Written by: Blake Hopper
President-Elect Jennifer Sharp and I recently traveled to the busy city of New Orleans for the annual ALA conference. Jennifer and I represented our state at the Affiliate Assembly meetings. It is such a great honor to attend these meetings and represent our great state. We shared all the amazing things we are working on with the Standards Task Force, including the initiatives we are doing to increase our membership, and make our association more prestigious. These meetings allow all the Affiliates in the United States to meet and discuss topics that are affecting their states. We also heard the concerns and commendations suggested by each state. I had the honor of being elected as Affiliate Assembly Chair Elect. As chair elect, I will help the chair conduct the affiliate meetings. I am excited to get to represent our state even more at these meetings.
Photo 1: Blake Hopper was elected to be AASL Affiliate Assembly Chair-Elect. Photo 2:TN librarians at the affiliate meeting. Photo 3: Blake Hopper TASL President, Jennifer Sharp, President-Elect, and Diane Chen, Standards Committee Chair accept a $2500.00 grant from AASL for standards implementation.
Jennifer and I also had the opportunity to explore the amazing exhibit hall and attend sessions. We, of course, explored the city and tried out many of the great restaurants.
Some of the fun facts we gleaned were:
- New Orleans was not originally built below sea level.
- New Orleans shrinks around one inch per year.
- Buildings cannot be built tall because of the poor bedrock.
Photo 1: Hurricane Katrina caused flooding that reached the marker on this door. Photo 2: This map represents where attendees of ALA were from.
This sculpture represented the damage caused by Katrina.
#librariansarelifelonglearners #stayingcurrent #leadingwithstyle
Blake Hopper is the librarian at Powell Valley Elementary and Middle School in Speedwell, TN. He is the current President of TASL. Keep up with Blake on Twitter @pvslibrarian
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