Complimentary AASL preconference prepares librarians for disaster recovery

CHICAGO — The Association of School Librarians (AASL) has added a complimentary disaster recovery workshop to its preconference line up taking place at the American Library Association (ALA) 2013 Annual Conference. The half-day session, “Beyond Words: How to Recover from a Disaster in Your Library,” will take place from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, June 28 in Chicago. For more information on this and other AASL offerings, visit www.ala.org/aasl/annual.

Funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, the “Beyond Words” preconference workshop will help attendees evaluate their school library program’s current disaster preparedness plan to identify gaps and build solutions to overcome them. With the guidance of facilitator Christie Kaaland, attendees will leave the hands-on session with a comprehensive plan on how to recover from high-profile natural disasters and other unexpected events.

As part of the presentation, attendees will also hear from the two newly named recipients of the first catastrophic disaster relief grants offered as part of the part of AASL’s Beyond Words Grant which is also funded by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. The recipients will share their experiences and relate the ease of applying for a Beyond Words grant. Since 2006, the grant program has funded recovery grants for 137 schools in 20 states with more than 1.3 million in grant monies.

AASL encourages all librarians interested in attending this or other AASL preconferences workshops to register now at ala13.ala.org.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library field.

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation awards grants annually to schools, nonprofit organizations and libraries to support education and literacy in the communities where its customers, employees and their families live and work. Available grants and a complete list of grant recipients are available at www.dgliteracy.org. Dollar General is a leading discount retailer with 10,000 stores in 40 states. The company has a longstanding tradition of supporting literacy and education. Since 1993, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $71.2 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping more than 4.1 million individuals take their first steps toward literacy, a general education diploma or English proficiency. To learn more about Dollar General, visit www.dollargeneral.com.