Seattle was an amazing city to visit and join in the fun at ALA Midwinter!  So many highlights at this conference beginning with Melinda Gates as the opening speaker; did you know that The Gates Library Foundation has provided more than $1 billion to libraries around the world?  Rick Steves debuted his new book Travel as a Political Act in which he talks about people being fearful of the world and explains how traveling allows us to gain understanding, alleviate fears and broaden our perspectives.  An awesome moment for us was meeting Kwame Alexander (Justine got to ride the elevator with him in our hotel) as well as the many other authors speaking about their upcoming books.

Throughout the conference, ALA promoted the importance of libraries with respect to equity, inclusivity and eradicating bias.  There were several sessions focused on opportunities to push our communities forward, showcasing our libraries as examples of closing gaps on racial equity and disability access.  The Libraries Transform: Social Innovation session discussed ways libraries have become safe havens for people experiencing homelessness.  Emilio Estevez hosted two showings of his upcoming movie The Public which puts a spotlight on the role of compassionate public libraries serving marginalized populations.  We highly recommend seeing this film if you have the opportunity and sharing it with others!

At the AASL Affiliate Assembly, there was discussion about the AASL Standards share site, which is a new portal in the works for affiliates to submit their Professional Development activities and resources that will become available for the community to use.  The AASL Standards portal has new videos and an evaluation checklist.  There is also a Twitter slow-chat regarding Standards in the planning stages.  It was great to meet with our other Region 1 Affiliates from New England:

  

Registration is now open for the 2019 AASL National Conference in Louisville, KY, November 14^th- 16^th.  There is currently a $90 discount with the code AASL90, good through March 17^th.  You can register now, pay later and even bring an administrator for FREE!    Keynote speakers include Ellen Oh and Jarret Kroscozka.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our NHSLMA Conference March 7^th & 8^th!!

Karen Abraham & Justine thain

The NHSLMA Annual Conference returns in March!  Why should we attend conferences?  Sometimes it is hard to justify taking one or two days away from our schools to take time for ourselves.  Networking with peers is always a wonderful benefit of a conference, it is nice to hear positive stories from colleagues, as well as being able to talk to colleagues who may be having similar problems in their respective positions.

Learning about best practice in our field can be found at the NHSLMA conference through our excellent exhibitors.  We will have more than twenty exhibitors ranging from book publishing companies to library automation systems.  One on one discussions with exhibitors are great opportunities to discover new products or services that may be just what you need in your library. 

Join is on March 7 & 8 in Concord and become an Agent of Change!

As part of our mission to provide professional development opportunities to our membership, we also have scholarships available for members who need financial support in order to attend our conference in March.  Please consider applying for a scholarship if you:

• Have a plan for professional growth that aligns with an effective school library program.

• Do not have other means of reimbursement.

• Are working toward a toward a school library degree or certification.

• Have a history of involvement in the education or library community.

• Are willing to share what you have learned through a workshop, blog post, listserv discussion, or volunteering at a NHSLMA event.

It is easy to apply; just fill out our application and provide one reference. All conference scholarships will be decided by January 25, 2019.  We want to see YOU at our conference, so apply today!

Opportunities to share the work you have done abound.  Have you seen them? I am so excited by all of the conferences looking for our proposals.  Yes, our proposals.  If you have never presented, don’t doubt yourself.   We all improve our practice and develop stronger relationships by giving back and sharing with the larger school community.

For some of us, the idea of presenting to peers is daunting.    The first time a close co-worker asked me to present my internal immediately dialogue took over. Who wants to hear from me?  What have I really done? I can’t do that! What will they think?    If you are uneasy, which we all are the first time we do anything, the best way to gain confidence and start developing your professional presentation is to find a co-presenter.

Working with a co-presenter is empowers each team member.  Over the past few years, I have encouraged classroom teachers to present.  Throughout the school year I collaborate with teachers or administrators on projects that enhance student learning.  As we reflect on and process our challenges and successes, trends emerge and we begin to consider the possibilities. The process allows us to give one another moral support as well as the confidence to present.  Best of all, we consider the possibilities for our future projects. As you work further with this co-presenter, it becomes evident that real growth is fueled by the challenge of presenting at conferences. Your co-presenter will have a free day of trying something new, learning, and growing professionally.  It opens their eyes to all the amazing things in their classrooms and the opportunities that are possible as they learn from others.

For me,  presenting  fulfills my greatest passions: developing meaningful connections and reflecting upon my learning and extending my learning so that I can grow with my coworkers.

The NHSLMA proposal deadline might be just around the corner but don’t let that deter you.  A proposal is a rough outline of what you plan to deliver. This fall and winter make the time to delve deeper into your relationships and learning and celebrate your successes.  

Karen Desjadon

Londonderry High School

     Take a moment to reflect on your school library program.  Is it a vital part of learning in your school? Are you leading the way in technology integration? Do you do anything special to promote reading? Are you collaborating with teachers? Have you transformed your library into a vibrant learning space? Do you encourage curiosity and creativity?  

     If you answered yes to any of these questions, this may be your time to be recognized as the NHSLMA Outstanding School Library Program of the year. Step one is to take a look at our awards page here.  Preview the questions on our online form and give it some consideration.  Wouldn't it be amazing to have all of your hard work recognized?

Happy New Year NHSLMA!

I trust that everyone enjoyed their summers. Perhaps you joined us at Library Camp, relaxed some, read a few great books, and enjoyed some well-deserved time off. One of my highlights was presenting a AASL Commendation to the Fisher Cats and Velcro for the Fisher Cats Reading Challenge. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful program in this state. Here I am on the mound with Mike Ramshaw, the Fisher Cats President, and Dirk Foreman, the North American President for Velcro.

Now that we are closing the chapter on summer and beginning what will be a great fall, I wanted to welcome you to your new year and talk about the NHSLMA Board’s goals for this coming school year. The NHSLMA Board met for our annual retreat earlier this month. We welcomed three new Members-at-Large: Beth Kisel, Rachael Bowman, and Kiley Kapp. Emelia Fleck returned as a Member-at-Large. Etienne Vallee transitioned to our Membership Chair, as Cherie Smeltzer replaced Karen Abraham as our Awards Chair. Etienne will also be maintaining our website this year. Karen Landsman will continue to serve as our NHSTE Liaison, and she also took on the Center for the Book Rep. Audra Lewis will continue as our Standards and Certification Chair. Earlier last school year, Debbie Dutcher replaced Ann Hoey at the NH State Library and she will continue to serve as our NH State Library Rep. In addition to her role as our Past President, Rachel Hopkins will also lead our High School to College Subcommittee. Our Secretary Katie Gadwah will also wear another hat as our Future Ready Liaison. Justine Thain will be our Conference Chair for this year, and she is already hard at work with her amazing team planning the 2019 Conference. Helen Burnham continues as our Treasurer and Karen Abraham is our Vice President. We look forward to a wonderful year with our new and continuing board members.

In addition to our usual business, we discussed our goals for the 2018-2019 school year. For the past few years, the Public Awareness Chair, which was formerly known as the Advocacy & Intellectual Freedom Chairs, has sat vacant. In reflecting how to fill this position, the board determined that outreach is the theme for this year. The board will focus on four main goals:

1. Promote NHSLMA services;
   
2. Encourage membership to promote their school library services to their schools and to NHSLMA membership;
   
3. Offer a variety of professional development;
   
4. Fill Public Awareness Chair in June 2019.
   

Each month the board will continue to keep our handbook updated and develop standard operating procedures. Last year, Rachel began to share the board meeting agenda to our members; this will continue this year. Additionally, we will use our website, listserv, blog, and social media to maintain communication between the board and membership. We will also use our blog, listserv, social media outlets, and Google Slides for members to share trusted, new, and/or innovative outreach methods. Professional development will continue to be a focus. The Annual Conference will make its return this March at the Grappone Center in Concord. Throughout the year, we hope to also offer other professional development opportunities, such as roundtables and online book discussions. Finally, through all of these measures, we hope to discover how to continue to support outreach at the board and membership levels, identify tasks for the Public Awareness Chair, and thus fill the position.

We are thrilled to begin another year with everyone. Please contact any board member or myself with questions, comments, ideas, and concerns.

Sincerely,

Caitlin Bennett

NHSLMA President

A year ago, a series of bizarre, and fate ridden events changed my life. After working with my students on a Genius Hour project involving Zambia, an email on the NHSLMA list-serv came across my laptop looking for a elementary librarian in Lusaka, Zambia. My students had raised $3000.00 to support a circus school for extremely poor children located in Lusaka. Furthermore, this job had some connections to Plymouth State University, of which I was attending. Being a small town NH librarian for many years and working in education for thirty, had put me on a path of predictability, comfort, and stability. That all changed February 2017, when I applied and accepted the position of Primary Librarian at the American International School of Lusaka, Zambia.

If you had asked me two years ago if I thought I would be living in Africa, I would have laughed. If you had asked me a year and a half ago if I would choose to give up my position at my NH school and stay in Zambia for 2 more years, I would have thought you were delusional. So what made me, someone who had never traveled internationally and always worked in my small community, jump on a plane to fly over 7,000 miles away and work in a city with over 2.7 million people? Two words: challenge and growth.

I have always wanted my students to challenge themselves, become risk takers, and embrace change. I thought modeling this behavior was appropriate and overdue. Once I arrived in Zambia, I had no idea how very challenging the transition would be. Everything was new, and I mean everything. Aside from the personal and cultural challenges, every tech tool for documentation, all rules and protocols, the entire curriculum, and students from 42 different countries with names that were hard to pronounce were all unfamiliar to me. By far, the curriculum has been the most challenging component of this process.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP) curriculum is intricate, intense, and involved. Although I took a course before arriving, I found myself drowning in a curriculum with new vocabulary that was embedded in a well laid out format, but was quite dense. I was expected to have weekly library classes with students in preschool through 5th grade. However, I also was expected to work with my Tech. Integrator on a brand new pilot program of teaching during the point of need during Units of Inquiry. Meaning, during specific units, we went into classrooms to support and teach with the grade teams. At this point, I was still struggling with the curriculum and trying to learn what prior knowledge my students already had. Furthermore being an International School, students frequently move around. It is not unusual for students to stay for 2-4 years and move to another country. A significant amount of students will move during the school year.  Within all of this, I needed to learn and promote the IB Learner Profile. To say I was overwhelmed at times, is an understatement.

So why did I choose to stay? There are several reasons but the first is: Support. AISL values its teachers and staff and provides an amount of support I have never seen. With all the challenges, I knew that someone was always ready to assist me when I required it. Another reason is simply because this curriculum does inquiry right. Back in the States I was attempting to use student inquiry more in my lessons. Here, I am still wrapping my head around the process and have made some gains but there is still so much to learn. It has also given me perspective as a learner and acknowledging what a steep learning curve I am encountering makes me more empathic to the plight of students walking into a new classroom. I am constantly challenged, intrigued, and learning. These are things I want my students to do on a regular basis. I wish I had known about IB when I was developing my own program back in the States as implementing some if its techniques makes so much sense. Students engage in inquiry and problem solving like I have not witnessed before.

The beauty of all of this is that although I am an IB PYP Librarian in Zambia, I must maintain my NH license so I am still a NH Librarian, and proud of it. I will say the support of NHSLMA is something I still count on heavily to help me through the challenges. Lastly, as I enter a new decade of my life, I am proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Jill Canillas Daley

PYP Librarian American International School of Lusaka Zambia at AISL

Twitter: @jcd118

Instagram: noisy.librarian 

NHSLMA is pleased to announce our 2018 Award winners:

School Librarian of the Year - Rachel Hopkins, Salem High School

Outstanding School Library Program - Hollis/Brookline High School

Outstanding Paraprofessional - Patti Bogert, Inter-Lakes High School

Elsie Domingo Service Award - Kristin Whitworth, Barnstead Elementary

Thank you to the Awards Committee and all who submitted nominations.

Karen Abraham, Awards Chair

Reflections from Franklin Pierce student, Brianna Bourque:

There is a course called Banned Books taught at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH. I am a freshman here at the university and I decided to take the course during the school year 2017-2018. During the course, we read approximately a dozen banned books like Lysistrata, Witches, Looking for Alaska, and Fanny Hill. While reading the book, we would discuss the author's intention for creating it, why we think the book was banned, and why we think the story should be kept on the shelves in schools, and libraries. The reason I took the course was to see how society's views of inappropriate book topics have changed over time. After learning what I did in Banned Books, I can say that it was a very challenging and fascinating experience.

An important aspect of the class, that was very challenging, was an individual project called the Library Censorship Report. For this we were required to contact one school library and one public library, and to request that they inform us their book challenging policy, the process if it were to occur, and any history they have of books being banned there. For this assignment, I decided to reach out to my old high school library (Merrimack Valley High School) and the New Hampshire State Library(NHSL). Upon contacting the two libraries via snail mail, I received word that neither had ever received a request to have a book banned, or even challenged. But after speaking with the librarian there, Rebecca Stockbridge, my contact information was then sent to four more people. I soon discovered by speaking with Jessica Gilcreast, the Bedford High School Librarian, that there was a book challenge at Bedford High School many years ago. The book was eventually pulled from the curriculum, but is still available in the school library.

After reading through the minutes and the process it takes to ban a book, I became very appreciative of my ability to read the twelve banned books during my course. I also became very thankful that no books had ever been challenged or banned in my high school, because I would have been missing out on learning opportunities. Through taking the course, I have also become more aware of how often books get banned or challenged in the U.S., and which states it is more likely to happen in. I intend to use this knowledge of book challenges and bans to prevent them so others can continue to learn, and I also would like to continue passing my knowledge of this onto others so they can hopefully prevent bans too. 

It’s better to give than to receive.

We’ve all heard that one before. But during my service on the American Association of School Librarian’s Board of Directors as the Director of Region 1, I’ve received much, much more than I was able to give.

I was nominated to run for this national position after serving on the NHSLMA board for several years and volunteering for different committees at the national level. In order to be elected, I had to speak at the AASL Candidate Forum during the ALA Midwinter conference. If you have not yet attended an ALA conference you will one day find that the AASL events are filled with familiar and friendly faces. The speech was nerve-wracking - but fun.

The national election was held after the conference.  in AASL, every member casts their vote for every elected position.  If you have interest in running for a national position, good starting points include writing book reviews, blogging, serving at the state level or on AASL committees, or sharing ideas on social media so school librarians from other states will be familiar with your name.  I was grateful to win the election - especially because nobody was running against me!

One of the first duties of a newly-elected board member is to attend ALA Annual.  During each ALA conference the board meets three times.  At the first board meeting, new members are assigned mentors and learn the board's policies and procedures.  We took online quizzes in order understand all of the ALA and AASL policies and then received our first 100-page agenda.  It was a bit overwhelming but helped new members keep up with the fast-paced meeting. 

The meetings were interesting, as we were asked to consider updating long-standing policies, review budgets, and vote on the future of the organization.  It was a thrilling time to be involved on the board as AASL was in the process of creating new national standards - and the ESSA legislation was being passed into law.  We spent one meeting defining what an effective school library program means and that definition has since been added to the new legislation nationwide.  

In addition to attending both ALA Annual and Midwinter each year (which does require some financial and logistical investments), I was also invited to attend many conferences and events at the state and regional levels.  I was able to share information about ESSA and the new AASL standards with school librarians all over the region.  Giving these presentations provided me with an opportunity to comprehensively understand the information I was presenting - and to meet school librarians all over New England. 

You're probably already considering reasons why you can't volunteer: potential costs of travel, impacts on your personal and professional time, or the constant notifications of an inbox that's already overflowing.  These demands are real, but I encourage you to consider the many benefits to volunteering.  I believe school leaders are driven by an altruistic desire to help - whether that be their schools, their communities, or their profession.

The time I spent in building relationships, learning new skills, studying materials, and meeting school librarians from all over the country was an investment in myself.  Here are some examples that may resonate with you.  

• I strengthened my leadership skills - and being a better leader made me a better school librarian and teacher. 
• My position on the board encouraged me to dream beyond my own region and embrace a global mindset - which empowered me to travel more and bring new perspectives back to my own school.
• Working with a dynamic group of accomplished librarians helped me to increase my capacity for understanding by working to build something bigger than myself.  
• Serving for a local or national professional organization is a great resume builder.  Administrators want to see the connections you made, the lessons you learned, as well as your dedication to a career rather than a job.

Thinking about getting more involved?  A great first step is to start working at the state level.  Contact Donna Zecha, Rachel Hopkins or Caitlin Bennett and let them know your interest in serving in some capacity at the state level.  We're always looking for librarians to write for the NHSLMA blog, NH representatives to send to the Affiliate Assemblies at ALA conferences each year, and volunteers to help with planning events and conferences.  

In the words of Winston Churchill, "we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."  Serving school librarians at both the state and national level has helped me to make a joyful and satisfying life.

Pam Harland
Program Coordinator, Library Media and Technology Education Programs
Faculty Member, Department of Educational Leadership, Learning and Curriculum
Plymouth State University