Greetings MAMESTERS!

Welcome to the new year! Once again MAME is facing opportunities and challenges. We are entering our first full year without an executive director, yet we are still building bridges to other organizations.

Kathy Lester, your new President Elect, and I will be representing MAME at ALA Midwinter this month in Seattle. I will report back to you on the happenings of AASL in next month's newsletter.  Additionally, I will be meeting with representatives of the Library of Michigan this month to discuss ways MAME and LoM can continue working together to the benefit of both organizations.

If you haven't yet joined SIG-MS and MACUL, please do so. I hope to see a Library strand at MACUL conferences in the future.  In the meantime, if you are signing up for MACUL, make sure to sign up for the SIG-MS preconference: "iPads: Research, Collaboration and Evaluation" led by Andy Mann.

Don't forget to sign up for ALA Annual Conference which will be in Chicago this year. Plus, if you can make it, ISTE's annual conference will be in San Antonio in June. If you decide to attend ISTE, make sure to designate MAME as your affiliate. The more people who identify MAME as their affiliate can lead to greater benefits for MAME.

Once again we are looking for people who are interested in becoming involved with MAME. An easy way to get involved is to serve as a Region Representative. You attend 4 Saturday morning meetings per year, share information between your Region and MAME, and you can request that your region pay for your registration to the Spring Leadership conference.  We also are looking for people who would be willing to serve as Media Spectrum editors, to help out with the Media Matters newsletter, and to volunteer to work on the 2013 Conference Committee. Please contact me or any of the Executive Committee members if you'd like more information or would like to volunteer.

So who is Tom Stream? I have been a MAME member since 1999 and have been serving on the Executive Board and Conference committee in a variety of roles since then: Webmaster, Online Communications, Vice President of Regions and SIGS, and Vice President of Continuing Education before being asked to serve as President. I am an elementary school librarian for Grand Haven Area Public Schools. This is my 14th year.  I am also the union representative for elementary specials teachers. Grand Haven is my second district. My first job was as an At-Risk teacher and 6th grade classroom teacher in Watervliet Public Schools, near Benton Harbor.

I have degrees from Michigan State and Grand Valley. I have also completed the online teaching program at Wisconsin-Stout. At this point, I am looking at other options to advance my education outside of the professional development hours I can earn in my own district.

My wife of 17 years, Linda and I have two dogs, Blue and Wilson that take up much of my attention. I enjoy reading (duh!), movies, and being physically active. I spent the last 8 months recovering from severe Achilles' tendinitis, but hope to once again participate in a number of triathlons this summer, both Sprint and Olympic. While I don't place, I do enjoy the challenge. 

Tom 

In December's newsletter, links to many of the "Best Books of 2012" lists were shared including School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews.  

Since the December newsleter, the The "GoodReads Choice Awards" were announced.  These books are voted on by readers.  You can find the winning list here. 

At EarlyWord.com, you can find spreadsheets (Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction, and Children's) which collate many of the "Best of" lists.  [In right column, scroll down to Best Books 2012.]