Mia Gittlen selected as 2024 AASL Emerging Leader

CHICAGO – Mia Gittlen has been selected as one of two participants sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) in the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2024 Emerging Leaders program. The Emerging Leaders program enables library workers from across the country to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. Gittlen and Dawn Shirk will join 48 of their peers as the program kicks off during ALA’s LibLearnX event in Baltimore, MD.

Gittlen, of Oakland, California, is expected to earn a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University in fall 2024. She received a Master of Education with a focus on Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University in 2003, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1999. Gittlen holds or is pursuing certifications as an Apple Teacher (2021) and Apple Learning Coach (anticipated 2023), Chief Innovation Officer (2018), Google Certified Educator (2016), Makerspace Coordinator (2018), Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (2020), PBS Media Literacy Educator (anticipated 2023), and teaching credentials in English (2015), History (2013), and Library (anticipated 2024). She is part of a four-educator team from Prospect Sierra School in El Cerrito that received AASL’s 2023 Roald Dahl's Miss Honey Social Justice Award for their “Global Human Rights Research Project.”

Gittlen is currently the K-8 Head Librarian at Redwood Day School in Oakland, where she also serves as the tech teacher leader and yearbook coordinator and advisor. She has also held teaching and consulting roles in instructional technology, social media, English, history, humanities and Minecraft, and in STEAM, ed tech, and equity.

As an assistant librarian, Glitten was empowered to initiate a Battle of the Books club and a consortium with four nearby middle schools, a model that she is now bringing to her new position as Head Librarian at Redwood Day School. The consortium worked to co-create a booklist that was representative, contemporary, and enticing for students. In the first year of the program, over fifty students participated in the book club at Glitten’s school and twenty students from her school competed with students from the other middle schools at the end of the year. Now in their third year, the consortium is finalizing their book list with fun titles using major food themes such as Grace Lin’s new book, Chinese Menu.

“I am excited about the possibility of being part of a cohort of relatively new librarians – to learn, to share, to collaborate, to be in community, and to co-create resources for our libraries that will benefit our patrons and our communities,” said Gittlen. “As a new Head Librarian just finishing up my MLIS program, I still have a lot to learn, but I also have a lot to contribute.”

Following the kickoff session, the Emerging Leaders will collaborate with their peers in an online learning and networking environment. Their work will culminate with a poster session during the 2024 ALA Annual Conference in San Diego, CA. With its sponsorship of Gittlen and Shirk, AASL will defray the cost of attending both LibLearnX and the 2024 ALA Annual Conference.

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

Gittlen, of Oakland, California, is expected to earn a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University in fall 2024. She received a Master of Education with a focus on Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University in 2003, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1999. Gittlen holds or is pursuing certifications as an Apple Teacher (2021) and Apple Learning Coach (anticipated 2023), Chief Innovation Officer (2018), Google Certified Educator (2016), Makerspace Coordinator (2018), Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (2020), PBS Media Literacy Educator (anticipated 2023), and teaching credentials in English (2015), History (2013), and Library (anticipated 2024). She is part of a four-educator team from Prospect Sierra School in El Cerrito that received AASL’s 2023 Roald Dahl's Miss Honey Social Justice Award for their “Global Human Rights Research Project.”

Gittlen is currently the K-8 Head Librarian at Redwood Day School in Oakland, where she also serves as the tech teacher leader and yearbook coordinator and advisor. She has also held teaching and consulting roles in instructional technology, social media, English, history, humanities and Minecraft, and in STEAM, ed tech, and equity.

As an assistant librarian, Glitten was empowered to initiate a Battle of the Books club and a consortium with four nearby middle schools, a model that she is now bringing to her new position as Head Librarian at Redwood Day School. The consortium worked to co-create a booklist that was representative, contemporary, and enticing for students. In the first year of the program, over fifty students participated in the book club at Glitten’s school and twenty students from her school competed with students from the other middle schools at the end of the year. Now in their third year, the consortium is finalizing their book list with fun titles using major food themes such as Grace Lin’s new book, Chinese Menu.

“I am excited about the possibility of being part of a cohort of relatively new librarians – to learn, to share, to collaborate, to be in community, and to co-create resources for our libraries that will benefit our patrons and our communities,” said Gittlen. “As a new Head Librarian just finishing up my MLIS program, I still have a lot to learn, but I also have a lot to contribute.”

Following the kickoff session, the Emerging Leaders will collaborate with their peers in an online learning and networking environment. Their work will culminate with a poster session during the 2024 ALA Annual Conference in San Diego, CA. With its sponsorship of Gittlen and Shirk, AASL will defray the cost of attending both LibLearnX and the 2024 ALA Annual Conference.

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