It’s hard to believe that our annual UELMA Conference is right around the corner on March 9th! We are excited to welcome you to another conference at the beautiful Utah Cultural Celebration Center. Please remember to register at UELMA.org. Our dedicated and talented conference committee, chaired by our past-president Sarah Herron, has been working hard to bring you a great event!
This newsletter is dedicated to our upcoming conference and it is full of useful information to help you prepare for a wonderful, fun and educational experience. We encourage you to invite your administrator, supervisor or even a teacher that you work closely with to attend with you.
Don’t forget to enter our fun conference book art competition. 
The book art “Turkey” went viral on social media around Thanksgiving last year so search around for a fun project or be original. You can win a $50 gift certificate from King’s English! We are excited to see what you’ll create!
This year we hope that you have found new ways to stay connected locally and nationally. Did you know there’s a Face Book group for Future Ready Librarians (14k+ members)? There is also one called “Fellowship of High School Librarians” (645 members and growing). I have gleaned a lot of helpful information from networking on social media, blogs, websites and more. Whether we are in a public, private or charter school, these online resources help to supplement our professional development and library programs.
Our new UELMA.org website has been launched. We are so excited to bring you a more streamlined look and navigational experience! Thank you to Chris Haught, our Southern Utah Liaison board member, and our UELMA Webmaster, Liz Petty, for helping us to make this smooth transition and to the UELMA board for their suggestions and input.
The UELMA board wants to continue to strengthen connections with our membership. We recognize that in every part of our beautiful state, you work tirelessly to support student literacy and learning. We have found a wonderful conference service project that will support a rural Utah school library with adequate and safe book shelves!
Finally, I’d like to thank all of you for supporting UELMA for the 2017-2018 year. As my UELMA presidency comes to an end, I am able reflect how my journey started, and it was simply because I wanted to serve you. I started as a UELMA board member when I was only a 3rd year teacher librarian over three years ago. Wow! But, I can attest that I have grown professionally and personally and most importantly I’ve been privileged to work with the best people on the UELMA board and I consider them my friends. We would like to extend heartfelt farewell to our wonderful Executive Director, Larry Jeppesen, who will be retiring. He has tirelessly kept UELMA functioning in the background with unwavering dedication and expertise. We need you to serve with us! Please consider being a future board member or president-elect. If I can do it, so can you!
Next year I will be the 2019 UELMA Conference Chairperson and Lorraine Wyness who is our incoming 2018-2019 UELMA President will bring her talent and dedication to lead us onto to great things.
UELMA is striving to be Future Ready!
Selena Campbell
UELMA President 2017-2018
