AASL presents the National School Library Media Program of the Year Award for 2001
Contact: Steven Hofmann
312-280-4389
ALA News Release
For Immediate Release
July 2001
AASL presents the National School Library Media Program of the Year Award for 2001
The winners of the 2001 National School Library Media Program of the Year Award, DeKalb County (Ga.) School System and the Corbett Elementary School (Tucson, Ariz.), were announced at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Award Ceremony, June 18, 2001. The ceremony was held during the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in San Francisco.
The winners were chosen from two categories, large school district and a single school, and received $8,000 for exemplary school library media programs that are fully integrated into the school's curriculum. An award was not given in the small school district category.
The DeKalb County School System received the award in the large school district category. Since last fall, the school system provided digital editing and multimedia equipment to all 118 of its library media centers, introduced a new
Curriculum Design Blueprint, integrated resource-based teaching and information literacy skills into the curriculum and approved the creation of a library media specialist at-large position for the 2000-2001 school year.
"This award validates our efforts and accomplishments as of 2001. However, as long as there are new administrators, new teachers, new students, new technology, new ideas and new information, our mission is not realized," Director of Department of Educational Media Patricia Pickard said. "We will continue to plan and administer our library media center activities, goals and vision to provide support and protect the integrity of the library media program as a vital, contributing factor to the overall instructional program of the schools we serve."
In the single school category, the award was presented to Corbett Elementary School Corbett's library, considered the hub of the school, also serves as a community meeting and learning center. The library serves as a meeting place for the Corbett Neighborhood Association and a parent's support group. The school promotes its library's "open door" policy to the public and allows students and their families to use the library's computers and print materials.
"Corbett Elementary School serves a population that is very low socioeconomically," Kim Grimes, librarian at Corbett Elementary said. "We believe that students can break out of their framework of poverty by getting a sound education, learning resiliency skills and cooperative learning, and becoming responsible citizens so they can be productive in the real world."
"Everyone linked to Corbett believes that the library is the key to achieving these goals," Grimes added. "The entire community is rejoicing in receiving this prestigious award because they know they are instrumental in the library's success."
AASL's National School Library Media Program of the Year Award, sponsored by Follett Library Resources, emphasizes the importance of the school library media program as an integral part of the instructional process, vital to the curriculum for quality education; demonstrates the fundamental value of excellent school library media programs in the personal and social development of the future leaders, our youth; identifies positive models which, though their approaches may be unique to the specific school community, still share the common goals and principles of meeting the information needs of users; and encourages the development of library media programs that are the result of the collaborative efforts of all those who are responsible for student learning.
AASL is a division of the ALA.
