Dear GLMA Family:
I’ve been thinking about all of you a lot these days. To an extent, we are doing what we always do - collaborating with teachers, providing resources to our students, and supporting our administrators - but now everything is online. Many of us worked very long hours those first few weeks trying to help everyone with the transition. We’re master troubleshooters, and we can guide others as they develop in their digital communication and teaching.
But we miss our people. We miss our students and our colleagues. We’re worried about them. We’re unsure of our decisions in this unprecedented time. We feel out of sorts not surrounded by books...not able to hand books to students.
Our GLMA community is a great comfort to me, and I hope it is for you, too. I know I can find inspiration through social media postings, camaraderie through conversations, and so many colleagues willing to share their work for the benefit of others.
I encourage you to follow along on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook. Reach out to folks who use the #glma or #galibchat hashtag. It’s too easy to be isolated these days, so send a message to someone you’ve admired from afar and strike up a conversation. Create or join a virtual book club with other library folks. Encourage colleagues to join in our community. Stop by the virtual CoffeeEDU on Wednesday this week. We spend a lot of time supporting others, so please be sure you connect with others that can build you back up.
Stay healthy, and take care of yourself, too.
Holly Frilot, GLMA President
Summer Institute
It was such a difficult decision to cancel Summer Institute. So many of us look forward to that every year as a time to connect, learn, and prepare for the school year ahead. Your SI committee members, led by Christa Deissler, SI Coordinator, work so hard each year to put together an amazing lineup of speakers and sessions and vendors. I want to thank them for all their work, both in planning SI and then working through the many cancellation details.
And thank you to our presenters and vendors for their commitment to SI, along with Wendy Cope, Grants and Awards Coordinator, for continuing the good work of shining a positive light on library media programs. We are exploring ways to celebrate and continue our learning online.
In all of this, I am so excited that SI 2021 will be in SAVANNAH! We listened to your feedback and the SI team searched and found a beautiful new venue right on River Street at the Hyatt Regency. We can all look forward to learning together again and being inspired by a charming, historical city.
President's Update
When I became GLMA President about a year ago, I asked our GLMA board to focus on growing our community through communication and advocacy. I am so proud of the Communications team and the leadership of Becky Nipper, Communications Coordinator. They have dedicated themselves to effectively communicating with you through emails, social media, and our website.
On the advocacy front, Nan Brown, Advocacy Coordinator, is leading us all through ways to advocate for our programs. While it may seem like a distant memory in light of recent events, Nan, along with Amanda Lee, did an amazing job keeping us all current on HB1041 and providing ways to communicate with legislators.
When I reflect on this past year, I have to remind myself that we are a volunteer army. The commitment to serve the library media community throughout the state of Georgia is a powerful thing. I am proud to serve as GLMA President, and cannot thank Jennifer Helfrich, Past-President, and Martha Bongiorno, President-Elect, enough for their guidance, support, and the many, many hours they dedicate to this organization.
We may be in unchartered territory these days, but I hope you feel the support of GLMA behind you.
Happy National School Library Month!