Saturday Keynote Preview

[Lisa Layera Brunkan]

Cultivating Indispensability: Perspectives from beyond the library community.

Can you imagine a world where…

… every teacher or colleague looks to you for guidance and partnership on gaining 21st century fluency?

… your district or department wouldn’t dream of cutting the library program to save money?

… your leadership sees you as a keystone for understanding how to bring education into the 21st century?

… students, parents, colleagues and patrons see you as indispensable for fostering their tech intelligence?

... your Legislators call on you for help, sponsor legislation and taskforces for school libraries/21st century learning, and highlight their championship of these issues as one of their successes?

Hear the Spokane Moms share their perspective on how to make this a reality.

The keynote talk by Fund Our Future Washington co-founder Lisa Layera Brunkan is targeted at anyone who feels they've had to explain, defend, justify . . . essentially sell the idea that school libraries aren't becoming obsolete and that librarians shouldn't be an endangered species.

We started our campaign in Washington State asking our legislators and school leaders to 'stop the hemorrhage.' The talk will address why we believe now that a 'defense' strategy won't work, and will outline what we've learned from legislators, businesspeople, academics, students, and other parents about what will work.

Many of the lessons we've learned are rooted in some powerful advice we were given early on – that it's not enough for a cause to be just. During Saturday’s talk we will share what we've learned along the way and will discuss why we believe the 21st century is ripe with opportunity for librarians to lead.