March checklist

Information overload? These are the most important DLL things to know to stay on track: 

• Is this a renewal year for your license? Make sure to check your CEUs now. 

• Stay on top of spring deadlines, like those for Finance, to get your orders in on time.

Celebrating Black Female Librarians

As February moves into March, we find ourselves at an intersection of exceptional people in our field. And so let’s take this opportunity to celebrate trailblazing Black librarians who broke barriers of race and gender by learning more about them. And in their footsteps, may we be the driving force for others to follow. -Kendra

(Source: https://www.slj.com/story/five-trailblazers-in-black-librarianship#vir) 

Virginia Proctor Powell Florence - 1927

In 1927, Virginia Proctor Powell Florence became the first Black person to pass the New York State high school librarian exam and went on to be a high school librarian in Brooklyn, NY; Washington, DC; and Richmond, VA. Florence was also the first Black woman in the U.S. to receive a library science degree, which she earned at Pittsburgh Carnegie Library School in 1923.

She had a degree in English literature but could not get a job, because Pittsburgh schools didn’t hire Black teachers. She worked at the New York Public Library until 1927, when she passed the exam and fulfilled her dream of being an educator.

Dorothy B. Porter - 1932

In 1932, Dorothy B. Porter, sometimes known as Dorothy Porter Wesley, became the first African American to earn a master’s in library science from Columbia University. Later, she was named Howard University’s librarian, leading the curation of what is now the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.

In that work, she realized that the Dewey Decimal System had only two classification numbers for anything by or about African Americans–slavery and colonization. Porter created her own system to separate works by genre and author in various subjects, making her the first to decolonize a library.

Clara Stanton Jones - 1976

Clara Stanton Jones became the first Black president of the American Library Association in 1976. Jones ran for the office in 1974 and lost, but the winner died before the end of her term, and Jones was nominated and became president in 1976.

In 1970, she became the first African American and first woman to lead a major U.S. library system when she became the director of the Detroit Public Library. Jones and Porter (above) were two of four librarians awarded the inaugural Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s Trailblazer Award in 1990. 

Carla Hayden - 2016

On September 15, 2016, Carla Hayden was sworn in as Librarian of Congress–the first woman and first African American to be so named. As such, she became the head of the largest library in the world and the main research arm of the U.S. Congress, as well as the U.S. Copyright Office. In addition, she was the first professional librarian to hold the post since 1974.

She began her career at the Chicago Public Library (CPL), and earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in library science from the University of Chicago. When Hayden began at CPL in 1973, she started as a children’s librarian and went on to be a young adult services coordinator. From 1993 until 2016, she was the CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

Celebrate Women's History Month in March!

In honor of Women’s History Month in 2026, we have compiled resources for you to use with teachers, students, and families as well as to inform your library programming and instruction. While we encourage activities, lessons, and resources inclusive of women throughout the year, we take this opportunity to celebrate and learn. 

Professional Learning: Asynchronous Courses Still Available

Question Formulation Technique - The Question Formulation Technique  is a protocol focusing on one simple thing... creating questions. Earn .5 CEUs by completing 4 modules created by the Right Question Institute. This course is applicable for K-adult learning.

Destiny Library Manager Training - The Destiny Library Manager training familiarizes WCPSS employees with our current library management software, including daily use for circulation, reports and data analysis, cataloging and importing MARC records, curation in Destiny Collections, inventory, and other administrative tasks and settings. The course is designed for school staff with the Library Administrator access level. 

Unified Library Teams for Secondary School Librarians - This course is designed to help new library teams establish a a strong foundation including a unified library vision, mission, values, and  procedures. It allows teams to examine communication and conflict to ensure a collaborative working environment.

Asynchronous Inquiry and Instruction for Elementary School Librarians  - This asynchronous course will allow school librarians to consider ways to incorporate an inquiry-based pedagogy into their library instruction. Modules will explore levels of inquiry, setting routines that support the skills needed for inquiry-based learning, constructivist media decoding, and analyzing inquiry-based lessons for K-1 students. Participants will develop their own inquiry-based lesson, and after using the lesson with students, reflect on the effectiveness of the strategies used.

Collection Management for School Librarians - Asynchronous - Use this course to guide your collection management work, including analyzing your collection, sharing data with your MTAC, and setting collection priorities and multi-year goals pertaining to purchasing, curating, and weeding. 

These courses conclude at the end of April so CEUs can post to transcripts in time for those who need them for renewal. 

Professional Learning - Virtual PLCs

It's not too late to join virtual PLCs! These PLCs are led by either Kristel Behrend or Susan Bock and meet regularly via Google Meet. Reminders with meeting links are sent via WakeLearns, so be sure to register if you are interested in attending! 

Elementary Instruction PLC - Virtual; every Thursday at either 8am or 4pm

Elementary Circulation PLC -  Virtual; last Tuesday of every month at either 8am or 4pm

Virtual Secondary Library Instruction PLC - Virtual, first Thursday of the month at 8am for HS and 1pm for MS

Virtual Secondary Library AI Sandbox PLC - Virtual, generally the third Thursday of the month at 8am for HS and 1pm for MS

Virtual Secondary Library Book Club - Virtual; meets quarterly

News from Finance - Spring Deadlines

• March 2: Requisitions for furniture

• April 3: Requisitions are due to Purchasing for Fund 02 and Fund 06

Please work with your school’s bookkeeper to determine when they expect any final purchases to be made for the 25-26 school year.  Knowing deadlines is important to accomplishing your expenditure goals for the library collection and program.

Destiny 23.5 Update

On February 27, Destiny updated to version 23.5. Highlights of the change include:

• Changes in Report Builder

• Excel outputs for more reports 

• New Title Details page

• Patron name format options for Current Checkout/Fine

• Homeroom checkout improvements

Check out this guide from Follett for more information.