2007 SLSA Award Festivities

Angus' Speech    Donna's Speech     Reception Pictures    SLSA Homepage
Each year the School Library Systems Association of New York State recognizes a School Library System Director for providing an outstanding contribution to school librarianship and to the School Library Systems Association.  The areas considered for the award are:  professional leadership, professional service, information sharing, collaboration, quality programs and creative service.



             




 




Angus' Speech        
  
2007 SLSA Distinguished Service Award
Presentation Remarks:  Angus Saunders, Director, Jefferson-Lewis School Library System
SLMS Conference, Doubletree Hotel, Syracuse, N.Y.
May 4, 2007                   

Tonight I have the honor of presenting the SLSA Distinguished Service Award to Donna Hanus of the Franklin-Essex-Hamilton School Library System.  This award is presented annually to recognize a School Library System Director who has made an outstanding contribution to school librarianship and to our organization.

The contributions of Donna Hanus are many and well documented.  She has always stood up for school libraries whenever their value was questioned, and woe betide those who tried to assign second tier status to school library media specialists and their programs.  She has been a strong advocate and a driving force for inter system cooperation in the North Country Region.  She has been a board member and officer of public library and library system boards, 3R Council boards, and the School Library Systems Association itself.

Moving to specifics, I'll note three things.  One is Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding.  Back in the bad old days, school library systems and the libraries they serve could only apply for federal LSTA money in tandem with a public or 3R council system; sort of a big brother / little brother arrangement and guess who was the little brother.  Donna was moved to action by this inequity and championed the SLS cause with Division of Library Development officials and others on the LSTA Advisory Council.  And now School Library Systems are fully equal and able to apply for LSTA funding on their own.

More recently, she has been a leader in library automation.  All the Franklin-Essex-Hamilton school libraries have successfully shifted to the OPALS-NA central server based system.  These last three years she has administered a federal Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to bring new people into our profession.
                                                       
Finally, one personal note.  I cannot begin to count the number of times I have called Donna for help and advice in the 21 years we have been SLS colleagues in the North Country region.  On the other hand, it is very easy for me to count the number of times she pushed me aside or otherwise let me down; that number would be zero.

I am pleased and proud to present the 2007 School Library Systems Association Distinguished Service Award to my friend and colleague, Donna Hanus.
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 Donna's Speech    

2007 SLSA Distinguished Service Award
Acceptance Remarks:  Donna Hanus
SLMS Conference, Doubletree Hotel, Syracuse, N.Y.
May 4, 2007

Thank you.  To be recognized by one’s peers is an honor.  To be recognized by people one respects and admires is the highest honor.   I am truly grateful and humbled to be the recipient of the School Library Systems Association Distinguished Service Award.

School Library Systems have changed the face of school librarianship in New York State.  When I began my career as a high school library media specialist a decade before the creation of School Library Systems, things were very different.  The school where I worked was, and still is, in an area with neither a public library nor a reading center.  The school library was the only source of information for the students.  Students chose research paper topics based on the materials available in the library.  They used print magazine indexes, a card catalog, and typed their papers on real typewriters.  Today students in that school can do a paper on any topic, provided they allow enough time to access the online databases and receive interlibrary loan materials.

The good news is that some of our colleagues have never known what it is work without a School Library System.  Public Library Systems were created in the 1950s.  The 3 Rs were created in the 1960s.  But it took until 1984 for legislation to create School Library Systems.  Why did it take so long?  There were some who did not think school library collections were valuable.  Why spend time and money converting all those Cat in the Hat catalog cards into MARC records?  The thought was that school libraries were like public libraries, only smaller.  If school libraries were allowed to do interlibrary loan, they would be a burden on public libraries, something to be avoided.  Thank goodness for the pilot project School Library Systems followed by the “Shoe-String Grant” systems.  They proved what we already knew.  School library collections are not like public library collections.  Our collections support the curriculum taught in our schools.  The majority of our interlibrary loan requests (85%) are to other school libraries. And most importantly, access to increased resources improves the quality of student work.

If School Library Systems do their job properly they are transparent to the user.  School Library Systems work unceasingly to provide equity of access to resources for all students, regardless of where they live.  School Library Systems make it possible for school libraries to purchase cost effective databases.  They promote equity of access to information with library automation and interlibrary loan.  They are every school library media specialist’s “behind the scenes” partner.  Their sole purpose is to help each school library media specialist provide whatever the students and staff in that school need.

I sometimes miss working directly with students.  Then I think about the talented and creative school librarians in my system and know the students are in good hands.  That’s when I resolve to continue to do what I can to support and encourage them, to advocate for the importance of school libraries and School Library Systems. 

Thank you for this award.
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Reception Pictures