Jennifer Abel

NCSLMA President

2023-2024

President’s Corner August 2023

I hope everyone is having a great last few weeks of summer or a great school year if you have already started! 

We are continuing to work with ALA and other library organizations in regard to SB90. Please check your email and our social media and website often for more details in the future. 

We still have some amazing summer learning series events happening in August so Don’t miss out on this great PD opportunity! 

Conference News:

Conference Webpage

Regular Registration for this year's conference August 31!!! All payments must be made by August 31st so make sure to register today!!! 

Make sure you are checking social media for all the information about this year's conference including keynote speakers, presenters and door prizes. There are soo many amazing door prizes coming in this year. 

The PR team for Conference 2023 is looking for stories of the magic happening in your library. We want to share on our social media outlets the great things NC School Librarians are doing in our libraries. But we need your help for that. Please consider submitting a photo or video that showcases your and/or your library's magic. It can be small magic, big magic, or anything in between.  

We will be taking these submissions until September 30, 2023. Our goal is to publish every submission. With almost 2000 members, we really hope to be overwhelmed with stories. :-)    https://forms.gle/NBADmwPYwUZyKaZw8

Make sure to follow the behind-the-scenes conference blog for updates on this year's conference!

Open Volunteer Positions: 

Have you wanted to volunteer with NCSLMA, but didn’t know where to start? We’re making it easy because we would love to have your talents supporting our organization! Check out the new Open Volunteer Positions on our website for information about current open positions. This list does change as positions become available, so make sure to check it often. If you see something that sounds like it would be a great fit, please consider volunteering. Not only will it help NCSLMA, you will also be able to show leadership at the state level on the DPI School Librarian Evaluation Tool.

Upcoming events: 

The Page Turners Book club will meet August 19th. This months book is “Camp Zero” By: Michelle Min Sterling
August AM Brew Crew -  August 5,  9:00 am - 11:00 am
August PM Brew Crew - August 25,  8:00 pm - 10:00 pm 
NCSLMA Town Hall - August 17, 7:00 pm

Jennifer always does a great job of letting everyone know what's coming up! I am glad I wait until the last minute to do my submission. Not really. It gives me anxiety to wait so long. So that's what I'm talking about this month.

I suffer from Impostor Syndrome pretty heavily. And it's really bad this year for some reason. Wait, I know why. It's because I'm doing too much and it's finally caught up with me. Because I never think I'm good enough or doing enough, I sign up for a lot of things. Too many things. Then I get overwhelmed and depressed and I shut down. Then things don't get done and I feel like a failure and the whole process starts over. I know I'm not alone in this, so I want to share my story to let you all you know that you're not alone, either. 

I'm not going to go into the details of what Impostor Syndrome and why we have it and how we can overcome it. There's tons of research out there and I'm not good at taking advice, so I suffer. But no longer in silence! 

Here are the things I have taken on this year because I don't think I'm doing a good enough job.
President-Elect of NCSLMA (and have to plan a whole conference)
Digital Coaching Cohort
DPI DLC School Librarian Steering Committee
NCBOLD Ambassador
ReThink Education Blended Learning Cohort
Applied to be a DPI School Librarian Digital Coaching Advisor (still waiting to hear)
NCCAT School Librarian session this summer that I had to drop out of because I just couldn't take on anymore and it made me sick to send that e-mail. I just couldn't do it. 

Seriously, why do I do this to myself??? Because there is only so much I can do in my school. I don't need or necessarily want people to know who I am and what my name is (and I'm seriously stunned when anyone knows me outside my family or school or district). I just want to be better at my job and help advocate for school librarians. I want to further the field of school librarianship. It is not only my job, it is my passion and such a deep part of myself that I don't know where Kristy stops and the librarian starts. 

Having said all that, I am going to work super hard this year on setting and adhering to boundaries. So in addition to the NCSLMA blog being about conference, it will also include some boundaries I am setting and how I am doing in actually meeting them. I know I will fail along the way, but I have got to do better at protecting my mental health against my own self. 

I am very much looking forward to the NCSLMA Book Club and Brew Crews because I get to be myself and do something just for me. I urge you to find things that you enjoy at the core of who you are and do more of them. Let's make 2023-2024 school year the year of getting to know ourselves again. 

I wish you all the best of school years and I hope to see you at our Virtual Librarian Boot Camp on August 12! Then at the Magic Happens Here! Conference in October! 

Have you changed schools? districts? retired? Be sure that you visit the NCSLMA website and log into your account profile to make sure we have your correct information. This is also a great time to make sure that you have a backup email in your profile so you don't miss important NCSLMA news and events! 

Have questions or issues with your membership account? Email NCSLMA Membership Director, Brene Duggins - breneduggins@ncslma.org

NCSLMA wants all school librarians to start each school year excited and prepared. Through our first annual School Librarian Boot Camp on  August 12 we hope to offer you both! From 9am to 4pm there will be so many options to choose from! Join us at 9am for a short general session, then from 9:30-12:15 you'll have multiple 30 minute mini-sessions to choose from like Dollar Tree Makerspaces, Book Processing and Repairs, Destiny Basics, grade level basics, and more! After lunch, come back from 1pm-4pm and drop in to themed open sessions to ask questions or get any help you need. Whether you have questions about your grade levels, want to meet your regional director, have questions about NCSLMA, or anything else we'll be there for you! Sign up today! https://ncslma.wildapricot.org/event-5361482 

Advancement
Director: Faith Huff

Advocacy
Director: Lucy Wilcox

Awards, Grants, Scholarships
Director: Robin Rhodes

AASL Delegates

Laura Aldridge & Sarah Justice

Book Programs
Director: Stacy Hersey

Membership
Director: Vacant

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Michelle Burton & Ness Shortley

Regional Directors:
Lead: Lori Munroe

Social Media
Director: Alicia Luke

Website
Director: Vacant

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