My IASL newsletter article
Friday, January 11, 2019 at 07:00AM My submission "Signs of an Empathetic Library Professional" was accepted and published in the January 2019 issue of the IASL newsletter.
For those of you unfamiliar with IASL, it is a professional organization representing school librarians around the world. Formed in the early 1960s, IASL actively serves their professional development and networking needs. One of the things I admire most about the organization is its scaled membership dues - librarians in countries with lower GDP pay less in dues than those in more weathly countries. Everyone can participate.
The organization has an annual conference (2019 is in Croatia), regional conferences, a newsletter, a journal, a listserv, and a forum.
Increasingly our national standards ask for students to become "global citizens." Is this not something then that we as professionals should be modeling? Starting with my own stint as an international librarian in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s and continuing with participation in conferences like NESA, EARCOS, AASSA, AISA, CEESA, ECIS and others, both my professional and personal life has been enriched by getting to know and learn from my peers around the world.
If you have any interest in libraries in countries other than your own, join up!
Reader Comments (2)
Hi Doug. Congratulations and I loved the article. Great list!
Kelly
Thanks, Kelly. Glad someone read it! Working on a longer version now, probably for Teacher-LIbrarian. Sometimes I think writing is an addiction.
Doug