School Library Month! 

April is School Library Month!! Thank you, Dr. Robbie Fletcher, our Kentucky Commissioner of Education, for taking a moment to create this video recognizing the important role and work of school librarians!

This is crazy, but I made these 11 years ago in Canva 😅 We printed these postcards for our high school students and teachers and then put them up in our windows. I think it was for Valentine's Day, but it could totally be for School Library Month, too! 

Here are some fantastic School Library Month resources from AASL for you as well. 

Congratulations, Tim Jones! 🎉

Here is some exciting news that should fill us with pride as Kentucky librarians!

Tim Jones, the dedicated library media specialist at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Louisville, JCPS, has been named the 2025 School Librarian of the Year by School Library Journal!

Tim's achievement not only highlights his exceptional skills but also showcases the high standard of school librarianship we strive for in Kentucky. His work exemplifies how school librarians can positively impact student learning. As a JCASL Past President, Tim has also been a strong leader and volunteer in our state associations and vocally advocates for all libraries. 

Please join me in congratulating Tim on this well-deserved national recognition! His success is a testament to the vital role school librarians play in education and a proud moment for our entire Kentucky school library community.

Congratulations, Tim Jones, 2025 SLJ School Librarian of the Year!

⚠️Records Retention⚠️

You may or may not know this, but the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives is the governing body that publishes policies on how long public institutions must retain records. 

One of those records, an educational record, is very relevant to us as school librarians.  L0202 Patron Transaction File is on page 100 of the Local Governments Retention Schedule: Public School Districts. Basically, this specific educational record is a student's book checkout record/history.

The schedule now states: "Retain until superseded, then destroy." This means that when the book is checked in, we no longer have to keep that history. Removing/destorying records in a timely manner is a healthy data diet practice. Before having this educational record added to the schedule, schools were required to keep this forever. 

Thank you to Emily Northcutt, Shelby County Schools teacher librarian, and to our state librarian, Denise Lyons, for their help in getting this officially added to the retention schedule!

Please contact me if you have any questions about this. 

Summer Professional Learning 😎

I've collected a number of events and links for you relating to professional learning opportunities this summer. I have some KET dates that I'll add shortly. 

The KASL Summer Refresher is our premier PD event for school media librarians. If at all possible, do not miss it. Also, it's an excellent opportunity to share your knowledge and ideas. Please consider submitting a session to present!

Summer Reading Conference 

One of the summer events I'd like to highlight is the KY Reads to Succeed Summer Reading Conference. Although we are not regular classroom teachers, teacher librarians are literacy leaders in our schools. I attended last year, and there was some great information shared that would help in our roles as school librarians and supporters of our regular classroom colleagues. June 13, 2025. 

TeachingBooks 

The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA) is now providing statewide access to TeachingBooks, a website of resources that brings reading to life for all readers. With more than 372,000 resources for over 97,000 children’s and teen books, this literacy service empowers patrons to learn more about their favorite books and authors while supporting staff initiatives, including program planning and collection management.  

If you haven't checked it out yet... Jump on there and start exploring. Here are some cool things I found:

• Our 2025-2026 KBA books! - KBA Book Resources

• Author profile – Jerry Craft

• Collection analysis – this looks interesting

• Diverse books toolkit

• Phonics and phonological awareness

• Titles with poetry multi-leveled lessons

AASL - It is great! 

I know it seems far off, but go ahead and mark these dates. This is OUR national conference, which only happens once every two years, and this one is driveable for many of us here in Kentucky! October 16-18, 2025

With enough time to plan, strategize, and make arrangements, your district/school may be able to help get you and your colleagues to this awesome professional learning opportunity. 

Important dates:

• March-May, 2025 - Concurrent and Research proposal reviews and final determinations

• July 1, 2025 - IdeaLab presentation proposals CLOSE

• July 1, 2025 - Poster presentation proposals CLOSE

• July-August, 2025 - Ideal and Poster proposal reviews and final determinations

Will this be your first AASL Conference? Apply for the Bound to Stay Bound Travel Grant!

KySTE > KAST 

The Spring KySTE Conference was great, in large part due to all of the amazing school librarians who presented. Here is a shared Google Doc with tons of resources! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to this document!

Also... KySTE is going through a change. They are changing their name to the Kentucky Association for School Technology (KAST). It's the same great group of EdTech leaders, just with a new name and logo, so if you see something from them, be sure to check it out. 

Kentucky Digital Learning Guidelines 

Speaking of KySTE... At the conference, our digital learning team at KDE (which includes myself) announced and released a refresh to our Digital Learning Guidelines. 

"The Kentucky Digital Learning Guidelines are available for schools and districts to ensure quality, rigor, and impact on student achievement. The guidelines also serve as a vehicle for content digital developers and vendors to ensure alignment to the Kentucky Academic Standards criteria for each appropriate course."

What do these have to do with school libraries? Well... these are not just suggestions and questions for fully online programs but important things to consider for any digital learning, which school librarians are definitely a part of. Check out the document, and please reach out if you have any questions!

UPDATED Beyond Proficiency

It has taken a hot second, but we now have an updated version of Beyond Proficiency. This 2025 version is published on the KDE website.

​​Beyond Proficiency is our guide for Kentucky school media librarians, school administrators, and SBDM councils on creating and maintaining effective library media programs. This set of guidelines from the Kentucky Department of Education aligns with national library standards and provides a framework for effectively managing a quality school library media program.​​​​​​

Major updates in this version:

• Multiple documents have been combined into one, including the library program rubric.

• Language that explains what a school library is and should be, and core beliefs, from our Kentucky Academic Standards for Library media are also in this document. 

• Updated budget allocation recommendation.

• Links to additional school library evaluation resources.

• School library connections to our 2024-2030 Kentucky Education Technology System (KETS) Master Plan

New KYVL Resource

I'm passing along the following great news from Enid Wholstein at KYVL:

"As of January 1, we have added Britannica School Early Elementary for our pre-second grade learners. Britannica School Early Elementary features:

• Encyclopedia built for browsing and exploring

• Image-based with very little text - read aloud

• Audio and translations

• Spanish text and audio by native speakers

• Includes citations

• Integration with Google Classroom and Clever"

Britannica Early Elementary link (be sure to get your custom district links from Enid).