Welcome to OLLI!

The Olympic Library Leadership Incubator began in 2024 as an idea from the Washington Library Association's School Library Division.  Division leaders were awarded the AASL ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant  to support the creation of OLLI for the 2024-25 school year.

The mission of OLLI is to develop leadership within the school library community in Washington state. Participants will learn strategies to support their schools and communities in a way that shows the indispensable nature of teacher-librarian led library programs through branding, networking, following best practices, and advocacy. 

Building on the success of the initial OLLI cohort and incorporating ideas for improvements suggested by participants, organizers wrote grants to expand and continue the program for the 2025-26 school year.  We were thrilled to again be awarded AASL's ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant to continue this work, and an additional NEA Leadership & Learning Grant makes expanding our program possible.   Our goal is to make OLLI accessible by Teacher-Librarians at every stage of their career and in every region of Washington.

We will continue the program for the 2026-27 school year with the support of an EBSCO Information Services Staff Development Award.  Applications are now open for our Aug. 4-5, 2026 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  program at Edmonds Heights K-12 campus in Edmonds, WA.  Past cohort members are welcome to apply again.  Click here to learn more.  The application deadline has been extended to Wednesday, July 15.  Fee waivers and travel stipends will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted.

Attending OLLI provides a strong foundation for Portfolio 4 of National Board for Professional Teaching Standards by helping you begin building evidence of leadership, collaboration, and professional impact beyond your library.  OLLI is sustained through the dedication of our volunteer organizers/presenters and a small amount of grant funding. We are all full time teacher librarians who share our expertise to strengthen school library leadership statewide.

Questions?  Email Sarah Logan.