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Let Your Leadership Voice Shine

11 Mar 2024 7:51 PM | Angela Wojtecki (Administrator)

Let Your Leadership Voice Shine

The OELMA/Follett School Solutions Outstanding School Librarian Award has been part of the OELMA awards tradition for eighteen years.  Being nominated for the award signifies the respect that a colleague/colleagues have for the school librarian.  The award honors a school librarian who has distinguished themselves through developing an exemplary school library program that incorporates the Ohio Library Guidelines for Librarians (2021) strands: equity, literacies, partnerships, and quality schools. 


One of the most important trademarks, if you will, of the Outstanding School Librarian Award is its emphasis on leading beyond the library.  What does leading beyond the school library mean?  According to the Ohio Library Guidelines for Librarians, leading beyond the library incorporates the following:

1. Participate in setting the school district’s mission, vision and strategic plan for digital learning. 

2. Foster a culture of collaboration and innovation to empower teachers and learners. 

3. Model and promote the use of personal and professional learning networks.

4. Encourage families and other members of the community to participate in school library activities. 

5. Build and advocate strong relationships with stakeholders who recognize and support an effective school library. 

6. Reinforce the role of the school library and librarian as informational and technological resources to maximize learning. 

7. Participate in district, building and department or grade-level curriculum development and assessment on a regular basis. 

8. Participate in state and national organizations. 

9. Develop a library strategic plan that achieves a dynamic school library program and includes a mission, vision, measurable goals, operational management procedures, instructional strategies and an evaluation component. 


The Awards Committee is not expecting the nominee to have ticked all the boxes because we all have lives outside the school library and our patrons. As you think about what leadership looks like; however, the verbs - participate, foster, model, encourage, build/advocate, reinforce, and develop - are all significant in the school library leadership lexicon.  This is how we lead!


So you might be asking who are some of the past OELMA/Follett School Solutions Outstanding School Librarians?   You can visit the OELMA website and click on the Professional Recognition tab for a historical list of all the OELMA scholarship and awards recipients - but here is the list of Ohio’s Outstanding School Librarians since 2005:


  • 2005 Elaine Ezell

  • 2006 JoAnne Dilworth Collins

  • 2007 Elaine Fultz

  • 2008 Debra K. Logan

  • 2009 Marcia Waters

  • 2010 Joanna McNally

  • 2011 Candi Pierce Garry

  • 2012 Jan Warden

  • 2013 Lori Guerrini

  • 2014 Cheryl Cartwright

  • 2015 Sarah Thornbery

  • 2016 Dana Wright

  • 2017 Gayle Schmuhl

  • 2018 Dr. Christina Dorr

  • 2019 Angela Wojtecki

  • 2020 Jennifer Flaherty

  • 2021 Kelly Silwani

  • 2022 Kelly Gonzalez

  • 2023 Debra Quarles

Please nominate by 11:59 p.m. April 1, 2024. If you have questions, please reach out to the Awards Committee. Mor information about this award and others may be found https://oelma.org/Awards.


The 2024 Awards Committee

Casaundra Bronner

Heidi Fletcher

Lisa Gallagher

Kris Konik

Cheryl Lorson

Susan Yutzey

Ohio Educational Library Media Association                                                                                     Contact Us | Website: www.oelma.org

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Highland Heights, OH 44143 

Phone: 614.647.3487 


© 2022 Ohio Educational Library Media Association


2022 Ohio Educational Library Media Association

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