[aisle] Are you an AISLE member?

Tue Oct 22 13:39:26 CDT 2019

This has come up for discussion a couple of times before I was on the board. I think it is great to continue having this discussion. Officially, this change would need to be proposed through our Membership Function Representative who you can contact at membership at aisled.org<mailto:membership at aisled.org>. I believe that the final decision would change bylaws and therefore must be approved at the membership meeting at conference or during our spring election of officers.

If this topic were to come up again, these are my own thoughts and opinions that I would express during the discussion. To be honest, I struggle with whether or not this would be a good decision for our organization.

It sounds simple to offer a reduced rate for library assistants because they work REALLY hard and make less money, but the request for a reduced rate also typically comes with requests from districts for an increase in PD specifically for library assistants to train them how to do the work of a licensed school librarian. In my opinion, it does not make fiscal sense for our organization to receive less money for memberships only to expend more money creating unique professional development opportunities for library assistants at a time when the organization is bringing in less money through membership and conference. Districts are paying library assistants thousands of dollars less than licensed school librarians and should have no trouble paying for a $65 membership to our organization on behalf of their library assistants, they just don’t want to do so. I’m not sure we would gain enough new members through a library assistant membership to make the category make fiscal sense. Maybe a survey would prove differently (although we have trouble getting members to do surveys). FYI, paraprofessionals do receive a discounted conference rate.

My biggest difficulty with the decision to offer a reduced rate to library assistants is that I do understand that a lot of people (including me) pay for AISLE membership out of their own pocket, and I don’t want people to struggle financially to pay for a membership. In my opinion, AISLE membership is cheap compared to what I have gotten out of being a member over the course of the last 12 years. However, I totally understand that if I was making half (or less) of my salary, it would be a struggle to come up with $65 for a membership out of my own pocket.

I also struggle with how it looks to place the value we do on licensed school librarians and the effort we put into our advocacy efforts to get licensed school librarians in buildings across the state while offering districts the perk of a reduced membership fee for library assistants. What price do we put on our services? How much cheaper would membership need to be for more assistants to join? Is that going to provide AISLE with enough money to continue covering increased services to these new members?

Again, just my own thoughts. This is definitely something that would require some thought and planning to implement.

Thank you,

Ms. Lauren B. Ochs
Mahomet-Seymour High School Library
lochs at mscusd.org<mailto:lochs at mscusd.org>

AISLE Board Member – Budget
boardbudget at aisled.org<mailto:boardbudget at aisled.org>

From: AISLE <aisle-bounces at list.railslibraries.info> On Behalf Of Roxanne Price via AISLE
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2019 8:18 AM
To: AISLE-Share: Association of Illinois School Library Educators discussion list <aisle at list.railslibraries.info>
Cc: Roxanne Price <rrprice at marionunit2.org>
Subject: Re: [aisle] Are you an AISLE member?

External Email
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I understand that we are stronger in numbers.  Have you provided a discounted membership fee for library assistants?  Some assistants do the job we do for a lower pay.  I believe they would benefit, as would we, from a membership to AISLE.  We are all here to serve the students and support the curriculum and teachers.

Thank you,
Roxanne Price

On Mon, Oct 21, 2019 at 6:10 PM Membership AISLE via AISLE <aisle at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:aisle at list.railslibraries.info>> wrote:

AISLE continues to work on positively impacting Illinois students and schools. Did you know that our very active listserv has almost 1100 members but only about 400 are current members of AISLE?  Right now, the listserv is a FREE public service offered by AISLE <http://www.aisled.org>  to provide opportunities for librarians across the state to cultivate valuable networking connections and find opportunities to volunteer<https://docs.google.com/a/islma.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdOvXGGrLNX2tliQNA-OaZMVRJWdREe0J6QkD_zwrUnWeJicg/viewform?c=0&w=1> their talents but we need your support! If you are using the listserv and are NOT an active member of AISLE, we are inviting you to become a member of AISLE.

Our association is only as strong as our membership and we need you more than ever! In addition to our advocacy work across the state for students to have quality school library services, our partnerships with EveryLibrary and other critical organizations, AISLE sponsors the Monarch, Bluestem and Lincoln readers' choice awards, offers academic grants and offers professional development to our membership and organizes a conference every year.  Please visit https://www.aisled.org/membership.htm  for more information about membership benefits.

We hope you choose to become a member of our organization this year and join our efforts to positively impact Illinois students and schools.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact membership at aisled.org<mailto:membership at aisled.org>.

[Image removed by sender.]
Christine Pulgar
Membership Function rep
membership at aisled.org<mailto:membership at aisled.org>

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Roxanne Price
Lincoln Elementary School
Marion CUSD #2
rrprice at marionunit2.org<mailto:rrprice at marionunit2.org>

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