NJASL Strategic Plan 2020-2021

Mission & Vision

 

Mission:

The New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) promotes excellence in school librarianship and advocates for strong school library media programs for all students. ,Guided by the principles set forth in the Library Bill of Rights and its interpretive statements, NJASL provides school library media specialists with educational opportunities and current information aligned with state and national learning standards to ensure that all school libraries empower students, faculty, and staff to become effective and ethical users and producers of information.

Vision: 

Every student in every school in New Jersey is served by a certified full time school library media specialist and has access to the technology and other resources needed. All students are empowered to achieve success through inquiry-based, collaborative school library programs led by credentialed school library media specialists. These professionals are recognized as educational leaders and indispensable resources in their school communities. 

Priorities: 

Strategic Priority:  Advocacy 

Goal: Increase awareness of the positive impact of school librarians on students through promotion and publicity.

Action Items:

• Enlist the help of Every Library to assist with our advocacy efforts

• Continue work on legislation related to school library programs:

• • School funding

  • Student:SLMS ratios

  • Information literacy curriculum

• Identify schools/districts that lack SLMSs or are eliminating SLMS positions and follow-up with letters of concern, attendance at meetings, and parent/family outreach.

• Use our publication tools (website and Bookmark) and social media platforms to highlight strong library programs and promote them in an organized and strategic manner

• Create a folder in the Shared Drive to house advocacy-related presentations, letters, etc.

• Share our library stories with critical stakeholders (DOE, state organizations, parents, administration, legislators) by attending and presenting at meetings and conferences. 

• Foster relationships with NJDOE to influence initiatives andto ensure that school library media specialists are represented in updates to administrative code, certification and NJ Student Learning Standards.

Strategic Priority: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Goal: Increase the diversity of our board and membership and our support of BIPOC members.

Action Items:

• Form an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force 

• Curate a collection of EDI resources 

• Provide EDI Training to the NJASL Board and members

• Participate in EDI-related events, such as workshops, conferences, book discussions, etc.

• Offer a social justice strand at the 2020 Fall PD Event 

Strategic Priority: Board development and communication

Goal: Attract and retain members for leadership roles within the organization.

Action Items:

• Update and maintain organizational chart

• Provide consistent outreach to board members and Committee Chairs 

• Ensure that every committee chair has a back-up in the event they cannot perform their day-to-day duties

• Continue to develop and implement orientation process for new board members and Committee Chairs

Strategic Priority: Emergency preparedness and response plan 

Goal: As educators adjust to possible future long-term school closures, NJASL will continue to develop and evolve its support of School Library Media Specialists.

Action Items: 

• Provide a first-stop response for members when positions are threatened

• Create a best-practices toolkit for remote learning, facility and collection maintenance, and collaboration and outreach

Strategic Priority: Maintain fiscal sustainability

Goal: Maintain current fiscal health and, if possible, seek innovative ways to raise revenue in the possible absence of an in-person conference.

Action Items: 

• Support new Treasurer

• Research revenue opportunities for future conferences, should they have to be held online

Strategic Priority: Professional development

Goal: Increase the number of online professional development opportunities available to members.

Action Items:

• Reach out to Board members to enlist people to contribute online PD events

• Poll membership for topic requests and for non-board members willing to contribute to online PD events

• Develop ideas for online PD opportunities - “Small Bytes” (like Spark and Tells), Hour-long events

• Explore any revenue-generating opportunities with online PD events 

• Highlight PD offerings from affiliates and other online PD providers via our social media platforms and publication tools

• Provide PD offerings related to DOE initiatives and requests to ensure that school library media specialists are aware of information related to administrative code, certification, and NJ Student Learning Standards.