Awards

Hi! I’m Jennifer Schiele from the Lake Oswego School District. I am extremely honored to be selected for the 2020 Distinguished Library Service Award for School Administrators. I want to start by thanking Miranda Doyle, one of our school librarians. She has tirelessly led our entire district through many changes including : student 1 to 1 devices, celebrating diversity, equity and inclusion in our curriculum and literature, and most recent...our new reality...Comprehensive Distance Learning.

Miranda along with our new librarian Carrie Light have been instrumental in training all of our teachers to create engaging and meaingful lessons through zoom, peardeck, Reading A-Z,and other applications. I believe we would be lost without our librarians in schools and it is for this reason I am so humbled by this recognition.

My admiration for librarians is not new. My mother in law was an elementary school librarian for 32 years in Iowa City, Iowa. I watched her over the years be the glue that kept the bindings and BUILDING together. The library was the hub and heart of the building, a place for which children and adults loved to be. I have always admired a librarian’s way to serve as the builder, landscaper and interior decorator of their space. Fantastic walls of books, Amazing decorations all across the space including hanging from the ceiling, Colorful book displays encouraging children to explore their imagination, and a homey feel with comfortable seating that makes children want to explore the unknown. The library is a great place to be!

If you don’t mind...I’d like to read a short story to you...it sums up all I believe about the impact of a librarian on a student….READ STORY

This is my opportunity to express deep appreciation to all of the librarians in the state of Oregon. WIthout you, our schools and our children’s experience would NOT be the same. We are extremely lucky to have you!

Thank you again for this great honor!

I can’t tell you how honored I am to be chosen as secondary librarian of the year by the Oregon Association of School Libraries. The work that OASL does to promote libraries and library staff across the state makes an enormous difference to me, my library, and my community of learners.

Personally OASL has made me better at my job with each passing year. I remember attending OASL conferences when I was still in Portland State’s Ed Tech program and realizing a supportive community existed for people like me - many thanks to Ruth Murray for the heavy persuasion and extra credit for attendance. Later, there would be years of communing with others at conferences, committees, and board meetings. We were facing so many of the same challenges as rural librarians working in multiple libraries to serve kids at multiple grade levels. As challenges arose in my day to day job, the OASL Listserve would inevitably answer my problems before I asked them. I love that OASL is an organization where we come together in a spirit of mutual support, where we are always about making each other better.

I would also like to thank Kathy Kammerer, unsung hero of Nehalem Elementary School library and my friend in the trenches (libraries) at Neah-Kah-Nie School District. I am so amazed at her dedication to every kid, every day. One of these days, I will be listening to Kathy give her acceptance speech for an OASL award. I am committed to making sure that everyone else knows what an absolute gem she is.

In that vein, I also owe a big thank you to my administrators who contribute so much to our Neah-Kah-Nie School Libraries. I am so lucky to work in a place where my voice, and my work is valued, and more importantly - funded.

I also want to thank my students. The voracious readers, the game players, the techies, the teacher’s assistants. The students that come back to my middle school library, and say, “This was my favorite room in the building.” The students that say, “That was the best book I ever read, do you have any more like it?” The students who use the library as a refuge from the drama and chaos of their lives. I used to say that I wanted to be a Middle School Teacher to make Middle School, “suck less.” That statement is still guiding my decision making in my libraries today, and I will continue to work on it moving forward.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of you - the library staff in our lovely State of Oregon. You make a major positive difference in the lives of our kids. I believe that libraries are the heart of any school, and we are doing everything in our power to keep that heart beating even during this extremely difficult time. COVID-19 changed everything for us this past Spring, but our continued effort to protect and support our students will have a lasting impact.