From the editor…
Susan K. S. Grigsby
Welcome to our first (working, functional) online issue of the GLMA NewsLeader. As many of you are aware, the Winter issue was fraught with problems and, since those problems were not resolved, there was no Spring issue. After coming to terms with my feelings of being overwhelmed by the whole transition from paper to computer, we now have the GLMA NewsLeader completely online. I’d like to take this space to thank Bonnie Reavis at
Zenith Design Group for her help and sage advice. She really helped me to put my ideas into focus so that I wasn’t simply transferring the newsletter from print to online without some re-thinking on the format.
In the Fall of this year, every LMS in Georgia will receive a postcard announcing that issue with a link to our new website. I hope all of you current GLMA members will take that opportunity to “talk up” our organization and bring more Georgia school librarians into our fold. Every voice counts when it comes to providing the best in library services to the students of our state. While there were many issues that worked against Governor Barnes’ re-election, GLMA and its sister organizations of GAIT and GLA made a huge difference in bringing about an awareness of the dire straights in which he left school libraries by cutting $14 million from our budgets. We must now make Governor Perdue just as aware of how the children of Georgia are suffering by being educated in a system that has the one of the lowest per-pupil library expenditure in the entire nation. You may be aware that Gov. Perdue released the funding to keep foreign language programs in schools after visiting Europe and seeing the value of a second language to learning. What can we do to make him just as aware of the value of a strong school library collection, program, and media specialist? Well, one small step is to bring in more Georgia LMSs into GLMA so that our organization can work for you with one strong voice. I would like to challenge each GLMA member to bring in one new member this year and, together, we CAN make a difference.
Please send me your comments, your thoughts, and your ideas for making our online NewsLeader useful for you, the members and future members of GLMA. How can we help each other throughout the State? What is it YOU want to know about school libraries and their programs in Georgia? You can write to me via email at:
skg0577@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
or you can send me a letter c/o Midvale Elementary School; 3836 Midvale Road; Tucker, GA 30084. Enjoy your summer and enjoy your libraries!
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