New England School Library Association (NESLA)

Good morning, school library people!  Big news!  Peter W. Cookson, Jr. is going to join our already star-studded NESLA Leadership Conference line-up.  Currently, Cookson is a board member of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and holds the Katsuso Miho Scholarship in Peacemaking at Yale Divinity School.  His research focuses on educational policy, reform, school choice, and the integration of technology into learning environments.  His forthcoming book is Sacred Trust: An Education Bill of Rights (Corwin).  Here is link to his latest article regarding teaching in the 21st century in the September 2009 issue of Educational Leadership .

Cookson’s past is also quite dazzling.  He was the dean of the Graduate School and a professor of educational administration at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, as well as the associate dean of the School of Education at Adelphi University. He is the author of numerous books on educational policy, including Preparing for Power: America’s Elite Boarding Schoolsand Making Sense of Society, both cowritten with Caroline Hodges Persell. He has taught in both public and private schools. He holds a Ph.D. in the sociology of education from New York University.

We are VERY excited that Dr. Cookson is going to join us.  Now, the question is, are YOU going to join us?  That is correct.  The early bird registration for Leadership Conference must be postmarked by today!  Of course, you won’t be left out if you register for Leadership tomorrow or the next day. You will pay a little bit more, but at least you will be there!  We look forward to seeing you.

NESLA members, did you know that you can easily monitor the updates to this site without having to actually visit this page?  Do you have a Google Reader account (or some other tool) to subscribe to web feeds?  I just added NESLA to my Google Reader — that I often check in the 10 minutes (or less) that it takes to eat my lunch on the typical wild day at school.  Because our site is hosted by WordPress, our site produces an RSS feed.  All you have to do click on the RSS symbol in the address bar of your browser and then copy the resulting feed address from any page that you want to monitor within the NESLA web site, open your Google Reader (or similar tool) and paste that URL into the blank where you can add a subscription.  From that moment on, any time a change is made to the pages that you have set to monitor, you will receive alerts to those changes within your Google Reader.  You can now easily stay up to date with the latest NESLA news without having to specifically check the NESLA web site.

The Fall issue of Views is here.  Click here to download your own personal copy.  Read about our upcoming Leadership Conference on January 15, 2010 in Boston, our own new Virtual Views, Hall of Fame nominations, what’s going on in the region regarding Learning4Life, elections, as well as reports from the state affiliates and AASL.  Don’t be left out!  Get up to date!  And don’t forget to send in your vote for elections!   Your ballots are due by November 15, 2009. To view previous issues of Views, click on the Views link.

Know a member of NESLA who has made significant contributions to NESLA and the region through their actions as an advocate for the library media profession at the regional or national level?  NOW is the time to nominate!  Nominations using this 2010 Hall of Fame Nomination form are due no later than December 1, 2009.

First, big news about “bundled” registration.  Did you realize that both ALA midwinter and annual are on the east coast this year and very, very accessible?  Yup, ALA is in Boston January 15 -19 and Washington D.C. June 24 -29, a four hour train ride away.

Plus, the Jan. 15th NESLA Leadership Conference “The Knowledge/Learning Commons: The Future School Library?” piggy-backs onto ALA midwinter. http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/upcoming/midwinter/2010/registration.cfm

Bundled registration (cheaper) for both conferences opens Tuesday, Sept. 1:
When you register for ALA, you can choose the NESLA block at the Sheraton Boston which connects to the convention center without going outdoors. Sweet situation in January, no?

Second, please follow the registration procedures below when arranging your hotel for NESLA and ALA midwinter in Boston.

• Housing/Registration opens online on Tuesday, September 1st for Bundled Registration ONLY. This means that only attendees that are purchasing both ALA midwinter and ALA annual at the same time may book on this date.  Otherwise, if you only want to register for ALA midwinter only, you will have to wait until the general opening date of Thursday, October 1st.

• Attendees must register via online (http://www.ala.org/midwinter) or by fax or mail.  Registrations cannot be taken over the phone.   When registering online, be sure to select the “ NESLA”  demographic under the header  “ 05  If you are registering as a member of one of the following groups”.   Once you select NESLA it will direct you to your hotel block.

All for now.  Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Hey New Englanders, as well as any and all school library leaders who will be in the area. Get ready to join us for Leadership 2010, co-sponsored by NESLA and MSLA in Boston at the Sheraton and Chelmsford High School.  The big event begins, as always, with a pre-conference dinner.  This year, we will meet Thursday evening, January 14, 2010 at Legal Sea Foods.  The conference will be held on Friday, January 15, 2010 from 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.  Our topic will be  Knowledge Learning Commons: The Future School Library? with guests David Loertscher, Ross Todd, Rolf Erikson, Valerie Diggs, Roger Nevin, and Pamela Harland. Be sure to reserve your hotel rooms at the Sheraton by November 13, 2009 and get your registration postmarked by December 4, 2009 to get the best rates.  We look forward to seeing you all there.

Click on this image to download the 2010 Leadership Brochure

As I was organizing myself for our upcoming Face-To-Face Meeting, I realized that I never uploaded this fabulous reflection by long-time NESLA treasurer (and NESLA historian), Doug Maitland.  Yes, technically, NESLA is now 91, but if you missed our 90th birthday, here is a reprint of Doug’s presentation from Spring 2008.

“When you think of birthdays, two things come to mind—parties and gifts or presents.  You are attending NEEMA’s birthday party.  So—what are you going to give NEEMA, the New England Educational Media Association, as a birthday gift to help celebrate her 90th birthday?  We will get back to that question later.  First of all, a little bit about NEEMA’s history.

On a snowy night in April of 1918, a small group of visionary leaders interested in the welfare of school libraries and school librarians met in the Children’s Room of the Brookline Massachusetts Public Library and decided to form a New England regional association comprised of school librarians for the express purpose of improving school libraries.

On May 18, 1918, at Simmons College in Boston, the first formal meeting of the New England School Library Association—as NEEMA was then called—was held.

While we are talking about birthdays and birthday gifts, what does NEEMA give or do for you?

NEEMA is your voice at the national level.  NEEMA is an affiliate of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL).  NEEMA helps your voice by heard by the AASL Board through its Affiliate Assembly.

NEEMA is your connection with technology educators by membership to the Affiliate Council of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT).  NEEMA’s annual Leadership Conference has its roots in its collaboration with AECT.

NEEMA is your voice on the local level throughout New England by working very closely with our accreditors, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, by pushing our White Paper entitled, The Place of the School Library Program in the Accreditation Process of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.  In that paper NEEMA defends school librarianship is an integral part of teaching and learning rather than as a support service.  NEEMA also works very closely with state organizations in our region by advocating for school library media programs at the local level.

NEEMA provides professional development and networking opportunities to the region at a very reasonable cost through its annual Leadership Conference.  Also, NEEMA keeps you informed through its quarterly publication, NEEMA Views, and through the NEEMA web site.

There is no counterpart to NEEMA in other regions of the United States.  We are unique.  Past, present, and future – all three ingredients are needed for an understanding of the whole.  Forethought, planning, and vision must direct NEEMA on the tough road to her 100th birthday.  For ‘Where there is no vision, the people (or organization) will perish.’ As an educational leader attending this conference, please give NEEMA a gift for her birthday in the form of your time, expertise, or experience.  Please join the NEEMA Board and help NEEMA on its mission of improving school libraries and school librarians for better student achievement.  Help NEEMA navigate that tough road ahead to reach her 100th birthday.  If you want to join the NEEMA Board, please see our NEEMA President, Susan Ballard, or our Membership Chair, Merlyn Miller, at this Conference.  Remember, NEEMA needs you!  Happy 90th birthday, NEEMA!  I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for NEEMA’s century celebration.”

New England School Library Association logo

Web site take 3.  I am not sure that this will be NESLA’s permanent web page or look, but we needed back our web presence because our site has been down a lot already in 2009!  I apologize for the inconvenience. Truly, part of the problem has been my lack of web developing skill.  So, here is my solution of the moment. I will continue to make updates because, so far, this is pretty easy!  (And I am grateful for that!) Let me know what you think!