Professional Development Grant

The BAISL Professional Development Grant is an annual grant of up to $1,000.00 that is awarded to a BAISL member or members. The money is to be allocated for the sole purpose of professional development. Recipients are chosen by the The BAISL Grant and Recognition Awards Committee and announced at the Spring meeting. That recipient (or recipients) will give a presentation on their experiences at a BAISL meeting the following year. 

Professional Development Grant Recipients

2023 Mia Gittlen (Prospect Sierra School)

2019 Robin Gluck (Jewish Community High School of the Bay)

2018 Renee Otero (San Francisco Day School)
Renee used the grant to attend The 3rd National Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, 2018, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The theme was "Gathering all Peoples: Embracing Culture & Community."

2017 Qi Huang (Harker School) & Susanne DeRisi (Synergy School)
Qi Huang used the grant to attend Electronic Resources & Libraries 2018 Annual Conference  in Austin, Texas. This is an annual event for librarians to communicate their experience in managing electronic resources. 

Susanne DeRisi used the grant to attend the 2017 American Association of School Libraries Conference in Phoenix, Arizona and a pre-conference workshop on the new AASL National School Library Standards.

2016 Bernie Morrissey (Harker School), Lauri Vaughan (Harker School), & Nicole Hunter (SF University High School)
Bernie Morrissey used the grant to attend Library Instruction West. Lauri Vaughan used the grant to attend ALA Annual 2016 and pre-conference session "Crossing the Threshold with Threshold Concepts: Redesigning a Library Instruction Lesson Plan". Nicole Hunter used the grant to attend a workshop "Graphic Facilitation and Visual Thinking".

2015 Multiple Grantees

2014 Debra Cardone (The Hamlin School) & Julia Chambers (The Athenian School)

2013 Renee Ramig (Seven Hills School)

2012 Sharon Taylor (Black Pine Circle)
I used my BAISL professional development grant to attend the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Anaheim, California (June 2012). This was my first time at an ALA conference. Travel and registration costs were shared among my BAISL grant, a contribution from my employer (Black Pine Circle School), and myself. In addition to all the interesting and educational sessions at the conference, I was especially thrilled to see so many wonderful authors in person. Hearing author Susan Cooper speak as she accepted the 2012 Margaret A. Edwards Award was a highlight for me. I was also lucky enough to see the final performance of The Rock Bottom Remainders (rock band featuring authors Dave Barry, Stephanie King, Amy Tam , Scott Turow, and others). Thank you, BAISL!

2011 Crystal Trice (Keys School)
I used the Professional Development Grant for "plan B", which was the 2011 CLA/CSLA Annual Conference in Pasadena. At the conference, I gave a presentation on picture book extension activities and learned from many helpful sessions, including book trailers and book making in the classroom.

2010 Marta Fuchs (Drew School)
I was honored to receive the BAISL Professional Development Grant which enabled me to do research and interviews in Hungary for my book Legacy of Rescue: A Daughter's Tribute (c2011). I gave special thanks to BAISL in the book's Acknowledgments. 

Legacy of Rescue is an illustrated intergenerational memoir of my father, Morton (Miksa) Fuchs, and Zoltán Kubinyi, the Commanding Officer who saved him and over 100 Hungarian Jewish men in forced labor under his command during the Holocaust. Captured as a POW by the liberating Russian Army, Zoltán Kubinyi, a devout Seventh Day Adventist, died a year later in a Siberian labor camp and was buried in an unmarked grave. Because of my father's’ testimony, Zoltán Kubinyi was posthumously honored as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem.

The story of rescue came full circle in the summer of 2011 when with the help of the BAISL grant my brother and I took our children back to Hungary to meet and interview the rescuer's family. With the rescuer’s son -- an infant when his father went off to war -- his wife and teenage great granddaughters of Zoltán Kubinyi, we discussed the heroic actions of this compassionate and courageous man none of us knew but who has made such an indelible impact on all their lives.

Legacy of Rescue is a story that inspires all of us to make a difference in everyday life.

2009 Robin Gluck (Redwood Day School)
I used the grant money to offset the cost of tuition for the SJSU SLIS program. Since I have been taking the classes very part-time, it was wonderful to have the financial help.

2008 Julia Haverstock (Holy Names)

2007 Tracy Heffernan

2006 Carolyn Karis (Urban School)
I used the grant to support my going to Washington DC to present at the Internet Libarian Conference.