

WELCOME & OVERVIEW Audrey Church AASL President 2016-17 Professor and Coordinator, School Librarianship, Longwood University

UNLOCK STUDENT POTENTIAL An initiative of the New Jersey Library Association Cindy Czesak, Director Paterson Public Library; Member of the School Library Task Force Moving forces behind this initiative: James Keehbler and Maureen Donohue, Piscataway Public Library

SCHOOL LIBRARY PROGRAMS IN NJ: REPORT 89% of school libraries are receiving flat, decreased, or no funding for their school library programs 71% indicated they “never” or “rarely” have time to collaborate with teachers to promote library resources 91 school districts have no School Library Media Specialists (not including charter schools) Over 280 Elementary Level schools are without certified School Library Media Specialists Over 20% of High Schools have no certified School Library Media Specialist available to students NJLA undertook a census of School Library Media Specialists in New Jersey. The NJ Department of Education does not collect this information at this time, though we are working to change that. The last census was completed by the NJ Association of School Librarians in 2008. We followed up the census with a survey and pulled it into a report. Based on the report, NJLA President Chris Carbone created the NJLA School Library Taskforce.

The Unlock Student Potential Website was built to provide a specific public oriented website around this one issue. We define what a highly effective school library program is, have a blog with examples of highly effective school library media specialists and updates around our advocacy efforts. The petition allows us to gather people interested in the issue and then we feed these into CQ Engage and use that list for our advocacy efforts. We also provide a number of advocacy resources for parents, public libraries, school librarians and administrators. http://unlockstudentpotential.org/

PENDING LEGISLATION A4500/S3258: Requires certain ratios of School Library Media Specialists to students in public schools Based on enrollment Establishes minimum ratios of school library media specialists to students required in school districts Specifies how much time in each school day the school library media specialist is required to devote to school library work A4858: Information Literacy Curriculum Requires an Information Literacy Curriculum through grades K-12. This encourages schools to hire a certified specialist to teach that curriculum. Feedback from administrators suggested that school library media specialists were more vulnerable because they were not tied to any specific curriculum. From specific targeted visits such as the visit with Assemblywoman Sumter, to the legislative visits from NJLA’s Library Advocacy Fortnight we have been able to have to bills introduced. We have also been active with meetings with the NJ Department of Education around ESSA and now the school performance reports where we are advocating for NJDOE to at least count school librarians and make that information available to parents.

STRONGER TOGETHER AGAINST CENSORSHIP Kelly Miller President, Virginia Association of School Librarians (VAASL); Coordinator, Library Media Services, Virginia Beach City Public Schools

Virginia Library Association PARTNERSHIPS Virginia Library Association ALA Office for Library Advocacy AASL Office for Intellectual Freedom

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM CHALLENGES IN VIRGINIA “Beloved” Bills - HB516 & HB 2191 Chesterfield County Public Schools’ “Summer reading list” Department of Education–proposed regulatory change Accomack County - Huckleberry Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird

UNION STRONG Nora Wiltse, Co-Chair Chi School Librarians     Chi School Librarians (Chicago Public Schools teacher librarians) partnering with the Chicago Teachers Union

INTERCONNECTED MISSIONS Chi School Librarians: We advocate for a school librarian in every Chicago Public School. Chicago Teachers Union: The Chicago Teachers Union is an organization of educators dedi- cated to advancing and promoting quality public education, improving teaching and learning conditions, and protecting members’ rights.

WHY THIS PARTNERSHIP? In Chicago Public Schools (CPS), in 2012 there were over 450 teacher librarians and 11 full time staff members in a Department of Libraries in Central Office. (Lots of PD, lots of support and communication.) Today, there are less than 160 librarians and only 1 staff member within the Department of Literacy dedicated to librarians. (No ability to communicate to all librarians, almost no PD time to meet or connect.) Lacking support through CPS, we needed a strong partner to help us connect and grow.

WHAT DOES THIS PARTNERSHIP LOOK LIKE? Official CTU committee CTU staff liaison invited to all of our meetings Librarian on bargaining committee We are active, participating members of CTU

BENEFITS OF PARTNERSHIP Media training and social media training Research department FOIA experts Being a part of the CTU & citywide conversation Better chance of survival as a group

PANEL DISCUSSION Cindy Czesak, Director Paterson Public Library;   Cindy Czesak, Director Paterson Public Library; Legislative Chair, NJLA Czesak@PatersonPL.org Kelly Miller, Coordinator Library Media Services, Virginia Beach City Public Schools; President, VAASL Kelly.Miller@VBSchools.com Nora Wiltse, Librarian Chicago Public Schools; Co-Chair, Chi-School Librarians NoraWiltse@gmail.com

WRAP-UP Top Takeaways Looking forward Stay in touch!

AASL & ALA CONTACTS Office for Library Advocacy Marci Merola Director mmerola@ala.org 800.545.2433 x2431 Megan Murray Cusick Grassroots Specialist mcusick@ala.org 800.545.2433 x2423 Chapter Relations Office Michael Dowling Director mdowling@ala.org 800.545.2433 x3200 Don Wood Program Officer dwood@ala.org 800.545.2433 x2429 Sylvia Knight Norton Executive Director snorton@ala.org 800.545.2433 x4388 Allison Cline Deputy Executive Director acline@ala.org 800.545.2433 x4385

THANK YOU! #alaac17 Office for Library Advocacy and Chapter Relations Office