My name is Scottie Bruch, and this week, I officially take over the reins from Alissa Adams as your new School Library Technology Coordinator. We wish Alissa all the best as she heads back to the classroom, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to work/train with her over the last month.

I will be working remotely from my home near Sturgis, where I just closed out my 8th year as the head district librarian for the Meade School District - overseeing 1 high school and 2 middle school libraries. Before becoming a school librarian, I was also a middle school social studies and reading teacher, and I had a wonderful few years as the assistant director and teen services coordinator at the Sturgis Public Library.

I am looking forward to my new role and specifically to providing support and services for all of the wonderful library staff across the state. I fully understand that we may all be in the same storm, but we are most definitely not in the same boat. My experiences in the classroom and in a variety of library settings have taught me that libraries are prioritized quite differently within each district and even within each school in a district. I've also learned that librarians are resilient and we can do so much with whatever we have to work with!

My goal is to give you even more to work with! So, as we move forward, please share what you would like to learn, what resources would be most helpful, and what support I can provide. I can be reached via email at scottie.bruch@state.sd.us.

Grant funding to the tune of $1.9m has been awarded to 78 South Dakota libraries, 22 of which are school libraries. These grants are funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

The school library recipients plan to use this funding on new technology to replace old technology, podcasting equipment, digitization equipment, books, audio books, e-books, 3D printers and other Makerspace equipment, furniture with embedded technology, library automation software, and more!

Congratulations to libraries from the following school districts:

Aberdeen, Bison, Brookings, Centerville, Clark, Dakota Valley, Faith, Flandreau, Harrisburg, Irene, Kimball, Lyman, Madison, McCrossan Boys Ranch, McIntosh, Mitchell, New Underwood, Newell, Pierre, Sioux Falls, Stanley County, Watertown, and Yankton.

This is a phenomenal resource to have on hand for yourself, and also for your teachers, students, and parents!