Association of Jewish Libraries
South Florida Chapter

GENERIC AJL ARTICLE

Here is a general article describing AJL that you can use in the newsletter of your organization if you wish. Please feel free to adapt the article to suit your needs; this is just to give you a starting point. Thanks to Edith Scharf for the suggestion! – Heidi Estrin

Can you guess which of the following is a real organization?
a. Jewish Book Lovers of America
b. The National Organization of Yiddishkeit
c. The Association of Jewish Libraries

Perhaps all three sound a little obscure, but one of them is actively involved in helping your [temple/school/etc.] provide great service. Have you guessed? Of course, it’s The Association of Jewish Libraries, or AJL.

AJL is an international organization that helps your librarian do his/her job. Many Judaica librarians work alone, whether in a synagogue, a JCC, a day school, or a Jewish collection at a university library. AJL helps these folks network with other people in their field, sharing advice and ideas.

“The camaraderie is the best part of belonging to AJL,” says ___, [organization name] librarian. “It’s really helpful to be able to get together and discuss new Jewish titles, or how to handle book repair problems. The [teachers or students at my school/members of my temple, etc] appreciate all that our library does, but it’s nice to be able to ‘talk shop’ with other Judaica librarians.” Indeed, AJL members have many ways to ‘talk shop.’ They can attend local chapter meetings, go to the annual national conference, or join an online discussion forum called “Hasafran” (Hebrew for “librarian”).

“The South Florida Chapter of AJL has five meetings a year,” explains chapter president Heidi Estrin. “We try to make each meeting a learning experience: we’ve had speakers on book preservation, marketing and newsletter design, fundraising. We also share our own programs, ideas like reading mentorship and creative book-making, and encourage each other to try them.”

The local chapter sponsors projects that serve the community too. Annette Goldsmith, chapter vice-president, describes some recent ventures: “This year we visited the children’s librarians at the public library to review quality Jewish children’s books for them, so they’d be better prepared for Jewish Book Month. We also had a booth at the Jewish Lifestyle Show in Fort Lauderdale, selling Judaic books and passing out reading lists to the public.” Sometimes AJL members can even pool their resources to bring in famous authors to speak at their libraries!

“I’ve been a member of AJL for # years,” says [your name]. [If you’ve participated in committees, etc, talk about that here.] “Not only does it help me learn more about running a Jewish library, but it makes me feel good to get together with the other librarians. It’s like a mishpocha.”

This page created and maintained by Heidi Estrin, heidi@cbiboca.org. Last updated June 5, 2001.