A Division of the American Library Association

President's Page

aasl board president

Audrey Church

AASL President
2016 - 2017

Professor of School Librarianship
Longwood University
Farmville, VA

School librarians transform student learning, and what an exciting year we have ahead of us as the only national professional membership organization focused on school librarians and the school library community. Empowering Learners (2009) suggests that school librarians are teachers, instructional partners, information specialists, instructional leaders, and program administrators. Expanding on these roles, I would suggest that school librarians are master teachers, literacy leaders, technology integrators, and innovation specialists. School librarians empower students to become “critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers, and ethical users of information” (Empowering Learners, 2009, 8). We provide instruction in digital literacy skills and rigorous, inquiry-based, personalized learning experiences supported by technology. With P.L. 114-95 The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 and its language which includes school librarians and school libraries, tremendous opportunities present themselves. As an organization we will provide leadership and guidance to our affiliates and members regarding implementation at the state and local level. It is up to all of us, AASL as an organization and each of us as school library professionals, to speak up loudly for school libraries and the impact they make on student learning.