Happy New Year NHSLMA!

I trust that everyone enjoyed their summers. Perhaps you joined us at Library Camp, relaxed some, read a few great books, and enjoyed some well-deserved time off. One of my highlights was presenting a AASL Commendation to the Fisher Cats and Velcro for the Fisher Cats Reading Challenge. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful program in this state. Here I am on the mound with Mike Ramshaw, the Fisher Cats President, and Dirk Foreman, the North American President for Velcro.

Now that we are closing the chapter on summer and beginning what will be a great fall, I wanted to welcome you to your new year and talk about the NHSLMA Board’s goals for this coming school year. The NHSLMA Board met for our annual retreat earlier this month. We welcomed three new Members-at-Large: Beth Kisel, Rachael Bowman, and Kiley Kapp. Emelia Fleck returned as a Member-at-Large. Etienne Vallee transitioned to our Membership Chair, as Cherie Smeltzer replaced Karen Abraham as our Awards Chair. Etienne will also be maintaining our website this year. Karen Landsman will continue to serve as our NHSTE Liaison, and she also took on the Center for the Book Rep. Audra Lewis will continue as our Standards and Certification Chair. Earlier last school year, Debbie Dutcher replaced Ann Hoey at the NH State Library and she will continue to serve as our NH State Library Rep. In addition to her role as our Past President, Rachel Hopkins will also lead our High School to College Subcommittee. Our Secretary Katie Gadwah will also wear another hat as our Future Ready Liaison. Justine Thain will be our Conference Chair for this year, and she is already hard at work with her amazing team planning the 2019 Conference. Helen Burnham continues as our Treasurer and Karen Abraham is our Vice President. We look forward to a wonderful year with our new and continuing board members.

In addition to our usual business, we discussed our goals for the 2018-2019 school year. For the past few years, the Public Awareness Chair, which was formerly known as the Advocacy & Intellectual Freedom Chairs, has sat vacant. In reflecting how to fill this position, the board determined that outreach is the theme for this year. The board will focus on four main goals:

1. Promote NHSLMA services;
   
2. Encourage membership to promote their school library services to their schools and to NHSLMA membership;
   
3. Offer a variety of professional development;
   
4. Fill Public Awareness Chair in June 2019.
   

Each month the board will continue to keep our handbook updated and develop standard operating procedures. Last year, Rachel began to share the board meeting agenda to our members; this will continue this year. Additionally, we will use our website, listserv, blog, and social media to maintain communication between the board and membership. We will also use our blog, listserv, social media outlets, and Google Slides for members to share trusted, new, and/or innovative outreach methods. Professional development will continue to be a focus. The Annual Conference will make its return this March at the Grappone Center in Concord. Throughout the year, we hope to also offer other professional development opportunities, such as roundtables and online book discussions. Finally, through all of these measures, we hope to discover how to continue to support outreach at the board and membership levels, identify tasks for the Public Awareness Chair, and thus fill the position.

We are thrilled to begin another year with everyone. Please contact any board member or myself with questions, comments, ideas, and concerns.

Sincerely,

Caitlin Bennett

NHSLMA President