From the President-December 2017

We hope this latest edition of the UELMA Newsletter will capture your interest in our upcoming 2018 Annual UELMA Conference!

Please consider sharing your knowledge and talents with us as a conference session presenter! Looking back thus far, it has been an exciting year with the Future Ready Librarians model going full steam ahead along with the introduction of the new AASL (American Association of School Librarians) National School Library Standards.

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The UELMA board has been busy working on our online web presence and we look forward to unveiling our new website at our conference in March 2018. We felt it was important to streamline the accessibility to our website and social media sites to align with current professional organizational trends.

We are also working on providing a repository of conference presentation videos, increasing UELMA membership and improving membership benefits, establishing stronger community, school and professional partnerships.

We have meticulously gone over the UELMA Constitution to clarify verbiage, organizational structure and purpose. We will present the UELMA Constitution to you 30 days prior to our March 9th conference for a membership vote of approval.

UELMA could not grow and evolve without your support and membership. We appreciate all those who serve on additional UELMA committees because you are the dedicated busy bees behind the scenes! Working together has helped our organization move forward with the momentum to change and improve each year. I personally would like to thank our UELMA board members, liaisons and executive board. I am amazed at the talent, skills and effort that each one of them voluntarily puts into our organization. Together we are a force for good as we try our best to represent you, your library programs and students. We serve because we believe in and love what we do. It’s as simple as that! Please consider serving in any capacity on the UELMA board or committees in the future. We need you!
A robust and effective school library cultivates a reading community, engages students and teachers to use print and digital resources, and encourages a global citizenship. I have encouraged you to make one small change this year, and I hope you are seeing that change grow into many possibilities and positive outcomes. With that in mind, I’d like to leave you with something to ponder.
Each day you are making a change in the life of a student. Students often thank us for acquiring the latest and greatest books in the library and a host of other things we do.

However, author Jason Reynolds, one of the keynote speakers at AASL17 in Phoenix, AZ reminded us when it comes to young people:

“(to) remember when was the last time you thanked a young person?”
“It’s okay for us to disagree, but not disengage”
“Be humble enough to connect with young people and admit what you don’t know about them.”
“If a student says a book makes him finally feel seen, look for the places in his life where he feels unseen.”

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season!
Selena Campbell
UELMA President 2017-2018

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