The American Library Association put out a statement on November 29, 2021, about book challenges. It can be found here. It references the Freedom to Read statement, which was written in 1953, and can be found here. 

Having a strong collection development policy and book challenge policy will help protect school librarians and their book purchasing decisions. ALA provides resources for creating either of those here. 

Dr. April Dawkins provided an informative, timely session on book challenges and that information can be found on the Members-Only Advocacy page. We highly recommend you watch it if you haven't already and look over the included resources. 

If books in your collection have been challenged, please reach out and we will connect you with any available resources we have. Posting in the NCSLMA School Librarians Facebook Group is the fastest way to get an answer, but you can also e-mail Board members. Their information is posted here. 

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I wanted to take a few minutes and reflect on how thankful I am for NCSLMA. I have been a member off and on for the last ten years and have grown so much professionally, especially in the last few years, thanks to our awesome librarians and their awesome ideas. From conference, to Winter Tune-Up, to Summer Learning Series, and everything in-between, there have been so many opportunities to connect and learn.

I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to participate in Leadership Academy. I met some of the most amazing librarians! I love how often our paths cross and how we bonded over the pandemic and librarianship. That experience led to my current position in NCSLMA and getting to know even more fabulous librarians. We are all “other” in our schools, but getting to meet and come together makes it a little easier. 

And finally, I want to thank you. I love being a librarian. But none of it would be nearly as fulfilling as it is without the camaraderie and support that we give to each other. 

I wish you a safe, happy, relaxing Thanksgiving. 

Stay in the loop by reading our monthly newsletter. In it, you will find timely information for librarians by librarians.

Upcoming this week is a Book Challenge Chat with Dr. April Dawkins. This event is full and has a waitlist, but will be recorded and posted on our Member Landing Page afterwards. 

We have opened a new store full of great items. Until November 27, all NCSLMA members receive 15% off your entire order. 

BOB coaches, compliance questions are now in your membership profile. Make sure your membership is paid or renewed on time to avoid any disruptions in your BOB status. 

Second Chance Conference Registration is now open. Members who pay for Conference have access to all conference videos through September 2022!

Have a great week and Happy Reading!

The NCSLMA Resources Repository is now live! This is a place where you can submit and find lesson plans from librarians all over the state. In addition to lesson plan forums for each level, there is also a Resource Forum where you can submit and find library-specific teaching resources.

Click here to visit the Repository or click on the links in your login landing page or click Inside NCSLMA and then Resources. 

This is a collaborative effort and is available only to NCSLMA members. If you're not a member, join today! If you are a member, consider sharing your awesome lesson plans so we can all become better librarians. 

Join us for the 2021 Summer Learning Series, hosted by members of the 2021 Leadership Academy. 

Register at bit.ly/2021SLSreg or look for the SLS link under Events on the home page. 

Early Bird conference registration is now open for #NCSLMA21! We are excited to come together to Reflect, Refocus, Reconnect, & Rejuvenate Oct. 7-9 in Winston-Salem. Visit the conference website for more info and to register https://bit.ly/NCSLMA21

Join us for a live chat with Kathy Parker on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 from 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM.  

This event will be via Google Meet.  Registrants will receive the link in their registration confirmation email.

Please contact Brene Duggins, breneduggins@ncslma.org,  with any questions. 

Register HERE. 

The 2021 NCSLMA Conference is only half a year away! We are excited for the opportunity to Reflect, Refocus, Reconnect, and Rejuvenate as we come back together at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem for our Oct. 7-9 conference.

The call to present is now open on the Events section of the NCSLMA website and we are accepting applications for 45-minute concurrent sessions and 90-minute mini-workshops. Mini-workshops might include hands-on, interactive, and/or tech-based sessions. The call to present closes on Friday, May 14.

The conference website is now live and will be updated regularly with additional information as it becomes available.

Our state is participating in the federally funded grant project called SLIDE: The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution? (https://libslide.org) The three-year project is examining national data on school librarian employment and how school leaders make the decisions to staff library, learning resources, and instructional technology services for their K-12 students. As a component of the study, a content analysis of school library-related job descriptions and job titles will be conducted to learn if and how roles are changing or morphing with other positions. Keith Curry Lance, RSL Research Group, and Deb Kachel, Antioch University Seattle, the project leaders, are asking for job descriptions or job announcements that are:

 Professional positions related to library, learning resources, and instructional technology for K- 12 students

 Recent or currently in use for school librarians or related positions that may include some or all of the work of a librarian

 Full-time or part-time; may be district or school-level positions

 Must include the name of the school district, city, and state on the job description or announcement

The project is accepting all related job descriptions with various titles. Some examples

of related job titles include:

 Coordinator of information literacy

 Digital literacy teacher

 Educational technology-information literacy specialist

 Information skills and technology teacher

 Learning coach/librarian

 Learning resources specialist

 Library-technology educator

 Teacher librarian-technology coach

 Instructional technology facilitator

Thank you for supporting this important research.

https://forms.gle/XyjtghxZHNRibcf4A

Vote today for the NCYA and NCMiddle Book Awards. 

bit.ly/ncyaba2021

bit.ly/ncmiddle2021