A number of state-level school librarian associations host blogs to share information with their membership and to promote the work of their members. The Texas Association of School Librarians (TASL) publishes such a blog and pushes it out to members and prospective members via a statewide distribution list as well as through social media channels.

TASL Talks: Legislative and Advocacy for YOU is managed by the TxASL Legislative and Advocacy Committee with “the goal of forwarding to TASL membership and school librarians across Texas useful information about school library advocacy.”

Three members of the committee, Dorcas Hand (@handdtx), Becky Calzada (@becalzada), and Susi Grissom (@SusiGrissom), facilitate the blog. In addition to their own posts, they invite and support other TASL members in posting to the blog.

Last week’s post was by Amy Marquez (@Amy_DZ1), school librarian at Marcia R. Garza Elementary in Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District in San Juan, Texas. Amy shared how a “living history museum” project responded to a request from her principal and met the needs of students. When Amy’s principal mentioned the idea of 3rd through 5th-grade students dressing up as historical figures for Halloween, Amy expanded on this idea to include students conducting research using an online database. Amy accomplished the “living history museum” project in a 30-minute per week fixed-schedule environment.

Crowdsourcing a blog is one way to ensure that fresh ideas are shared and new voices are heard. Bravo to the TASL Talks: Legislative and Advocacy for YOU leadership for making this resource effective and a constant source of professional development for TASL members and others.

TASL logo used with permission