MASL Newsletter

Hello everyone,

Hard to believe the school year is winding down. Many of us are prepping for summer with moves both within and outside of districts. If you have any news, please share.

The MASL Executive Board is working on strategic planning this summer.

A resolution to commend Free to Read Rochester has been submitted to AASL. We would like to recognize them for all of their hard work in promoting Intellectual Freedom and supporting the Library Bill of Rights.

Please be on the look out for summer opportunities to both learn and present.

MASL Conference November 1-3, 2023

Have something to share? The call for presentations for MASL 50 is open! Make sure to get those proposals in before July 1, 2023, but the sooner the better to help put the schedule together. MASL50 is going to be amazing! It will be filled with celebrations and learning. Hope to see you in Ann Arbor in November.

AASL News and Information:

• Town Hall meetings are open to anyone, not just AASL members.

• May 10, 2023

• June 14, 2023

• AASL - Knowledge Quest Blog

• If anyone is interested in blogging for Knowledge Quest - here is the link: https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/bloggers/

• Right to Read Act - www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/right2read

• The Right to Read Act is designed to ensure all students have access to an effective school library staffed by a certified school librarian.

• Senator Reed and Rep. Grijalva’s legislation also reaffirms that First Amendment rights apply to school libraries.

Upcoming MASL Meeting dates:

September 9 - @ MACUL Headquarters

November - @ MASL Conference General Membership Meeting

December 3 - @ MACUL Office with Virtual option - TBD for safety

MASL Headquarters address:

520 S. Creyts Rd.

Lansing, MI 48917

Thank you for being a part of MASL!

Carma Roesch, MASL President 2023

Save time and money by purchasing through REMC SAVE! New contracts for Supplies, Furniture and Technology launched on January 1st and the Device Purchasing window opened on April 13th. Schools saved a record high in 2022, reaching $156,410,897 in savings. We have saved districts and eligible agencies $421 million since 2020!

REMC SAVE is a service of the REMC Association of Michigan for all public and private schools statewide and other public agencies. REMC SAVE does the bidding, so you don't have to! Purchase a wide variety of products at highly competitive prices without the need to bid locally. Our process is compliant with the State of Michigan School Code requirements to bid on behalf of school districts. All contracts are awarded by the REMC Association of Michigan through a sealed bid process.

New Products for this year include:

• Contracted Professional Development

• Installation

• Consulting, Engineering and Installation services

• Outdoor Furniture

• USB Adapters

• Docking Hubs

• D-Ring Binders

• Epson Printers

• UPSs

• Book Bins

• Air Purifiers

• PA & Emergency Communication

We have expanded items in the areas of eSports, physical education, health and safety, videoconferencing, charging carts, interactive displays and STEM.

REMC SAVE offers a searchable online catalog, shopping list and a Help Center. We provide low prices with shipping included, price stability through contracts, extended warranties, low or no minimum order requirements and most important - SAVINGS! Before you make your next purchase, click on remcsave.org.

REMC SAVE makes it possible for our Association to offer FREE Professional Learning and Classroom Resources for Michigan educators. Click here to see our annual course offerings. Each course offers 10 FREE SCECHs and they can be taken from the convenience of your home after school hours. Don’t miss out on tips and tricks to enhance your classroom and student engagement.

• The Right to Read Act - Senator Reed and Representative Grijalva introduced the Right to Read Act during National Library Week. This bill is intended to increase equity of access for all students to effective school libraries staffed by state-certified school librarians. The legislation also protects the Constitutional rights of students to access information and school libraries and would extend liability protection to all education staff including school librarians. Please TAKE ACTION, if you have not already, and contact your legislator to ask them to co-sign the legislation. It is very easy to do so and will take only a few minutes at this link: bit.ly/right2read23

• ALA Connect Live Recording Available - ALA President Lessa Pelayo-Lazado and AASL President Kathy Lester cohosted the April ALA Connect Live Session - Our Brave Communities: Supporting School Librarians to explore how everyone in the ecosystem can support issues facing school libraries including equity of access to state-certified school librarians and the current unprecedented number of book challenges. Panelists for the session included:

• Keith Curry Lance, principal investigator for the IMLS-funded national study, The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution

• Liz Phipps Soeiro, Director of Library Services for Boston Public Schools

• Raegan Miller, Director of Development and Finance for the Florida Freedom to Read Project

• Cameron Samuels, student advocate and former student in Katy Independent School District in Texas

The session was very inspiring and received positive feedback. The recording is available here.

• AASL President’s Program at ALA Annual: Freedom to Read Ambassadors

Join AASL President, Kathy Lester, for a conversation about speaking out for the Freedom to Read and why it is important for all students to have access to a wide variety of books and information.

Panelists Kelly Yang, author of Front Desk and Finally Seen; Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul, educator, author, and adapter of Stamped for Kids; Amanda Jones, winner of AASL’s Intellectual Freedom Award and Becky Calzada, co-founder of the #Freedom group, will discuss their work and encourage everyone to become ambassadors in the efforts to protect first amendment rights for all.

You know what time it is, MASL! It’s time to nominate a colleague, collaborator or yourself for a MASL Award! Since it’s the 50th Anniversary celebration this fall, we need to make sure we have lots of awards to give, right?

As you reflect on the past school year, consider the following:

• Do you have projects that you are proud of?

• Have you worked to support your students’ Freedom to Read?

• Did you receive support from an administrator, school board member, or government official that you would like to recognize?

These are just a few of the ways that you can celebrate the bright spots and accomplishments of your year at this year’s MASL 50 Conference Awards Ceremony.

A full list of awards, as well as a link to the nomination form, can be found on the How To Nominate page under MASL Awards, on the MASL website.

Hello everyone,

West Maple Elementary was named the National School Library of the Year (NSLY) by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) in April, 2023. We have had a whirlwind of media coverage and press releases in the last two weeks. I believe this is a win for our state advocacy and plan to leverage this opportunity to encourage districts, families, and legislators to increase funding so districts can add certified school librarians to their schools. There are a few things I would like to highlight regarding this achievement.

This is an award for the School Library, not the school librarian. A school library is only as successful as the learning community allows it to be. There are several items that were essential to demonstrate to the NSLY committee.

1. The library uses a curriculum based on the AASL National Standards.

2. Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore and Engage are the bedrock for library lessons and programming.

3. The library demonstrates full integration into the school community by connecting with classrooms, students, staff, and parents in meaningful ways.

4. The library has a budget and demonstrates responsible use of that budget.

5. The library has a certified librarian at the helm.

6. The library offers a robust, diverse collection of resources to the community.

7. The library adapts to the needs of the community it serves.

8. The library space is designed with universal access.

9. The library space has furniture and features that make the environment welcoming, inclusive, and engaging for the community it serves.

10. The library provides evidence that it is fully supported by students, staff, administrators, families, and community members.

Our school library would not have received this award without the support of our students, principal, parents and administration. Furthermore, it would not have been possible without the team of certified librarians I work with throughout the year. The curriculum, pacing guide, and knowledge sharing are the result of the collaborative work of this team. Lastly we give appreciation to the committee members, AASL and Follett for their commitment to celebrating effective school libraries.

I have linked the press releases and media coverage for you to view if you choose. I have also included more information created by the Michigan Association of School Librarians (MASL) about the state of school libraries in Michigan which was used during the Michigan Library Legislative Day. This material will continue to be shared with every press opportunity we are given.

American Association of School Librarians Press Release

Michigan Department of Education Press Release

Birmingham Public Schools Press Release

FOX 2 News Interview

CBS News Interview

Thank you for your time with educating all of our students!

Are you looking for a way to bring multiple authors in one day to your school at a reasonable price, all while getting buy-in from all subject areas and reaching the widest audience possible? In Troy, Kathy Loch and I were able to accomplish this through our Troybery Author Blitz event, which has been hosted by our middle school media centers for the past two years. I would love to share our successes (and failures!) with you so that you can bring an event like this to your school.

For our middle school media centers’ Troybery Award Program, now in its 23rd year, we normally have hosted an author in person or virtually during our live Award Ceremony. As you can tell by the name, the Troybery program is a mock-Newbery program where kids are the ones voting on the best book of the year.

However, with the pandemic came concerns in spring 2022 about gathering 200 people in one room for the ceremony. In addition, events during the pandemic brought the ideas of equity and inclusion to the forefront, and we began to question how we chose students to attend the ceremony and who was left out. After brainstorming ways that we could still bring the excitement of the ceremony and author visits to ALL our students, we came to the idea of an “author blitz.”

We chose the Friday after March 2022 parent-teacher conferences to hold our first annual Troybery Author Blitz. We told this to middle school teachers of all subject areas across the school district: “Let your librarian do your lesson plans for you!” We created a schedule so that we could offer a 25-30 minute virtual author visit on Zoom EVERY HOUR of the school day. And then we crossed our fingers, and emailed a bunch of the Troybery authors.

As luck would have it, we were overwhelmed with responses, and we were able to host an author every hour, with some hours having two authors. Some authors offered a free visit, and others charged a nominal fee, asked us to donate to a school in need, or asked us to sell copies of their books and work with a local bookstore.

We asked teachers to work with their students to submit questions to ask the authors. Those classes came on live during the Zoom so that the students could ask their questions, but we also had “camera-shy” classes that asked questions via the chat. The visit started with 5-10 minutes of the author talking about their book, and then we filled the rest of the time with questions.

We weren’t sure how many classes would show up—and we were absolutely delighted when we had an audience of around 40 classrooms each hour from not just ELA, but also math, band, science, art, choir, etc.! Teachers raved about the event and were happy to just sit back on the day after parent-teachers conferences and tune in to our Author Blitz. Students loved connecting with the authors and being able to ask questions. They rushed to the media centers afterwards to get their hands on the books.

For our second annual Author Blitz in March 2023, we were still able to fill our day with an author visit per hour, as well as some pre-recorded videos that authors who were busy on the day of the event submitted to us beforehand. Our major glitch, however, was a snow day—school was closed on the day of our Author Blitz due to weather. Fortunately, we had predicted ahead of time and were able to warn the authors, but then came the problem of rescheduling. We ended up securing three different dates in March and April to host 2-3 of the authors we had originally scheduled. Participation was high on the first date, but by the time we got to our third date, interest was waning.

Next year, our plan is to prepare for a potential inclement weather day by either scheduling our Author Blitz in April or by having an alternate date in case of school cancellation. We determined that it was difficult to host two authors in one hour and did not try that again this year. We used Zoom in 2022 and Teams in 2023 (because our district discontinued using Zoom), and we found that some authors had trouble with using Teams. I would suggest setting up a “test call” prior to the event to make sure that the author’s computer and microphone are working properly.

Overall, our two years of hosting the Troybery Author Blitz brought almost 20 authors virtually into our schools and inspired our Troy middle school students to read fantastic books and to realize that they can become writers, too. Please feel free to contact me at cchatel@troy.k12.mi.us if you have any questions.

On April 25th, several of our school library colleagues (MASL President - Carma Roesch, MASL President-Elect - Carrie Betts, Kathy Lester, Alexa Lalejini, Christine Beachler, Harry Coffill, and Bill Bowes) attended the Michigan Library Advocacy day in Lansing along with other library advocates from around the state. Our goal was to speak with legislators about the importance of school libraries/librarians for our students and school communities and to ensure our voices are being heard where the decisions in our state are being made.

The day’s activities took place at the state capitol building or within a short walking distance. The day began with a welcome from Randy Riley, State of Michigan Librarian and MLA President Scott Duimstra. After the welcome remarks, there was a presentation by MLA’s lobbyist, Bob DeVries, as he explained key points in the legislative process and how the meetings in the afternoon with legislators would work.

Senator Gary Peters also provided a video message to motivate our work for the remainder of the day.

Legislative visits for each advocate were scheduled with their home or school legislators and took place in the afternoon at the legislators' individual offices. The MASL Advocacy team also met with Representative Matt Koleszar, chair of the House Education Committee, Representative Regina Weiss, chair of the House School Aid and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, as well as the offices of Senator Polehanki, chair of the Senate Education Committee, and Senator Camilleri, chair of the Senate PK-12 School Aid Appropriations Subcommittee.

MASL members were asked to participate virtually and to contact their own legislators via email to let them know about the importance of school libraries. If you have not already done so, it is not too late. Here is a document with a sample email that you can easily personalize and send. We are stronger when we stand together and our legislators hear from all of us!

Thank you to all who volunteered to serve on the MISelf in Books committee this year! Our committee has been formed and includes many new faces. We are excited to get started on the 2023 list! We are seeking your suggestions for possible titles. We will be closing the suggestion form in the next few weeks, so please share your book suggestions now! Please use this form to share titles you would like the committee to consider for the 2023 list. Current, non-commercial MASL members are welcome to submit titles that meet the following criteria:

• Books will be inclusive of people, characters and identities that are frequently marginalized in childrens and YA literature.

• Books have been published in the past two years (current calendar and previous calendar year - 2023 and 2022)

• Books have not been on a previous MISelf in Books list. Book lists from 2020, 2021, and 2022 can be found here.

Now accepting proposals for MASL 50: Where We've Been, Where We're Going! The conference will be held once again at the Kensington Hotel and Suites in Ann Arbor, Nov. 1-3, 2023. Are you passionate and knowledgeable about literacy, technology, collaboration, library management, administration, curriculum, or programming? Do you have great ideas to share with librarians and library workers at all levels? Please save the dates and join your colleagues for 3 days of fantastic learning, and please consider sharing your expertise by submitting a proposal to present.

June is just around the corner! As we begin many end of the year duties from inventory, weeding, final lessons or collaborations with colleagues, take the time to also inventory what has worked well and what needs improvement. There will be a final newsletter in June in which I am seeking anyone who wishes to highlight and share any successes this year with their students, colleagues, or even administrators. Feel free to email anything you wish to share at jrichards@vanburenschools.net