Jennisen Lucas, district librarian for the Park County School District #6 in Cody, Wyoming, has been elected as the 2021-2022 President of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Lucas will serve as president-elect during 2020-2021 under AASL President Kathy Carroll.
Upon learning of her election, Lucas stated: "I am so humbled to be a trusted leader in AASL, an organization that is made up of some of the most innovative and intelligent people I have ever met. Thank you. The world has certainly changed very rapidly in the past month. We are now at a crossroads in education in which the expertise of our profession is desperately needed, if sometimes still overlooked. Now is the time to rise to the occasion and assert our leadership skills, innovation, and flexibility and show what we know education can be. I look forward to working closely with our elected board and all AASL members to rise as the essential leaders we are. We are school librarians! We've got this! "
Lucas is currently serving on the AASL Board of Directors as the Region 9 Director. Her most recent AASL volunteer involvement includes chair of the standards implementation committee, member of the school librarians as leaders position statement task force, and member of the leadership development committee. She has also served as an AASL Chapter delegate.
In Wyoming, Lucas has been involved in both local- and state-level organizations. She has served as secretary and chair of the Wyoming Library Association School Library Interest Group and chair of the group’s Information Power Planning Committee. Lucas has also held leadership positions in the Cody Reading Council and the Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Award Committee.