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CHICAGO – Susan D. Ballard, director of library media and technology for the Londonderry (N.H.) School District, has been elected the 2012-2013 AASL President. Ballard will serve as president-elect during 2011-2012 under AASL President Carl A. Harvey II.

Ballard has served as the chair of the standards and guidelines implementation task force since its inception in 2008. The task force is responsible for the creation and implementation of AASL’s Learning4Life initiative, which supports states, school systems and individual schools preparing to implement the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner and Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs. She has served on multiple other AASL committees, including appointments, nominating and the National School Library Program of the Year award committee. Ballard has been recently appointed to the editorial board for AASL’s professional journal, Knowledge Quest, of which she has been a frequent contributor.

At the state level, Ballard has served as the president for both the New England School Library Association (NESLA) and the New Hampshire School Library Media Association (NHSLMA). For both associations, she has also served in leadership positions on committees and task forces relating to the school library standards. Recently, she has been active in the AASL Affiliate Assembly as the appointed delegate for NESLA.

Ballard is the recipient of several honors and awards for library programming. In 2010, she was named a recipient of the AASL/Thinkfinity Zmuda Challenge Grant, a $5,000 award for the most innovative idea on how school librarians can help students acquire 21st-century skills. In 2000, the Londonderry School District #12 was named as an AASL National School Library Program of the Year. She was also the first recipient of the New Hampshire Excellence in Education, Library Media Services Award.

Upon learning of her election, Ballard stated: “While I know that these are challenging times for school librarians, I cannot help but be excited and energized to be part of the leadership of AASL as the division continues to provide support and opportunities for professional growth and development for members, as well as continues to educate and inform communities and decision-makers about our essential role. I am confident that school librarians will play a major part in meaningful educational reform and that our unique contributions to teaching and learning will be acknowledged and valued. Our students are counting on us to deliver on their behalf, and I know we will not disappoint them.”

The American Association of School Librarians, , a division of the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½), promotes the improvement and extension of library services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library field.