SC&I faculty, students, staff, and alumni will attend this year's New Jersey Association of School Librarians (NJASL) 2022 conference at the Hard Rock Hotel in Atlantic City from Sunday, December 4, through Tuesday, December 6. The theme for the annual conference is "Unleash Your School Librarian Super Powers."

During the conference's general membership meeting on Monday at 8:00 a.m., NJASL will share a slideshow honoring the late Ross J. Todd, an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at SC&I and a world-renowned expert on adolescent information seeking and use, inquiry learning in digital information environments, and the transformative role of school libraries in the 21st century. Department of Library and Information Science Chair, Professor Marie Radford, will speak about Todd and end with a moment of silence in his memory. A tribute and our program information will also appear prominently on the conference app. This year's first Ross J. Todd Conference Scholarship was awarded to School Librarianship Concentration student Jessica DiCicco.

The first Ross Todd Memorial Research Panel will occur during concurrent sessions on Monday, December 5, from 3:30-4:15 p.m. The panel will include SC&I Associate Teaching Professor of Library and Information Science Joyce Valenza, Ellen Pozzi, Ph.D.'12, MLIS'03, Ewa Dziedzic-Elliott MLIS'14, Gihan (Gigi) Mohamad MLIS'09, and Neil Grimes. The research session will open with a tribute to Todd, focusing on his work on evidence-based practice. Attendees are invited to stop by SC&I's exhibit booth #402. Purple ribbons will be distributed in Todd's honor, and students are invited to take a student sticker for their badges.

The conference's featured keynote speakers include Malinda Lo, National Book Award winner and New York Times-bestselling author of "Last Night at the Telegraph Club"; author-illustrator Jarrett Lerner, award-winning creator of the "EngiNerds" series of middle-grade novels and co-founder of #Kids NeedBooks and #KidsNeedMentors projects; and author Josh Funk, who write silly stories such as the "Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast" series. This year, NJASL, in partnership with Covenant House, is sponsoring a community donation drive to aid youth in crisis.

NJASL is New Jersey's only statewide organization for school librarians. As noted on their website, they believe that every student in every New Jersey school deserves to be taught by state-certified full-time school library media specialists and supported by a resource-rich school library program. NJASL's 2022-2023 executive board of trustees includes four Rutgers SC&I alumni: President Ewa Dziedzic-Elliott MLIS'14, President-elect Beth Raff MI'18, Vice President Karen Grant MLIS'15, and Member-at-Large Steve Tetreault MI'19. NJASL's programs and initiatives focus on leadership, evaluation, and advocacy tools that promote national technology, information, and digital standards. View NJASL 2022 conference schedule for more details.

Image credit: NJASL Conference website