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CHICAGO – The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) is pleased to announce the five school administrators who have been selected to serve on the 2022-2024 AASL School Leader Collaborative. The three principals and two superintendents are members of a second cohort in an initiative sponsored by OverDrive Education to champion the school librarian’s integral role in teaching and learning.

Each of the selected administrators were nominated by their school librarian. The school librarians will receive complimentary registration to the 2023 AASL National Conference in Tampa and a $500 stipend for conference attendance.

"We are very excited to announce our second cohort of the leadership collaborative, a collection of amazing school leaders who work with their school librarians to provide full staffing, budgets for materials, integration of the school library throughout the school and district, and create school-wide cultures of reading and learning,” said AASL President Jennisen Lucas. “These superintendents and principals represent school districts across the United States from many types of schools and offer model examples of how to incorporate school libraries and school librarians into the fabric of education in their districts. We appreciate their willingness to serve in this way, and to OverDrive for again supporting AASL’s partnership with school administrators."

The administrators will be active in the AASL School Leader Collaborative through spring 2024 with a goal to deepen the visibility and understanding for leadership of an effective school library where the school librarian provides an inclusive and personalized learning environment, creates equitable access to diverse resources, and transforms teaching and learning for all learners. They include:

Lewis Brooks, Superintendent, Shelby County Schools, Alabama; nominated by Whitney Howton, School Librarian.

Shara Hammet, Preschool and Lower School Division Head, Academy of the Sacred Heart, New Orleans, Louisiana; nominated by Soline Holmes, School Librarian.

Lisamarie Kane, Principal, Osbourn Park High School, Prince William County, Virginia; nominated by Jennifer Cooper, School Librarian.

Joseph Meloche, Superintendent, Cherry Hill Public Schools, New Jersey; nominated by Skye Silverstein, School Librarian.

Tim Salem, Principal, Scotts Ridge Middle School, Ridgefield, Connecticut; nominated by Janine Johnson, School Librarian.

"We are honored to sponsor this important initiative to help support and amplify school librarians' impact on students and learning," said Angela Arnold, General Manager of OverDrive Education. "In addition, nurturing strong relationships between administrators and librarians is essential to helping schools successfully navigate all the new challenges they will face in the post-COVID era."

The AASL School Leader Collaborative will speak and write on behalf of school librarians and dialogue with national professional administrator organizations about the value of school librarians and their leadership role in the school community and the interconnected world. Administrators in the AASL School Leader Collaborative will also present and participate in events at the 2023 AASL National Conference to be held October 19-21 in Tampa, Florida.

About AASL

The American Association of School Librarians, , a division of the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½), empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.

About OverDrive Education

OverDrive Education, a division of OverDrive, offers the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and other digital content for over 53,000 K-12 schools and millions of students worldwide. The company’s student reading app, , provides every student with access to the right books. Sora was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019. OverDrive, the leading digital reading platform for libraries, was founded in 1986 and is based in Cleveland, Ohio USA.