PARA's, Elections and Drill Teams, Oh my!
By Barbara Fulchino, Publicity & Alison DaSilva, Chairperson, Paralibrarian Section MLA

The Paralibrarian section made quite a splash at the MLA Conference in Sturbridge this May. The annual Paralibrarian breakfast was a huge success with over 75 Librarians and Paralibrarians attending and supporting their nominees for Outstanding Paralibrarian of the year and Paralibrarian Advocate of the year.

Elections were held and the new officers will take over in July, they are:

Gerry Deyermond, Chairperson, Memorial Hall Library, Andover

Justin Termini, Vice-Chairperson, Memorial Hall Library, Andover

Allison DaSilva, Past Chairperson, Reading Public Library

Gael Nappa, Treasurer, Haverhill Public Library

Diane McNally, Secretary, Marlborough Public Library

Jeanne Sill, Conference Committee Liaison, Reuben Hoar Library, Littleton

Debbie Pennino, Career Development, Northeastern University

Laurie Christie, from The Morse Institute Library in Natick, received the 2007 Outstanding Paralibrarian of the Year Award and Marnie Oakes, the Director of Littleton's Reuben Hoar Library was the recipient of the 2007 Paralibrarian Advocate of the Year Award.

There was a Book Cart Drill Team exhibition by Gerry Deyermond and the Memorial Hall Library Cartwheelers Precision Book Cart Drill Team, which brought a fun crowd and lots of audience participation. Who knows maybe there will be a Book Cart Drill Team competition in our future? Gerry, Jim Sutton, MHL Director, and panelists gave an informative and entertaining lesson on the "do's and don'ts" of starting a Book Cart Drill Team in a library. Audience members had a chance to try it out too.

Gael Nappa, paralibrarian and Leslie Todd, Head of the Children's Department in Haverhill, Marnie Oakes and Susan Babb, NMRLS, conducted a program entitled "It Takes Two to Tango", which was very helpful in learning how the give and take between management and paralibrarian staff is handled.

The PARA Notices of Achievement were presented to 10 deserving paralibrarians representing several libraries throughout the state. For more information, and details on PARA recipients, please visit . You will also find information on how to join the new Paralibrarian Section blog (see below).

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An invitation to join
the MLA Paralibrarian Section Blog!

Please visit the blog at http://mlaparalibrarian.wordpress.com/! Not only will you receive the latest updates and announcements from the Section but you can post comments and feedback! And if you want to join, it's easy!

Go to http://wordpress.com/signup/
You will be asked to create a USERNAME (Must be at least 4 characters, letters and numbers only.)
You will need to provide an email address
Be sure to check off "just get a user name".

Send you user name to dasilva@noblenet.org. Once you receive a confirmation email you can begin blogging!