Events for School Librarians

UPDATE 10/17/21: Unfortunately, this live event will not take place on October 18th but will be rescheduled before the winter break. Thank you for RSVPing to stay in touch. 

Our nation's schools are on an unfortunate path. Administrators have been cutting school librarian positions and budgets for school library collections for years. When corporate education reform initiatives have stripped classrooms of the ability to develop a student's love of reading, we need robust school libraries back in every school to help every student realize their potential. With an epidemic of fake news and low levels of information literacy skills, we need to restore school librarian positions to help close the gaps. As educators and stakeholders, it's important to re-engage the discussion about viable solutions to these challenges.

Please join BATs, the Badass Teachers Association, and EveryLibrary for a SaveSchoolLibrarians discussion about the role and impact of an effective school library on the fabric of our schools. This discussion will feature the real-world experience of school library leaders from several school settings and will be co-moderated by Melissa Tomlinson from BATS and John Chrastka from EveryLibrary.  

Strengthening the Fabric of our Schools - The Role of the School Library
DATE TBD - Late 2021
RSVP Now to receive your link to the live event and on-demand access to the archive 

Panelists will include K.C. Boyd, School Librarian, Washington DC Public Schools; Beth Thomas, School Librarian, Summit NJ.; Nichole Beer, Library Media Specialist, Clark County (NV) School District;and Kathy Ishizuka, Editor, School Library Journal. Panelists are subject to change. 

SaveSchoolLibrarians.org is an advocacy initiative from EveryLibrary, the first national political action committee for libraries. The site is a pro-bono digital campaign platform for school library-focused advocacy and activism. EveryLibrary supports school librarians and their allies in campaigns to restore or extend funding for positions, programs, and collections. 

About our Panelists

Beth Thomas has been a middle school library media specialist in Summit, NJ since 2001 and is the Immediate Past President of the New Jersey Association of School Librarians. She received a BA in English from Drew University and a Masters in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University. 

K.C. Boyd is a school librarian with the District of Columbia Public Schools System.  She has previously worked as the Lead Librarian for the East St. Louis School District #189 in East St. Louis, IL., a Area Library Coordinator for Chicago Public Schools and a District  Coordinator for the Mayor Daley Book Club for Middle School Students.  She serves on the executive boards for the District of Columbia Library Association, and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, and the EveryLibrary Institute. 

Kathy Ishizuka is Editor in Chief of School Library Journal and directs partnerships and innovation for both SLJ and sister publication Library Journal. An award-winning journalist, Ishizuka was named among FOLIO's Top Women in Media in 2019.

Nichole Beer has been a public elementary school librarian for 21 years and has taught college social justice English for the last 6 years. Her doctoral work focused on Latine picture books and she holds a post-doctoral certificate in equity and inclusive education from Cornell University. 

The Badass Teachers Association (BATs) was formed as a group of educators and community supporters of public education that refuse to take the blame for the issues of society that impact our public school systems. Their commitment to discussions and dialogs like this webinar is always focused on building partnerships and coalitions to improve education. Find out more about the BATs community at https://www.badassteacher.org.