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submitted by Shilo Pearson
Chair, 2007-2008 ALSC School-Age Programs and Services
Committee

The School-Age Programs and Services Committee of the
Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a
division of the American Library Association (ALA), is
happy to announce that ALSC has released their
bibliography, “Great Early Elementary Reads,”
featuring recommended book titles for children who are
just learning to read and beginning to read on their
own.

The book list is available as a full-color PDF on the
ALSC Web site at www.ala.org/ala/alsc/booklists and is
free to download, copy and distribute to colleagues
and patrons. Print copies of the list will be
distributed by ALSC at the ALA Annual Conference in
Anaheim, California. Please look for them at the
following locations:

ALSC membership booth (on exhibit floor)
ALA’s Literature Distribution Bins (near ALA
registration area)
ALSC All Committee meeting (Sunday)
ALSC Division Leadership meeting (Saturday)
ALSC Membership Meeting (Monday)
ALSC Office table (on display rack)
ALSC Kids! @ your library Campaign program
(Saturday/10:30 a.m.)

The bibliography is broken down into two categories:
“Starting to Read” and “Reading on My Own.” The books
included were published between 2005 and 2008.
However, many are part of a larger series that young
readers also will enjoy. The titles were selected,
compiled and annotated by members of the 2007-2008
ALSC School-Age Programs and Services Committee.

Yesterday, I spent a good part of my day writing updates for an outdated Internet Safety brochure for parents.  My plan is to add a few paragraphs on social networking sites and a little overview of cyberbullying.  I certainly don’t claim expertise in those areas so I started fact finding.  To summarize what I found, most every article and website said kids who experience cyberbullying should disengage from the activity, distance him/herself from the bully, and tell an adult. 

Sounds good.  Until it happens at the public library and I am the adult they tell.  Then what?  Empathize?  Ignore?  Call the police?  I don’t know.  I am unprepared for the day an upset child comes to my desk and tells me, in some way, that he/she is being bullied online.  Based on my research yesterday, my advice will be to disengage from the activity, distance yourself from the bully, and tell your parents.  Certainly your parents will know what to do.  But why don’t I?

What would you do?

submitted by Wendy Woodfill, Convenor, ALSC Children’s Collection Management in Public Libraries Discussion Group

The Children’s Collection Management in Public Libraries Discussion Group will be meeting on Sunday afternoon during ALA next month. Here are the details:

Sunday June 29 1:30 to 3:30 pm
Clarion Hotel Orangewood 2 (CLAR)
616 Convention Way

We have two topics for discussion:
1. Declining circulation. A number of libraries have witnessed declining circ in the last few years, especially in the areas of children’s nonfiction and picture books. What are libraries doing to counter this trend? Are floating collections the answer?

2. Multi-format book programs. Several publishers have announced ‘book programs’ that encompass multi-ages and multi-formats (e.g., Simon and Schuster’s Trucktown by Jon Scieszka). Is this a new trend? What other programs are in the works? Are libraries purchasing the complete package?

I hope you all are able to attend the discussion group meeting! As always, I promise a lively, fun, and stimulating discussion.

submitted by Jessica Trujillo, an ALSC-sponsored ALA 2008 Emerging Leader

When I was young, the term “leader” sent chills down my spine, perhaps due from growing up in the 80’s; but as a young adult my mental picture of a leader was some guy with slicked back hair in a power suit wheeling and dealing. The kind of person that would put an old lady out on the street–in the cold, while it’s raining. Or an overbearing petty tyrant, using his/her power to work out feelings of inadequacy. Not so appealing to a kid (with an admittedly overactive imagination) who read Steinbeck and listened to Woody Guthrie. In my teenage mind people like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. were something else–not leaders per se, they were visionaries–humanitarians. The idea that they were leaders as well seemed more like semantics than anything else–they were something more noble than the word leader encompassed. Thus, for many years this abstract idea of what a leader was lingered in my mind. But as with many early held beliefs, my ideas of leadership became more nuanced as I gained more life and career experience. So when I saw the advertisements for the Emerging Leaders Program, I thought this might be an opportunity to gain more skills at becoming an effective leader.

When I applied to the 2007 ALA Emerging Leaders program, I was not accepted. But as a youth services librarian, I am used to things not turning out how I thought it would; and like a good librarian I moved on and tried something else. I took the following year to gain more experience by volunteering on an ALSC committee and participated in a few of the New Jersey Library Association sections. I also presented poster sessions at a few conferences. So when I saw the advertisements for the next group and I decided to give it another go, and I was accepted and chosen to be one of the ALSC sponsored Emerging Leaders.

After I was accepted and told all my friends and family about it, and they all asked me what would I do as an Emerging Leader. So I told them, “Well, at ALA Midwinter we have a session about leadership and then we work on a project, do a poster session, and then volunteer on a committee.” Then the questions became more probing.

“So Jess, what do you exactly talk about for an entire day?” Well, leadership stuff. You know, like learning how to be a good leader and things…

“What type of projects do you work on?” Ah! I know that one: I am working on the ALSC project. They would “like to know what ALSC can do to appeal to your peers, including those who are young or experienced, those considering the MLS or newly-minted MLS, and/or any other demographic you can identify as significant to the possible future ALSC member base.”

“So what does that mean?” Uh, making ALSC cool to newbies. Promoting why ALSC is valuable.

“Blah, ba-blah, blah?” What is this? The Spanish Inquisition? I’m only EMERGING. After the EMERGING then I will know, won’t I?

The first Emerging Leaders session was very much like the first day of school. I was nervous. I got lost finding my way to the room. I had trouble trying to figure out where to sit. Not knowing anyone. The teachers (facilitators) making us all mingle and get to know everyone. Normally I am a very shy person in large groups. But I thought to myself, “You must network. You are an emerging leader. No time for shyness. Emerge, you silly thing!” So I forced myself to introduce myself to people and make small talk–not really my strength, so sorry to anyone who had to listen to my inane chatter.

The Emerging Leader’s first day is broken up into three big sections punctuated by times for mingling and eating. The first section was presented by Leslie Burger (former ALA President). The next section was about leadership. Lastly, we had time to meet in our project groups to plan for our project.

The first section Leslie Burger went over the structure of the American Library Association. I remember from her presentation that: 1. ALA works because its members are willing to volunteer, and 2. it is very complex in its structure. She also talked about her own experiences in her career and with ALA. The comment from her presentation that stuck with me most was that influence rather than power is most effective in leadership.

The next session was presented by Maureen Sullivan, organizational consultant, and Connie Paul, Executive Director, Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative and recent 2008 co-recipient of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) Leadership and Professional Achievement Award. From this session I learned that anyone, at any position, can be a leader. It is not just the boss person that leads; every person has the opportunity to foster collaboration, or to set an example by following their own stated values, or be positive about their work. Leadership is not always from the top down, most often the most effective leadership is through influence–by being a team player, being forward thinking, building relationships, being self confident, being empathetic, leading with vision and purpose. Leslie Burger was totally right and now I really get it. Being a leader is totally Woodie (Guthrie that is). During this session I realized that a good leader (at any stage in a career) is a practical optimist. Thinking to oneself, “Maybe I cannot do this now, but what can I do today so that one day I can.” Fortunately for me this new idea of a practical optimist has now replaced my 80’s guy version of a leader.

The last section was when we all broke out into our project groups and met with our mentor and ALA representative. Fortunately for me, all the women in my group are pretty cool. At the moment we are working on sending out a survey via Survey Monkey–which I hope people will participate in–and getting something going for ALA Annual in Anaheim. Keep your eyes and ears open.

If you are thinking about applying to become an Emerging Leader, I encourage you to do so. It is as educational as it is fun. So what are you waiting for? Get your resume updated and line up your recommendations.