SLRI Update
End of the 2018-2019 School Year
Congrats to Our Award Winners!
On Wednesday, May 22, SLRI gave out the following awards and celebrated with a reception at the RILA conference, attended by no other than ALA President Wanda Brown.
Linda Aldrich Leadership Award
Sue Rose
The winner of our most prestigious award was nominated by her department: the Cranston Public School librarians described her as a "fearless leader" who "strives for diplomacy while fighting the good fight." Sue leads by example, constantly demonstrating collaboration, creative problem-solving, and communication. She has established strong partnerships with the Cranston Public Library, working to provide and promote library services across the city. Sue creates professional development specific to the needs of her department and serves as a mentor for everyone. In their words, the Cranston Public School librarians are lucky to have such a dedicated, kind, supportive leader.
From left: Sue Rose, Meredith Moore, Wanda Brown, Heidi Blais
School Librarian of the Year
Melanie Roy
A longtime classroom teacher at Hampden Meadows School in Barrington, Melanie went back to school for her MLIS and has been the library teacher there for several years. She is moving on to the middle school in the fall, but will leave a great legacy of inspiration, enthusiasm, and lots and lots of book love. Melanie conducts "book tastings" with her students, reads new titles constantly, and shares a weekly "Book Bites" newsletter with the entire school community. Her recommendations fuel a frenzy of ILL holds; last year, her students borrowed more than 1200 books from other libraries, five times as most other schools in the state. Melanie has forged relationships with authors and illustrators around the country, has strong ties with the public library, and runs family book clubs and this year, her first Rooster Games.
Melanie Roy and outgoing SLRI president Sarah Hunicke,
who received the RILA Librarian of the Year award
Mini Grants
Cynthia Alexandre and Heidi Blais
In what may be a first, the awards committee gave the same nearly perfect scores to two very different applications and decided to award both.
Cynthia will use the award at Goff Middle School in Pawtucket to increase student access to diverse titles at higher reading levels. In her essay, she wrote: "We feel strongly that every student should be able to see themselves reflected and affirmed in the literature available to them. We also feel that having the opportunity to read and learn about people different from yourself, especially in middle school, is an invaluable way to foster empathy and understanding towards other people." Clearly, Cynthia has a good understanding herself of what her students want to read; since she arrived at Goff, circulation has increased 35%.
Heidi will use the award at Cranston High School East to fund an "Explore the World Virtually" project. Students will be able to borrow smartphone compatible VR headsets to explore and enhance curricular topics. Students will also be able to create their own VR tours using Google street view as well as images they capture themselves on a 360 camera. Heidi notes that "My school has a large ESL population, and the multisensory VR experience as well as the 38 languages that are supported in Google Expeditions will bring learning to life for these students who often have difficulty understanding spoken and written language."
Maurice Tougas Award
Kelli McPartlin
Joining so many of us as a career changer, Kelli's background includes web site design, corporate telecommunications, and counterintelligence for the U.S. Army, as well as many years as a leader in her children's school's parents' group. She is currently the school librarian / IT specialist at the Prout School. In her application essay, Kelli discussed her plans to take the intimidation factor out of technology education, for students and especially faculty and administration. One specific goal is to promote tech tools to teachers via quick training sessions before school or during lunch.
Join Us for Board Meet-Ups Next Year
Thanks to everyone who voted in our executive board election. Our new president is Deanna Brooks, and our new vice-president is Joan Mouradjian. During the 2019-2020 school year, the board will meet quarterly, rotating restaurant locations so that at least one meeting is convenient for everyone to attend.
All members are always welcome - and we will provide appetizers! - but if you'd like to be an official board member, the following positions are available:
- Awards Chair - Timeframe: Spring - Responsibilities: Create and publicize nomination forms, recruit judges and create judging forms, compile results, write up remarks about winners
- Members at Large (5) - Timeframe: Four meetings throughout the year - Responsibilities: Share opinions on open issues
- Programs/Professional Development Chair - Timeframe: Year-round - Responsibilities: Create and publicize programs and learning opportunities in concert with RILA, manage attendance and provide PD evidence for attendees, share key learnings with membership, coordinate volunteers for annual events like Read Across America
Email Deanna Brooks at slri@rilibraries.org if you are interested.
Share Your Successes
Earlier this year, the School Library sub-committee of the Library Board of RI was formed to address issues of school librarians in the state. One focus of the group is to create a set of BEST PRACTICES for the expectations of what a full-time certified school librarian brings to the school. If you can share some anecdotal evidence of your work that the Board could highlight with their report, please click this link.
About Us
Email: slri.prez@gmail.com
Website: slri.info
Location: Rhode Island
Phone: -
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/School-Librarians-of-Rhode-Island-SLRI-141124869254764/
Twitter: @SchLibRi