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During late March and early April, the ALSC Discussion List was active with comments and concerns around Common Sense Media (CSM) and that organization’s reviews of children’s materials.  I followed this discussion with particular interest for two reasons. First, the organization is located in the city where I work.  Second, when they were just getting started, members of the organization came to our library to meet with us to discuss their values and seek our support.   We declined as we believed that their practice of labeling was in violation of the ALA Bill of Rights and the core values of library services for children.

I do not intend to rehash all of the comments and statements of the online discussion (sigh of relief on your part!).  Hopefully, most of you followed it and certainly many of you actively participated.  I found it to be a robust and lively exchange.  That being said, I believe that there are some points that bear repeating regarding CSM reviews:

• The qualifications of the “expert” reviewers are not always clear with regard to their knowledge of children’s literature and their background in bringing children and books together.

• Reviews contain a not-so-subtle bias that the values of CSM should be shared by everyone.

• Ratings that focus on a checklist of incidents that CSM considers problematic (i.e. violence, sex, language, consumerism, drinking, drugs, smoking) cannot provide a balanced and truly insightful evaluation of a literary work.  There is no context.

• The “Parents Need to Know” ratings are presented to the left of the reviews and are the most immediately visible component.  Even if the review itself does present some balance, a parent in a hurry will find it all too easy to simply look at the rating as a guide to deciding if the book is one they consider appropriate.

Nina Lindsay, Supervising Librarian for Children’s Services at Oakland Public Library, focused on this issue in a way that I found particularly insightful.  With her permission I am going to use her comments:

“…it is indeed the “What Parents Need to Know” section and ratings of CSM that I find inherently problematic, and totally different than, for instance, VOYA’s ratings on popularity and quality.  First of all…”Parents Need to Know”?  That very statement presupposes that what is about to follow is what every parent should value.  Try looking up some reviews of titles with complex stories in them, and picture yourself as a parent who is browsing this site to sanction or veto your child’s reading choices.  Does this section really tell you what you need to know about the book?  The point is it is different for every parent, every family.”

Thanks, Nina!

If you haven’t done so, I would like to encourage you to read a blog post from the Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and a Booklist editorial by Pat Scales.  On March 28th, 2016, Joyce Johnston posted a piece to the OIF blog titled Common Sense Media:  Promoting Family Values or Dictating Them?  The original editorial from Pat Scales, titled Three Bombs, Two Lips, and a Martini Glass was published in Booklist in August of 2010.  It has just been reprinted with updates as a result of the ALSC-L discussions.  Both pieces are succinct and on target.

Are two blog posts and an updated editorial on top of the previous discussion excessive on this issue?  I would answer no.  The discussion about labeling in order to limit what children read is a vital one to our profession.  It is one that we should weigh in on whenever possible.

Finally, I encourage you to think about volunteering to serve on the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee.  Several of us currently serving are coming to the end of our appointments at the close of the Annual Conference.  This will provide openings for those who might be interested in participating in this critical committee, and working with great people who share your passion for intellectual freedom!

Toni Bernardi, San Francisco Public Library

Member, ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee

The post Reviews & Common Sense Media appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Give us your feedback on how to move forward with the National Institute (image courtesy of ALSC)

I’m reaching out today, International Transgender Day of Visibility, to share information regarding the 2016 ALSC National Institute and last week’s passing of North Carolina’s HB2 legislation, with the objective of gathering more member feedback within the next few days.

Thank you to everyone who has already expressed thoughts, concerns, support, and questions regarding this extremely important situation.

This is not an abstract issue. In addition to this law’s conflict with ALSC’s core values, purpose, and diversity work, in the past week ALSC leadership has heard from members who are personally affected by it in a very real way. During this time we have been consulting with ALA management and President Sari Feldman; ALA Conference Services; the ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT); the ALA Public Awareness Office; the Institute Planning Task Force; the North Carolina Library Association; the Charlotte Marriott City Center; and, most importantly, as I mentioned, ALSC members on ALSC-L and via e-mail and social media.

With the Institute less than six months away and an ALSC calendar scheduled literally years in advance, unfortunately moving the event to another state is not a viable alternative even with a change of date. The alternative to moving forward with the Institute as scheduled in Charlotte is to cancel it.

We are working with GLBTRT on a continuing course of action and to prepare should the Institute proceed in Charlotte, a city with a culture of inclusiveness and library support. Indeed, it was Charlotte’s transgender-inclusive, nondiscrimination ordinance which was subsequently and egregiously reversed by the state’s HB2 legislation. We have already sent a letter to Governor McCrory urging him to support a swift repeal of HB2, however please be aware that we are a 501(c)(3) organization and must be very conscious that actions such as calls for boycotts and electioneering may put ALA at risk.

The Institute schedule does include programs specifically on equity and inclusion for all and we are actively looking to develop further programmatic content to help raise awareness and share resources. We have begun speaking with local LGBTQIA organizations in Charlotte on how we can actively support their work, and welcome suggestions of any of which you’re aware.

We continue to monitor and assess the situation closely and want to hear from you as your immediate feedback will help us plot our course moving forward and make a decision regarding the Institute within the next two weeks. To respond, please leave a comment below. If you would like to reach out to me privately, please feel free to do so at [email protected].

The post Share Your Thoughts on the Institute and HB2 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

The Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) entered its third week on Tuesday, March 15, with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Champion the importance of school libraries and school librarians.

Read on to find out how Skye Corey, Rosemary Kiladitis, and Stacey Rattner took on the Week 3 challenge with a few small—and even some huge—steps that make a big difference for students of all ages!

Skye writes:

At the heart of Everyday Advocacy is the belief that small steps make a big difference. As part of this week’s challenge, I took the small step across the road to visit the neighboring middle school librarian.

We had a great conversation, and I left with a page-long list of practical steps that I could take to support the work that she does. From MakerSpace outreach programs at lunch, to weeding help, to coming up with a better system of exchange for when students return public library books to the school—there were so many simple, actionable ideas discussed! I can’t wait to work together with the Youth Services team and the school librarian to make these ideas a reality!

If I had to share just three points with others who are thinking about taking that small step of reaching out to the local school librarian, I’d say the following:

1. Don’t be afraid to take the first step! School librarians are just as passionate about advocating for children as public librarians, so fear not! (Read Stacey’s paragraph to see how amazing school librarians can be!)
2. Schedule time to check-in with the school librarian on a regular basis. Cultivate this important relationship so that when they need help or have a great idea, you are the first person they contact.
3. Do all that you can to remove barriers within the relationship. Listen well, be flexible, and go above and beyond to make the relationship easy for the school librarian.

What a wonderful challenge this has been, and what a great opportunity to walk alongside all those who are committed to making a better future for children through libraries.

Rosemary writes:

This week’s challenge had us advocating for the school libraries and librarians. Boy, do they need it! These last few years, we’ve read article after article about school libraries closing as budgets shrink. “They can use the Internet for their research,” people say. But who will teach them how to research, I ask?

School librarians are increasingly in sparse supply, at least in my area of urban Queens, New York City. I had a class visit from a relatively new public school yesterday, and their teacher told me that despite having a beautiful library, there is no school librarian to run it! The children rely on public library visits to get library time. My own experience with my 7th- grade son is similar; he hasn’t been in his middle school library once in the two years he’s been there, and the only time he seems to be in the library is for a Scholastic book sale.

Limiting access to children’s school libraries limits children’s access to information. In underserved areas, this further increases the education divide and the digital divide. Everyone needs to understand that elementary and secondary school librarianship is so much more than storytime. A class trip once a year is not going to provide children with the tools they need to learn research skills; how to classify and find information; and what a good information resource looks like. Having regular access to a school library and a library professional will give kids a head start that they need in life. It will put the power in their hands, building confidence and the ability to question and learn.

School librarians have just as much to say as any other library professional! Pick up any copy of School Library Journal, Horn Book, or VOYA, and see the articles they write. They’re on Pinterest, and they’re blogging and collaborating. I thank school librarians wherever I meet one because I started out my education with a great one and think every child has the right to one.

How can we advocate for our school librarian partners? We need to stand together with them and tell the decision makers that education is important, and librarianship is a vital part to every child’s education:

1. Underserved neighborhoods need more access to libraries, not less.
2. School librarian is not an optional position.
3. Put librarians back in schools where they belong.

Stacey writes:

It’s been quite a week of advocacy for me. Monday afternoon I met with my superintendent, and think I made some inroads.

We are a small district, facing another difficult budget year. Additionally, we are closing a middle school and moving from three buildings to two in the 2017-18 school year. My superintendent asked me almost immediately why he should hire someone only to let them go in a year, and I was prepared with an answer:

With our renovations, we will be adding an “Innovation Lab” in our elementary school. Why not staff that with a certified school librarian who knows how to collaborate; is familiar with Common Core and the all the curriculum; can work with every grade level; and is comfortable with technology and makerspaces?

Well… He got it! He said he never thought of that before but it sounded like a great idea!  I might have even found a pull to get funded, albeit partially, to go to ALA to find the right person!

Today I talked more with my principal and tonight (drum roll please) I stood up (sweat dripping down my side) at the School Board meeting and shared how important it is to be consistent and have a full-time school librarian in every building. I doubt anything will happen this year, but I can sleep tonight knowing that I tried.

In the meantime, I have a great relationship with the Youth Services librarian down in our small but active public library. Mia has lead an after-school book group during my Mock Newbery project with 5th graders.  We are lucky enough that the school and the library are only about half a mile apart.

When it is warm enough, I have walked down with students on a “field trip.” Mia has talked up library programs and given out library cards (I send home applications ahead of time and actually have a stack of blank ones at my circulation desk), and kids even check out books (as many as they care to carry up the hill back to school!). She has come up to school to assist with author visits and, of course, promote summer reading.

Now I also know that Mia can fill gaps we may have in our district without two full-time secondary librarians. She can also collaborate with me and therefore increase our full-time employee at the elementary school, so to speak.

Mia and I have a date to meet next week about summer reading, and I have my list ready to discuss how this can be a completely collaborative effort.  Thankfully, Mia is always open to my crazy ideas!

Skye Corey is a librarian at Meridian (Idaho) Library District; Rosemary Kiladitis is a librarian; and Stacey Rattner is a librarian at Castleton (N.Y.) Elementary School. Skye, Rosemary, and Stacey are participants in the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge, a 15-member volunteer cohort convening from March 1-22.

The post Spring 2016 #EAChallenge: Championing School Libraries and School Librarians appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

The Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) entered its second week on Tuesday, March 8, with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Introduce Everyday Advocacy to a colleague.

To help them tackle this challenge, all Spring 2016 EAC cohort members received three advocacy buttons with tip sheets and three Everyday Advocacy one-page flyers to share with library colleagues and community members.

Read on to find out how Rose Hopkins-LaRocco, Angela Petrie, and Mary Voors took on the Week 2 challenge and won big!

Rose writes:

This week’s Take Action Tuesday Challenge was to introduce a colleague to Everyday Advocacy. We were given Everyday Advocacy buttons and tip sheets and were asked to give these to colleagues and start a conversation. I gave one button to my supervisor and another to my coworker. They were both thrilled to get them and immediately put them on.

They both noted how easy it is to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of the Youth Services department and forget to be advocates; however, this brought up the conversation of finding those little moments to advocate. It could be something as simple as promoting a program or a quick reference or readers’ advisory interaction. These small moments are great times to use our elevator speeches, quickly describing the value of what we do. I am saving my third button for when I encounter a colleague who may not see the importance of our roles as advocates.

These buttons have also been a great conversation starter with my family and friends. My parents live in the town of the library at which I work. In November there is going to be a referendum to allow the library more tax money to build a new building so that we can expand our space and services. There are many supporters of this initiative but also a great deal of naysayers. I had the discussion with my parents about how they can advocate for their library and help others to see its value.

Angela writes:

When I joined the EAC cohort, I thought about the mentor relationship I’m building with a new MLIS graduate, Melissa, who temporarily joined Youth Services through a Foundation Grant. Melissa is experiencing with us the implementation of a strategic plan. Prior to working with Youth Services, she interned with us. She attended board meetings and spent time with the library director which offered her the chance to see library administration from the top down. She is hoping to secure a position in library administration, which makes it even more important to express the value behind Youth Services efforts.

For this week’s challenge, I chose Melissa as my colleague to inform. I believe that communicating our efforts effectively encourages our colleagues to seek out valuable resources through ALSC. And this fit in nicely with our mentor relationship. I explained that I wanted to be involved with Everyday Advocacy to improve my ability to advocate using value-based language (VBL). I showed her the website and encouraged her to become involved. Finally, I offered her a few short sentences to show the difference VBL can make:

“I do storytime” becomes “I present early literacy enriched programming for preschoolers and their caregivers to help them better prepare for kindergarten.”

“We have stuff for teens to do” becomes “The passive programming we offer for visiting teens shows them they are valued library customers and we want to offer ways for them to be involved that’s easy and interesting.”

The conversations empowered me and encouraged my colleague.

Mary writes:

We are nearly midway through this spring’s EAC, and I am so pleased that I am participating! Last week’s challenge was to introduce Everyday Advocacy to a colleague. I used this as an opportunity to speak to a staff member in our Adult Services department about how we could work together to help adult customers find developmentally appropriate apps to use with their kids. I am hopeful that this could grow into a cooperative effort between our departments.

I also made a point to talk with a regular customer who works as a preschool teacher. She loves the challenges of her work and is always looking for ways to help “her kids” and their families. Many of the children she works with come from ESL families, and we talked about the many resources she and her families could find at the library:

1. Books, which can be used as both mirrors to their own experiences and windows to experiences of others;
2. Storytimes at which parents can assist with sharing bilingual stories or songs; and
3. Dramatic play in our Early Learning Center space, where kids and their families can build vocabulary and friendships.

Cultivating advocates within our libraries can be nothing but good not only for libraries, but even more importantly, for the kids with whom we work and their families. It is important that people both within the library profession as well as members of the general community are able (and willing) to articulate the importance and value of public libraries. To paraphrase a button I’ve taken to wearing as part of this advocacy challenge, “Together we can create a better future for children through libraries.”

Rose Hopkins-LaRocco is a librarian; Angela Petrie is a librarian and supervisor at Stillwater (Minn.) Public Library; and Mary Voors is a librarian and supervisor at Allen County (Ind.) Public Library. Rose, Angie, and Mary are participants in the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge, a 15-member volunteer cohort convening from March 1-22.

The post Spring 2016 #EAChallenge: Introducing Everyday Advocacy to a Colleague appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

Take a deep breath, Everyday Advocates: We’re plunging headfirst into the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC), which starts today!

Even if you aren’t part of our 15-member cohort convening from March 1-22, you can still get in on the action. Here’s how:

1. Check out the Take Action Tuesday blog on the Everyday Advocacy website to join our cohort in four weekly challenges;
2. Add yourself to the EAC community on ALA Connect and follow the rich discussion between cohort members; and
3. Promote the EAC on social media using #EAChallenge and #TakeActionALSC.

Need a little inspiration before taking the plunge with us? Meet Colleen and Cathy, two members of our Spring 2016 cohort.

While initially hesitant about participating in the EAC, children’s librarian Colleen Cochran is eager to learn how becoming Everyday Advocate can help her reach current and potential patrons.

Already confident in her advocacy role, library media specialist Cathy Collins looks forward to learning new techniques, sharing her advocacy story, and discussing the EAC experience with other Everyday Advocates.

Colleen writes:

May 4th will be my first anniversary as a children’s librarian. Working as a professional librarian is, in many ways, as I imagined it would be. There are unbelievably heartwarming moments. Numerous times I’ve offered up a silent “thank-you” to my reference, youth literature, and censorship professors. I am also privileged to work with some amazing librarians.

Conversely, the realities of working in a public institution and all the innate challenges attendant to that made me wish more than once that there had been a library school class on navigating bureaucracy effectively. Some days the challenges have felt insurmountable.

The Spring Everyday Advocacy Challenge came through my e-mail on a day I felt particularly confined by institutional obstructions keeping me from reaching potential patrons. Rather than stew over what I could not accomplish, I applied to participate. When I heard I had been accepted, I immediately wanted to bow out and claim I was too busy, or too new, or just too something that would get me out of stretching myself. Fortunately, an awesome coworker told me I had to do it.

By participating in the challenge, I hope to have the chance to focus on what I can​ do for patrons, both current and potential, the opportunity to expand my view of what advocacy is and learn the most effective ways to apply it to my career.

I am really grateful for this opportunity and look forward to learning and growing with everyone this March. Thank you, and stay awesome!

Cathy writes:

Advocacy means not only wearing our many hats, but also doing a symbolic fashion spread with them! To be a strong advocate of school library programs and services, one must be willing to toot one’s own horn loudly and wear one’s collective hats boldly on behalf of the students, staff, and community we serve. In fact, we should be sporting not just hats but also superhero masks and capes to proudly proclaim our place at the educational leadership table.

When we combine our voices, we naturally empower ourselves to make a stronger difference. So many opportunities exist for us to advocate on a daily basis through both small acts and larger ones. Advocacy is not supplemental to what we do. It is a central and enormously important aspect of our jobs as library media specialists.

I am super excited to be taking ALSC’s Everyday Advocacy Challenge this March. I hope to learn new advocacy tips and strategies, to share a few of my own, and to enjoy some rich, stimulating discussion on the all-important topic of library advocacy.

(For excellent examples Cathy’s advocacy work in action, check out her latest Knowledge Quest blog post, Everyday Advocacy, from which this post is excerpted.)

Related post:

Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Meet the Spring 2016 Cohort!

Colleen M. Cochran is a children’s librarian at Glenview (Ill.) Public Library; Cathy Collins is a library media specialist at Sharon (Mass.) High School. Both Colleen and Cathy are participants in the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge, a 15-member volunteer cohort convening from March 1-22.

The post Spring 2016 #EAChallenge: Take the Plunge with Us! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

Who’s ready to take the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC)? Our next cohort of bold and daring Everyday Advocates is—and we hope you are, too!

From March 1-22, our cohort of intrepid volunteers will do the following:

• Commit to completing four consecutive Take Action Tuesday challenges on advocacy topics/themes of their choosing;
• Collaborate with their EAC cohort members over the four-week period, sharing successes and troubleshooting issues via ALA Connect;
• Write a post for the ALSC blog about their EAC experiences; and
• Contribute a reflection for the April 2016 issue of the Everyday Advocacy Matters e-newsletter.

Before the Spring 2016 EAC gets underway next week, we’d like to introduce some of our cohort members and their reasons for taking the four-week challenge. Watch for their sure-to-inspire ALSC blog posts beginning Tuesday, March 1!

Keturah Cappadonia, Librarian, David A. Howe Public Library (N.Y.)
“I want to take the Everyday Advocacy Challenge to help develop my skills in speaking out about the importance of library services for children and build self-confidence in my skills and abilities to help make me a better librarian. I want to be better able to serve the families in my community through improved communications on behalf of my library.”

Colleen M. Cochran, Librarian, Glenview (Ill.) Public Library
“As I near my first anniversary as a professional librarian, I would love to reinvigorate my perspective and be reminded of why I became a children’s librarian. The Everyday Advocacy Challenge would be an opportunity to focus on what I can do for the patrons I serve, regardless of the challenges of entrenched ideas and layers of bureaucracy common to public institutions.”

Cathy Collins, Librarian, Sharon (Mass.) Public Schools
“As the Advocacy Chair for Massachusetts State Library Association, I want to model for my colleagues some of the easy ways that school library media specialists can effectively advocate for strong school library programs on a daily basis!”

Skye Corey, Librarian, Meridian (Idaho) Library District
“As children’s librarians, advocacy is at the heart of what we do. From the programs we plan, to the collections we select, to the city hall meetings we attend – in all of these things, we are advocating for children and for a place where these children can be equipped with the skills, knowledge, wisdom, and vision needed to succeed.

I want to participate in the ALSC Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) so that I can be challenged, pushed, and stretched. I want to learn how to best use stories, statistics, and news to demonstrate the value of children’s library services. I want to learn how to be more politically savvy as I work at defining key stakeholders both inside and outside the library, and as I work on crafting my own stories of impact. And, of course, I want to have a lot of fun along the way, meeting fellow ALSC members who are enthusiastic, inspiring, intelligent, and committed to learning how to be the best everyday advocates that they can be!

Once I have completed the EAC, I want to share my experiences with others (both those within the library and those outside of the library) so that together, we can work together to create a better future for children through libraries.

Katherine Paterson once wrote: ‘I discovered gradually and not without a little pain that you don’t put together a bridge for a child. You become one – you lay yourself across the chasm…’ It is my hope that through participating in the ALSC Everyday Advocacy Challenge, I will better learn how to be this bridge – a bridge to wonder, joy, friendship, and hope.”

Rosemary Kiladitis, Librarian
“I want to be more involved, and I want everyone to understand how important libraries are!”

Kimberly Patton, Supervisor, Kansas City, Kansas Public Library
“It’s important to be a voice for our library in our communities. As librarians, we need to be able to communicate the value of our libraries and all that we do to enhance our communities in large and small ways and I want to learn to do the best job I can with my advocacy efforts.”

Angela Petrie, Librarian and Supervisor, Stillwater (Minn.) Public Library
“My current position involves some involvement with an acting library board made up of a few members who would benefit from some dedicated and powerful advocacy, and I’m up for the challenge. I want to compose a few different messages for them and for all who may not really understand:

• The power behind a well developed, early literacy enriched library storytime;
• Why the kids are playing with dramatic play props in the children’s area;
• Why the babies are playing with toys after storytime; and
• Why the tweens really need a space for their own programming that can’t always include younger/older siblings.

It’s important to me that I can build upon and refine several messages that lead people to the accurate conclusion!”

Gayle Pulley, Supervisor, Ridgefield (Conn.) Library
“It is important to share our great ideas with each other and with our patrons. I should be advocating every day but usually allow other things get in the way. This experience will allow advocacy to be a top priority and become part of my daily responsibilities.”

Mary Voors, Librarian and Supervisor, Allen County (Ind.) Public Library
“I want to activate my inner Everyday Advocate and motivate my colleagues to do the same!”

Claudia Wayland, Supervisor, Allen (Texas) Public Library

Kimberly White, Librarian, Cheshire (Conn.) Public Library
“I think this is a great opportunity to make the commitment to advocating for libraries on a regular basis. I enjoy reading (and sometimes even completing) the Take Action Tuesday Challenges, so I think this would be great chance to make the commitment. I also really love the idea of collaborating with those in the cohort over the month of March!”

Jenna Nemec-Loise is Member Content Editor of the ALSC Everyday Advocacy Website and Electronic Newsletter. E-mail her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter: @ALAJenna. 

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Meet the Spring 2016 Cohort! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

When you say “yes” to an appointment to serve on an ALSC committee, you’re saying “yes” to meeting interesting people, and getting re-energized about topics and issues that are important to our profession and vital to those we serve. The ALSC Intellectual Freedom (IF) Committee serves as a liaison to other ALA Divisions and Committees, but also to a partner institution you might not know well.  At Midwinter 2016, the co-chairs of the ALSC IF committee spent a fascinating day with the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) folks and learned a lot.

Source: Freedom to Read Foundation website

FTRF is an affiliate – not a part – of ALA. Its purpose is to protect and defend the First Amendment, particularly supporting “the right of libraries to collect – and individuals to access – information.”  If you face a challenge in your library, you’ll probably call ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom for advice.  But you also want to remember our powerful advocates at FTRF, since that is where passionate attorneys speak for our patrons and for us when legal defense is needed.  They’ll go to court, if necessary. FTRF also works to fend off trouble before it gets to litigation by keeping close tabs on state and federal legislation.  And they’re on the lookout for developing issues on the free speech and privacy horizon, such as the question of labeling book and media content for youth.

So here are a couple of action items for you to consider: Join the FTRF for as little as $10 if you’re a student, or $35 if you’re not.  Get started on your application for a Conable Conference Scholarship for a free trip to an ALA Annual conference if you’re a student or new to the profession.  (Applications open in February.)

And volunteer to serve on an ALSC committee to feed – or reignite – your passion.  

-Laura Jenkins, ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee co-chair

The post Fired Up About the Freedom to Read appeared first on ALSC Blog.

While browsing the exhibits at ALA Midwinter, I came upon the Harry Potter Alliance and its work on organizing youth to participate in National Library Legislative Day – mainly by creating local chapters in schools, libraries, youth centers, etc.. to enlist passionate readers in youth advocacy.  Of course, I also had to buy this wicked awesome (note my attempt at Boston lingo!) t-shirt:

These local chapters “serve as an access point for young people who are passionate about stories to become civically engaged and lead projects that improve their communities.” (thehpalliance.org)  The HPA envisions librarians being “most heavily involved in creating their chapters, planning the first few meetings, and identifying potential leaders among the young people in attendance.”

Are you as intrigued as I am? You can send questions via a virtual owl (HPA brilliant lingo!) to their Chapters Staff at [email protected] to learn more.

The post Harry Potter Alliance and Youth Advocacy appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The Friends of ALSC is accepting tax-deductible donations (image courtesy of the Friends of ALSC)

It’s not too late to become a Friend of ALSC!

Friends’ projects have a powerful impact not only on our members, but also on their larger communities as a whole. Friends of ALSC support activities such as innovative conference programs and institutes, 21st century challenges, professional development and early literacy projects.

As you are making your plans for the holidays and your final year-end donations for the 2015 tax year, we hope that you will include Friends of ALSC in those plans and show your continuing support for creating a better future for children. Every contribution helps ALSC support the work of our members and meet new challenges.

Be sure to check out the new 2015 Friends of ALSC Annual Report as well to read about all of the great things the Friends did in 2015.

The post Join the Friends of ALSC appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

Thanks, in no small part, to all of your calls and emails, the House of Representatives passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which will reauthorize the ESEA if approved. As mentioned in his blog post about the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) last month, ALSC President Andrew Medlar gave us the heads-up that this second call to action would be critical to ensure that a reauthorization includes these hard-fought school library provisions.

Now is the time for the final push! The Senate is expected to vote early next week and it is critical that both of your US Senators hear from you. Ask them to, “vote YES on the ESSA Conference Report” and take a moment to let them know how librarians and school libraries positively impact children’s lives and communities.

Visit ALA’s Action Center to locate your Senators and stay up to date on this historic vote. While you’re at it, head over to ALSC’s Everyday Advocacy page to find out more ways to make your voice heard on issues that matter.

Matt McLain is the Co-chair of the ALSC Advocacy and Legislation Committee.

The post Time to Contact Your Senators #ESEA appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Most recently, I read about it in the ALSC campaign Babies Need Words Everyday.

It was such a clear campaign with great graphics that we immediately hung up in our library’s bathroom. And, it had research to back it up – the introductory flyer said “By the time children from low-income families reach the age of four, they will have heard thirty million fewer words than their more advantaged peers.” The initiative was created in response to the Obama Administration’s 2014 call to increase early literacy initiatives to bridge the word gap. It uses the research that coined the 30 Million Word Gap as a talking point, and integrates newer research done by LENA or Dr. Dana Suskind, both of which use the “30 Million Word Gap” research as a framework for theirs. My colleague Claire Moore and I were curious about this statistic, and did some digging to learn more.

The “The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3” by University of Kansas researchers Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley was a 2003 article in American Educator (Spring: 4-9), which was an excerpt from their 1995 book Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Young American Children. The research, although it has been used as a rallying cry in campaigns across the country (including Too Small to Fail, Thirty Million Words, and local initiatives), has been shown to have some disturbing issues.

The issues that other researchers and educators have found in this study include:

Here is a breakdown of their critiques.

Sample size

In their most cited body of research, the researchers visited 13 high-income families, 10 families of middle socioeconomic status, 13 of low socioeconomic status, and 6 families who were on public assistance in Kansas City one hour per month for two and a half years. They made 1,318 observations and counted vocabulary words spoken to children by parents. The families only included African-American and White families that spoke English; bilingual children do have slower rates of learning vocabulary, but have other skills that monolingual children do not have (Dufresny & Madsey, 2006). They then looked at the number of words heard by each child by SES and saw the gap that has been trumpeted over and over again. The average child on public assistance heard 616 words per hour, the working class child 1,251 words per hour, and the professional family’s child heard 2,153 words per hour of observation. This number was then greatly extrapolated to show that by age four, there was a 32 million word gap between the child receiving public assistance and the child in the professional class. This assumes that the year had 5200 hours and the big assumption: that the number of words heard in an hour during observation was typical.

Data coding

After the observations, the researchers coded the words the children were hearing from parents. They coded for “quality of interactions” and spent very little time explaining how these codes are backed up by research – in fact, their explanation cites extensive research, but the footnotes only contain a reference to look at their earlier research. Sarah Michaels, Professor of Education at Clark University, said, “Hart and Risley coded for upper middle class/academic or professional politeness and interactional patterns, found that the upper income families used more of them, and simply asserted that more of the quality features is better in producing learning-related outcomes. They identified upper and middle class features of talk, coded and counted them and found, guess what, they correlate with class” (p. 26, 2013). Other researchers say “…by taking the language practices of the middle- and upper-SES families in their sample as the standard, Hart and Risley transformed the linguistic differences they found among the welfare families in their study into linguistic deficiencies” (Dudley-Marling & Lucas, p. 365). The Hart and Risley study set up the working class families and families receiving public assistance to fail. Teresa McCarty, from the University of California Los Angeles, puts it well: “Cloaked in well-intentions— ‘giving children the competencies they need to succeed in school’ (Hart and Risley 1995:2)—gap discourse simultaneously constructs a logic of individual dysfunction, limitation, and failure while masking the systemic power inequities through which the logic is normalized” (Avinerini, et al, p. 71).

This deficiency thinking is similar to the reaction to a 1961 book by Oscar Lewis called The Children of Sanchez which coined the term “culture of poverty.” The book was an ethnographic study of small Mexican Communities that attributed 50 shared attitudes, such as violence and poor planning skills, to the larger culture of all poor people. Unfortunately, this deficit thinking is incredibly harmful to both those under the microscope and the educators (and librarians) who work with them. Paul Gorksy says “Deficit theorists use two strategies for propagating this worldview: (1) drawing on well-established stereotypes and (2) ignoring systemic conditions, such as inequitable access to high-quality schooling, that support the cycle of poverty” (2008). Again, by using a deficit framework, we obscure structural inequalities.

“Valence” or the emotional character of the words was also coded: affirmative, open-ended statements were seen as quality, whereas directive were seen as low quality. Again, no research was cited. There are many reasons why coding in this way without an explanation is wrong – mainly, that white, upper and middle class ways of speaking to their children were valued as quality. In a 2015 article, Gulnaz Saiyed says, “While middle-class activities do lead children to develop a sense of entitlement, individuality, and set them up to feel comfortable in schools, they deemphasize other childhood experiences. For example, many working-class parents do not overschedule their children with extracurricular activities. Instead, they provide opportunities for play, development of curiosity, creativity, and respect for different perspectives.” Another point brought up by Saiyed is how African American children are disciplined more harshly in school, and parents may be preparing them for that. Michaels (2013) agrees, saying “Again, I want to remind you that people from different cultures talk differently to infants, and no one approach or style has been shown to be cognitively superior to another in helping children acquire their native language or grow up to be smart” (p. 29).

In addition, mobile technology has changed parenting for all social statuses. In other research conducted by Dr. Dana Suskind, middle and upper class parents have other bad habits: “[Anne] Fernald, who sits on the scientific advisory board for Providence Talks, told me, “Some of the wealthiest families in our research had low word counts, possibly because they were on their gadgets all day. So you can see an intermingling at the extremes of rich and poor. Socioeconomic status is not destiny” (Talbot, 2015). The blanket assignation of the bad culture of poverty is harmful to all parents.

Extrapolations

The research makes sweeping extrapolations for its findings. In their book Meaningful Differences, Hart and Risley assert that vocabulary is an important indicator for future success, but spend very little time explaining why: “Because the vocabulary that individuals can command reflects so well their intellectual resources, we still have oral examinations, and vocabulary plays a major role in tests of intelligence” (p. 6). There are no citations of other research that describes why vocabulary is indicates “intellectual resources” – instead, they talk about how it is easy to measure.

As a librarian, I understand the importance of vocabulary as one aspect of literacy. However, I don’t understand why this study allows vocabulary to be the main indicator for school success, or why specifically children as partners in the conversation (as opposed to overhearing conversations) was seen as so important. As Susan Blum says in “Invited Forum: Bridging the ‘Language Gap’” (Averini, et al, 2015), “Anthropological research shows, in fact, that addressing the youngest children as conversational partners is extremely unusual in the world” (p. 75). Are we sure that makes it better?

Michaels says, “The deeply destructive, pernicious thing about the Hart and Risley study is that it presents what seems like totally rigorous, careful, objective science (what under careful inspection is nothing more than pseudo-science)—that gives teachers, educators, policy makers the ‘proof’ they need to believe that these poor kids aren’t smart, aren’t good learners, don’t have adequate language to think well with” (p. 35).  As librarians, when we cite the 30 Million Word Gap, we run the risk of continuing to enforce the bias and classism that this study did, as do some of the initiatives that have cropped up around this study. “In effect, the word gap interventions propose that improving social and economic outcomes for poor and minority families can be as simple as training them to act more white and middle-class (and monitoring their compliance with a ‘word pedometer’)” (Saiyed, 2015). While Babies Need Words Everyday does not go as far as to install word pedometers on parents, and instead simply encourages them to speak with their babies, the issue is very different – but by using word gap and deficit thinking, we may be treading in dangerous territory.

What can we do?

As librarians, we can help support literacy skill-building for both parents and children with Babies Need Words Everyday’s colorful posters and in our storytimes and outreach efforts. As public libraries, we provide free support to parents of all classes who may be struggling to find time or resources to provide early literacy practices to their children. Families in poverty also get support from public libraries to help them combat the structural inequalities they face. We also have to make sure we are creative and reflexive about encouraging multiple literacies, such as (all of which are strengths of a diversity of groups):

As centers providing informal learning opportunities, libraries are the perfect spaces for encouraging multiple literacies. For instance, “Low-income children are more likely than their higher-income peers to be in factory-like classrooms that allow little interaction and physical movement. As a result, these children spend more time sitting, following directions and listening rather than discussing, debating, solving problems and sharing ideas” (McManus, 2015). ALSC members have many brilliant ideas for programming to combat this issue on this blog. What else can we do?

If we are truly invested in literacy equity as librarians, being engaged in understanding our own attitudes and resources is important. I feel hesitant to use the 30 Million Word Gap as a statistic in my storytimes because of what it implicates, and I wonder what you all think. Even the newer research by the LENA foundation and Dr. Dana Suskind use Hart and Risley’s flawed framework. The newly updated ALSC competencies are full of guidance about recognizing and responding to structural inequalities, being self-reflexive, and culturally competent. I’ll end with one of them.

-Many thanks to Claire Moore – this piece is the result our meetings and conversations and her editing skills.

Lisa Nowlain is the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Fellow and Children’s Librarian at Darien Library in Darien, CT (you can be the next one! Apply by April 1 at www.darienlibrary.org/mcgrawfellowship) She is also an artist-type (see more at www.lisanowlain.com).

Sources cited

Avinerini, N., et al (2015). Invited Forum: Bridging the “Language Gap.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 25(1), pp. 66–86. Retrieved from  http://www.susanblum.com/uploads/4/7/2/1/4721639/jla_-_language_gap_forum_2015.pdf

Dudley-Marling, C. & Lucas, K. (May 2009) Pathologizing the Language and Culture of Poor Children. Language Arts, 86(5), pp. 362-370. http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/med/langpoor.pdf

Dufresne, T. & Masny, D. (November 2006). Multiple literacies: Linking the research on bilingualism and biliteracies to the practical. Paediatr Child Health, 11(9), pp 577–579. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528653/#b12-pch11577

Gorski, P (April 2008).  The Myth of the Culture of Poverty. Poverty and Learning, 65(7), pp 32-36. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr08/vol65/num07/The-Myth-of-the-Culture-of-Poverty.aspx

Hart, B. & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Paul H. Brookes: Baltimore.

Hart, B. & Risley, R. (Spring 2003). The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3. American Educator, 4(9).

McManus, M. (2015, October 12). Are some kids really smarter just because they know more words? The Conversation. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/are-some-kids-really-smarter-just-because-they-know-more-words-47819

Michaels, S. (Autumn 2013). Déjà Vu All Over Again: What’s Wrong With Hart & Risley and a “Linguistic Deficit” Framework in Early Childhood Education? LEARNing Landscapes, 7(1), pp 23-41. Retrieved from http://www.learninglandscapes.ca/images/documents/ll-no13/michaels.pdf

Saiyed, G. & Smirnov, N. (2015, January 9) OpEd: Does ’30-Million Word Gap’ Have Gap in Authenticity? Chicago Bureau. Retrieved from http://www.chicago-bureau.org/oped-30-million-word-gap-gap-authenticity/

Talbot, Margo (2015, January 12). The Talking Cure. The New Yorker. Retrieved from  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/12/talking-cure
Other Resources

• https://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/the-word-gap-a-reader/
• http://www.researchgate.net/publication/273158753_How_Can_Book_Reading_Close_the_Word_Gap_Five_Key_Practices_From_Research

The post Is the 30 Million Word Gap a stat we should be using? appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Calling all Everyday Advocates! The fight for school libraries is real, and it needs you to make a difference.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

Congress is poised to act definitively on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) very soon. According ALA’s Washington Office, we could know as early as next week if watershed language for school libraries, included in the Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177), makes it into this federal education bill.

This means there is important work for all of us to do! The last time Congress passed an education bill they left out school libraries and our kids’ futures can’t afford for that to happen again. As soon as the Washington Office learns what is in the new compromise bill language, they will be posting an alert to the Legislative Action Center with instructions for how you can help (including talking points you can use to call, email, and Tweet Congress). That will be our opportunity to make sure that every member of the House of Representatives (and after that, the Senate) hears from library experts before they vote, which could be as early as December 2. ALSC will also provide a heads-up when it’s time.

Here’s how you can make a difference:

• Be prepared to contact your Senators and Representatives and let them know that any agreement to reauthorize ESEA must maintain the school library provisions overwhelmingly adopted by the HELP Committee and the full Senate under S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act.
• Give a heads-up to coworkers, family, and friends to take action as well by contacting Congress sometime between next week and mid-December.
• Gather together stories about the impact of school libraries in your community which you can use when you and your supporters contact Congress.

For support in these vital efforts, check out the tips from ALSC’s Everyday Advocacy initiative at http://www.ala.org/everyday-advocacy/

The more voices that speak up on behalf of school libraries, the better for all kids! Please keep your eyes peeled and your ears open for the upcoming alert.

Thank you!

Andrew Medlar
ALSC President

The post Fight for School Libraries! #ESEA appeared first on ALSC Blog.

On Tuesday, October 13, the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) called for a time of reflection with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Submit the Share Your Advocacy Story webform.

EAC cohort member Lise Tewes shares these reflections on our Week 7 challenge:

This week’s Everyday Advocacy Challenge turned the focus inward and became an examination of conscience, so to speak. But fortunately, the challenge required spending time looking for the examples of when I’ve been good, not when I’ve been bad! I learned these three things from our challenge this week:

It’s good to look back at what you’ve done right. Too often, in our hyper-critical society and workplaces, we are focused on the negative, on the things we didn’t do, or the things that didn’t work very well. The “woulda, coulda, shouldas.” Taking stock of the things that have gone well, that we did right, of the efforts that have been successful, is powerfully motivating!

When I started to think back in order to discover a successful advocacy effort that I could post on the webform, I discovered that there were actually quite a few examples of successful advocacy activities that I could choose among. Wow, that made me feel good! It energized me and made me realize that advocacy is not some weird, odd activity that I have to make a special effort to fit into my already over-extended schedule.

It’s basically what I do every day.

It’s the time I take singing the praises of my library, to everyone and anyone, and I do that at every storytime, outreach visit, and community meeting that I attend. Sometimes my “praise singing” is more vocal than others, more effective than others, or has a deeper impact in my community than others.

But all advocacy efforts, big and small, are important, and we need to pat ourselves on the back sometimes and take stock of how successful we are, at everything we are doing!

Advocacy = “Let me tell you what the Library can do for you.” As mentioned above, advocacy isn’t some weird activity that requires specialized training and time. It’s simply the efforts we make to ensure that the people in our community, state, and nation are aware of all the wonderful materials and services that libraries of all kinds can provide to improve and enrich the lives of everyone, which ensures that libraries have value in the community, state, and nation.

When the library is woven deeply into the fabric of the life of the community, then it becomes very easy to advocate at the level of lawmakers and budget-cutters, which is usually the level of politicians. And politicians seldom want to cut or eliminate services that are popular, i.e., deeply entrenched, in the community.

So start in the community, become an essential player in all the activities of your community, and you will have the community’s support and approval. And if the politicians even suggest that the library should be cut or downsized or, heaven forbid, eliminated, the roar of the community should silence those ridiculous politicians!

Success breeds success, so share your advocacy stories! Why do we have an Everyday Advocacy website and Share Your Advocacy Story webform?

Because we all need to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves for the great work we are doing (re-read the first point above).

Because we need to see that, in libraries of every kind and all around the country, we are all working hard at advocacy, at making our libraries valued by its users and acknowledged as such by decision-makers. In other words, we are all in this together, and there is always strength and encouragement in numbers!

Finally, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! The advocacy story that is posted by another library in a state far away might inspire me to do a similar activity in my own Library. And I might inspire someone far away to try an activity that I have done successfully.

But if we don’t have a forum for sharing those stories, I’ll never have a chance to find out about the great activity that Library Faraway did, and then I’ll miss the chance to improve my own community and library. I want to hear about other libraries and the great work they are doing. I want to be inspired and challenged and encouraged in my work, and a simple click on the Everyday Advocacy website might be all it takes sometimes to get my mojo moving!

Here’s hoping that we all spend some time patting ourselves on the back for what we’ve done right, and then sharing our stories with everyone in the library world.

Lisa Tewes is a supervisor and librarian at Kenton County (Ky.) Public Library. She’s a member of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 7 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

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Over this past weekend, the Progressive Education Network (PEN) held their biannual conference in Brooklyn New York.  Our school was fortunate enough to be able to attend en masse when our Director decided to close school on Friday and send everyone.

It was my first non-library conference, and I have to say that it clarified a few things for me.  One of the main take aways is that we need to build bridges and trumpet our skills further and more widely.

A highlight of the conference for me (for obvious reasons) was the “Authors as Activists and the Importance of Diverse Book” panel featuring Jacqueline Woodson, Andrea Davis Pinkney and James Lecesne.  All of the authors had so much to say (see my twitter feed and the hashtag #NYPEN2015 ) but what struck me the most were many of the questions that the educators in the room were asking.  They were questions that wouldn’t necessarily be asked if the teachers had strong librarians in their schools, or strong relationships with librarians.  A fellow librarian and I kept looking to one another in surprise when questions like, “How can I find good books highlighting diversity” were directed to the authors.

A small group of librarians met during lunch to talk about how we can help educators beyond our own school walls. It quickly became clear that we need to get ourselves established at the very least resource-wise within educator focused associations. As more and more schools restrict access to libraries in-house and go without librarians, it seems more important than ever to make sure that the knowledge and resources we have aren’t simply kept in-house.

The post PD Outside of the Library World appeared first on ALSC Blog.

On Tuesday, October 6, the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) presented our volunteer cohort with what’s proven to be their biggest Take Action Tuesday prompt yet:

Make a formal request to attend National Library Legislative Day.

Here’s what a few of our participants had to say about their Week 6 experiences in six words or less:

• “Easier than expected! Now I’m apprehensive!”
• “Out of my league.”
• “I used this as a learning tool only.”
• “Apprehension, how to justify the request.”
• “An exercise in balancing priorities.”
• “Impossible.”
• “A bit disheartening.”

For Olga Cardenas, the Week 6 prompt was an opportunity to pause and consider what she can do to preserve the future of libraries and library users.

For Pam Carlton, the Week 6 prompt brought the realization that there’s really no one better suited than she is to tell the stories of her library community.

Olga writes:

Since the staff attrition of 2008, my colleagues and I are still struggling to manage everyday increasing responsibilities while providing outstanding customer service to our patrons. Most of us are too busy with what is happening today, or in our immediate futures, to really consider what’s happening in our wider profession.

Though what’s happening today has immediate effects, we sometimes forget that what we fail to do today will have lasting consequences for ourselves, our profession, and those we serve in the future. It’s not that the future is unimportant or non-urgent. On the contrary!

Therefore, let’s pause from the mundane, look to the horizon, and ponder what we can do today to ensure our tomorrows continue to provide access to information and resources for all our patrons. It’s time to invest our precious time and effort so that future generations enjoy the privileges of a strong democracy that we hold so dear and defend so zealously!

This week’s challenge allowed me to momentarily turn a deaf ear to the screaming important urgent things to one important, non-urgent, whispering thing: Advocacy in its highest form. I must confess, I didn’t know what National Library Legislative Day entailed. So, for the benefit of those who, like me, were in the dark about this, I’ll share an abridged version:

Library professionals and supporters gather annually over a two-day period in Washington, D.C. to rally support for libraries. On the first day, attendees learn about current issues in Congress affecting libraries via experts—and here’s the cool part—you actually learn what to expect and do the following day during a meeting with your Congress representative!

In the evening of the first day, attendees have the option of mingling with members of Congress and their staff. The second day is dedicated to personal meetings with legislators. Just imagine, finding yourself at the cusp of advocacy and using your voice in favor of preserving what you hold dearest in your heart!   

That, my dear colleagues, is a bold leap into formal advocacy.

Yeah, yeah, that sounds fine and dandy, but where would one find the strength to make the leap, to actually make a concerted effort to attend National Library Legislative Day? Would it be the bright eyes of your youngest customer? Perhaps the absence of teen customers? What about the shuffle of your elderly customers who have already ensured the existence of your library? What about the vision of what it would be like to live under the tyranny of a dictatorship?

As for me, I took a huge leap by joining the Everyday Advocacy’s Take Action Tuesday movement and have found the challenges uncomfortable to various degrees yet empowering. I have come to realize that advocacy takes many forms and has neither beginning nor end. I feel I owe it to the next generation of professionals and library users to get involved, for libraries and what they represent are worth preserving.

May you find your source of strength and inspiration today so you may choose to learn more and possibly attend ALA’s National Library Legislative Day or your own state’s legislative event in 2016!   

Pam writes:

National Library Legislative Day was something I had heard about but I had never thought of as something in which I would participate. In Montana, we have a very capable Legislative Committee that is formed at our Montana Library Association. They have been helping Montana Libraries get the funding they need for years now.

But the tide is turning.

We now have a State Library Development Task Force, which will recommend new ways for operating our libraries. We are having to make difficult decisions on what will stay funded and what will not. On top of this, the librarian who has very capably lead our legislative efforts alongside of our State Librarian is retiring.

I just attended a follow-up event for a leadership class I took this past summer, and the presenter asked each and every one of us to think hard about our commitment to our work as librarians and how we might join the efforts to lobby our State Legislature and work with them to continue funding the wonderful programs and services offered by Montana’s Libraries.

Then Week 6 of our Everyday Advocacy Challenge comes along: Ask to attend the National Library Legislative Day. What in the world would I accomplish at this event? I was a Youth Services Librarian. I wasn’t a director. I wasn’t on the Montana Library Legislative Committee.

So I took a deep breath and I thought again. I was one of the many librarians who sees on a daily basis the benefits of the library in their community. I could tell the stories about the patrons who were helped by our services.

I realized that there was really no one better to attend National Library Legislative Day.

It’s the day to day challenges and success stories that best tell the library’s story. Yes, the directors and managers will have statistics and and official letters stating how important libraries are, but we have the “real” stories. Stories about patrons of all ages who come to our libraries and get the help, information, entertainment and community involvement they need.

Going to the National Library Legislative Day would be an awesome, eye-opening experience. I have given my formal request to attend to my director. Now I wait and see. But whether I go or not I do know that I will be joining our Montana Legislative Library Committee and work toward making Montana Libraries the best they can be.

Olga Cardenas is a librarian at Stanislaus County (Calif.) Library; Pam Carlton is a librarian. Olga and Pam are members of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 6 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) began its second half on September 29 with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Talk up the Everyday Advocacy initiative with a colleague.

Here’s what a few of our EAC cohort members said about the Week 5 challenge in six words or less:

• “One of the easiest so far.”
• “Sharing the proactive thinking.”
• “Energizing!”
• “Perfectly timed to coincide with newsletter.”
• “Much easier to do!”

For Lynda Salem-Poling, the Week 5 challenge was both a fun opportunity and a great reminder of what Everyday Advocacy is all about.

Lynda writes:

This week’s challenge was to talk up the Everyday Advocacy Challenge to our colleagues. I took this opportunity to poll my co-workers to find out who was interested in learning more about ALA, as well as more about the EAC specifically. I sent out a general e-mail to all the librarians in my library system, linking to all of the ALSC blog posts, and asking if anyone was interested in participating and inviting them to contact me for more information.

The resulting conversations were fabulous and enlightening. I learned a lot about how my fellow librarians saw advocacy and their roles as advocates. And, as usual, I surprised myself by having insights while we were talking that I had never thought of before.

Talking over the EAC with my fellow librarians helped me find even more importance in doing it. Specifically, I realized the added benefit of talking to librarians from different types of public libraries from across the country, and even some “library folks” who work outside of libraries all together. One colleague pointed out that even if I never spoke to anyone about libraries again, it is good to have internalized the positive messages that I was creating.

We are now past the half-way mark, when it’s possible to suffer from a bit of burn-out, even for such a short experience. This week’s challenge was an invigorating, uplifting, reminder of how important the EAC is and how much fun.

Lynda Salem-Poling, is a librarian and supervisor at El Dorado (Calif.) Neighborhood Library. Lynda is a member of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 5 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) reached the halfway mark on September 22 with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Write or call your elected officials to talk about your work at the library.

In six words or less, here’s what a few of our cohort members had to say about their Week 4 experiences:

• “Voicing political opinion demands attention.”
• “From library lover to library advocate.”
• “Calling or email probably more productive.”
• “This one just crushed me.”
• “Afraid to start. Managed to complete.”
• “Scary! Not a skill I’ve used!”

For Brittany Staszak, the EAC Week 4 challenge was a great opportunity to do her homework on the best ways to appeal to her representatives.

For Mira Tanna, the EAC Week 4 challenge helped her champion the critical roles of both school libraries and state-certified school library media specialists.

Brittany writes:

I decided to contact the state and national legislatures that represented both the district I work in and the district I live in via telephone, where I knew I would most likely be leaving a voicemail. After briefly researching the leanings of my representatives and having no specific piece of legislation I intended to lobby for (or against), I decided it was time get some hard facts and concrete numbers about libraries.

I quickly discovered that ALA has a handy “Quotable Facts about America’s Libraries” PDF. Utilizing the annotated version, as well as the Pew Research Center’s “10 Facts about Americans and Public Libraries,” I tailored a few quick and persuasive statements for each representative, hoping to demonstrate the importance of libraries in America, the importance of libraries to voters, and the huge toll legislation can take on the livelihood of America’s academic, school, and public libraries.

The talking points I found most useful were the following:

• A 2012 poll conducted for the American Library Association found that 94% respondents agreed that public libraries play an important role in giving everyone a chance to succeed because they provide free access to materials and resources. —ALA
• 90% of Americans say the closing of their local public library would impact their community and 67% said it would affect them and their families. —Pew
• More than 92% of public libraries provide services for job seekers. —ALA
• Research shows the highest achieving students attend schools with well-staffed and well-funded library media centers.  —ALA
• 85% of Americans say libraries “should definitely” coordinate more closely with local schools. And 82% believe libraries should provide free literacy programs to young children, which may include traditional reading, writing and comprehension as well as technology and new media literacies. —Pew
• Americans go to school, public and academic libraries more than three times more often than they go to the movies. —ALA

Mira writes:

As a new member of ALSC, I decided to join the Everyday Advocacy Challenge as a way to get my feet wet and get to know other ALSC members across the country. Our Week 4 challenge was to contact our elected officials about the work we do.

Conveniently, I had received an e-mail several days prior from YALSA (lucky that I joined YALSA, too!) about the need to take action to ensure that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) includes provisions to fund school libraries.

ESEA is a big deal.  When the law was last authorized in 2001, No Child Left Behind (as it was called) made sweeping changes in education policy, the reverberations which have been felt not only on schools but on families, neighborhoods, and communities. School libraries were impacted as well.

I learned from ALA’s advocacy information that 8,830 public schools across the country do not have a school library, and that 17,000 schools don’t have a full- or part-time state-certified school librarian.

Luckily, the U.S. Senate passed the Reed-Chochran Amendment, which explicitly makes effective school library programs part of ESEA. I wrote my U.S. Representative, Corrine Brown, and my two U.S. Senators, Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, to urge them to support the Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177), which reauthorizes ESEA and includes provisions for effective school library programs.

Although I work in a public library, I felt that this call to action was important both as a library assistant manager and as a parent. In our large library system, we work closely with the public school system to ensure that students have library cards, to inform families about the resources we offer to children and families, to improve literacy and pre-literacy skills, and to publicize our programs. Our main point of entry into individual schools is through the media specialist. We rely on media specialists to get the word out about the public library. Families also rely on media specialists to inform them about our resources.

As a parent, I also feel strongly that school libraries and effective media specialists are important to my children’s success. Having a quality school library or media center improves students’ love of literature, their digital literacy, and their academic success. My children have benefited by reading books as part of our state’s Sunshine State Young Reader Awards (SSYRA) with their classmates and by participating in televised morning announcements run by their media specialist.

I hope that others will answer the call to action, whether you are directly impacted by the funding of school libraries or—like me—simply understand how crucial these institutions are to our families, schools and communities.

Brittany Staszak is a librarian and supervisor; Mira Tanna is a new ALSC member. Both are participants in the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 4 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Banned Books Week, a celebration of our freedom to read, takes place September 27- October 3.  Many libraries and book sellers will be offering activities, displays and events to remind us of the importance of everyone’s right to access materials and information.  As many books are challenged on the basis of protecting children, it is particularly important that those of us who serve young people be involved in whatever is being planned for Banned Books Week in our libraries.

What is happening in your library?

• A read-aloud of banned/challenged books – Make sure that titles for young people are included, from In the Night Kitchen to Captain Underpants and a certain young wizard who created an international reading craze.
• Displays – Create one in the children’s and teen areas (teen books are especially fertile ground for challenges), or include copies of books for young people if your library is creating one, all-purpose display.
• An article in your library newsletter – If your library offers a newsletter for the public and is including an article on Banned Books Week with a list of frequently challenged books, include some younger titles.  Our library article included some challenged titles that might surprise readers; Charlotte’s Web and The Wizard of Oz among others.  
• Radio and television – What about contacting a station about participating in a talk show?  Two of our children’s librarians are joining a local radio show to talk about the obvious and frequently challenged items as well as some of the more surprising titles.  
• Speakers – If your library is hosting a speaker to talk about intellectual freedom and Banned Books Week, go ahead and ask if she/he is including information regarding challenges related to books for young readers.  Have a list ready to share!
• A match-up game – On a bulletin board, sheet of paper or bookmark, list titles, plus reasons for challenges and see if people can put the right ones together.  Some will be obvious, others not so obvious.  

These are only a few ideas and I know that there are many more out there.  Please share yours!  

I want to close this post with a question and a recommendation.    Have you gone to the ALA web site and viewed the Banned Books Week site and the site for the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF)?  These sites are rich resources for anyone who works with young people as well as those who work with adults.  They track frequently challenged books, update us on relevant legislation and provide supportive information.  If you haven’t visited them yet, I encourage you to do so.  Finally, don’t forget that ALA has just released the new Intellectual Freedom Manual, Ninth Edition.  It is available in print and e-book formats.  

Let’s celebrate our freedom to read!

Toni Bernardi, San Francisco Public Library

Member, ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee

The post Are You Ready for Banned Books Week? appeared first on ALSC Blog.

I consider myself a bit of an old hand at blogging.  While I may not be as on it as some of my peers when it comes to frequency of posting and such, I have been at this since 2005.  I have seen many blogs come and go, and I have seen many trends come and go.  But for the first time in a while, I got excited about a blog because of its message and its timely nature.

The blog I am excited for is Reading While White : Allies for Racial Diversity & Inclusion in Books for Children & Teens.  I have high hopes for the conversations this blog will be starting.  It is clear from initiatives like #weneeddiversebooks , and the #blacklivesmatter movement as well as the political climate, that discussions of race are on the forefront and are necessary.  The mission of Reading While White states in part-

“We are White librarians organizing to confront racism in the field of children’s and young adult literature.  We are allies in the ongoing struggle for authenticity and visibility in books; for opportunities for people of color and First/Native Nations people in all aspects of the children’s and young adult book world; and for accountability among publishers, book creators, reviewers, librarians, teachers, and others.  We are learning, and hold ourselves responsible for understanding how our whiteness impacts our perspectives and our behavior.”

I like that the creators state that their mission is a work in progress, and is apt to change.  I like that the creators are naming their own privilege, holding themselves accountable and are are leaning in and being action oriented.  I am excited about this resource because as a white educator and a mother of two white daughters I feel a strong need to be a part of this narrative.

My own school is embarking on bringing conversations about race to the surface in a very intentional way.  Our history and legacy is one of social justice, and it is increasingly apparent that everyone needs to be aware and action oriented on this front. Our Director’s expectation is that every member of our community — students, faculty, staff, administration and board members, along with parents and caregivers, will be having active discussions about race/ethnicity, racism and privilege. He states, “Until those of us who identify as ‘white’ can acknowledge and examine the privilege that comes with our race, race will divide us.” I am expecting to refer teachers and parents alike to this blog as a resource, a conversation starter and a source of different viewpoints.

The post Important Resource appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) kicked off on Tuesday, September 1, with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Spend 15 minutes talking with your supervisor about your advocacy role within your library or organization.

Never ones to shy away from a tall order, we asked our intrepid cohort members to summarize their Week 1 experiences in six words or less. Here’s what a few of our 18 volunteers had to say:

• “Comfort zone has been taken down.”
• “Affirming yet eye-opening.”
• “Confirmed what I knew, added detail.”
• “A step in the right direction.”
• “Good to compare our perspectives.”
• “Supportive; free lunch!”
• “Conversation that had us both thinking.”
• “Thinking outside the box.”

For Kendra Jones, the EAC Week 1 challenge was “thought-organizing” since her supervisor was on vacation.

For JoAnna Schofield, the Week 1 challenge left her with “expectations met based on manager philosophy.”

Read on for more of Kendra’s reflections on preparing to talk with her manager about her Everyday Advocacy role as well as JoAnna’s vision for where her conversation can lead!

Kendra writes:

This week’s challenge happened to land at the same time my supervisor was on vacation. Since I was unable to speak with her, I decided to write some notes to help guide a future discussion.

When I sat down to write notes, I started to reflect on our past conversations when I was advocating for a policy, procedure, for our patrons, for myself, or for a co-worker. Coming away from these reflections, I was able to identify some issues we had discussed in the past but that were still unresolved or needed to be addressed more fully.

A big part of why so many of these issues have fallen to the wayside is likely due to my role as advocate not only being undefined but unsupported. I am fairly new to this position, but the politics are the same as in previous positions. My goal has always been, and remains, to gain the support and trust of my supervisors so that I can be the best advocate I can be. It has become clear that in order to make this happen, my supervisor and I need to be on the same page in terms of advocacy (we mostly are), and we have to work together to advocate for change.

After all this soul searching, my notes ended up being two sentences: “I need to advocate. How can we work together to make this happen?”

My hope is this will open an open and frank conversation and we will come up with a great plan moving forward.  

JoAnna writes:

Advocating within an organization, especially one in which you are employed, is often not an easy task. How far is too far? What is the nature of the environment, and where do I as the individual fit in?

This weeks’ Everyday Advocacy Challenge stretched my ethical and philosophical thinking skills (that I haven’t used as much as I did in library school) and encouraged me to find direct ways to connect with my supervisor on the the topic of advocacy.

Like many other places around the country, there is a more recent push in Akron, Ohio, to directly involve library professionals in community engagement. Rather than “sitting behind the table” at booth-sits or story times, librarians are looking for ways to build deeper and more meaningful relationships “at the decision-making table.” We are finding new ways to offer our expertise and resources to our community in order to showcase our immense value.

In some ways, community engagement can be seen as a flip of advocacy (especially for the purposes of this week’s challenge). Community engagement focuses on showcasing our value to community partners outside our organization while advocacy within our organization focuses on discovering the needs of our community and using this knowledge to inform internal policy and procedures. This information allows administration and professionals at all levels to best budget our limited resources (both time and fiscal) and steer our organization in a public-driven, literacy-focused way.

An actionable example of this type of advocacy in Akron has been our after-school snacks program. Research supports that hungry children do not perform as well in school because their basic needs are not being met. In Summit County alone, one in four children face hunger. The library offers a safe environment that (1) is filled with informational and recreational materials and (2) can also offer after-school snacks to Akron’s children through a partnership with the local food bank. Without the support of front-line librarians and administration, this partnership would not have been successful.

Kendra Jones and JoAnna Schofield are both librarians, working at the Tacoma (Wash.) Public Library and the Akron-Summit County (Ohio) Public Library, respectively. Kendra and JoAnna are members of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 1 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Image courtesy of ALSC

Who’s ready to take the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC)? Eighteen bold and daring Everyday Advocates are—and we hope you are, too!

From September 1 through October 20, our cohort of intrepid volunteers has agreed to do the following:

• Commit to completing eight consecutive Take Action Tuesday challenges on a back-to-school theme;
• Collaborate with their EAC cohort members over the eight-week period, sharing successes and troubleshooting issues via e-mail and online documents;
• Write posts for the ALSC blog about their EAC experiences; and
• Nominate colleagues to participate in the next EAC.

As the first-ever EAC gets underway today, we’d like to introduce each of our cohort members and their reasons for taking the eight-week challenge. Watch for their sure-to-inspire blog posts beginning next Tuesday, September 8!

Sue Abrahamson, Librarian and Supervisor, Waupaca (Wisc.) Area Public Library
“I want to participate in the challenge so that I take action rather than just thinking about taking action; to show my teammates how easy it is; and to recognize the benefits of telling the story of our work.”

Ashley Burkett, Library Assistant, Birmingham (Ala.) Public Library
“I want to learn, share, and make a difference!”

Natasha Forrester Campbell, Librarian
“I’d like to become a better advocate for libraries, reading, and literacy in general.”

Olga Cardenas, Librarian, Stanislaus County (Calif.) Library
“[I want to participate in the challenge] in order to grow as a professional because the challenge will force me to step out of my comfort zone. I also want to take the EAC in order to become an active member of the librarianship community; I’ve been an inactive member for almost 2 years!”

Pam Carlton, Librarian

Samantha Cote, Librarian, Winslow (Maine) Public Library
“I participated in an advocacy course, Turning the Page, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and ALA, and I loved it. Sadly, I’m not doing as much with it as I’d like. I’ve enjoyed doing the advocacy challenges so far and would love to bring my advocacy skills up to the next level.”

Africa Hands, Executive Assistant

Andi Jackson-Darling, Administrator, Supervisor and Librarian, Falmouth (Maine) Memorial Library
“I am immersed in library administration on a day-to-day level. We are working on a large expansion of our library, and I’ve realized how little I am involved with a large part of our community and our patronage—our children! Challenges are great ways to reconnect and make what is important on my radar and will make me more engaged with our community.”

Kendra Jones, Librarian, Tacoma (Wash.) Public Library
“I see Take Action Tuesdays and always say I’ll do them, but then things happen and they don’t get done. By taking this challenge, I’ll actually do them! I need to work more on advocacy professionally, and this is the perfect thing to help me build some advocacy skills. Plus, working with others makes the tasks more enjoyable and adds a level of accountability that wasn’t there before. I’m excited!”

Eileen Makoff, Librarian, P.S. 90 Edna Cohen School (N.Y.)
“I am a member of the ALSC Advocacy and Legislation Committee. Plus, I feel strongly that libraries save lives (Little Rock Public saved mine). I’ll do what I have to do protect them.”

Kelli McDaniel, Administrator, Supervisor and Librarian, Piedmont Regional (Ga.) Library System
“As a newly hired Assistant Director, I am responsible for inspiring and steering children’s services in our 10-library system. Learning to be an Everyday Advocate would help me boost the wonderful programmers in our region who are always looking for a fresh approach to serving our communities. I also look forward to working with a cohort to share best practices and hear different perspectives on our important role as librarians for children.”

Matthew John McLain, Supervisor, Salt Lake County (Utah) Public Library
“I’m the co-chair of the ALSC Advocacy and Legislation Committee, and this looks like an awesome opportunity to get started.”

Lynda Salem-Poling, Librarian and Supervisor, El Dorado (Calif.) Neighborhood Library
“I would like to strengthen my advocacy skills and my connection to local schools. I am new to this library and see that as an opportunity to make new bonds with the community and local representatives.”

Megan Schliesman, Librarian, Cooperative Children’s Book Center (Wis.)
“[I want to participate in the challenge] first and foremost to support the Everyday Advocacy effort.”

JoAnna Schofield, Librarian, Akron-Summit County (Ohio) Public Library
“What libraries and librarians do for children and their families on a day-to-day basis is important work, and one of the best ways to showcase our value to our communities is to share our work. Many Tuesdays I eagerly open the Everyday Advocacy Take-Action activity and make plans to engage on behalf of the intentional and sometimes inspiring work happening at my library, but some weeks I simply fall short. I am excited about the Everyday Advocacy Challenge and eager to participate because it will give me that extra push I need to follow-through on advocacy challenge and connect me with other like-minded individuals to share experiences and encouragement.”

Brittany Staszak, Supervisor and Librarian
“It’s so easy to get sucked into the everyday flow of library life and habitual users where everyone knows the value of the library and its services. I strive to take my advocacy home with me and make it a part of my out-of-library life and conversations, showing all I interact with exactly what makes libraries so valuable. Being a part of the challenge would be a perfect way to kick-start a new habit of Everyday Advocacy—all day, every day.”

Mira Tanna
“I am new to ALSC and would like to get involved!”

Lise Tewes, Supervisor and Librarian, Kenton County (Ky.) Public Library
“My library and several other library systems in northern Kentucky have spent the last three years fighting a lawsuit that was filed by the Tea Party and which threatened to eliminate our tax-based funding. That would have effectively closed my library system as well as four others in our state. Fortunately, the district court ruled in favor of the library, but these last three years have opened my eyes to the need to advocate for libraries and make sure the public is aware of the tremendous return on their tax investment that public libraries provide.”

Jenna Nemec-Loise is Member Content Editor of the ALSC Everyday Advocacy Website and Electronic Newsletter. E-mail her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter: @ALAJenna. 

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Meet the Inaugural Cohort! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Applications for Curiosity Creates grants are due September 25, 2015

ALSC is excited to announce the availability of a new grant to help fund creativity programming in public libraries. The grant application is officially open!

Your library could be one of 77 lucky recipients of a $7,500 grant to encourage creativity for children ages 6-14. The grants may be used to expand existing programming and/or create new opportunities for children to explore their creativity.

• Applicants must be public libraries; individual branches within a library system are welcome to apply separately.
• Grantees may be invited to participate in the development of a best practices publication for creativity programing in libraries. Selected grantees will be expected to participate in interviews and/or site visits by a consultant who will be developing this publication.
• Projects should be for the development and implementation of a program or series of programs to serve children ages 6 to 14.
• Projects should focus on one or more of the following seven critical components of creativity:

1) Imagination & Originality
2) Flexibility
3) Decision- Making
4) Communication & Self-Expression
5) Collaboration
6) Motivation
7) Action & Movement

Selection Criteria Includes:

• Creativity components addressed
• Program reach (including diversity, inclusion and community partnerships)
• Project design and replicability

Apply now for the Curiosity Creates grant program

The post Curiosity Creates Grants Now Open appeared first on ALSC Blog.

There was hardly a dry eye in the audience following Saturday’s screening of the new PBS documentary, The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation. This illuminating film featured moving testimonials from families living in poverty or just barely getting by due to the high cost of quality childcare. The film included facts about the critical brain development that occurs during ages 0-5, and how many children in struggling families are missing out on access to stimulating and education-rich environments and opportunities. Instead, stress (in the form of cortisol) is passed on from parent to child, which leaves a lasting imprint on the child’s development and functioning. This stress follows him or her into adulthood…setting the scene for a cycle that can continue for generations.

Clocking in at about an hour, the documentary was extremely powerful and will provoke libraries–and anyone who cares about nurturing a nation of strong, smart, and independent children–to carefully consider ways we can work together as a community to level the playing field for all children. As the film points out, that moment almost came in 1971, when Congress passed a bill for universal childcare and developmental services for young children. Unfortunately, Nixon vetoed it. Imagine the ways this country may be different today had those services been available for all these decades. Isn’t it time for that change to happen now?

Resources at the panel included:

The Raising of America Web site – Features clips from the documentary series, resources, and ways to take action. The documentary DVD was released in June 2015 and will air on public television soon (time TBD).

For Our Babies – A national movement focusing on efforts to support children age 0-3. A book, For Our Babies: Ending the Invisible Neglect of America’s Infants by J. Ronald Lally, is available and a suggested book club choice and conversation-starter.

Early Learning 2.0 with Families: Enriching Library Services for Families – Co-presenter, the California State Library, offered information on the ELF (Early Learning with Families) initiative. Through ELF, California libraries may receive training and resources to support family-friendly and developmentally appropriate services to aid families with children ages 0-5.

The post Giving Every Child a Fighting Chance #alaac15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Taken from the Talk Read Sing website

Talking is Teaching: Talk Read Sing, a campaign of Too Small to Fail, offers libraries tools for high-exposure partnerships in early literacy, and a clear alignment with Every Child Ready to Read through its targeted parent engagement strategies to close the 30 million word gap.

As an advertising campaign to parents, it works on the evidence that organized drives to change behavior are most effective when they use “nudges” to remind people to make small changes in their daily routines.  The campaign asks communities to organize its trusted messengers (us!) to work together, putting that consistent message “Talk Read Sing” in front of parents throughout their day, and throughout their city.  And it gives us plenty of tools to do it.

Oakland CA was the kickoff city for Talk Read Sing last summer.  Billboards on freeways and bus shelters still invite parents, in English and Spanish, to talk with their children through playful slogans: “Let’s talk about the bus” or “Let’s talk about the weather.”  Bibs and towels distributed in our libraries and elsewhere: “Let’s talk about food” and “Let’s talk about bath time.”  The branding and creative assets produced by the campaign are available to libraries and other organizations who register at Too Small to Fail’s Community site.

A Talk Read Sing enthusiast at the Elmhurst Branch of the Oakland Public Library (photo courtesy of the author)

Here, the coordinated distribution of free materials was managed by First 5 Alameda County, in partnership with many organizations (including OPL) involved in Oakland Reads 2020, a community in the National Campaign for Grade Level Reading.  The Talk Read Sing campaign is a natural strategy for school readiness, and works seamlessly within Grade Level Reading campaigns.

Our rollout meetings provided a perfect opportunity for me to share our own OPL “Talk Sing Read Write Play” brochures, which we developed from the ECRR2 curriculum.  Despite the fact that ECRR2 promotes two additional elements, the message is clearly the same, and partners were thrilled to have local materials to weave into the campaign.  Boom: our library brochures went city wide.

If you have a Grade Level Reading Community or a functioning literacy collation, you have the perfect network to build a Talk Read Sing campaign in your community.   Introduce yourself as a partner who can help engage parents around teaching behaviors that will help everyone meet common goals for early literacy.  And if you don’t have such a network yet, this campaign is the perfect carrot to get one going.  See SPFL’s Christy Estrovitz’s presentation “Inspired Collaborations” for some tips.

For the public overview of the campaign, including free resources: http://talkingisteaching.org/

For the community campaigning materials, register at: http://toosmall.org/community

And find out more at ALA Annual, Sunday June 28 from 1-2pm, at Babies Need Words Every Day: Bridging the Word Gap as a Community

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Our guest blogger today is Nina Lindsay, Children’s Services Coordinator at the Oakland Public Library, CA, who talks, reads, and—yes!—sings, every day.

The post Every Child Ready to… Talk Read Sing!: Partnership in Action appeared first on ALSC Blog.

As most of us can’t physically travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in National Library Legislative Day (NLLD), ALSC’s Advocacy and Legislation Committee has developed resources so you can contact Congressional leaders from home!

Check out these easy-to-use resources for taking action from your library community during the week of May 4-8, 2015.

Image courtesy of ALSC

Contact Your U.S. Senators and Representatives 

Talking Points to Use with Legislators 

Letter to Congress Template 

Sample VLLD 15 Tweets

The post Take action with #VLLD 15, and let your voice be heard! appeared first on ALSC Blog.