Deb Kachel is an Affiliate Faculty living in Pennsylvania and teaching online graduate courses in AUS’s School Library Media Endorsement program. She was a high school librarian and supervisor of a Pennsylvania K-12 school district library program for over 30 years. She has taught face-to-face and online courses for over 15 years at Drexel University (PA), Mansfield University (PA), and McDaniel College (MD).
As a prolific grant writer and administrator, Kachel is currently the Project Director of SLIDE: School Library Investigation-Decline or Evolution? an IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Grant, funded for $349,000 from Fall 2020 through Spring 2023. With researcher Keith Curry Lance, RSL Research Group (CO), they will examine the national decline of school library positions, the changing roles of librarians and the expectations of school leaders, and the impact to equity of school library learning opportunities for marginalized student populations.
Kachel wrote and administered several other federal IMLS scholarship grants for Mansfield University (PA) where she previously worked. She was also the Project Director for the Pennsylvania school library impact study of 2012, an IMLS National Leadership Research Project. Collaborating with AUS’s School of Education, Kachel served as lead grant writer on two Alternative Routes Block “ARTC” Grants to address teacher and school librarian shortages in Washington. Funded by Washington’s Professional Educator Standards Board at $560,000 for 2018-2020, and again for $145,000 for 2020-2022, these scholarship programs fund Kent School District para-educators with $8,000 scholarships to earn teacher and add-on endorsements in either ELL or school library media.
As a strong school library advocate, Kachel serves as the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) and continues to be instrumental in lobbying for school library legislation to mandate school librarians in all public schools.
