OELMA
ADVOCATING FOR ALL OHIO K-12 LEARNERS
OELMA: 38 Years Working for You and for K-12 Learners
OELMA is Ohio's preeminent professional association for highly effective school librarians and libraries. OELMA's mission is to advocate for all Ohio K-12 learners through high-quality professional development for school librarians so that you can meet the needs of Ohio's K-12 learners and help them achieve.
What Is Advocacy?
Advocacy is the on-going process of building partnerships so that others will act for you and with you, turning passive support into educated action for the library program (AASL).
Advocacy starts at the grassroots level. Every school librarian encounters opportunities to advocate for the profession on a daily basis. At its most basic level, advocacy is story-telling. How you interact with students, teachers and administrators every day tells a story about the importance of the school librarian to student achievement.
How Does OELMA Advocate?
- Providing on-going professional development to equip members to build partnerships at the building and district level;
- Building partnerships with like-minded associations to help spread the message about the importance of school libraries staffed by licensed school librarians for student achievement.
- Creating an ADvocate Team composed of one OELMA member from each region who serves as the coordinator of regional advocacy events.
- Working with associations such as OEA and OFT.
- Testifying at State Board of Education meetings.
How Does AASL Advocate?
- Lobbying at the national level for school libraries
- Providing Information to facilitate the school librarian's role as advocate for their program - this includes position statements, AASL developed professional development, relevant reports, research and statistics, and white papers
- Providing resources such as toolkits such as the Health and Wellness Toolkit and the School Librarian's Role in Reading Toolkit. These are free resources available at http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/tools/toolkits.
How Can You Help?
The ABC's of Advocacy
- Advocating for Ohio's K-12 learners - always. It's about equal access to a quality educational program that accounts for the intellectual and emotional development of the whole child.
- Building partnerships at the building, district, regional and state level that demonstrate the importance of a high-quality library program to the whole child's intellectual and emotional development.
- Creating an advocacy network in your region. This is critical if the OELMA leadership is to be proactive in working with a school district. The advocacy network should be composed of parents and learners who can be called upon to address the need for high-quality school libraries. Visit I Love Libraries (http://www.ilovelibraries.org/) for some ideas.
Contact OELMA
Email: oelma@assnoffices.com
Website: http://www.oelma.org/
Location: 17 S. High Street Suite 200 Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: 614-228-4733
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OELMA.org