On the AASL Campaign Trail
-- School Library Journal, 1/18/2006
Sara Kelly Johns, a media specialist at Lake Placid Middle/Senior High School in New York, is seeking the 2007—2008 presidency of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Next week we'll speak with the opposing candidate, Cassandra Barnett.
Why should people vote for you?
I have the energy and the expertise and experience with which I can make a difference for AASL and school librarians and students. I have a vision for AASL that involves strong national advocacy, and I've been a library advocate—because I'm a student advocate—for my whole career.
Can you be more specific about the visions you have in mind?
We have a BHAG—a big hairy audacious goal—and our BHAG is that school library media specialists will be universally recognized as indispensable educational leaders. We are definitely looking at using technology better to be faster and more responsive. No one can afford to give up their time.
The organization can't afford for the board to meet any more often than it does, but we can through technology. I have spent most of my Christmas vacation in the last couple of weeks putting together an American Library Association council resolution using a Wiki, with about 10 people from around the country, about the 65 percent solution, and this will be ready for review by ALA at midwinter.
A lot of school librarians are not members of AASL. Do you plan to bring them into the fold?
Technology is related to that. I will have a blog shortly after midwinter. The blog will be an opportunity for members and nonmembers to send me their issues. We have to take advantage of all of the ways people communicate in order to meet the issues that face the profession faster.
So where does the role of the media specialist end and the role of the tech coordinator begin?
Because of the uneven funding for school libraries and staffing for school libraries, there is no one model where the tech coordinator ends and the school librarian begins. Some librarians are the Webmasters in their schools, some librarians don't have the password to override filters. There is such a broad range.
I would like every librarian to—if not be the chair of—then a member of the technology team in their school. No decision on technology should be made without some input from the school librarian.
Can you imagine a school library being largely digital?
I think reference books, the periodicals collection, can be largely digital. But I highly value the in-depth quality of books. So I can see it being largely, but never wholly digital.
What are the some of the top issues you plan to tackle if you become president?
Top on my agenda is to work with other educational agencies and organizations to ensure that they will recognize the crucial role of school librarians. So advocacy is a priority; advocacy not only with legislators, but advocacy with other educational organizations like the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Association of School Boards, and ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)—a natural partner for AASL.
