Applications Open for 2019 AASL Awards

Applications for the 2019 awards season are now available! AASL members are encouraged to nominate a colleague or themselves to be lauded for their outstanding talent and dedication to the profession as part of this prestigious program. AASL awards and grants recognize excellence and showcase best practices in the school library field in categories that include collaboration, leadership and innovation.   Awards

National School Library of the Year Award, sponsored by Follett Awards $10,000 and a crystal obelisk, to a school library that meets the needs of the changing school and library environment and is fully integrated into the school's curriculum

Distinguished Service Award, sponsored by Rosen Awards $3,000 to an individual member of the library profession who has, over a significant period of time, made an outstanding national contribution to school librarianship and school library development.

Affiliate of the Year Award Awards a $1,000 stipend to the AASL Affiliate most active and dynamic in achieving the goals of AASL at the state and local level.

Collaborative School Library Award, sponsored by Upstart Awards $2,500, to a partnership between school librarians and educators in meeting goals outlined in AASL's "National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries" through joint planning of a program, unit or event in support of the curriculum and using school library resources.

Distinguished School Administrator Award, sponsored by ProQuest Awards $2,000 to a school administrator who has made worthy contributions to the operations of an exemplary school library and to advancing the role of the school library in the educational program.

Frances Henne Award, sponsored by ABC-CLIO Awards a school librarian with five or fewer years in the field $1,250 to attend an ALA Annual Conference or AASL National Conference for the first time.

Intellectual Freedom Award, sponsored by ProQuest Awards $2,000 to the recipient and $1,000 to the school library of the winner's choice, in recognition of upholding the principles of intellectual freedom as set forth by AASL and ALA.

Roald Dahl's Miss Honey Social Justice Award, sponsored by Penguin Random House Awards $8,000 in funds and books to AASL members who have collaboratively designed a lesson, event, or course of study on social justice exemplified by a character from Roald Dahl's books.

Grants

ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant, sponsored by ABC-CLIO Awards up to $1,750, to a school library association that is an AASL affiliate for planning and implementing a leadership program at the state, regional or local levels

Innovative Reading Grant, sponsored by Capstone Awards $2,500 to fund literacy projects for grades K-9 that promote the importance of reading and facilitate literacy development by supporting current reading research, practice and policy.

Inspire Collection Development Grant, sponsored by Marina "Marney" Welmers Awards up to $5,000 to public middle or high schools to extend, update, and diversify their book, online, subscription and/or software collections in order to realize sustainable improvement in student achievement.

Inspire Special Event Grant, sponsored by Marina "Marney" Welmers Awards up to $2,000 to public middle or high schools to create new or enhance existing extracurricular activities in order to increase student academic achievement.

Past-Presidents Planning Grant for National School Library Standards,  sponsored by Roger & Susan D. Ballard and Cassandra Barnett Annually awards $2,500 to three AASL affiliates to plan and execute an event, initiative, or activity focused on the implementation of the new AASL "National School Library Standards." Grants are presented in honor of AASL past-presidents.

The Ruth Toor Grant for Strong Public School Libraries, sponsored by Jay Toor Awards $5,000 in funding and travel for the creation and implementation of a local public awareness/marketing campaign that promotes and positions their school library as a necessary resource in the community.

#WEMTA19 Call for Proposals

#WEMTA19 is happening March 31st - April 1st in Wisconsin Dells at Kalahari Resort and we want you to present! Have more than one idea for a session? New this year, if more than one of your sessions are selected, you will receive a bigger presenter discount. 

Poster session	$15 off for primary presenter or $30 off for primary presenter if presenting at both poster sessions
1 session	$50 off for primary presenter
2 sessions	$100 off for primary presenter
3 sessions	$150 off for primary presenter
4 sessions	Free for primary presenter

You can find the complete directions for submitting your proposals here. Questions? Email program@wemta.org. 

WEMTA members present to Legislative Study Committee on CSF

WEMTA members presented to the Legislative  Council Study Committee on the Investment and Use of the School Trust Funds today. Advocacy for school library funding continues!

Wonder Workshop

Bring coding to life in all classrooms! Sign up for @WonderWorkshop’s new online courses, #TeachWonder & get a Dash Robot + course ($450 value) for $125 through #WEMTA partnership - more info here: https://www.wemta.org/learn/teach-wonder-workshop.cfm

DPI update on Badgerlink

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) recently completed a Request for Bid (RFB) procurement process working through the Wisconsin Department of Administration as statutorily required.  The process was designed to maximize DPI’s buying power by selecting the lowest-cost bidder that could provide a product that best meets rigorous mandatory standards for electronic content in 13 separate Collection areas.

DPI recognized the total cost of the Collections might exceed the current BadgerLink budget and for the first time, the RFB included a clause allowing municipally funded library organizations to purchase selected Collections the DPI could not. Bidders were informed the price they provided for any Collection could be shared with those municipally-funded library organizations to make it easy for them to make purchases without having to conduct separate investigations and negotiations.

The subject areas to be included in Collections were determined with input from the Wisconsin library community. The community also provided input to the mandatory specifications for Collections.

DPI is signing contracts for all but two of the 13 separate electronic Collections included in the RFB. Public, school, or academic libraries may collaborate to identify a municipally-funded fiscal agent to purchase those two other Collections. If a statewide consortial purchase is made through this process, the DPI BadgerLink team is willing to host and provide technical support to the two additional collections on the BadgerLink website.  

DPI is NOT licensing the following two Collections:

Collection 11: Full text Works of Literature.

Vendor and product selected:  Cengage Learning (Gale) - LitFinder

Price specified for the initial two-year (FY19 and FY20) contract: $52,000

Collection12: Language Learning Resources

Vendor and product selected: Recorded Books - Transparent Languages Online

Price specified for the initial two-year (FY19 and FY20) contract: $69,000

Any library organization interested in learning about responses submitted by vendors not selected for any of the Collections included in the RFB should contact Martha Berninger (martha.berninger@dpi.wi.gov or 608-224-6161).

Thank you,

Martha Berninger

Director, Department of Public Instruction

Resources for Libraries and Lifelong Learning

608-224-6161

BadgerLink Announcement

The Department of Public Instruction is signing contracts for BadgerLink resources selected through the Request for Bid (RFB) led by the Department of Administration.  DPI is eager to update and enhance BadgerLink resources, and plans to release them as soon as possible, and hopefully within weeks. 

However, because of the cost of the selected resources is greater than the current BadgerLink budget, DPI will not be able to sign contracts for all the Collections included in the RFB. Decisions about which Collections will be purchased are still being made.  They are being based on feedback from the library community, usage patterns and the availability of other resources that generally meet the same needs.

At this time, the Department of Public Instruction has determined that it will not be licensing the Cengage LitFinder database, which has been a part of BadgerLink since 2008 and Transparent Learning Online from Recorded Books, which represented a new content area, vendor and product. 

The RFB Cooperative Purchasing clause allows municipally funded library (including public libraries, the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium, the CESA Support Network and libraries represented by the System and Resource Library Administrator’s Association of Wisconsin) to contract with selected vendors for the selected resources at the same rates vendors agreed to in the RFB process.  Any library organization interested in exploring that option can contact Martha.Berninger@dpi.wi.gov for more information.  Please bear in mind that DPI is not able to share any information about unsuccessful bids submitted by vendors not selected. 

Thank you for your interest in the future of BadgerLink and your support. DPI will share regular updates on the process. 

Martha Farley Berninger

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Director, Resources for Libraries and Lifelong Learning

PET Figurine Fundraiser

Check out some lovely reading-related figurines at https://sites.google.com/a/wemta.org/petfigurines/  If interested, please fill out the form on the website by July 14th. All proceeds benefit PET (Permanent Endowment Trust) which provides scholarships & grants for WEMTA members. Pick up near: Madison, Milwaukee/Waukesha, WI Dells or Wausau. Thank you to Pat Wende for the donations. Have a great summer! The PET Committee