Volume 40 No. 3 | May 2021
Update: Texas Legislative Session
With only 18 days remaining in the current Legislative Session, legislators are working feverishly to move bills through the process. SB 1, the budget bill is in conference committee. TLA is working to ensure that the $3.75 million added by the House to the TSLAC budget remains in the final bill. HB 5, the omnibus broadband bill is also in conference committee and TLA is working with Digital Texas to ensure that the final bill includes digital inclusion priorities. Bills TLA is tracking
TLA 2021: Thank you to everyone who made this a success!
TLA 2021 drew an amazing 4,791 virtual attendees, who attended a total of 75,993 education sessions. The General Sessions were viewed 14,478 times. A whopping 2,479 people attended the Spotlight Author Session with Matthew McConaughey.Thank you to all the fantastic volunteers, presenters, authors and speakers who organized and participated in this event!

Thank you to the attendees for your engagement; it was phenomenal to see. Please complete the attendee survey by May 16. Thank you to School Life for sponsoring the survey.

Just a reminder that the education sessions, including live sessions, are available in the virtual portal until June 22. For information about CE certificates, click here.
Congratulations to the TLA 2021 Contest Winners
  • Member Grand Prize (Geometrix Two Bay Arc Mobile Bookcase) courtesy of Brodart – Heather Hornor, Richardson ISD
  • TBA 2021 reading list quilt courtesy of Bound To Stay Bound – Lanie White, Oglesby ISD
  • Custom Justin cowboy boots, courtesy of Visit Fort Worth – Deidre Black, Brazoria County Public Library
Annual Assembly will be virtual
Save the date: TLA Annual Assembly will take place July 7-10, 2021, in a virtual format. More details will be coming out next week, stay tuned.
NIH grant awarded to UNTHSC
A $6.4 million grant has been awarded to the Lewis Library at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to help reach communities through health-centered education, information, outreach and grant-funding to external organizations.
Check out the Latest TLA Podcast
In this #LibrariesTransformTexas podcast episode, learn more about TLA’s Children’s Round Table Reading List Committees.
A Thank You and Special Offer

To express our appreciation to our dedicated TLA members, all current members will be entered into a drawing to win one of three prizes: a Kendra Scott gift card, a YETI gift card, or a Book People gift card.

Not a current member? Renew by June 30 and be entered to win.
Update on TLA Listservs
Increased system security means many large institutions are blocking third party emails like those from TLA listservs. To improve deliverability, please use this email address format: UNITNAME@lyris.txla.org (i.e. district1@lyris.txla.org.). Also whitelist lyris.txla.org.

TLA is planning to move to a new, more robust online community later this summer; more news about this is coming soon. Please note, effective May 17, we will be updating our databases so only current 2021 members will have access to listservs. To verify your membership status, login to TLA Members Only.
Names in the News
  • Sally Miculek is the new director of the Georgetown Public Library.
  • Janis C. Test retired from the Abilene Public Library January 1, 2021.
We appreciate our sponsors!
Texas Library Association
3420 Executive Center Dr., Ste. 301
Austin, TX 78731

Phone: 512-328-1518 | Fax: 512-328-8852