NC School Library Media Association Blog

North Carolina School Library Media Association Statement on House Bill 636

Fri, 30 May 2025 03:11:13 GMT

The North Carolina School Library Media Association (NCSLMA) submits this public statement to express deep concerns regarding House Bill 636, titled “Promoting Wholesome Content for Students.” Our organization represents over 2,000 school librarians and educators across North Carolina, and we are committed to upholding the constitutional rights of students, parents, and school library professionals in exercising local control over access to a developmentally appropriate and enriching range of materials in line with that school community's needs and interests.

As school library professionals, we are dedicated to thoughtful collection development in school libraries, and we believe that House Bill 636 introduces unnecessary and constitutionally troubling constraints that risk infringing upon students’ and parents’ First Amendment rights and our own professional integrity.

NCSLMA is especially concerned with the following aspects of House Bill 636:

H636 creates a system where school library materials can be rejected or removed based on vague and subjective criteria, such as being deemed “pervasively vulgar” or containing “descriptions or visual depictions of sexual activity.” Likewise, the bill editorializes language like “high value” and “appropriate” in ways that will be impossible to apply consistently and fairly. These terms are undefined in the context of educational and literary value. They may lead to the exclusion of constitutionally protected works, particularly those addressing the realities of adolescence, identity, or history. As the Supreme Court affirmed in Board of Education v. Pico (1982), school boards may not remove materials from libraries simply because they dislike the ideas contained within them.
By allowing any county resident, not just parents or school stakeholders, to challenge materials and requiring re-review with just ten written objections, the bill opens the door to ideologically and politically motivated censorship campaigns. It shifts the focus of school library curation from educational and pedagogical goals developed by trained professionals to compliance with community pressure of dubious origin, regardless of the academic or developmental merits of the material. Likewise, employing laws like the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is legally misplaced. CIPA governs internet filtering for computers and devices used in schools and libraries receiving federal e-rate funding. It has no bearing on the selection of books or other materials for library collections. Its inclusion in House Bill 636 serves no operational purpose and appears designed only to invoke federal law in a way that could intimidate educators and mislead the public.
The proposed statewide database of “rejected” library materials raises serious concerns about stigmatizing specific titles and authors, potentially creating a de facto blacklist that discourages open inquiry and exploration of diverse perspectives. This approach is not aligned with the educational mission of public schools and libraries, which already exercise local control over selecting which materials are most appropriate for their communities. House Bill 636 would also subject book fairs and donated books to impractical outside vetting and approval processes. These restrictions undermine school literacy efforts and create logistical and financial barriers that will limit students’ access to books and opportunities for independent reading.

House Bill 636 requires that materials “balance financial cost with need,” but provides no definitions or standards for how to apply this criterion. This lack of clarity introduces the risk of arbitrary decision-making and could be used to reject high-quality but controversial materials. Additionally, the broad administrative mandates of House Bill 636, such as establishing advisory committees, maintaining searchable rejection databases, and conducting public notification and comment periods, will create new fiscal burdens for school districts. These implications suggest that the bill should be referred to the Appropriations Committee for a fiscal note and further review.

While we share the goal of ensuring appropriate and high-quality materials in our schools, this bill moves beyond reasonable oversight into a framework that risks chilling free expression, undermining professional library standards, and inviting costly, unnecessary litigation against school districts. We urge members of the Senate Judiciary and Senate Education Committees to consider the unintended consequences of House Bill 636 carefully, and we request that H636 be left off the calendar this session. The North Carolina School Library Media Association and our partner organizations are eager to work collaboratively with lawmakers to advance policies that genuinely support student learning, parental engagement, and educator expertise.

The Loss of a Certified School Librarian Hurts Students and Schools

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 19:20:49 GMT

Across the state of North Carolina, some school systems have set a sad precedent, cutting certified school librarians and staffing school libraries with unqualified staff or removing access to those libraries altogether. This is damaging to students, of course, because decades of research has shown a “positive relationship between full-time, qualified school librarians and scores on standards-based language arts, reading, and writing tests, regardless of student demographics and school characteristics.”¹ This is in addition to the impact that a certified school librarian can have on student engagement, student discourse, and students’ social and emotional health.

Another consequence that must be considered is the impact on a school’s overall performance. North Carolina schools are evaluated annually using a variety of measures focused on leadership, staffing, curriculum, student achievement, and technology. One such measure is the second edition of the North Carolina Digital Learning Plan (NCDLP), adopted by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) in August 2022.² The original NCDLP was developed in 2015 in response to North Carolina Session Law 2016-94, designed to improve and expand the use of technology and digital learning in public schools. The central focus of the 2022 NCDLP is the Student Learning Experience. The plan identifies five categories that directly impact that learning experience:

Leadership and Vision
Human Capacity
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
Technology, Infrastructure, and Devices

According to the plan description, “Through the implementation of action steps written in alignment with this Digital Learning Plan, students will become knowledge constructors, innovative designers, computational thinkers, creative communicators, and global collaborators through student-centered learning.” Those sound like students ready to go out and change the world, right?

School Librarians have a starring role in category two: Human Capacity. Goal 2 in this category states that “There is consistent and equitable access to Instructional Technology Facilitators and School Library Media Coordinators to support the implementation of digital teaching and learning strategies.” On the school-level Digital Learning Progress Rubric provided by NCDPI, schools are evaluated as Developing, Proficient, Accomplished, or Distinguished, depending on pre-established growth metrics. This school-level rubric is similar in format to the annual evaluation rubric used for every individual educator in North Carolina.

So here’s the rub. Any school in North Carolina without a full-time School Library Media Coordinator is automatically placed in the Developing category. There is no option to be considered Proficient, Accomplished, or Distinguished. For an individual educator in North Carolina, placement in the Developing category in any area automatically triggers what is known as a “monitored growth plan.” It’s essentially probationary status. If they do not move beyond the Developing category by their next annual evaluation, they are placed on a “directed growth plan” developed by their administrator. They have an additional year to achieve Proficient or above in all areas according to growth metrics determined by that administrator, or they are dismissed.

What, then, does this mean for our North Carolina schools that will find themselves in the Developing category because they lack a full-time, certified School Library Media Coordinator? What does a directed growth plan, even a figurative one, look like at the school level? Short-sighted decisions result in unintended consequences, and these consequences are particularly harmful. The loss of a full-time, certified school librarian has far-reaching implications for our students, our schools, and our state. It’s time to draw the line.

¹ Lance, K.C. & Kachel, D.E. (2018). Why school librarians matter: What years of research tells us. Kappan. https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/

² https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/districts-schools-support/digital-teaching-and-learning/digital-learning-initiative

Conference Venue Announcement and Ramblings

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 23:25:14 GMT

Hello everyone!

I am excited to share that the Conference Committee has chosen a venue for next year’s NCSLMA conference. After securing quotes from several convention centers around NC, and taking into account the feedback from the future conference survey, we are thrilled to announce that the 2025 and 2026 NCSLMA Conferences will be at the Concord Convention Center at the Embassy Suites in Concord, NC. Mark your calendars for October 8-10, 2025, and October 21-23, 2026.

In full transparency and brutal honesty, I wanted to share what led to this decision and how the conference affects NCSLMA financially.

Conferences are expensive and they are getting more expensive each year.

NCSLMA loses money every year on our conference. We rarely bring in enough money in registration and vendor fees to cover our expenses. The exceptions to this are 2022 and the virtual years. Our last year at Benton, the conference cost $120,000 and we brought in $103,000 in registration (475 attendees) and vendor fees. Last year, at Koury, the conference cost $165,000 and we brought in $115,000 in registration (435 attendees) and vendor fees. We have to make up the difference from our membership fees and our non-expansive savings account.

The cost of conferences has gone up exponentially over the last several years. We’re not doing much different except paying for more food, as that is something that we heard overwhelmingly from our attendees that they wanted that AND because the cost of food has gone up a ton. Our food minimum was $50,000 in 2024 and will be $65,000 in 2025 and 2026. Food is so much more expensive than it was even two years ago. We will end up spending about $170 per person on food if we have 500 people attend. The minimum this conference will cost is about $150,000 because that’s the current cost of a conference with our size attendance. We will spend $110,000 on the space and food, about $20,000 on AV and vendor booths, $10,000 on speaker and author fees, and $10,000 on swag and miscellaneous conference expenses. Yes, we have to pay people to come talk to us and to sign their books for us. At a minimum, we pay their travel and hotel costs, but many authors also ask for a stipend, which we 100% understand as they are giving up their time to travel to us and to spend the day with us. This is another cost of having a conference like ours.

This is why we had to raise registration costs last year, but we will not raise them again this year or next. We are raising our vendor fees slightly to begin to bring us more on par with what other organizations our size charge for vendor space. We did that last year as well. This is also why we can’t afford to give free registration to presenters. While we absolutely wish we could, free registration for 100 people is not sustainable for a conference as small as ours.

We decided on Concord for a few reasons. Their cost was one of the lower quotes we had and we were able to secure a two year contract, keeping pricing the same for next year. They have the same “all-in-one” feel that Koury had, but even more intimate, giving it a camp-like vibe, which is perfect for Lori’s “We Are Family” theme. The hotel rooms on site are very close and the meeting space is inclusive and intimate, but not tight. The hotel rooms are high quality and great for sharing. Wink wink nudge nudge. Every room is a suite, so there are one or two beds, a bathroom, and the living room with a pull out couch. While the hotel rooms will be slightly more expensive ($194 per night) than at Koury ($172) last year, they also come with that amazing Embassy breakfast buffet (and made to order omelets!) as well as the manager’s reception coupons, which will help us keep our food budget close to the minimum, rather than going way over in order to provide breakfast for everyone. They have assured us that attendees will get the best posted rate, even if it’s cheaper than the block rate and we get credit for every room an attendee books. This was an issue we had with Koury. We committed to rooms at their $172 rate, but they were selling rooms $30-40 cheaper than that, so people were reserving outside our block and we didn’t get credit towards our commitment. We 1000% understand saving money on a hotel and do not begrudge anyone who did that. But that almost ended up biting us in the foot because we had to cover the difference between the rooms we committed to and the rooms that were booked in our block. We are grateful to Duke Energy taking all of those rooms at the last minute, saving us from a potential $10,000 expense.

The future conference survey results overwhelmingly showed that you preferred the conference to be in the middle of the state and I intentionally added Concord and Charlotte to that because we had already requested quotes from there. While things to do in the area were not high on the benefits of a conference, it will be nice to have options for dinner while you’re at the conference. There are numerous restaurants within a five minute drive of the convention center. Concord Mills Mall is right there, and IKEA is not far. There are also two restaurants, a spa, a coffee shop, and a pool at the hotel.

There are quite a few conference-specific benefits to Concord. This is the boring part. Feel free to skip. There is a built in registration table and office space attached to it, allowing for storage right there. So we won’t have to threaten to buy Heelys so we can get back and forth faster. There are three rooms that are slightly removed from the session spaces where we can finally have our getaway room, a makerspace room, and a collaboration room. I am particularly excited for that! We’ve wanted to do that for years, but haven’t been able to find the space. We will have the convention space to ourselves on Thursday and Friday. So we won’t have to worry about wandering into a room that isn’t an NCSLMA session. We did ask for wifi to be included in the cost of space. While wifi is provided for free for hotel attendees, we do understand that not everyone can stay there. We have pre-purchased wifi for a set number of devices and will have a code for a limited number of people who are not staying at the hotel. There is a parking fee at the Embassy, but our attendees will get 50% off of that for the next two years. The current fee is $8 per day.

That is everything I can think of without going into mind-numbing boredom. This is already a ridiculously long post. Kudos if you’re still with me! As always, feel free to send me an email with any questions or concerns you have. The conference committee is very excited about this venue and we hope to see as many of you there as possible.

In Librarianship Solidarity,
Kristy

Updates, Keynotes, and Petitions...OH MY!

Sun, 12 May 2024 21:24:31 GMT

If you’re reading this, first of all, thanks! It’s nice to know I’m not typing into the void. Secondly, this was supposed to be my April blog, but as we’re already into May, you’ll have to excuse the abundance of information this post will hold. The end of a school year is my least favorite time of the year with testing, book and technology inventory, and I thought having a book fair during this season was a good idea! What was I thinking?

Registration for Conference 2024 opens soon! Those whose conference proposals were accepted will be notified this week and I can tell you that we have some amazing sessions coming your way. Don’t forget that your registration includes breakfast and lunch both days as well as the 2nd annual party known as NCSLMAJama! Conference registration closes on September 13, 2024. Due to our location change and its lack of walkable food options, we will have to go up in price this year to accommodate the increased food budget (inflation - grrr), but we are doing away with Early Bird pricing. Everyone will pay the same rate, through September 13, when it will go up. After September 13, you will have to pay in person, on site. We heard you about having to get checks cut right around the closing of one budget year and opening of another. We don’t want you to stress about that. Just make sure your registration is paid by September 13, or we will have to cancel your registration and you will have to re-register at the higher rate and you must pay on site.

But we have found another way to reward you for registering early because there’s also some special swag coming your way this year…

You may remember that Amanda Jones is one of our keynote speakers. If you register for the conference before September 13, you’ll receive a copy of her new book That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America as part of your conference swag! We wanted to make sure that everyone had a book for her to sign after her closing keynote, so make plans to not only attend her keynote address that is sure to be stellar, but hang around a few minutes after to chat with her and have her sign your copy of That Librarian.

But we have another keynote speaker to announce and I’m fangirling as I type this…Darcie Little Badger!

She is a Lipan Apache writer with a PhD in oceanography. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, Elatsoe, was featured in Time Magazine as one of the best 100 fantasy books of all time. Elatsoe also won the Locus award for Best First Novel and is a Nebula, Ignyte, and Lodestar finalist. Her second fantasy novel, A Snake Falls to Earth, received a Nebula Award, an Ignyte Award, and a Newbery Honor and is on the National Book Awards longlist (not to mention it’s spot on the 2023-2024 high school Battle of the Books list! Her third book, Sheine Lende, is the prequel to Elatsoe and will be published in 2024. If you want a free copy of one of Darcie Little Badger’s books for her to sign at conference, make sure you register before August 1!

As we get excited about Amanda Jones, Darcie Little Badger, and seeing our school library friends at conference, we must also remember the other reason we all join our state’s professional organization…community. You may not be experiencing cuts, downsizing, or bans, but you know someone who is. We can be their Cardigan Crusaders (physical cardigans optional) and work to make sure to support our librarians next door. Take a moment to sign the petition to support librarians in Franklin County, and let us know if you’re experiencing cuts and would like help, or if you are ready and willing to stand up and speak up for our fellow School Librarians by filling out this Google Form.

I’m proud to be part of NCSLMA in all we do, from standing up for our profession across the state to curating an annual conference to feed our minds, bodies, and spirits. We are all better together. Jennifer Abel’s conference theme a few years ago reminded us all that we are not alone in the library, and though we may be strolling through Jurassic Park, just take a look around and you’ll see that your Jeep is packed with other school librarians supporting you. In the original Jurassic Park movie, Dr. Malcolm said, “Life finds a way.” Well, librarians find a way, too, as long as we stick together.

March-ing Toward Conference!

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 18:31:42 GMT

Conference may be seven months away, but we’ve already started our marathon jog of planning. On January 23, the conference committee spent all day at the Koury Convention Center. We toured every room we’ve reserved for conference, ate the soon-to-be-NC-school-librarian-famous cornbread from from Joseph’s, and finalized details for our events. Things are going to be different this year in our new location, but these changes are upgrades and I know you’re going to love them!

Koury Convention Center and the Sheraton make for a convenient conference attendance experience. Without dealing with weather, you can leave your hotel room and walk quickly to any session. All of our conference sessions are right on the same floor, with the exception of the ballroom, which we’re only using for our group sessions, breakfast, and lunch. Not only are they all on the same floor, they are all pretty much in a circle so if you think you’re lost, you can just keep walking! Our vendors will be set up on the same floor out in the beautiful foyer by all the session rooms! You are going to LOVE how convenient everything is this year! We also have a wide variety of sizes and styles of session rooms! There is a large tiered theater-style room, a large mini-ballroom, and more traditional sized session rooms. No matter what our presenters need, we have a space for them to give their best possible presentation. There’s also a Starbucks in the conference center if you need an afternoon pick me up, and lots of places to relax and chat with your fellow school librarians spread throughout the convention center.

However, Koury isn’t surrounded by walkable restaurants like in downtown Winston-Salem. In fact, unless you’re eating at the Four Seasons Mall or at Joseph’s (previously mentioned with the stellar cornbread), there isn’t really anywhere to eat without driving. To solve this dilemma, we’re feeding you! Included in the cost of your conference this year you’ll be served breakfast and lunch both days! Thursday evening we have all kinds of goodies available for you at our 2nd Annual NCLSMA Jama so if you skip dinner Thursday night we’ve got you covered!

Speaking of NCSLMA Jama, there is an actual CLUB in the Sheraton and it’s a time capsule you will not want to miss! Right outside of the club full of dancing and music, you’ll find another bar and lots of couches and cozy chairs for relaxing. We plan to have a Dungeons and Dragons game you can join, board games you can play, or just a space to talk to your library friends! Whether you are looking to dance or relax, NCSLMA Jama is the place to be!

To make the best use of the space and your time, conference is now officially beginning on Wednesday night! You can register as early as 5pm on Wednesday, October 2, so we hope you’ll head to Greensboro, check in to your room, register, and then get ready for our opening mini session! We’ll do our NCLSMA yearly business meeting and also do a “Conference 101” presentation. We’re all new to Koury, so let us make life easier by helping you know everything you need to know about the two days you’re about to enter into.

If you are getting excited about conference, you may want to consider submitting your proposal to present during the open call to present. You can submit your proposal through April 7th. We’ve even created this doc to help you create the perfect proposal. All proposals are scored blindly, which means the committee members working on this do not see who submits which proposal. Focus on crafting a solid title and description for your best chance at acceptance.

There are so many more things to talk about, but I need to save something exciting for my April blog! I knew from reading Kristy’s blog posts last year that planning a state-wide conference was an intense undertaking, but the complexities still take me by surprise sometimes. Through each question, concern, and stumbling block, the conference committee is right there beside me. I couldn’t do any of this without them and I’m thankful for all their hard work every day. You’ll be thankful, too, when you experience what a walk in the park (the non-Jurassic kind) the 2024 NCSLMA conference turns out to be!

Getting Ready for a Dino-mite Conference in 2024!

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 21:20:46 GMT

Well, friends, we made it to 2024! I don’t know how your 2023 went, but mine felt like I was trapped on the struggle bus as it rolled uncontrollably down a hill full of potholes, and if I’m being honest I still feel that way, but I’m so glad to be in a new year filled with new things! The one thing that always takes away that struggle bus feeling is being an active part of NCSLMA and I’m thrilled to be entering into my year as President-Elect.

If you don’t know me, HI! I’m Faith Huff and I’m a middle school librarian in Gaston County. I’ve been in education since 2005 and in the library since 2016. I loved being a teacher, but being a school librarian is my happy place. Kristy was right when she said “Magic Happens Here” as she named our conference last year and I’m always excited to make magic and see the magic you are all creating in your own libraries.

I want to take a moment to thank Kristy Sartain for her hard work as President Elect and planning the 2023 NCSLMA Conference. Along with the Conference Committee, Kristy did an amazing job and I am in awe of her and her team. I also want to thank her in advance for the millions of questions she’s already answered for me and all the ones still to come as we get ready for the 2024 NCSLMA Conference. Kristy and I met in 2020 as part of the NCSLMA Leadership Academy and it’s been a privilege to watch her grow as a librarian and as a leader. She’s the reason I finally felt brave enough to run for President-Elect because not only is she awesome, she created an NCSLMA Conference Committee! Knowing I have her support AND Heath Radford and his team behind me makes planning the next conference seem not only doable, but fun!

The 2024 NCSLMA Conference will be held Oct. 3-4 in Greensboro at Koury Convention Center. We’re excited to try something new this year (at least new to me!) and are creating some unique experiences for you that can only be had at Koury. Not only are we shifting locations, we’re also hosting conferences for two full days on Thursday and Friday instead of moving into Saturday. We know from conference feedback over the last few years that this is something you have been wanting and we’re excited to see how it goes. Your feedback on anything we do is so valuable and we use it, so make 2024 the year you tell us what you think after anything we offer. NCSLMA serves you, and we can only serve you well if we know what you need!

The transition to Koury has been a little rough so far. Due to some staffing changes at Koury, we’ve had some hiccups getting ahead like we were hoping. On January 23 we will be touring Koury Convention Center with our contacts as well as sitting down and finalizing all the details. We’ll be looking at all the rooms and deciding what locations will best serve us in the convention center, as well as talking about food and drinks and NCSLMA Jama and everything else that makes our conference one of my favorite things each year. NCSLMA Jama is leveling up this year…I cannot wait to tell you more! Hopefully in my next blog post if all goes well at our meeting!

There is one thing I know for sure about conference….we have one of our guest speakers confirmed. I’m excited to announce that Amanda Jones will be speaking at our conference as well as signing copies of her new book, That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America which will release August 27th of this year.

Amanda has been awarded the Louisiana School Librarian of the Year (2020), Library Journal Mover & Shaker (2021), School Library Journal Librarian of the Year (2021), and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! She is as tough as she is kind and I tell her often that I’m not sure I could do what she’s done. She tells me I could and that all librarians could. I hope no one reading this ever has to find out, but knowing someone like Amanda has paved the way and literally wrote the book on it makes me feel a little better. Check out her website for more information about her and her school library’s website has been more than inspirational to me as I’ve definitely taken some of her ideas and put them into place in my own library.

I’m looking forward to the year ahead and serving as your NCSLMA President-Elect. I intend to take this role, and my job, seriously, but never myself. Am I going to give 100% in this role? Yes. Am I going to have a blast doing it? Absolutely! Here’s to 2024!

Post Conference Wrap Up

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 16:56:55 GMT

Now that the 2023 Conference is officially in the books, I can pass the torch on to Faith Huff, Heath Radford, and the Conference Committees. While I struggled while helping to plan the conference (and please know, if I say “I” did something, I mean the team, unless it was a mistake, then that was me), I really did enjoy the actual event itself. It was so nice to have so many people tell us how much they were enjoying it. Yes, things could have been better. We know that. We are probably more keenly aware of things that could have gone better than anyone would ever know. But a lot of things went really well. And I mean really well.

We received some great feedback from the 80 of you who took the time to send it. Thank you so much for filling out that form! We went through it and used it to help us decide how to continue planning the 2024 conference.

Before we get into that, I wanted to share some data with you about this year’s conference. I am all about transparency, so here we go. We had 500 people register for conference. 475 actually checked in. The majority of the attendees (66%) were elementary or K-8 school librarians. Just 33% of us were secondary librarians. We had just under $70,000 in registration fees. Our vendors helped contribute about $30,000, so we brought in right at $100,000. We’re still waiting on final costs for Benton as they have to tally up all the food costs, but we’re expecting to pay around $75,000 for the space ($24k) and the food ($51k). We had to pay $17,000 to the companies who set up the technology and the vendor booths. Hotel costs and travel expenses for our special guests added up to about $8,000. Keynote and speaker fees totaled $5,000. Supplies and swag and other conference expenses were about $13,000. We expect for this conference to cost around $118,000. All my degrees are in words, so this total will probably be off a little. :-)

Some of the recommendations to change for future conferences are completely out of our control and I wanted to take a minute to address those. We can’t control the size of the session rooms. At Benton, they were all the same size. At Koury, they will be different sizes, so scheduling will be a bit of a nightmare. We will have rooms that can seat anywhere from 32-188 people. We also can’t control which vendors come but it seems many people think we do? We contacted not only vendors from previous conferences, but also vendors that we thought would be a good fit for everything we do in the library. We sent out emails asking our members to contact vendors they would like to see at conference. We are so appreciative of the vendors that do come. The ones who didn’t come, didn’t come. We can’t make vendors come to our conference. We are grateful to the ones who did come. Seriously grateful. We had to add vendors in the main ballroom because that was the only place to put them. We had to juggle the space we had available and the need for session rooms and the need for vendor income and and and. It was the best that we could do with what we had. We will have more vendor space at Koury, so that’s good.

We definitely plan to tweak and improve the Author Alley. The authors who attended really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere and time to talk to everyone who came in. We will work harder to communicate the schedule. The setup will be better as well. Another suggestion was to have more food and drinks available. The problem with that is that food at conferences is ridiculously expensive. Seriously, a can of soda costs us $4.00 at a Convention Center. The food and drinks we had this year cost around $51,000 with tax. Convention Centers charge sales tax, plus a 23% tax on top of that. Our food minimum at Koury will be $50,000, so with taxes, at a minimum, we will spend $65,000. That is over half the conference budget. We will have more food than this year and it will come at a cost. But with such a good chunk of people saying they wanted more food and drinks, it seems like that is definitely a need. Expect conference registration fees to go up a little to help with that. The good thing about Koury is that they have restaurants and cafes on site. However, nothing else is in walking distance. Well, the mall is right there. And parking is free. So that’s a benefit!

Now on to the good stuff! Everyone across the board LOVED Donna Washington. I am glad so many people stayed to listen to her. She is an absolute treasure and I am grateful she agreed to be at our conference. Amy Hermon’s keynote got the conference off to a great start. We all love her and so many people commented about how great it was that she mingled with everyone, it seemed. I still can’t believe she agreed to be our opening keynote! I hope you had the chance to listen to the podcast dedicated to our conference. It’s long, but so so so good. It’s great to hear all of your voices! A lot of people commented on the overall vibe of the conference, that it was fun and lighthearted and magical. And that is what I was going for. I’m glad it came through. I wanted us to have time to relax and learn and connect. And it sounds like that happened for most of you. Another positive was the “classroom” seating in the rooms. I hate going to a conference and having to balance my laptop in my lap. I have a Microsoft Surface Pro, so it’s not easy to do that. The tables were there for a purely selfish reason. The only drawback of that is that it did cut down a little on available seating in the rooms, but I think it might have been worth it? Another minor request was to have something available during lunch, but here’s the thing. WAY more people said they preferred not having something during lunch. It was close to a 4-1 ratio who preferred not having something planned during lunch. We know we can’t make everyone happy. That is impossible. So we go with the majority from the feedback we receive.

And finally, we heard so many positive comments about the quality of the sessions. This. This is why we come to conference and keep coming back. It’s because of the presenters. We are doing such great and awesome things in our libraries and having the venue to share what we are doing is the entire reason for having a conference. We hope to have more session slots open next year so we can have more people presenting. Fingers crossed! If you didn’t find a session that you wanted to see, you have seen a need at future conferences! Please submit a proposal when the call to present opens. If you didn’t see enough middle or high school sessions, encourage your fellow librarians to submit session proposals.

I want to thank, yet again, but never enough, the people who helped with planning this conference. Heath Radford, Emily Golightly, Colleen Graham, Mandy Keziah, Marcia Wingerd, Jennifer Abel, Jenny Umbarger, Pam Sands, Natalie Ezell, Jackie Bathony, Jen Cox, Laura Ullom, and Robert Yancey. You all are rock stars and I will never be able to tell you how much it means to me that you were there to help with whatever needed to be helped with. This team has set the bar for future conferences and I know we are in great hands.

Bookishly yours,
Kristy

I wasn't prepared

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:40:30 GMT

I already knew I wouldn't be good at planning a conference. When I get overwhelmed, I tend to shut down and go into survival mode. You can't plan a conference when you do that. If it weren't for the team of AMAZING people helping with this thing, it wouldn't have gone on. Heck, it still might not just because I have something to do with it.

But I was really not prepared for the sheer number of e-mails I would be receiving, especially as it got closer. The number of people who wait until the last second to respond when given a deadline, or who reply after the deadline. The number of people who don't respond at all, causing even more work on our end. We are currently at 415 people registered, an increase of like 45 in the last couple of days, which is awesome. However, I already ordered swag and now I don't think I ordered enough. There are a number of checks either in the mail or about to be mailed and while I have been giving as much grace as I absolutely can, there are deadlines for a reason. We have to pay real bills and real people to put on this conference. Attending the conference is always the highlight of my year and I'm hoping it is the same for others. But planning something this big for this many people when you have a full time job and a ton of personal things going on is not for everyone. Heck, it's probably not for MOST people. Today alone I received 34 e-mails to my NCSLMA e-mail address that needed to be answered. Thank goodness my district made it a remote learning day so I could actually answer them. Can you imagine a school librarian in the midst of giving out Chromebooks or starting the school year and having to answer 34 additional e-mails from the ones they receive from their school e-mail? That's why I can't get to everyone in less than 48 hours and why e-mails get buried so quickly.

I am looking forward to the conference so much because I love going and seeing everyone there. It's a great time for camaraderie and learning and for some of us who live far apart, the only time all year we get to see each other in person. Right now, though, I want to cry. And y'all - I have freaking amazing help. These conference chairs and committees are KILLING it. I cannot imagine planning this behemoth without help. Just today, I remember I have to order three things that are pretty important to the conference - badge tags, signage, and ID tags. They have been on my list for weeks to order. I remembered today. Have I done it? Nope. Will I do it this weekend? I hope so. Probably. Someone text me on Saturday and remind me. :-)

I did order the swag this week. It probably won't be enough. I received an e-mail from the company I ordered them from asking if I had a loading dock because one of the items will have to come on a pallet because of the quantity. Um, at my house? A loading dock? *sigh* No. So now they have to send a special truck. So everyone better love these freaking NCSLMA bags with the embroidered logo. I don't want to hear a single negative thing about them. The only thing I should hear is that they are absolutely perfect. hahahahahahahahahahaha

Apparently I'm going slightly manic. Honestly, I don't know if that's new and/or when it started. Definitely before today. I got a massage today and the lady (who prefers being called a Bodywork Therapist and I'm loving that) said she was very worried about the amount of stress in my shoulders and neck. Yup. You and me both. But come October 8, I can breathe again. Maybe even sleep all the way through the night.

I absolutely love NCSLMA. Seriously, one of the greatest things that ever happened to me professionally was being chosen for the Leadership Academy in 2019 for the 2020 inaugural cohort. The friends I made in that group and the opportunities that have come from it have been immeasurable. I will do anything for this organization. Just please don't ask me to plan a conference ever again. Please. Pretty please. With whipped cream on top.

T-11? weeks and things are moving

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 23:40:00 GMT

Howdy all! Remember me? It's been two months since my last post and I am very sorry about that I promised transparency and information and I haven't been doing that.

So let's catch up.

After my last post, I basically curled up in a ball and cried for a while. Then for a few weeks, I was afraid to even open my e-mail. Very little got done on my part until I pulled out of it. Thankfully, I have AMAZING committee chairs and a fantastic co-chair and they carried the weight. I seriously could not have gotten through all of that without them and the support of Jenny U. and Jennifer A. And also with the help of Brew Crew. I absolutely love the community that NCSLMA is and I hope I am able to participate in it for a very long time.

The last couple of weeks, we've been e-mailing people and arranging accommodations and making decisions. But this weekend? This weekend, the committee chairs went on a retreat to end all retreats! We rented a house for a few days and got so much done! We made lots of hard decisions that should never be on one person.

I cannot thank Emily Golightly, Colleen Graham, Mandy Keziah, Heath Radford, and Marcia Wingerd enough for their help and leadership this weekend.

We were able to accomplish so much to work towards the end of planning conference. I can't even list all the decisions we made and what we finished, but trust there was a long list. There is still a lot of work to do, but after this weekend, I feel so much better about where we are and where we're going. I did work on the Featured Speaker page, so if you want to see who has confirmed being at the conference so far, check that out at Featured Speakers. It will be updated as progress continues.

We're trying to get to Benton in the next few weeks to determine and finalize the seating and vendor layout. We're trying to get a mix of classroom and theater seating in the rooms. I am a big fan of having desks when I'm learning so I can spread out a little and not have to type on the laptop in my lap. I'm also a physical note taker, so I like having a notebook as well. Yes, I'm high maintenance. I know that. :-)

I've sent out a couple of e-mails about early bird ending. If your have not paid your registration by July 14 at 11:59pm, your registration will be canceled and you will have to reregister at the next rate. Presenters, your presenter discount code expires July 14 at 11:59pm, so make sure you register and pay ASAP.

We're up to 184 people registered as of this blog post. We have a cap of 550 due to space, so we still have plenty of spots. But I'm pretty sure they'll start to fill up soon. This is shaping up to be a fun conference where we'll get to learn and grow together! Also, we have a ton of door prizes. Make sure you're following our social media so you can see what you could win.

Registration Link
Conference Information Link

Facebook Page
Facebook Group (request to join and answer all membership questions - only for NCSLMA members)
Instagram
Twitter

I hope you all have a happy, healthy summer and I'll make sure to keep you up to date better than I have been doing.

But seriously, thank you to the Conference Committee. I know myself pretty well and I know for 100% sure that this conference would not look anything like it does right now if I were the only person planning it.

Thank you!

Kristy

Conference Update May 1 (MAYDAY MAYDAY)

Mon, 01 May 2023 23:06:05 GMT

T- I don’t even know and after today, does it even matter?

One thing I was not prepared for was the Call to Present. After accidentally deleting the entire thing and having to start over, I thought, “This couldn’t get worse.” I was wrong.

The e-mails of whose proposals were accepted and were not went out yesterday (Sunday). I was unprepared for the vitriol that would be directed towards me from people whose proposals were not accepted. I did explain in the e-mails that the proposals were evaluated and scored using a rubric by several people. We took the averages of those scores and arranged the proposals in order of that. We have fewer than 90 available session slots and had 160 proposals. I would have loved to accept everyone’s proposal. But it just couldn’t happen. The committee never saw any presenter’s name. The evaluations were done blind, with just the session title and description. I did that so the merit of the session would be how it was evaluated. Not by name recognition. Was that wrong? Obviously so. I have never received so many e-mails where people are mad at *me* and ready to drop NCSLMA and not have anything to do with us.

I understand being disappointed. I truly get it. I have applied for tons of awards, grants, sessions, etc. that I didn’t get. Did I think I deserved them? Abso-freaking-lutely. Did I lash out to the committees who made the decision? Abso-freaking-lutely not. Did I send a polite e-mail asking for feedback so I could do better next time? Yes. I did receive one of those and I am grateful for it. I will e-mail you back after I have had time to recover from the other e-mails I read today. I probably wouldn’t have been so upset about this whole thing if it had only been one or two e-mails. Y’all. So far, it’s been almost a dozen. That many people angry at *me* because their session wasn’t chosen.

The committee that read the proposals and helped score them gave so much of their time to go through 160 sessions. Should I have gone through every one of them and said, “Well, that person is this person so they deserve for me to cancel out what the committee believes.” Maybe I should have. But then I would have had to eliminate sessions who scored higher to make room for sessions who scored lower. That doesn’t sit right with me. I value EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. Who took the time to submit a proposal and those who helped score the proposals AND those who are planning this conference. This is not a thin-skinned person’s position. And I don’t usually have thin skin, but after what I received today, I’m reconsidering everything about being President-Elect and planning this whole conference.

But I committed to this and I’m going to see it through. Obviously with several people who now hate me, but the friends I have made while being involved with NCSLMA make it worth every tear I have cried today and every e-mail draft I didn’t send because I am not that person.

Anyway, there’s other conference stuff going on, but I’ll write more about that next week. I’m done with this week.

Still here,
Kristy

Conference 2023 - T-30 weeks

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 19:24:04 GMT

First, the reminders.

There is just under a month left to submit your proposal to present at Conference.

Vendor registration is open. If you have a vendor that you love to see each year, let them know you can’t wait to see them in October!

The Magic in Your Library promotion will be going through September. If you haven’t submitted some magic you’re making, please consider it.

And now, the updates.

In the two weeks since my last post, there have been even more meetings. I know. You’re surprised. I can tell.

The PR committee met to catch up on things. And y’all! They are WORKING! We already have our first door prize donation from a local Winston-Salem business. Camino Bakery (Downtown 4th Street location) has donated six coffee mugs and they are NICE! When you’re planning your time outside of the sessions, please consider adding them to your list of business to visit.

The Featured Speaker committee has been BUSY brainstorming and then contacting storytellers to fill our storyteller panel. Emily had some ideas on how to get even more storytellers, so we’re going to meet soon to discuss that. It was a brilliant idea and I’m mad I didn’t come up with it.

***The President Council met and decided we could keep the registration rates the same as years before. We also decided to lower the presenter registration rate to $50 (and that will include some special NCSLMA swag). When we looked over the survey results (if you haven’t filled it out, check it out here), most people said the cost of conference kept them from going. While we can’t lower it, we can keep the cost the same. We hope to be able to still provide a fantastic conference experience and some awesome swag. We want you to be able to sport NCSLMA logoed stuff everywhere you go and show your pride in our organization!

Speaking of swag, we’re currently running a sale of 20% off everything in the NCSLMA store.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week and I look forward to updating you again soon on what all is going on with the conference!

Kristy

Conference Blog - T-33 Weeks

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 02:00:00 GMT

T-33

I feel like every week I say things are happening, but that’s because things are happening every week! It’s exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

This past week, the Call to Present went out. We’re up to 10 submissions already. Keep them coming! The Magic in Your Library promotion went out as well. The PR team is really looking forward to hearing your stories so we can share what you are doing with the world.

Speaking of the PR team, we met briefly on Tuesday. Mandy created the Magic in Your Library form and the group fine-tuned some of the tasks they will be working on. They have such great ideas and will help make conference a special experience!

The Featured Speaker committee met Sunday and we got a LOT done. We met for almost an hour and a half. Remember, I really do love meetings AND I absolutely adore Pam and Emily so I was just excited to see and talk to them. :-) We discussed the changes from years past and the Featured Speaker and Storyteller Guild rosters. I’m very happy with their vision and plans and can’t wait to see what storytellers they are able to secure.

I have been listening to the School Librarians United podcast and one of the episodes was with the Conference Planner for another state’s school library organization. She said people kept asking her if she was stressed about planning a conference for so many people and she said she wasn’t, that she trusted the people she was working with. I am so lucky to have such amazing people helping out. I’m a bit of a control freak (don't laugh or roll your eyes - I know what I am) and I am absolutely going to stress about it, but I know all of these amazing librarians are fantastic and I’m not stressing because of them. I’m stressing because it’s who I am. LOL I have met so many amazing people and I am honored that they wanted to be part of the planning of this conference.

Speaking of amazing people, Heath is still working on getting the rooms straight at Embassy. He has probably spent hours at this point trying to get someone there to respond to his e-mails or phone calls. We try to stick with e-mails so there is a paper trail and because we all have full time jobs that do not include conference planning. Fingers crossed that this week we’ll have those rooms firmed up.

Outside the conference, things are happening with NCSLMA as well. Our book club, Page Turners, meets on Saturday to discuss Mad Honey by Jodi Piccoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. It’s not too late to sign up for the book club! Jennifer Long is our new Book Club Coordinator and she has taken to it like a duck to water. Or a librarian to a book club. Hahahahahahaha

We also have the Winter Tune Up starting Monday. Check out ncslma.org/winter2023 for our winter PD opportunity. Each day this week, the recordings will be linked so you can learn and earn! The PD certificate will be available on Friday so you can submit them to your district for CEUs. Shoutout to Lori Munroe and the Regional Directors for putting it together this year!

Be on the lookout this week-ish for the notification that our Awards, Scholarships, and Grants are available. Did you know that you can apply to be the Media Coordinator of the Year even if your district doesn’t choose one? Self nomination is absolutely encouraged! Share your magic with the Robin Rhodes and the Awards Committee!

Y’all know I like to talk and write a lot, but I thank you for reading this far. I hope these glimpses of the behind the scenes of planning a conference help paint the bigger picture of what all goes into it. We put on our conference really as a love letter to our members and I want you to know that we keep that in mind with every decision that is made.

I hope your week is full of love!
Kristy - kristysartain@ncslma.org
Heath - heathradford@ncslma.org

Conference 2023 - T-34 Weeks

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 01:59:10 GMT

T-34

Whew! This week was a WHIRLWIND!!!

The Benton space planning is pretty much done. Heath and I are so appreciative of them for taking time to make sure layouts and rooms look good and feel good. The vendor hall will be halls this year to make the best use of meeting space. The bulk of the vendors will be in the main hallway. But we’ll also have some in the dead-end hallway when you first walk in and in the main meeting space.

Of course, all of this changes if we end up with 600 people there. That would be a good problem that we would be thrilled to have happen.

Some fun things to share. We have our first keynote speaker mostly secured. I have to send the contract and get that signed and then we can officially announce who it is. Those who are in the NCSLMA Facebook Group already know. Shhhhhhhhh.

We are now working on scheduling storytellers. Instead of an author panel, we will be hosting a storyteller’s guild. We are working with a production company to have four Drag Queens run a session and tell us a story or two (and party with us at NCSLMA-Jama!!!). I am working to get a HUGE name in storytelling as another keynote speaker. I still have three slots to fill and I have reached out to a few people to pick some brains.

The Call to Present went out or goes out, depending on when I get this published, on Monday, February 6. I really cannot wait to see what awesome sessions you all come up with! And I really can’t wait to see the session titles. It’s a little embarrassing how much I’m looking forward to reading those.

The Vendor application went out. We have had exactly one vendor already fill it out. Shout out to Becky Henry with Bound To Stay Bound for being on top of it! They will have first dibs at their booth of choice.

I think I only met with Heath this week, but I texted and e-mailed Jennifer and Jenny so much, it felt like a real meeting, so we’re going with that. My week absolutely flew by and I really don’t know what happened.

Heath was able to get the hotel room blocks finalized. He called and e-mailed so many times I’m sure the good people at Embassy and Marriott were thrilled to finally be done with us. But it got done! Kudos to Heath!

The PR Team meets this Tuesday and after that meeting, we will send out the Share Your Magic promotion. I’m really excited about this. It was not my idea and I’m mad I didn’t come up with it because it’s so good. You’ll see on Wednesday what it’s all about!

The whole team will meet on Saturday, February 18, to get up to date on everything that’s going on and that will happen. I look forward to these check-in meetings. Who am I kidding? I love meeting period. I’m that fool who still looks forward to faculty meetings, if that tells you what level of nerd I am. I feel so isolated in the library and my NCSLMA family means so much to me. I am grateful that I am part of this organization, this family, and I hope you all can feel that through these blog posts and all the fun stuff we are planning. NCSLMA is the best PLN out there!

Upcoming dates to know:
February 13-17 - Winter Tune Up PD Series
February 15-ish - Awards, Scholarships, and Grants window opens
March 31 - Call to Present ends
April 14 - Notification of session acceptance
April 15 - Early Bird Registration Opens

I hope you have a fantastic week. We'll be working on the conference!
Kristy and Heath

Conference Blog - T-35 Weeks

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 01:41:52 GMT

T-35

We’re rolling!

Timelines are being set. Meetings are being scheduled. Seriously, we had so many meetings this week. And I feel SOOOOOO good about where we are right now.

Heath, Jennifer Abel, Jenny Umbarger, and I met with Koury to talk about their proposal to move the conference there for the next bit. They are putting something formal together and we’ll look at it when it arrives. Later that same day, Heath and I met with Benton and that was FANTASTIC! I wish we had done that sooner. We sent them our tentative conference schedule and they were able to make magic happen. So now we have space for everything we wanted and we can start scheduling Featured Speakers!! I am ridiculously relieved that that part is done. I am grateful to Ayshen and Shelly at Benton for their patience and their amazing ideas.

Heath, Colleen, Jenny and I met Saturday afternoon to finalize the vendor stuff. That will go out February 1 to everyone, so if you know someone who would like to be a vendor you can send them the information! Please send the information. We need to have all the vendors we can so we can afford to do the stuff I’m planning. Who knew I had so many expensive ideas? LOL Eek.

And Heath was on the phone all week long. He scheduled the calls with Benton and Koury. He has been working tirelessly to arrange rooms at Embassy. By next year, he will be a complete pro because he is learning trial by fire this year, for sure. His tenacity is a thing of legend at this point.

One of the things I’m hoping to add this year is a party. A real party with a DJ and drinks and food and dancing. We’re calling it NCSLMA-Jama and hope everyone will be able to attend. It’ll be in Benton Friday night at 7:30-ish so you don’t even have to go anywhere else! Bring your cardigans and boogie down! If you’re not laughing at that, you should be.

We’re still planning to send the call to present out February 6-ish. Jenny sent me some stuff that I neglected to look at this weekend, so hopefully I can get all that done Monday night. Selected presenters will receive discounted registration of $75 for the main presenter. We are also going to have some special edition presenter-specific swag as a thank you. We’re excited to see what great ideas you all have! And don’t forget the magic themed title (not required, but would be fun!).

I remain grateful every day for Heath for his patience with me as we bumble through this together. And there is no way I would feel any kind of confidence at all without the mentorship and support of Jennifer, Jenny, Bitsy, and Cindy. You all are amazing and I cannot say Thank You enough.

As always, if you have any thoughts or suggestions for conference, send them to me (kristysartain@ncslma.org) or Heath (heathradford@ncslma.org).

Have a great week and I’ll keep you updated!
Kristy

Conference 2023 - T-38 Weeks

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 17:14:00 GMT

Welcome back to hot mess central!

Not really, but when you're in the thick of it and have a worst case scenario immediately mindset, it feels like it. :-)

We don’t have a ton of new stuff to share this week. The biggest item is that we still don’t have enough space at Benton. We have been back and forth with them, but our last response was over a week ago and we haven’t heard back. We are in a literal standstill because we can’t book speakers until we know when ( or even if) we can accommodate them. We can’t plan events or open up vendor registration because we don’t know if we’ll have to move the timeline of the conference. Having enough space is KEY to having a successful or even adequate conference and we are at the mercy of Benton to make sure we have it.

While we’re waiting on Benton, we are working on some behind-the-scenes stuff.

The Vendor registration form should be completed this week so whenever we have the space issue settled, that can go out and vendors can start signing up.
The Call to Present form is being worked on (Thank you Jenny Umbarger!) so we can get that out in early February. If you haven’t started thinking about presenting at NCSLMA, start thinking today!
We are investigating which scheduling app to use at conference. We have used Sched for the past few years, but there are other options available now. If you know of any, let us know!
The conference webpages are slowly being built and should be public when the Vendor Information goes out, but definitely by the time the Call to Present goes out.
The PR Committee meets later this week and will go over specific duties and work on a plan for everything Magic and NCSLMA.

Several members of the Conference Committee met Sunday for a check in and catch up so everyone knows what’s going on. After I moaned and complained for 20 minutes about lack of space, we finished the rest of the meeting quickly.

And since I’m late getting this out, I can add the PR Committee stuff. We met Tuesday afternoon and I am so thrilled with what Mandy Keziah is doing with the team. They are building a multi-platform Conference playlist so you can get in Magic Mode while on your way to Conference. They are also working on getting us discounts and prizes from local businesses so we can pass those on to our attendees. And I’m REALLY excited about our “Magic In Your Library” project. We’ll be asking for you to submit ways you see and create magic in your library. We want to know the small magics and the big magics. This will be a social media bonanza and we’ll get to show the world what magic is happening in NC School Libraries. That form will be going out soon so you can start sharing your magic!

As always, if you have any thoughts or suggestions for conference, send them to me (kristysartain@ncslma.org) or Heath (heathradford@ncslma.org).

Have a great week and keep making that magic happen!
Kristy

Conference 2023 - T-41 Weeks (Long Post Warning!)

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 19:30:01 GMT

Where did the last three weeks go???

I'm sure we're all in the same boat and this month has been BUSY for all of us outside of conference planning. BUT we did get some things accomplished this past week. I met with the PR Committee and it was such a great meeting. Mandy Keziah has this group off to a great start. I was thrilled to see how she took our humble initial ideas and is running with them and making them even better. They will start really going in early January. Be on the lookout for information from them on their side of conference planning.

Heath and I met with Colleen Graham to go over Vendor stuff. We’re going to have a larger vendor space and while that is awesome for our attendees (and bottom line), it does make for more work, so we needed to get on the same page and get ready for the craziness that will be January. During this meeting, we promoted Colleen to Assistant Co-Director of Conference, which isn’t exactly a title yet, we made it up, but it seemed appropriate since she’ll need to know everything going on conference-wise to be the vendor liaison. :-) We had a really fantastic brainstorm session and decided to change some things up so we can keep our Conference fresh.

Change #1:The cost of food at Benton is ASTRONOMICAL. Like, seriously, ridiculously high, and went even higher for this past conference, with no sign of coming back down. Our food minimum is $12,000 and meals start at $36 per person. Snacks start at $10 per person per 30 minutes. Check out the menu here to see what we’re working with: https://twincityquarter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022-Twin-City-Quarter-Event-Menu-11-2022.pdf
We discussed and discussed and discussed (we met for almost 2.5 hours!) and decided we had two options: 1) Increase the cost of registration by $20 across the board to be able to cover the big meal for everyone. 2) Ask that people who want the big meal to add $20 to their registration to cover half the cost. It’ll be an Italian buffet, $40-$50 per person. We chose Option 2 because when we go to conferences, sometimes it’s fun to find your own food and do we really go to a conference for the convention center food? There will not be a keynote during this lunch time. It would be a time for relaxation and camaraderie. There will also be no extra tickets, so if you don’t buy the ticket up front, you will need to eat in one of the fantastic restaurants around Benton. But fear not! Our PR Committee will be putting together a list of restaurants that support NCSLMA.
Change #2: We are making sure there are times for breaks, snacks, and drinks throughout the day. By having part of the big meal covered, it helps us spread the love around.
Change #3: Instead of having an author panel, we will have a storyteller’s panel to match this year’s theme. We are working on getting professional storytellers from all different points of view to share with us how they make magic happen via storytelling. Storytelling is such a huge part of our jobs and I am really excited at the prospect of having professional storytellers there.
Change #4: (tentative) The Vendor Reception may be going away. I have reached out to some vendors to see what their thoughts are on it. It is not well attended and the food for it would cost around $6,000. It may be time for something new.
Change #5: We heard from a lot of you that the workshops weren’t well-attended. So in 2023, we will only have a couple of workshops, but they will be given by our storytellers and/or keynotes on Saturday. We know Saturday is usually sparsely attended, but with our main keynote (fingers crossed) being Saturday morning and these professional workshops afterwards, we are hoping you will stay and get the full conference experience.

Then I met with Bitsy and Cindy to talk about some ideas they had that jived exactly with the changes we had in mind and we talked through all of those and potential issues that might come up. It helps so much to have the guidance and support of people who have done it before. I looped Heath in on that and he has sent off a request to Benton and Embassy to see if we can make some of these happen. Due to meeting space constraints at Benton, there may have to be more and bigger changes, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, hopefully sooner rather than later. I'm a planner and not having things lined up in plenty of time stresses me out. Heath is having a heck of a time getting people at Benton and Embassy to return e-mails. The struggles we're having make Koury Convention Center and its one-stop-shop look really good right now.

I say it every time and I still can’t say it enough. I am so grateful for the people who are helping with Conference. I don’t know how anyone can do all this with just a couple of people. We literally have a minimum of eighteen people helping with all of this. It is definitely taking a village and I hope we are laying the groundwork for an easier conference-planning experience for everyone in the future.

If you have questions, ideas, comments, etc., feel free to e-mail me at kristysartain@ncslma.org or Heath at heathradford@ncslma.org.

Conference 2023 - T-44 Weeks

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 19:48:22 GMT

After taking a break for Thanksgiving, we are back in full force with conference planning! Heath and I met with our new Conference Committee Chairs this past weekend. Thank you so much for stepping up! Mandy Keziah is our new PR Chair. Colleen Graham is our new Vendors Chair. Marcia Wingerd is our new Technology Chair. And Emily Golightly is our new Keynote Chair. During our meeting, we went over some basics about what their jobs will be, the expectations of the positions and communications, and then we answered questions. We hope this is the beginning of a fruitful, productive year of planning and fellowship.

The weekend prior, I met with Cindy (Heath was having technical difficulties) about the Benton space and how to plan the vendor room and session space and eating space. We’re thinking about moving the vendor hall downstairs so we can have more vendors in attendance. We did have to turn vendors away for this past conference because of the limited space for them. In the downstairs Piedmont Ballroom 3, we can have up to 44 vendors. That will also free up some space to have sessions. We would then be able to use the upstairs Winston 1 as three meeting spaces, giving us 10 rooms for sessions. ***But then I just looked at our contract again and we don’t have the downstairs Piedmont rooms at all on it. So we’re back to the drawing board…and e-mailing Benton to see what we can do. The fun never ends.

Seriously, it is not easy planning a conference. You have no idea how grateful I am for Heath, Cindy, Bitsy, and the entire conference planning team. My last e-mail had as the subject “I might be freaking out a little”. Which as everyone knows is going to be just great news. Stay tuned each week for more conference news!

Conference 2023 - T-46 Weeks

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 13:59:22 GMT

This week we had a meeting of people who are interested in helping out with conference planning. We're "hiring" volunteers for three committees - PR, Vendors, and Technology. Twenty-six people showed up for the meeting and many of them have already applied to be on a committee. We're excited to see that so many people are willing to help. You are all appreciated!!

I have started playing with conference budget numbers because apparently I don't have enough stress in my life. Food is the #1 expense for a conference and we will only have a vague idea of how much it is until we submit final menus and attendance numbers 4-6 weeks before the conference. However, the rental costs of the space and the technology are a really close second. The convention center will cost us $23,000 and then $17,000 more for the technology and vendor hall setup. Our required food minimum is $12,000, but that would *just* cover two days of breakfasts (one continental and one small buffet) that will feed 300 people each. Our hope/goal/plan is to feed 300 people breakfast for Friday and Saturday as well as hors d'oeuvres on Thursday evening, and 500 people for dinner Friday night. As of right now with this plan, the food will cost around $55,000, around $110 per person. And that is IFF (if and only if) food costs don't go up again. So we’re looking at $95,000 before keynotes, authors, and registration gifts.

So how do we pay for it? We have had anywhere from 400-550 people attend conference. Around 70% of attendees take advantage of the early bird rates and 17% get presenter rates. There is never enough from registration costs alone to cover the conference and that is one of the reasons we absolutely love our vendor support. And we haven’t even talked about keynote or author fees. Or other miscellaneous conference expenses that come up. Or registration gifts. Or ….

This is our yearly dilemma. How do we provide the very best conference experience we can on a moving target of a budget? As we go through the year, we’ll talk more about this and how hard we’re working to be good stewards of your and NCSLMA’s money because we REALLY want to offer a great conference experience and who doesn't love being fed and gifted and able to listen to amazing keynote speakers and authors?

Have a great week!
Kristy

Conference 2023 - T-47 Weeks

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 16:44:18 GMT

This week was somewhat quiet on the conference front. I have been searching for swag for our members. If you get a chance, fill out this form so we can see what you would like to have as a registration gift. We don't want to get things you won't use. I did receive a sample of the planner I really want to get and I am really happy with it. https://forms.gle/PfFD7YXtPQ6jDw4w6

We sent an e-mail out to all our members recruiting for conference committee members. That meeting is Tuesday (11/8) at 7:30pm. If you are interested in attending, it's not too late! Check out the event at Conference Help Meeting. You can sign up to attend the meeting or fill out the included form to receive more information after the meeting.

Heath has been working to get quotes for Conference 2024 and beyond. He's also working with Marriott and Embassy to fine-tune the room requirement. We have to have so many rooms reserved for the conference dates so everyone receives a discounted rate. As expensive as they are, they're even more expensive without that discount. And there's a lot to be said for the convenience of being able to walk to Benton and not have to worry about parking every day.

Heath and I are meeting tonight to go over the agenda for the meeting tomorrow. I would say that shouldn't take too long, but when we get together, we talk. A lot. A whole lot. :-)

In the next few weeks, we will be firming up committees and chairs and inviting keynote speakers, authors, etc. to attend and sign contracts. We will also be working on vendor contracts to get as much lined up as early in advance as we can. Things will really start rockin' and rollin' so stay tuned for more updates on what is going on behind the scenes!

Conference 2023 - T-48 Weeks

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 13:17:18 GMT

We got a lot done this week!

Heath and I met on Tuesday, Oct. 25 for a couple of hours to get ourselves in the game and on the right path. It was a great meeting and definitely needed. We worked on the overall conference schedule by day and discussed some options, benefits, and drawbacks of doing things this way or that way. We heard from several people during this conference and wanted to make sure to include the feedback in a meaningful way that made sense, so hopefully it will end up being beneficial.

Then Bitsy Griffin, Cindy Studivant, Heath, and I met for a couple of hours on Sunday, Oct. 30, and it was AMAZING! We got so much done. We discussed the thoughts Heath and I had on the scheduling and made some changes based on the experience of Bitsy and Cindy. We talked about weaving the theme of storytelling throughout the conference and we were all really excited about incorporating as many diverse stories and voices as possible. I have already reached out to a couple of people/groups and am hopeful these will result in a Yes! I took four pages of notes from that meeting. Afterwards, Heath and I set up a to do list and divvied up the tasks. We're planning a couple of meetings in the upcoming weeks to firm up some more things and to ask for help, so be ready to answer the call! :-)

I did purchase the popular rhinestone lanyards that Jennifer Abel bought for this past conference. I ordered 700 of them for a total cost of $162, which is ridiculously low thanks to a bulk overstock website. Lanyards are usually $1 each, so yay!!

We're already looking at the food setup and what we're going to have available for everyone and when. Because food is a HUGE chunk of the conference budget, we're trying to be good stewards of NCSLMA money, while also providing a good experience for our attendees. It is definitely a balancing act.

One thing we are going back and forth on - Swag. What would you like to receive for your registration? The bags seemed to be popular this past year. If you don't mind, fill out this form and let us know what you would like.

We are happy to receive feedback and suggestions. E-mail us at kristysartain@ncslma.org or heathradford@ncslma.org if you have thoughts or suggestions.

Until next week!
Kristy

Conference 2023 - T-49 weeks

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 13:25:34 GMT

This week's post will be short and bittersweet.

When I get overwhelmed, sometimes I shut completely down and retreat into a little mental cave where I think if I ignore it, something will get done or it will just go away. That's what this week was for me. Unfortunately, there is not a Conference Fairy that will POOF with their magic wand and everything is planned and perfect.

But moving in a positive direction, I'm meeting with Heath this week and we're getting back on track to plan what will hopefully be a fantastic conference experience.

Oh, I did find more of those rhinestone lanyards, so they'll probably get ordered soon. ;)

If you have any ideas on what you would like to have at conference, feel free to share them here.

Conference 2023 Post - T-50 Weeks

Sun, 16 Oct 2022 23:08:46 GMT

First of all, how have I not posted anything since APRIL??? I'm so sorry about that!

Second, Jennifer Abel, current President-Elect of NCSLMA, planned Conference 2022 and I am not looking forward to following the awesomeness that it was. She did a great job and I'm thrilled she'll be helping with the planning of this one.

Third, NCSLMA's Conference could not happen without a slew of people to work on it. You'll see a lot of different names over the next year, some familiar, some not, but everyone who helps is appreciated so much more than I can say.

T-50 Weeks

Just under one year to go for Conference 2023.

The theme next year is Magic Happens Here: The magic of books, libraries, and librarians. There is a fun thread in the NCSLMA School Librarians Facebook group about using session titles that are magic-themed. Feel free to join in! We’re keeping this theme in mind when planning every aspect of conference, from swag to speakers to advertising and social media.

Speaking of keynote speakers, we’re also brainstorming who to invite. Keynote speakers are not free. We pay them a stipend to speak, but we also pay for their travel expenses and hotel accommodations while at the conference. Same for our authors. We love and appreciate everyone that shares their talents at conference.

Since Conference 2022 ended two weeks ago, we have contacted a couple of convention centers to inquire about potentially moving the conference there starting in 2024. Our contract at Benton is up with the 2023 Conference and we are trying to find a location that will be a good fit.

For the 2023 conference, we are brainstorming what swag we will buy for our members for when they check in. We are considering a planner that has a notebook and address book integrated into it. While it would be a fun little thing, it would also allow you to take down contact information, social media information, and slide deck links in one spot. We’re also looking for more rhinestone lanyards because they were SUPER popular and we ran out. :-) The bags were also popular, so we’ll try to get those as well. If you have other ideas, feel free to let Kristy or Heath know. kristysartain@ncslma.org or heathradford@ncslma.org

Because we have a Conference Director for the first time, we are working to figure out exactly what the duties of President-Elect will be going forward and what the Conference Director duties will be. That will probably be an ever-changing document, but having guidelines will make things much easier in the future. I am fortunate to have Heath Radford as the Conference Director so we can build the position together. He is full of ideas and although I’ve already had to tell him No a few times, he doesn’t seem to hate me yet. ;) He is invaluable as a sounding board and idea man and I know he will help make our next few conferences amazing. We will be putting out blog posts about once a week to let you know what goes on behind the scenes of planning a statewide conference for 400+ people. We hope this gives you a better idea of how much work it is and the struggles we encounter as we plan. It is not an overnight process. We’re already starting working on the 2024 conference and it’s only 2022!

Have an idea for conference? Add it on this Google Form.

Awards and Scholarships and Grants! Oh my!

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 19:10:17 GMT

It's that time of year for applying for stuff and NCSLMA is no exception. Applications are now open for our Awards, Scholarships, and Grants. We have several opportunities for our members to earn money and accolades.

Check out the Awards webpage on the NCLMSA website for more information and the applications. The deadline for all of these is May 31, 2022.

Awards

Media Coordinator of the Year - Presented to a media coordinator in recognition of outstanding performance in the school library media center. Nominees must be a member of NCSLMA
Frances Bryant Bradburn Distinguished Service - Presented to an individual or organization for noteworthy contributions to NCSLMA and/or school library media programs throughout the state.
Administrator of the Year - Presented to an administrator (see website for eligibility) who has made an outstanding contribution to advancing the role of the school library media program in the state.

Grants

Better Together - available to K-12 NCSLMA media coordinators, in partnership with classroom teachers, for innovative projects that foster the integration of media/information skills in the K-12 curriculum.
Conference First Time Attendee - available for first time in-person conference attendees. Two awards of $500 each will be given to help with travel, hotel, and/or registration fees.

Scholarships

NCSLMA presents two $1,000 scholarships toward MLS completion to increase the number and quality of school library media personnel in NC. Applicants must be a member of NCSLMA and in good academic standing with an accredited school of Library Science within the UNC system. The graduate course must have been completed during the previous twelve months with a grade of B or better.

NCSLMA is BUSY this season!

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 16:13:04 GMT

NCSLMA is BUSY this season!

Our Winter Tune-Up is wrapping up today and we had 200 members sign up. Thank you to our presenters and to Robin Rhodes for all her behind-the-scenes work to get everything organized and working. It is not too late (but it won't be up long) to sign up to have access to the sessions and videos. Click on Events and register for it today.

Our Brew Crew this month was HOPPING! We had our biggest turnout yet and some of us might have been on for three hours. *looks around innocently and spots Katie and Faith also looking around* If you haven’t joined one yet, please consider it. We’re adding a monthly nighttime Brew Crew on Fourth Fridays, so those who are not morning people can participate, too. After Jeopardy, of course. ;)

The Battle of the Books lists were published and are AWESOME! The committees worked super hard to get them narrowed down and we are grateful to everyone involved in that process. If you would like to volunteer for your region’s Battle of the Books committee, check HERE to see each level’s coordinator and let them know you are interested. The goal is to have at least three members per region per level. Volunteering is a great way to get involved with NCSLMA and help lighten the load for those who are carrying a heavy one.

We want to share what you are doing in your library, community, etc. Consider writing an article or blurb for our newsletter and/or blog. Requests for news go out around the 20th of each month. To submit a blog article, e-mail it to kristysartain@ncslma.org

Check out the Resources Forum on the NCSLMA website. We are slowly (very, very slowly) building a lesson plan repository, but we need your help! Librarians are known for sharing great ideas. Please consider putting your awesome lesson plans to paper, well Google Doc, and share with others. There is a forum for each level, but feel free to post in multiple levels if they pertain. There is also a forum for resources in general, such as Google Applied Digital Skills. It will take a community effort to make it a fantastic resource and we would love your participation.

Conference call to present will be happening soon. Start thinking about sharing your awesome ideas with all of NCSLMA. As a thank you for sharing, presenters receive reduced conference registration fees. Be on the lookout for an e-mail with more information on February 28.

We are here to support and promote school librarianship across North Carolina. If you have a need, reach out and let us know. We're all in this together. Bonus points in the game of life if you sang that last line. :-)

ALA Youth Media Awards Released Today

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 17:43:48 GMT

Today the ALA released their Youth Media Awards and Honor Books. I am particularly excited about several of these titles because I had the opportunity to listen to them via the libro.fm Educator audiobook program. If you are not part of that program, please check it out.

Here is the Youth Media Awards page. And here is the press release page announcing all the winners and honor titles.

Which if these have you read and enjoyed? Which ones are you most excited about sharing with your students?

Yearly Reading Goals

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 14:24:02 GMT

I do a Goodreads challenge every year by randomly selecting a number of books that I think I can read during the year. I never hit it, but I still read 70-120 books each year. We're librarians. We read, right?

In 2020, I really thought I would read 100 books. Like, I was CONFIDENT I would read them. And when the pandemic hit, I KNEW I would be able to read that many books. How many did I end up reading? 45.

I had pandemic depression. And that made me not take any pleasure in reading. I was stressed about working from home with three other people in the house, all also working or learning from home. I was stressed about the hundreds of e-mails I received from students and teachers about technology not working. I was stressed by the bombardment of e-mails about tech resources and online teaching resources. (This was when I decided to only send one e-mail a week.) I was stressed about cancelling vacations and not seeing my parents. I was stressed about everything. I was even stressed about not being able to read or enjoy reading. It. Was. Bad.

I knocked my goal down to 40 in November of 2020 because I was pretty sure I could at least get to that number. I did and I passed it, barely. This year, I set my goal to a doable 90. Not going to hit that, either. In one of my Facebook book groups, someone mentioned how stressful it was to set a reading goal and gradually see yourself fall behind. Many of us replied with Just Change It!. I do. I don't feel bad about that. My current goal is 80, which I changed a few weeks ago. I am at 75 right now, but I am reading three books (okay, one is an audiobook) and I have a couple in queue that I should be able to finish.

I don't do reading challenges where you have to read one book of this genre or a book by an author with your initials. Those don't really appeal to me. Mostly because I am a firm believer in reading whatever the heck you want. Make no apologies for the books that bring you pleasure. We encourage our students to read what they enjoy. Make sure to extend yourself the same permission.

I am an island

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 20:05:15 GMT

Many of us, well, I venture to say most of us, are the only librarian in our school. Many districts even did away with library paraprofessionals. I always joke that my job is "other". I am a teacher, yes. But I'm also the manager of the library space and calendar, the buyer of books, the destroyer of souls. Wait. Too far. I've been reading too many fantasy books. ;-)

It's so important that we find people to connect with. It's not only for the need to commiserate with others who understand, but also to have work friends outside of work. Being active in your region is a great start to connecting. In Region 4, we started an unofficial group on Facebook and now there are several of us who meet every month on a Saturday for coffee and now we're adding a monthly dinner. This "Coffee and Camaraderie" as we've dubbed it has grown into real friendships. We have each other's phone numbers. We share resources. We are our Librarian Gang.

I don't know about y'all, but I have found it harder to make and keep friends as an adult. What better way to solidify friendships than to find others who share in the joys and frustrations of the same career? Each region in NC has an elected director. Reach out to that person and see what opportunities there are to meet and hang out with other librarians in your area. And if you prefer virtual, there's always the NCSLMA Brew Crew. We meet the second Saturday of each month. Watch for the e-mail to sign up for our next one. You can also join the NCSLMA School Librarian Facebook Group. *make sure you answer all the membership questions* It's a private group just for NCSLMA members.

It is lonely sometimes. We're all in the same boat and we're all islands. I'm sure there's an extended metaphor there about water and keeping our heads above it.... Who better to understand that loneliness than fellow librarians? We're here for each other and together, we are stronger and better.

Book Challenges - ALA and NCSLMA resources

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 15:54:40 GMT

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.

Thank you

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 01:34:48 GMT

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.

Updates and Info Nov. 14, 2021

Sun, 14 Nov 2021 13:02:58 GMT

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!

Resources Repository Now Live!

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 13:17:05 GMT

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.

Summer Learning Series Registration Now Open

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 14:05:13 GMT

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

Early Bird Registration is Open!

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 02:34:37 GMT

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

Chat with Kathy Parker

Sat, 22 May 2021 12:51:14 GMT

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.

Call to Present

Sat, 03 Apr 2021 14:15:10 GMT

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.

Call for Job Descriptions

Sat, 03 Apr 2021 13:52:25 GMT

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

NCYA Book Award Voting is now open. Vote today!

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 13:53:43 GMT

Vote today for the NCYA and NCMiddle Book Awards.

bit.ly/ncyaba2021

bit.ly/ncmiddle2021

Elections are closed. Congratulations to our newly elected Board Members!

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 12:18:17 GMT

Congratulations to our new

President-Elect - Jen Abel

Piedmont West Director - Amy Ralph

Coastal Director - Sara Levin

Vote now in the 2021 NCSLMA Elections. Click HERE and read the bios of the candidates, then click the Election Link at the top of the page to submit your vote. Voting is open only to registered NCSLMA members.

Expert Ideas for Creative Reading Spaces for Kids

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 13:49:24 GMT

Redfin Blog

LIB Slide

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 14:41:34 GMT

Keith Curry Lance and Debra E Kachel are proud to announce the launch of the https://libslide.org website. The State Intermediary Survey reports are finished as well and posted on the STATE SURVEYS webpage. Keith and Debra want to thank all of you who participated and provided data for these reports. It is our hope that you find the information useful to promote school library programs in your states and would love to hear how you plan to use the information.

Additionally, please follow our Twitter so you can learn of our latest updates, publications, and conference presentations. @lib_slide

Watch the recorded ALA Midwinter Conference session from January 23, 2021, as Keith and Deb present the background of the SLIDE project, its methodology, and some preliminary findings. https://libslide.org/presentations

PUBLICATIONS NOW AVAILABLE

Contexts of School Librarian Employment (2021, January 26). https://libslide.org/pubs/contexts.pdf

This report summarizes responses to nine questions asked of school library leaders in all 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) to determine state support of school library programs. Questions address standards and guidelines, certification and staffing requirements, and direct funding and provision of statewide e-resources.

Appendix to Contexts of School Librarian Employment (2021, January 26). https://libslide.org/pubs/contextsappendix.pdf

This document is the Survey Monkey report of individual state responses to the State Intermediary Survey. These are the data on which the Contexts report is based. The responses appear in the order received; but, a table of contents page lists states alphabetically and indicates the pages on which their responses appear.

Requirements for School Librarian Employment: A State-by-State Summary (2021, January 27). https://libslide.org/pubs/requirements.pdf

This report summarizes legal requirements for school librarian staffing in the 50 states and D.C.

Winter Tune-Up Virtual Mini Conference

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 16:23:44 GMT

NCSLMA's first Winter Tune-Up mini-conference is coming! Join us to recharge your battery and add new tools to your educator toolbox. We're excited to offer pre-recorded virtual sessions with expert presenters for NCSLMA members beginning at 8:00 am daily, the week of February 22-26. Sessions will last a maximum of one hour, with presenters taking questions via social media platforms- check out details on the Winter Tune-Up Infographic. Each NCSLMA Regional Director will lead a live session after the Tune-Up Week to provide members an opportunity to meet and greet friends and share ideas, concerns, and suggestions. Directors will share links to their sessions with members in their regions. Certificates of Attendance for the Winter Tune-Up and regional sessions will be provided for attendees to submit to their LEAs for renewal credit. Depending on your participation, there are 6 contact hours available. Remember to REGISTER. It's FREE! Session topics were chosen based on the highest number of votes by NCSLMA members from a poll conducted last fall. Questions? Email robinrhodes@ncslma.org.

Congratulations 2021 Leadership Academy Cohort!

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:13:51 GMT

Congratulations to the following NCSLMA members who have been chosen to participate in the 2021 Leadership Academy! The 2020 Leadership Academy is excited to guide you through this experience and we can't wait to get started!

AASL Letter to President-Elect Biden

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 16:03:30 GMT

NCSLMA joined AASL and shared a letter to the Biden transition team stressing how school librarians are an equity-oriented solution to some of the most pressing concerns facing educators at this moment. The letter was co-signed by ALA, the AASL Chapters Coordinating Team, and AASL Chapters. This strong support voiced for the necessity of qualified school librarians is a direct result of your affiliation and membership with AASL.

BOB Compliance Forms Deadline Extended

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 18:29:19 GMT

Great news! NCSLMA has extended the due date for BOB Compliance Forms! The new deadline is November 30, 2020. Remember in order to submit your BOB Compliance Form, your NCSLMA membership must be up-to-date.

Leadership Academy Accepting Application through October 31.

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 18:26:10 GMT

NCSLMA Leadership Academy is currently taking applications for our 2021 cohort and we’d love to have you join us!

What is the Leadership Academy?

It’s a group of Library/Media up-and-comers with an interest in leading, whether in their schools, districts, or even in NCSLMA. We meet online once a month to discuss different topics, share ideas and opinions, and learn from each other. You will also be encouraged to get to know one another and build relationships as a PLC that you turn to when you have questions or need ideas.

Guests such as Board Members or authors are sometimes invited in to meet the group, join our discussions, and share their expertise.

How much of my time will it take?

The Leadership Academy does require a 2-year commitment. The first year is spent participating in the group discussions and in the second year you help facilitate these chats. Because you are striving to improve your leadership skills, you are also encouraged to participate in NCSLMA activities, like presenting at the Summer Learning Series or the Annual Conference.

It may sound like a lot, but it really boils down to little more than a few hours or so a month, and the time invested is generously rewarded with new friends and opportunities for personal and professional growth. You get out of it what you put into it.

Who can apply?

Anyone with an interest in improving their leadership skills, developing relationships with like-minded people, and who would care to learn more about how they can become more active within NCSLMA. We do hope you have your MLS degree and have completed 2 years in a library setting, as we are looking for those who are ready to take their experience further.

How do I apply?

Just go to bit.ly/Leader21 and click the “Register” button to access the application.

We are accepting applications through the end of October, and our newest members will be notified in December.

Please know that we request your current resume along with a recommendation by an administrator or a peer -- someone who knows you and is ready to tell us how awesome you are! Just send them this Recommendation Form.

Behind the Scenes at NC’s State Conference by Bitsy Griffin

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 18:21:45 GMT

Check out Bitsy Griffin's article "Behind the Scenes at NC's State Conference" posted on the Knowledge Quest website.

Click HERE to view the article.

I know I enjoyed the virtual aspect, especially the live sessions where we could connect with others. I also love that we can view all the sessions at our convenience through the end of September. What were your thoughts about the conference? Leave comments below!

Update: BOB Compliance Forms Due Nov. 30

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 22:56:27 GMT

Make sure you complete the BOB Compliance Form online no later than November 1, 2020.

Click here to fill out the form online. You must be logged into your NCSLMA account to fill it out.

BOB Contact information:

Director: Stacy Hersey, stacyhersey@ncslma.org
EBoB: Anya Ross, anyaross@ncslma.org
MBoB: Shelia Robertson, sheliarobertson@ncslma.org
HBoB: Karen Meier, karenmeier@ncslma.org

BOB Levels: Please register for each level you wish to compete in.

Elementary - 4 and 5
Middle - 6, 7, 8
High - 9, 10, 11, 12
K-6 - Elementary List - 4 and 5, Middle List - 6th grade only

Other Information:

The head coach
- should be the person filling out this form, and
- must be a member of NCSLMA. Join here
The deadline for the compliance form is November 1, 2020.

Upcoming NCLA Event - Bridging the Digital Divide: Library Communities Respond

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 13:57:08 GMT

Bridging the Digital Divide: Library Communities Respond

Friday, October 23 • 9 am-4 pm

Online Mini Conference

Sponsored by the College & University Section of NCLA

This is a mini conference designed to share ideas and initiatives for bridging the digital divide across library types and communities in response to the increased need for access to the internet and usable electronic devices during COVID-19. Presentations will address such topics as digital equity, tips for partnering with non-profits, virtual programming strategies, shifting collection development and technology needs, and other issues related to ensuring that library users in academic, public, and school libraries are able to effectively access online resources and services. The keynote speech will be provided by Rob Ross, Executive Director of NC LIVE.

I will be facilitating a round table discussion regarding school and public library partnerships and the digital divide.

NCLA members are free. Non-members cost $10.

Non-members who are presenters at the conference are free.

School Library Month

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:28:34 GMT

Governor Roy Cooper declared April School Library Month in North Carolina! Our Advocacy and Governance Committee created a Smore of Virtual Activities you can use and share to celebrate.

#NCSLMA20 Call to Present

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 14:58:19 GMT

I hope you have marked your calendars for our annual fall conference, September 24-26, 2020, at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem, NC.

I am excited to share with you the link for the Call to Present for our 2020 Annual Conference. We are currently accepting applications for concurrent sessions (50 minutes) and concurrent workshops (3 hours). The Call for Proposals will close on March 31, 2020.

The conference website is now live and will be added to and updated periodically until conference.

I can't wait to connect and learn with you! Have a great week!

Cindy Sturdivant, 2020 Conference Chair

ITES Standards revision

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 18:57:34 GMT

The State Board of Education (SBE) and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) are committed to providing personalized digital-age education that K-12 students need to be successful in college, careers, and as globally engaged productive citizens. Revising the NC Information and Technology Essential Standards (ITES) for students is an important part of this work. These standards are critical building blocks for the education of our students. ITES represent the "must have" information and technology skills and knowledge that each student must have in order to achieve success at the next level. The standards are designed to be delivered by classroom teachers in all curricular areas and grade levels.

As part of the NC Standards Review, Revision and Implementation process, the NC Department of Public Instruction is seeking your input on adopting the International Society for Technology in Education - Student Standards (ISTE-S). We recommend spending some time reviewing the ISTE-S prior to completing the survey. We anticipate the survey to take approximately 5 minutes. The survey may be accessed via: https://ncvps.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6gs8hkURr6o8j6R

Please share this with staff in your district. Thank you in advance for taking the time to contribute to this process.

Upcoming Webinar - "Little Known Way to Increase Reading Engagement and Reading Skills with Students of ALL Reading Levels"

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 11:57:28 GMT

NCSLMA is hosting a webinar next week, "Little Known Way to Increase Reading Engagement and Reading Skills with Students of ALL Reading Levels." There will be two dates, March 26 for elementary school librarians and March 27 for secondary school librarians. Join us to learn how large print books can help your students and earn one CEU!

Description:

Literacy is a key factor in student success. It impacts self-esteem, social emotional wellness and academic achievement. Thorndike Press supports literacy in and outside of the classroom by publishing books in large print, which can improve children’s reading skills and reading confidence. With greater comprehension comes greater reading satisfaction; learning to read can then transition to reading to learn. Come learn how large print makes a different for your students.

Speakers:

Tasha Squires is the School Librarian at O’Neill Middle School in Downers Grove, IL. She is the author of Library Partnerships: Making Connections Between School and Public Libraries published by Information Today, INC. She the creator and main contributor of the blog www.booksinthemiddle.wordpress.com and you can contact her on Twitter @tasquires or through email tasquires66@gmail.com She welcomes comments and conversations.

Bonnie Simcock is Manager of Acquisitions at Thorndike Press. Thorndike works with all the major publishing houses to put bestselling and well-loved titles into an accessible and comfortable format for all ages. Bonnie’s pleased to say she’s finally making great use of her Literature degree. She was raised in a family of educators, has a background in teaching literacy through the Title I (One) program, served a four-year term on a Maine schoolboard, and survived putting one kid through middle school with one still to go.

Elementary:

When: Mar 26, 2019 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM EASTERN TIME

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://cengage.zoom.us/meeting/register/78ad5e8016a9a25ac5b9141539e44ee6

Secondary:

When: Mar 27, 2019 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM EASTERN TIME

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://cengage.zoom.us/meeting/register/abd778eca846d9f04ac87b605f06faf5

President's Report - March 2019

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 16:03:22 GMT

I just got back from NCTIES19 and can't begin to tell you how much I learned! I tweeted out some of those like the digital interactive notebooks. I can't wait to try those. Gina Webster told me about SmashBoard. Another thing I can't wait to try. I've already been to their site and ordered a deck of cards. And I met dozens of new people in the Playground demonstrating how Padcaster might be used in schools.

Even better for me was the networking. I saw so many NCSLMA members and had multiple meetings about items we should pursue. I even had a great phone conversation with one of our county superintendents about the value of school librarians. I don't know about you, but conferences allow me a chance to reconnect, rethink, revise, and regroup. While it may be hectic, it is truly a precious time.

The State of NC School Libraries

Now, I've got to shift my focus and think about our Executive Board meeting in May. We've got to think about the future of school librarians in a thoughtful and significant ways. We need a specific plan for shedding light on the value of our profession. There is a frightening trend in NC right now to ditch the school librarian. I haven't heard of one (yet) that's ditching the library - just the librarian. So why is this happening?

smaller counties cannot find one.
they need to save money.
they don't understand the value that a trained librarian brings to the job.

I'm happy to talk with county officials, but I don't know who to pinpoint. And if I did, do I have the time to call them all?

Here are my short answers to the above:

Did you know that you can move a teacher into the library with a provisional 076 licensure? They can attend an online program. Maybe you have a teacher in the building that would love to do this and doesn't realize it's a possibility.
If you use your librarian as curriculum support, working hand-in-hand with your instructional facilitator, curriculum coordinator, etc., you will see enough growth in learning that will make that money a moot point.
Librarians are uniquely trained to develop a high-quality collection, deal with privacy issues, advocate for intellectual freedom, and support literacy. AND they can still support instructional technology.

I have to admit the last one is the hardest sell. If a school or county has made up their minds that technology is the answer to all their wows, they may well be resistant to shedding the image of a little old librarian with a tight bun, big glasses, and a cat cardigan.

So where do we go from here?

In our May Executive Board meeting, we will be working on a strategic plan to move forward. We need new vision and mission statements. We need to figure out a way to help with the problems mentioned above. Keith Curry Lance is applying for grant money to look at the changing roles of new librarians and NC will be part of that study if he gets the grant. I've been talking with Teresa Gibson from the Friday Institute about recruiting greater numbers of librarians for NCSLCN, a program that easily adds value to our roles.

There are several ways you can help!

Join NCSLMA if you haven't already.
Share a pix of an engaging library activity. In her NCTIES session, Kathy Parker mentioned that we could use these as leverage in our districts and schools. Find one that shows what you'd like to do and share how you would implement and what kinds of funds you need.
Fill out a survey to help us get a clear picture of the state of libraries across the state.

Housekeeping:

Go to the new website! It's much easier to maneuver than the old one. Special thanks to Cindy Sturdivant and Laura Long for the untold hours they have put into making it a reality.

Check out the new forum! It's set to replace the old google group later this month, so go ahead and start posting there! We also have Round Tables so you can join a smaller group of people in similar positions.

The Awards, Grants, and Scholarships Section has opened applications on this page. Check out the AASL Travel Grant for first time attendees! Deadlines for all awards are 5/31.

Registration for Spring Regional PD is also open. Visit the Events page to register. PDs will be held across NC April 2nd - 8th.

Crystal Joyce and Lila Morel are planning a NC Legislative Day in May! Stay tuned for info on that.

Would you like to become more involved with NCSLMA? It's election season and we are looking for a few good librarians to run for President Elect, Coastal Director, and Piedmont West Director. if this is a role you want to pursue, please fill out the nomination form.

School librarians = school leaders! How will you lead today?

Warm regards,
Bitsy Griffin
President, NCSLMA
#NCSLMA19 . Connect . Create . Curate.
bitsygriffin@ncslma.org

The Last Cherry Blossom trailer by Hiroshima International School

Wed, 20 Feb 2019 19:36:31 GMT

President's Report - February 2019

Tue, 05 Feb 2019 01:18:17 GMT

Happy winter to NCSLMA members!

One of my goals as president was to start a monthly newsletter for 2019. Well, I started out behind, but finally! Here is edition 1 for 2019. If you know of something or someone you'd like for me to highlight, please let me know.

NCSLMA Elections: NCSLMA election time is right around the corner. Each year, we elect two regional directors. This year we will elect Piedmont West and Coastal directors. President Elect is voted on each year. Election information will be coming out this spring for May elections.

Want to volunteer for NCSLMA? We also have many committee opportunities for those of you who would like to become involved at the state level. Just fill out this form.

#NCSLMA19 .Connect . Create . Curate. Shout out to Laura Long, our 2019 President Elect/Conference Chair! She is working hard behind the scenes to make sure we have the best conference EVER! You will want to make sure that you are at the Benton Convention Center October 2-4 to network, meet Peter Reynolds, and see all the creative ways that school librarians meet stakeholder needs! If you'd like to help with this year's conference, contact Laura at lauralong@nclsma.org .

Coming soon:

Updated & revamped website with a new look and a place to host our own forums
Leadership Academy information
Spring regional workshops dates and topics
More info on #NCSLMA19

AASL Affiliate Assembly

Brene Duggins, Laura Long, and I just got back from ALA Midwinter in Seattle where we represented NCSLMA at AASL’s Affiliate Assembly. Brene Duggins is currently serving as the AASL Affiliate Assembly's President which gives her a seat on the AASL Board. We are very proud of her service at the national level. I'm serving as the Region 4 Representative.

It was exciting to see other NCSLMA members Chelsea Brantley, Kevin Washburn, and Alan Bailey at conference.

Chelsea Brantley is NCSLMA’s Social Media Committee Chair and serves on the EBSCO Conference Sponsorship Awards Committee. She’s currently looking for committee members, so if you are interested, please contact her at chelseabrantley@ncslma.org.

Kevin Washburn is our Division Director for Education. His section includes library and technology standards (state & national), mentoring development, and webinars. Kevin has served on the Rainbow Project Book List, ALSC Grant Committee, and Frederick G. Kilgour Award (LITA/OCLC). Kevin will be on the next ballot for the Newbery Committee.

Alan Bailey is NCSLMA’s liaison with our sister organization NC Library Association (NCLA). Alan serves nationally as the Chair-Elect for the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Executive Board.

If you are a member of NCSLMA and serve on an ALA or AASL committee, please let me know. I'd love to highlight your work.

Strategic Planning: Brene and I spent Friday working with a team of AASL staff, board members, and volunteers laying the groundwork for an updated strategic plan to guide AASL for the next few years. This fantastic team also included April Dawkins (NCSLMA's Intellectual Freedom Chair) and Heather Moorefield-Lang (our Grants Chair). Brene continued that work with the AASL Board on Saturday. The strategic plan should be completed by the next affiliate assembly meeting which is at Annual.

Commendations and concerns: Do you know of a group that is doing extraordinary things to promote libraries or reading? Please email me the details so we can include them in our commendation recommendations. Likewise, if you have a suggestion that would help to improve the way that AASL supports us as school librarians, email me that too. We have short turn around on concerns, so send that email ASAP.

ALA/AASL elections: Elections run from March 11 to April 3. Please vote! AASL had a small percentage of its membership vote in the last election.

In addition, we have several AASL members running for ALA council. Thirty-four councilors will be elected in 2019, which means you get to vote for 34 people!

AASL members running:

John Eric Byrnes
Kathy Carroll
Bitsy Griffin
Carl A. Harvey, II
Andrea Q. Jamison
Sara Kelly Johns
Maricar Laudato
Christine Hl. Lopez
James (Jim) G. Neal
Brenda Pruitt-Annisette
Deborah Rinio
Brenda S. Sprinkle
Ann K. Symons
Joyce Valenza

Please consider voting for all these people to make sure that school libraries are well represented in ALA's Council.

AASL in Louisville, KY - 2019 You can register now and pay later. What a great deal! Not only can you register now and pay later, register before February 11, and receive $100 off with AASL100.

Need another incentive? A complimentary registration is included for every administrator that attends with their registered school librarian! If you are hesitant to approach your administrator for

Never been to AASL before? There's an extra incentive for you! Bound To Stay Bound and NCSLMA both have grants for first time attendees. BTSB's grant can be found on the convention website. Stay tuned for more information on NCSLMA's grant.

Have questions? Our board directory is a great place to start to know who to contact for your particular questions. Please note that the old email addresses that began with NCSLMA and ended with @gmail.com are not longer in use.

School librarians = school leaders! How will you lead today?

Warm regards,

Bitsy Griffin

President, NCSLMA

#NCSLMA19 .Connect . Create . Curate.

bitsygriffin@ncslma.org