NewsLeader - 2005 Fall/Winter

American Association of School Librarians (AASL) National Conference
“Every Student Achieves @ Your Library”
Submitted by Rosalind Dennis

The AASL 12 th National Conference and Exhibition was held October 6-9, 2005, in Pittsburgh, PA. AASL registered 3,883 librarians, exhibitors, and guests for its conference, which represented an 11% increase in attendance from the last conference. “The energy and enthusiasm of program presenters and attendees were fantastic,” said AASL President J. Linda Williams. “Sssh isn’t really in our vocabulary.” This was an accurate assessment by the president because the energy flowed and was quite evident in the general sessions, concurrent sessions, Exploratorium, and exhibits.

Conference Highlights

  • Over 100 concurrent sessions were offered for conference goers.
  • The Exploratorium provided an opportunity for conference goers to explore over 55 stations (including our own Georgia stations: Get On Board With the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, Library Media Program Leads the Way to Improving Students’ Health, Georgia Read More) that exemplified the best practices in school librarianship.
  • Coach Ken Carter, the nationally famous high school basketball coach and subject of the recent movie, Coach Carter, was the keynote speaker at the Opening General Session. He shared his story and brought his own school librarian to the stage and thanked her for making a difference in his life.
  • Chris Crutcher, the young adult author, was the featured speaker at the Author Banquet held on Friday night. Crutcher’s book, “Whale Talk,” was a conference-wide read. Attendees had the opportunity to share their views and reactions to the book at two discussion group sessions.
  • Jerry Spinelli, author of Stargirl and Maniac Magee, was the featured speaker at the Author Brunch on Sunday morning.
  • The closing general session featured a panel discussion by nationally known presenters (Mike Eisenberg, Steven Baule, Keith Curry Lance, and Ross Todd) about student achievement research data and libraries.

To get a detailed glimpse of conference proceedings, visit the AASL Website where you will find the following resources and links:

  • Conference handouts (available to conference attendees until mid-December)
  • AASL Advocate, the daily conference newspaper (available for download in PDF)
  • AASL National Conference Blog (conference discussions and reports).

The 13 th AASL National Conference will be held in Reno, Nevada in 2007. Get ready!