Greetings from the GLMA Board of Directors! As I approach the end of my term as President of GLMA I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve. It has been a busy year full of challenges. While we are actively working to restore our school library media budget and to let our legislators, communities, administrators, faculty and staff members know what a difference school library media specialists make in student achievement, we need to take time to recognize our victories.  In this season it is important to celebrate the successes of the school year. One successful venture co-sponsored by GLMA and the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) is the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. On March 27th the second annual state level Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl competition will take place at Columbia High School in DeKalb County. For the first time this year we will have high school teams competing. I am excited about this competition and plan to enter a team in this competition. The deadline for registering for the competition is January 23, 2004. To learn more about the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl you should come to watch a competition. The DeKalb County competition will take place on March 20, 2004 and the state competition is one week later. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend one of these events. Bring your principal and teachers to witness this awe-inspiring event.

We are approaching the 2004 legislative session and need to be advocates for our library media centers. Invite your senator or representative to visit your school library media center. Let them see you in action and witness the work we do to improve student achievement. Let them know about the best practices for media centers and why we need to have funding restored for our programs. For advocacy tools look at the “Restore the Funds” campaign on GLMA’s legislative page. Library Day at the Capitol is another important event to attend. Make sure you take time to be a spokesperson for Georgia’s school library media centers.

I don’t know where 2003 went, do you? 2004 is just around the corner and I just cleaned up from last year’s holiday party. It seems like I was just picking my daughter up from summer camp and now I’m decorating a Christmas tree! Have you ever had a day when you finally take your last bite of breakfast only to be interrupted by your principal because you’re late for lunch duty? (I used to have a Media Clerk that had to remind me to go eat lunch before the cafeteria stopped serving!)

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