School Librarians of Western New York

NYLA SSL Conference 2027 Keynote speakers at Turning Stone. .gratz

Knickerbocker Award Winner accepting the award at the NYLA SSL Conference in Ithaca.

Spent a lovely afternoon at the NYLA SSL Conference in Ithaca with learning tips and strategies to help students write nonfiction.

Sad to share this news. Emily was the librarian at Ledgeview Elementary in Clarence before she retired.

Keeping her family and friends in our thoughts.

Emily Kordasiewicz Obituary - Williamsville, NY Celebrate the life of Emily Kordasiewicz, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information care of Perna, Dengler, Roberts Funeral Home.

After SLOWNY hosted a panel to discuss book banning locally.

The crowd at West Seneca East Middle School for the showing of The Librarians There were 75 people who pre-registered and several walk-ins.

Some of you have been waiting for the explanation for the name change....

When registering the organization for a Tax Identification Number, sometime in the past School Librarians' Association of Western New York (SLAWNY) was already registered. We have no idea who registered it and and they couldn't tell us. The only option then was a new name... School Librarians of Western New York (SLOWNY).

Join us for a screening of The Librarians on January 31st at 10am @ West Seneca East Middle School

www.slawnywebsite.org

2026 Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institutes

Join us onsite at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. for a free three-day professional development workshop, where you’ll learn and practice strategies for using primary sources with K-12 students. Three sessions will be offered in the summer of 2026:
• July 8-10, 2026
• July 15-17, 2026
• July 22-24, 2026
In each session, Library of Congress education specialists will model a variety of hands-on, inquiry-based teaching strategies for using primary sources to engage students, build critical thinking skills, construct knowledge, and launch original research. Activities will feature some of the millions of historical artifacts from the Library’s collections – photographs, prints, manuscripts, maps, multimedia, and more – which are digitized and freely available online. Participants will also conduct research to identify primary sources and develop an activity related to their classroom content.
The institute and instructional materials are provided at no cost. However, participants are responsible for transportation to and from Washington, D.C., and any required overnight accommodations. Applications are due January 23, 2026 and require a letter of recommendation.

Onsite Workshops | Professional Development | Teachers | Programs | Library of Congress Come join us at the Library of Congress for a Teaching with Primary Sources workshop.