Ocean Pines, MD (February 25, 2024) - Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL) is pleased to announce the 11 finalists, for the 2024 Maryland School Librarian of the Year award which honors a school librarian for exemplary service and outstanding achievements in the field of school library media. The recipient of the award will be announced in May.
# FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE # Ocean Pines, MD (January 26, 2024) - Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL) is pleased to announce the 44 nominees for the 2024 Maryland School Librarian of the Year award which honors a school librarian for exemplary service and outstanding achievements in the field of school library media. These nominees represent 20 public school districts and one private school. The recipient of the award will be announced in May 2024.
In the past few years, it has become popular to question book purchases in school libraries during school board meetings and on social media. Some of these questions come from a place of curiosity or knowledge seeking, but others seem to suggest that school librarians are randomly choosing books without thought or process. There are few if any areas of library science that are done without thorough review of best practices, research, and users in mind. Selecting books for a school library is no different. While each county may have slightly different policies and procedures, best practice dictates that purchasing books includes collection analysis, list generation and purchase recommendation, administrative approval, purchase, and addition to the collection. Over the next few weeks, MASL will be publishing a blog series that explores Maryland School Librarians’ book purchasing processes and procedures. There will be three blog posts in this series; one will focus on high school, another on middle school, and a third on elementary school. These posts are written to be shared with your school community, so please distribute widely!
By Melissa King, School Library Media Specialist
by Dr. Jennifer Sturge
I am Brittany Tignor, Treasurer of MASL. As a high school librarian, I am constantly working to balance the needs and wants of students, teachers, and curriculum. The process that I follow is based on the Worcester County Library Procedure Manual and includes ways to ensure that I am purchasing the highest quality titles that meet the needs of my school community and my budget. The goal of this blog post is to educate library stakeholders about the steps that are taken before a book is placed on a School Library shelf.
Ocean Pines, MD (February 8, 2023) - Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL) is pleased to announce the 44 nominees, and 14 finalists, for the 2023 Maryland School Librarian of the Year award which honors a school librarian for exemplary service and outstanding achievements in the field of school library media. The recipient of the award will be announced at the Maryland Association of School Librarians Conference in Linthicum, Maryland (April 15, 2023).
Maryland is fortunate to have several colleges and universities who offer programs in school librarianship and librarianship. As school librarians, we have the ability to support pre-service school librarians by sharing our collective knowledge for the good of all school librarians in the state, including those who are not quite practicing yet!
For the past several years, I have been teaching the course LBSC 741 on school librarianship for the University of Maryland iSchool. Each term, I have the great pleasure of meeting and working with future school librarians and educators who are working on their MLIS. This spring, while a spring like no other, did not disappoint. The students in my class were incredible. I enjoyed working with them so much that I asked them if it would be okay to put together a blog post for the MASL site using some of their work. What follows is an amazing set of highlights from one of the final projects in the course: The Five Roles of the School Librarian.
I sponsor a girl’s club at my school, Keeping It REAL (Respectable, Exceptional, Accountable, Limitless). The club covers topics like peer pressure, body image, role models, self-defense, and nutrition. In past years, our club has met in person with speakers, yoga, and self-defense instruction. There has always been lots of social interaction. Of course, with COVID, we had to make it virtual. We had to get creative.
A friend of mine uses the adage that states, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Though I giggled when first hearing this advice, I’ve come to realize that when faced with daunting tasks, it is helpful advice. By starting with small, necessary tasks, I can move forward to conquer the seemingly impossible.
In March of 2020 we faced an unbelievable challenge in our country and school systems. At the core of the job of every school librarian is their personal space. They have curated reading nooks, group collaborative spaces and shared tech labs. In addition, their lessons embody a love for reading. To many children, the school library is their safe space. And, in an instant, many school librarians were looking for their own place in this all virtual world. A question I had filling my inbox for many months was “how is my job still important?”. And we quickly found out just how critical the role of a school librarian is no matter where they are doing their job from.
Over the course of the past year, I have been challenged with how to keep my students engaged in reading when there has been little to no access to the school library. I learned really quickly I had to get creative with my strategies with a little mix of insanity thrown in. Below are a few of the strategies that have helped cultivate a community of readers within my school.
My library is an awesome place! It is a place where I check out books and teach classes. I offer computer usage, 3-D printing and lunchtime programs. During the pandemic I am offering digital breakouts, curbside pick-ups, and virtual book tastings. This is my library, and it is awesome!
This school year has been incredibly difficult, definitely the most difficult of my 14 years of teaching. I feel very discombobulated, constantly creating and restructuring lessons to fit online limitations, a shorter time block, and a different class rotation schedule. Then there’s the obvious; I’m not in the library. My students aren’t in the library. How can we teach library lessons with no library, or if you’re in school, without book browsing and check out? I’m also very aware of how strange this is for my students, their new needs, all of the new technology they’re using, and the stress that many of our families are feeling. I can relate! I have my own elementary age children, so I’m also juggling work and parenting responsibilities. When I stopped and thought about what would be possible this year, at first, I was at a loss. I had to take a step back and think about what we can do. What is my why? What are my strengths? What I can do to make all of my students’ experiences better in this moment?
Caution: The next few sentences will be a pearl-clutching moment for many librarians! Is Mary Hoffman’s Amazing Grace one of your favorite books? Well, it is not one of mine! Don’t get me wrong- the story and the illustrations are great and the book has an important message that needs to be told. As for me, it falls into the category of a “struggle book.” A struggle book is a book that has African American/Asian/Latinx character(s) who must “struggle” to overcome segregation, racism, and/or civil rights. Struggle books often have characters who have to prove themselves-like our friend Grace who proves to her classmates that a black girl can play the role of Peter Pan.
by Charity Harbeck, former Maryland School Librarian and MASL member now residing in North Carolina
