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Like many of us, as a young professional I was fascinated by stories from members of Caldecott committees. What was it like to be part of those secret, important deliberations? How delicious was it to hug the knowledge of the winner close for hours before anyone else found out?

The Caldecott Award is ALSC’s second-oldest award. (The Newbery is the grande dame by 16 years.) Anyone or anything that has thrived for 75 years deserves a celebration – and we’re having a year of Caldecott-related activities to celebrate!

The anniversary web page is already up at http://www.ala.org/alsc/Caldecott75. Visit to see the clever anniversary logo created by Brain Selznick, and a list of happenings that will be updated as new events are planned.

You may want to enroll in this summer’s excellent online course, The Caldecott Medal: Understanding Distinguished Art in Picture Books, taught by ALSC past president and children’s literature sage K.T. Horning. It will be well worth your time.

You will also want to join ALSC in Indianapolis in September for the ALSC Institute, at which the Caldecott anniversary celebrations officially kick off with Breakfast for Bill, an event featuring past Caldecott Award winners and honorees Denise Fleming, Kevin Henkes and Eric Rohmann.

The culmination of the year’s celebrations will be at the 2013 Annual Conference in Chicago. President-elect Carolyn Brodie is busy with preparations for a Caldecott-related pre-conference. Other programming will tie into the Caldecott, and the Newbery-Caldecott banquet should be an especially gala occasion!

I hope that each of you who want and work towards service on a Caldecott committee are able to fulfill that dream, as I was lucky to do in 2007. In the meantime, expand your knowledge about picture book art and join the Caldecott party this coming year!

If you’re going to Annual Conference, put this on your schedule now: The Digital Live of Tweens and Young Teens, Monday, 6/25, 8 – 10 a.m.

This program, a collaborative ALSC/YALSA presidents program, has two speakers who offer unusual perspectives. Michelle Poris’s job title alone – Quant Savant – tells you that she is not your average presenter! Michelle spends her time researching the habits of tweens and young teens for the firm Smarty Pants (love that name too!).  She has worked with top companies (like Disney) to help them target their products and services to this age group – and now she brings her expertise to us.

Stephen Abram has another interesting identifier – Futurist. Stephen was listed by Library Journal as one of the top 50 people influencing the future of libraries. Stephen’s ideas are always springboards for innovation. I’m very eager to get a boost on how libraries serve tweens and young teens.

You can be a part of this program, not just a listener, but as a creator. We’re looking for short videos submitted from librarians in the field to highlight effective programming and innovations for working with tweens and young teens  – not just technology-related, but anything!  There’s a good prize, too. Details are in the March 28 post below or here.

Children’s Day/Book Day. For those of us serving children in libraries, that’s every day. We know first-hand the power of the right book at the right time in the hands of a child. We know that reading changes lives. We just need to keep reminding everyone else!

Luckily, we have Día to help us. El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) is one of those robust, flexible campaigns that provides resources without prescribing activities.  I first learned about Día shortly after ALSC became the home for Día in 2007. I had begun service on theALSCBoard and was asked to be the Board liaison to the committee developing Día.

It was – and is – an exciting project to learn about. Día grew out of Children’s Day, a concept instituted throughout the world in 1925 with the goal of bringing attention to the importance and well-being of children.  Author Pat Mora revived the concept in the U.S., and carried it a crucial step further, linking children’s well-being to books and literacy.

While it is commonly referred to by its Spanish name, our Children’s Day/Book Day is a celebration emphasizing the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Do you have a strong Russian community in your city? Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day with a Russian flair. (There’s a Día booklist in Russian – and booklists in 8 other languages too.) How about Vietnamese, Afghan, or French culture? TheALSC Día site has resources. Although April 30 is the day many celebrations happen, Children’s Day/Book Day can happen on any day or on multiple days, at any time of year.

I’ve always maintained that we do storytimes on themes primarily because it makes our planning easier. El día de los niños/El día de los libros is a perfect opporunity to plan a community celebration of reading with a theme – and resources – already in place.  Why not use it? And be part of persuading the world of what we know to our core – that books and reading change children’s lives.

We’re two weeks past Midwinter Conference, and I am still energized by the many interactions I had with ALSC members.  A piece of advice I’ve given to students choosing their library specialty is to go to different groups’ events, look around at the people there, and ask themselves: “Are these my people?” I’m happy to say that ALSC members are my people!

I hope to hear from many of my people during the Community Forum on February 22, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Eastern. This is our second ALSC live chat. Our discussion topic, after time for Midwinter board updates and Q & A, is revitalizing the ALSC membership meeting.  ALSC’s by-laws currently require a  membership meeting at Annual Conference. Our Community Forum – and space on ALAConnect afterwards – will be a time frame for brainstorming about making our membership meeting more convenient and more valuable.

Please mark your calendar to join the Community Forum on 2/22 or read the transcript afterwards and comment.  We’ll send out specifics on how to connect to the Forum soon.

I’m looking forward to your ideas to make our association better!

Many years ago I read a distinction between “friends of the road” – people in our lives briefly, drawn to us by common circumstances – and “friends of the heart” – people with whom we have a true and lasting connection. I’ve found that a useful distinction as I’ve moved around to pursue my career. The best memento from each stop is a friendship that transcends separation.

Organizations, too, have friends of the heart. Beginning in the next newsletter, ALSC will recognize individuals who have been faithful members of ALSC for 25 or more years. You will get to meet some of these folks through member profiles. But that notoriety is only the icing on the cake. The real benefit for these ALSC friends of the heart has been the rich experiences and nurturing relationships enjoyed through their years with ALSC.

ALSC also has Friends with a capital “F.” Just as libraries have Friends groups to help boost the library’s services, so too ALSC Friends support special initiatives such as early literacy, creative programs addressing 21st century challenges, and more. When joining, you get to choose which area your membership supports. Friends are also recognized at the Newbery-Caldecott Banquet. It’s a nice feeling to see your name on the screen, but the real reward is knowing that you have helped to build something meaningful for children.

So I invite you to join me . . . renew your ALSC membership and become a Friend of ALSC. When you’reALSC’s Friend of the heart, you will be helping ALSC to create a better future for children through libraries – and you will be making a positive difference in the world.

The recognition? That’s just the frosting rose.

And you, too! Next September we’ll be gathering in its capital city of Indianapolis for the ALSC Institute. If you attended or heard about the terrific and fun learning experience last year at the Institute in Atlanta, this is already on your calendar. If not, mark it now: September 20 – 22, 2012 at the Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre Hotel right in the heart of downtown Indy.

Joining us will be the talented Peter Brown, author/illustrator of The Curious Garden as well as the Chowder books, among others. You might also remember The Curious Garden as the 2011 Andrew Carnegie Medal winner for excellence in children’s video.

In addition to the many sessions and networking opportunities, we’ll also be able to tour the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and check out the Library’s infoZone. Learn more about this children’s library inside a museum here.

Institute Task Force Chair Joyce Welkie and her team are creating a continuing education opportunity not to be missed! Keep up with the details on our website, or look for more information at Midwinter. Registration will be open in the next few weeks.

Hope to see you in Indy!

Here’s something I’m really excited about: the ALSC Connecting with Tween Readers online course. And the Introduction to Graphic Novels for Children online course. And the Reading Instruction and Children’s Books online course. All right, I confess – I’m excited about all of the ALSC online courses!

I’m excited because I believe in the value of continual learning. We *need* to keep honing our skills and gaining new ones to give youth the best possible library service. But continuing education is fun, too – what’s not to like about exploring fresh ideas? Many of us are librarians in part because we love variety!

I’m also excited because this is one of the essential roles of ALSC, in my view – offering our members a convenient, cost-effective way to expand our expertise and improve our service. I especially love that we can take these courses from our own desks, in our jams if we want to (if we work at home, that is!).

Last, I’m delighted that we are addressing such timely topics in our online courses. Service to tweens can be a puzzle and a challenge. Graphic novels for children are on the upswing as we recognize the need for visual literacy. Understanding how reading happens is great foundation knowledge, programming around series books is a shortcut to well-attended programs, and learning about the Caldecott Medal is a fun window into the development of our profession. Look here for all the details on these great courses.

If you’re a person who likes to make a meal out of appetizers, or if you want to learn a little to decide if you want to learn a lot, our webinars are enticing “small meals,” providing a taste of a variety of topics. Details here.

So this fall, nourish your professional self with help from ALSC! Kudos and thanks to our members who recommended topics and are teaching these interesting online courses and webinars, and to Jenny Najduch, ALSC Continuing Education Program Officer. Nice work!

One of the challenges of leading an association is maintaining connections with members. Back in the “olden days,” ALSC presidents were limited to in-person interactions, phone calls, and paper. No more!

I’m delighted to have so many ways to be in touch with our ALSC members. Just as libraries are alert to offering diverse nonprint options for people who don’t enjoy reading printed pages, so ALSC is expanding our avenues for sharing information.

In the coming months, you will see invigorated social media connections between members and ALSC leadership. Regular ALSC blog posts, Facebook posts, tweets, ALA Connect discussions, and live chats will keep you informed and involved. Of course, we’ll also still be using good old-fashioned email, phone calls, newsletters, Children and Libraries, and actual face-to-face conversation!

Here, at present, is my communications plan:
Blog: look for my posts on the first Sunday of every month
Facebook: posts as I have something to say
Twitter: tweets when I come across something interesting to share
ALA Connect discussions: look for a discussion opening in the next month
Live chats: quarterly live, online interactive sessions with the board addressing ALSC topics and member questions

If information is power, then shared information makes us all powerful and more able to create a better future for children through libraries. Looking forward to connecting with you again soon!