Concern: In Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs, AASL encourages the creation of a flexible 21st-Century learning environment and notes that "the use of multimedia and global resources can help create authentic learning experiences that teach 21st Century skills and connect what students are learning to the outside world." However, the reality is that in many schools, access to resources and experiences for students and teachers in the digital world are limited due to restrictions (filters, firewalls, bandwidth, etc.) imposed by technology coordinators without consultation or input from educators, especially from state credentialed school librarians. These library teachers have expertise in evaluating information resources and are in a unique position to apply standard selection criteria to determine the suitability of digital resources to support the curriculum, instruction and learning.
Action: Both the Affiliate Assembly Executive Committee and the Affiliate Assembly body approved this concern. It was sent to the AASL Board.
Action: The AASL Board discussed this topic as a possible session for an upcoming Fall Forum.
The topical questions for the 2012 School Libraries Count! survey are focused on filtering and online access.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011, marked the first Banned Websites Awareness Day and resources on filtering were added to Essential Links.
