The 2024 SLJ Summit offered a choice of breakout discussions for the more than 150 attendees. Topics included Science of Reading vs. Joy of Reading, Advocacy in Action, Insight into Weeding and Collection Development, Marketing the School Library, AI in the Library, Mentoring, Phones in the Library, and The Allure of “Edgy” Books for Children and Teens.

Here are some of the highlights from those sessions:

• At the Science of Reading vs. the Joy of Reading session, facilitators Jonathan Hunt, coordinator of library media services for the San Diego County Office of Education, and Kerry Townsend, library media coordinator of Columbia (MO) Public Schools, discussed functional literacy vs. developing a lifelong love of reading and reading for social, emotional, and even spiritual reasons.
  
  Participants journaled for a few minutes about their reading joy and identified a book that brought them joy, and what type of joy.
   
• Carolyn Foote, retired school librarian and co-founder of Texas FReadom Fighters, and Kathy Lester, advocacy co-chair of the Michigan Association of School Librarians led the advocacy conversation, sharing tips on successful strategies in their states. Broadening the scope of stakeholders is important, they told attendees, and can include Boy & Girls Clubs, children’s museums, and more.
  
  Making contacts in the legislature is vital. Lester said in Michigan, they sent congratulatory emails to each new representative, explained who they were, and asked to meet, resulting in more than 20 meetings. When going in to speak with a legislator, be prepared, do research to know who these people are, what their interests are, and what they did before being elected. Any bit of information can be helpful as librarians are learning the political landscape.
  
   “We made ourselves into lobbyists,” Foote told the group.
   
• The weeding and collection development session was facilitated by metro Detroit school librarian and 2022 LJ Mover and Shaker Amy Hermon and New Jersey middle and high school librarian Steve Tetreault. The discussion stressed that a school library is not a museum or archive, but a “living, breathing” thing. Even books with medals can be weeded.
  
  The conversation included ways to get administrators to understand the need for weeding, how to get students involved, and what to consider when doing a diversity audit on a collection.
  
  And don’t forget to take before-and-after pictures!
   
• The AI in the library breakout followed a full conference session presented by New Jersey high school librarian Elissa Malespina and Illinois school librarian and 2016 School Librarian of the Year Todd Burleson, during which they talked about the pros and cons of using the technology in school and how to make the most of it. The two stressed the many everyday programs and systems that use AI and the importance of making informed decisions when it comes to the technology.
  
  “You are still in control of the classroom—whether that be in the library or if you’re pushing into an actual classroom—you can choose, and teachers can choose, when and where [students] are allowed to use AI and how to use it ethically,” Burleson said.
  
  In the workshop, they spotlighted two AI programs that can be useful for librarians: NotebookLM and Suno.
   
• At the marketing the library session, Missouri school librarian Tom Bober and New York City library coordinator Donna Gray asked attendees important questions: What is the library for? How does your program speak to that? As a librarian, what are you for?
  
  The answers to those questions help develop what librarians share as part of their marketing, Bober and Gray said. For example, the library offers access, creativity, and community; it gives students voice and affirms their value. It is also fun. Programming that speaks to that can include book recommendations, podcasting, a knit and crochet table, book clubs, etc.
  
  They suggested letting students take over the social media accounts at times (with a check before anything posts) and creating an “elevator speech” to have at the ready for donors and caregivers to quickly learn the value of the library within he school community.
   
• Sarah Steiger, manager of libraries and digital media at Chicago Public Schools, led the conversation about cell phones in the library. Participants discussed phone policies at their schools. Many are on their own to create policies. One librarian decided to ban phones in the library during lunch hour, with mixed results: a lot fewer students went to the library during that time. Attendees agreed that one big issue about phones in schools is that parents often call or text their children during the school day.
   
• Becky Calzada, district library coordinator of Leander ISD, TX, facilitated the conversation about mentoring. She reminded attendees that mentoring is about relationships. A mentor should create monthly systemic reminders, as well as a timeline for mentor/mentee check-ins, and connect the mentee to professional organizations.
  
  The group discussed the key qualities of a good mentor, the purpose of mentoring, and resources and support for mentors and mentees.
   
• Gay Ivey, William E. Moran Distinguished Professor in Literacy at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, led the discussion on “edgy” books for children and teens, sharing that kids do not focus on the same things as adults when they read. The “edgy” book can help them learn they have agency over the narratives of their lives, promote an understanding of themselves and others, and reading helps them develop their own moral codes and identify potentially violent language.