Booklist & AASL announce Schools in Need Giveaway Program

Scholastic Partners with ALA  to Give School Librarians a Boost

CHICAGO — Today, Booklist Publications and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announce an exciting initiative to provide expert book-and-media buying assistance to school librarians in need. With help from sponsor Scholastic, year-long subscriptions to Booklist, Book Links, and Booklist Online will be made available to as many as 500 individual schools across the U.S.

School libraries are vital to schools’ learning culture, with the librarians serving as instructional leaders who partner with classroom teachers to ensure students’ competence in multiple literacies. As the role of the school librarian continues to expand, access to resources that provide guidance in purchasing quality materials is critical. Schools have long used Booklist’s authoritative reviews, supplemented by Book Links articles about connecting those books and media to classroom curricula. But school librarians facing budgetary constraints may not feel able to afford these resources.

This unique, first-of-its-kind promotion launches today, as AASL members begin receiving complimentary copies of Booklist and Book Links with their regular mailings of Knowledge Quest. Until February 23, AASL members are encouraged to submit short essays (150 words or less) explaining the collection development constraints they face and why a Booklist subscription would help them serve their students. From these submissions, 500 deserving schools will be granted one free year of Booklist, Book Links, and Booklist Online. Winners will be announced by March 1, 2018, with the subscriptions starting in April 2018 to support librarians throughout the 2018–19 school year. To enter online, librarians should visit http://bit.ly/schoolsubscription.

Booklist and AASL are pleased to recognize the invaluable financial support of Scholastic, a Platinum Sponsor, in making this program available to school libraries. “School librarians rely on high-quality reviews to build dynamic collections of resources for their communities,” says Steven Yates, AASL president. “The generosity of Scholastic will provide a lasting, positive impact on 500 school libraries as these libraries implement the National School Library Standards. Booklist has long been recognized as a standard of quality and AASL is thrilled to be able to share this resource opportunity with our members.”

About Platinum Sponsor Scholastic:
Scholastic was founded in 1920 as a single classroom magazine. Today, Scholastic books and educational materials are in tens of thousands of schools and tens of millions of homes worldwide, helping to Open a World of Possible for children across the globe. Their mission is to encourage the intellectual and personal growth of all children, beginning with literacy.

About Booklist, Book Links, and Booklist Online:
For over 100 years, Booklist magazine has helped thousands of librarians as a readers’ advisory, collection development, and professional development resource. Booklist magazine, and its quarterly supplement Book Links, deliver over 8,000+ recommended-only reviews of books, audiobooks, and reference sources each year, spanning every age and genre.

Booklist Online includes a growing archive of 180,000+ reviews available to all Booklist subscribers, as well as a wealth of free content offering the latest news and views on books and media. Now you can read the digital editions of Booklist—online or through a mobile device.

A quarterly supplement to Booklist, Book Links magazine is designed for teachers, youth librarians, school library media specialists, reading specialists, curriculum coordinators, and others interested in connecting children with high-quality literature-based resources. Articles provide comprehensive information on using books in the classroom, including thematic bibliographies with related discussion questions and activities, author and illustrator interviews and essays, and articles by educators on practical ways to turn children onto reading.

About AASL:
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) is the only national professional membership organization focused on school librarians and the school library community. AASL has more than 7,000 members and serves school librarians in the United States, Canada, and around the world.