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

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

3. 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

4. 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 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

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

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

9. 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

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

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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

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

16. WRAP-UP
Top Takeaways
Looking forward
Stay in touch!

17. AASL & ALA CONTACTS Office for Library Advocacy Marci Merola Director
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Megan Murray Cusick
Grassroots Specialist
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Chapter Relations Office
Michael Dowling
Director
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Don Wood
Program Officer
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Sylvia Knight Norton
Executive Director
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Allison Cline
Deputy Executive Director
x4385

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