ISLMA Conference Blog 2007

Wow! It’s been almost 20 years since ISLMA became a reality. It began at a Triple I Conference on March 3, 1988 when a small group of “Friends of School Libraries” met and made a decision to form a new organization to support the school library media profession. This small group of determined “friends” worked rapidly to form a new organization, become a legally recognized entity, gain members and hold our first conference in the fall of that same year. Remember that this was before the widespread use of the Internet for communication via email, blogs, wikis and other services, so we had to rely upon the U.S. postal service and the telephone to accomplish all that we did in a very short time.

Remarkably, by the end of that first conference we had grown to 500 members, had most of the infrastructure in place, and a very dedicated and untiring group of people serving as leaders. We never doubted that we would succeed and, although over the twenty years we’ve had some ups and downs, we have continued to grow and flourish. Today, our 1100 plus members continue to support our efforts and have come to expect our conferences to be wonderful opportunities for learning and sharing.

While attending our 20th conference you will have the opportunity to attend numerous sessions, hear some noted authors, visit with vendors who will offer you ideas about potential purchases, share ideas with colleagues and do some “after hours” partying if you desire. The Crowne Plaza hosted our 10th anniversary celebration and we are delighted to have the opportunity to come here to celebrate our 20th anniversary.

This organization has grown and changed over the 20 years of our existence, but we have never lost sight of our original goal of supporting the school library media profession. Please help us to continue to grow and change to meet your needs! Come to the conference to learn and share. Encourage your colleagues to become members. Support our efforts to help administrators, other teachers, legislators and the general public to understand what we do as participants in the education process. And, let us know what we should be doing to continue our efforts to support YOU.

I hope to see all of you at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield next week!

Kay Maynard, ISLMA Executive Secretary