BAISL was born from need.

In the seventies, a small group of independent school librarians met in San Francisco a couple of
times a year. They met when one of them had a problem, needed advice, or a shoulder to cry on.
They referred to themselves as the least organized library organization in the world, but planned
to get organized “someday.”

The catalyst to organize more formally came when they attended a CAIS program on the
peninsula and met some other CAIS librarians. Listening to the prominent library director from
the East explain how to run a library with a staff of 16, they realized that organization might give
them more influence. As they were still trying to get part-time clerical help and trying to make
sure their libraries were used for study and research and not as study halls, they realized that
strength in numbers might make achievement of their modest goals more feasible. They knew
they needed to get organized enough to design the programs they needed.

They met in San Francisco in 1978 and 1979 at Schools of the Sacred Heart on Broadway. They
decided to meet on a regular basis, and started calling themselves the Bay Area Independent
School Librarians or BAISL.

And they decided that the important thing about being a member wasn’t whether the school was
in CAIS, or if you had a special degree, but that you could mutually give support and
encouragement to independent school librarians by sharing expertise, materials, programs and
solutions.

The Founders of BAISL were Jane Lesh, Eloise Andrus, Brenda Brown, Eleni Coltos, Jane Folz, Ann
Ogilvie, and Kit Wilson.

Written by Jane Lesh; edited by Carolyn Karis