The Heart of the Game

A brand is an idea in the minds of one's constituents that is created by what one says or does. The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) describes itself as a professional membership organization, serving the needs of 10,000 school library media specialists in the United States, Canada, and around the world. In this article, the author questions whether AASL knows that its brand represents the approximately 66,000 full- and part-time certified library media specialists from the more than 95,000 schools in the United States. She contends that librarians now have a rare opportunity to build an inclusive participatory culture. They need to nourish a participatory culture and sustained innovation in order to advance the authority and credibility of their entire profession.