AASL Announces Relaunch of AASL Standards Web Portal

AASL Announces Relaunch of AASL Standards Web Portal

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) today announced the relaunch of the AASL Standards web portal, providing school librarians and their learning communities with an enhanced digital resource for exploring, understanding, implementing, and advocating for the second edition of the National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries.

The redesigned portal offers an improved experience for navigating the AASL Standards and discovering the resources that support their application in teaching and learning environments. With streamlined navigation, curated collections, improved search functionality, and a growing library of new, second edition-aligned resources, the site provides users with clearer pathways from learning about the standards to putting them into practice.

“This relaunch is about much more than a new website. It is about making the AASL Standards and the second edition more accessible and actionable for the people who use them,” said April Dawkins, AASL President. “The standards are an essential tool for implementation, but they are also an important tool for advocacy. When school librarians can easily find the language, guidance, examples, and resources they need, they are better equipped to communicate the value of their work and demonstrate the role of school librarians and libraries in student learning. This new portal gives our profession a stronger home base for doing both.”

The relaunched portal features:

• Streamlined navigation — Optimized for desktop and mobile viewing, the site uses crosslinking to guide visitors to related content and logical next steps as they explore the standards.
• “Get Started” guide — Whether visiting the site for the first time, reconnecting with the standards, or approaching them from another role in education, users can find a clear pathway for orientation and exploration.
• History page — A timeline chronicles major developments, publications, and shifts in professional thinking that have shaped a century of school library standards.
• Curated collections — Visitors can explore resources, tools, and guidance curated for different members of the learning community or organized around specific Shared Foundations.
• New, aligned resources — The Content Library features a substantial collection of new resources aligned to the second edition, organized around users’ learning and practice needs—from becoming familiar with the standards to applying them in instruction and sharing them with colleagues and other stakeholders.
• Practical site enhancements — Improved search, tags and filters make content easier to find, while a glossary of key terms, a style guide for writing and presenting about the standards, and other enhancements provide additional support for users.

“The difference in the site experience is really outstanding,” said Jennifer Sturge, AASL Standards Committee Co-chair. “The previous site gave people access to the standards, but this new portal makes it much easier to find your way through them. The organization, connections between pages, and ability to discover related resources make the whole site just really user friendly. You can come to the site with a need and have a clear sense of where to start looking and where to go next.”

The portal also brings together an expanded body of resources developed to support the second edition of the standards and the varied needs of the school library community.

“There is so much here to explore,” said Marie Langevin, AASL Standards Committee Co-chair. “The new Content Library brings together a wealth of resources that help make the standards useful in day-to-day practice, whether you are learning the framework for the first time, planning instruction, working with colleagues, or explaining the standards to your administrators and community. Having these resources together in one place and organized around what people are actually trying to do is a tremendous step forward.”

The AASL Standards articulate a shared vision for the future of school librarianship and provide a framework for guiding learners through the inquiry, collaboration, curation, exploration, and engagement that characterize inclusive K–12 learning environments today. The relaunched portal is designed to support the second edition standards as both a framework for practice and a resource for communicating the essential role of school libraries in teaching and learning.

The relaunched AASL Standards web portal is available at standards.aasl.org.

For more information about the AASL Standards and resources for school librarians, visit the relaunched web portal.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.