Ahhh, at last I get a chance to recap my whirlwind trip to the AASL conference.  I was only in Charlotte for 48 hours … but I was busy!

First up, I met with other members of the Heinemann-Raintree Library Advisory Board and Heinemann-Raintree staff, and we looked at upcoming and about-to-be-released titles.  Chris Harris spoke at NECC this summer about how librarians need to advocate for their students and actively converse with database vendors about what their students need.  This was our chance to do the same with print materials.  What content did we need? How should that content be formatted? What reading levels are needed?  In other words, it’s a librarian’s dream!

Here are some takeaways from those conversations for school librarians:

• Advocate for what you need. As an example, after leaving Charlotte, I went to Sam Houston State University for their Book Festival.  We were lucky to be guided by current SHSU students, many of whom were school librarians already.  As we were driven back to the airport, one SHSU student told us how she bought lots of K-2 bilingual books, but then the bilingual market dried up.  She wanted her kids to stay strong bilingually — how could she do that? I suggested that she let publishers know about this (Texas is, after all, a HUGE market) … and tucked the idea away for later.  If publisher reps come to your school, this is the easiest way to give feedback.  They do take that feedback back to the editors!
• You have LOTS of choices when it comes to what you buy. Even within a single company, there are often multiple lines that will help you pinpoint and make the best choices you need. 
• You know your students’ needs best.  Do they need more high-powered graphics? Or a pared-down look? Trust your gut.

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