| AASL Announces Inaugural Toor Scholarship Recipients
Eight school librarians from across the country have been awarded an AASL Toor Scholarship for Strong Public-School Libraries. The Toor Family, in honor of their parents, Jay and Ruth Toor, established the scholarship to recognize public school librarians who have created and implemented a local public awareness/marketing campaign that promotes and positions their school library as a necessary resource in the community. The Toor Scholarship provides a $1,000 scholarship to cover travel to attend the biennial AASL National Conference. 2023 AASL STEM Special Event Grants Awarded
Eleven STEM Special Event Grants have been awarded by AASL. Supported by the Danaher Foundation, the STEM Special Event Grant Program supports a special event to increase student engagement by providing direct assistance funding to middle or high school libraries for special short-term projects or events that would engage students to promote STEM education and student interest in a career in the STEM field. Each recipient will receive a $3,000 grant to fund their project or event. Developing Inquisitive Learners, Critical Thinkers, and Resourceful Citizens
To help school librarians develop inspired self-learners with physical and digital library spaces conducive to equitable inquiry, AASL tasked a 2023 ALA Emerging Leaders team with creating a guide for school librarians based on the Inquire Shared Foundation in the National School Library Standards. This collection of activities and web resources, pushes school librarians, educators, and learners to consider the importance of the process of inquiry as well as the end-product for learning. Hawthorne Elementary School Wins ALA's 2023 Jaffarian Award for Growing Readers, Growing Leaders Program
ALA has awarded its 2023 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award to Hawthorne Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky for the Growing Readers, Growing Leaders program. Hawthorne's program is preparing students to be "Bi-literate, Bi-Cultural, and Bi-Lingual" as it transitions into a Spanish Immersion Magnet elementary school. The program helped to create a cultural awareness of Hispanic/Latinx community members and to foster the cultural competence and unity of all students by asking: What unites us? ALA Awards Teen Sci-Fi Great Stories Club Grants ALA has awarded implementation grants for "Imagining Tomorrow: Building Inclusive Futures" to 29 public, school, tribal and special libraries across the country. This brand-new series in ALA's Great Stories Club (GSC) features science fiction books that explore questions of equity, identity and alternate futures. The libraries will implement humanities-based book discussions to inspire teens to consider "big questions" about the world around them and their place in it. Applications Open for 2024 Class of ALA Emerging Leaders
ALA is now accepting applications for the 2024 class of Emerging Leaders (EL). The ALA EL program is a leadership development program which enables newer school librarians to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. The deadline to apply is Friday, September 9, 2023. Apply to Become a KQ Blogger
AASL seeks bloggers for its Knowledge Quest website. Responding individuals should demonstrate the ability to write a blog post of 600-900 words on a topic of interest to school library and education professionals on a monthly basis. The Knowledge Quest blogger position is a minimum one-year commitment, and applicants must be a current, personal member of AASL to be considered. Take Action for School Libraries Library champions Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Rep Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-7) just reintroduced critical legislation to support school libraries and students' freedom to read! The Right to Read Act will create protections for school librarians and students' right to read, as well as require every student to have access to a school library, staffed by a certified school librarian. Urge your members of Congress to co-sponsor this critical legislation! |