How to use this Page

Thanks to the kind people at ALSC and Penguin Young Readers, I was able to travel to my first ALA Annual Conference this summer. Tennessee to Nevada travel would generally not be in my public library’s budget, so I was thrilled to have received a stipend help with the cost of attendance. (Thanks again, Penguin!) Here are my top Annual Conference tips from a newbie.

Stay at a conference hotel. I made the mistake of not booking my hotel the moment I knew that I was going to attend. (I was lost in the chaos that is summer reading planning). Transportation in Vegas was a challenge and those free shuttles would have been helpful. Fringe benefits of staying at a partnering hotel include: being surrounded by other attendees, sharing non-shuttle transportation costs, and being in closer proximity to social events.

It is okay to travel alone. I went non-stop the entire time I was in Vegas, sun-up to sun-down. (Isn’t the normal Vegas traveler’s schedule just the opposite?) I was able to hit the sessions and events of my choosing, not trying to divide and conquer with other staff members, and sometimes missing out on a session I am very interested in because another had already claimed it. I may be selfish, but with all sessions open for the taking, I felt like a kid in a candy shop.

Avoid temptation in the Exhibit Hall. As a children’s librarian, I am known to save various odds-and-ends in case I one day have a use for them. I never knew the extent of my hoarding tendencies until I was let loose in the Exhibit Hall. (Let’s be honest, there is no reason I would need enough paper-clip holders that I would have to add an extra baggage fee to my return flight home.) When faced with freebies, ask yourself: Do I need this? Can my library use this? If you can immediately answer ‘no’ to these questions, or if you hesitate coming up with a unique use for 890 temporary tattoos, practice politely saying ‘no, thank you’ to the swag.

Attend at least one session that is not directly applicable to your job. You may be surprised to find quite a bit of useful information that is helpful to you in your current position. As a children’s librarian, I am rarely asked my input on building projects, if it doesn’t directly impact the littles’ space. However, I attended “Environment by Design” session and left with some big ideas for future use of space.

Plan at least one day into your trip for sight-seeing.This is one of my biggest regrets of the trip. I learned so much valuable information, saw all kinds of great library related goodies, was entertained and educated by the speakers, but saw very little of Las Vegas. Luckily, I had an aisle seat on the flight in and caught a glimpse of both the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam. I would love to visit again and take in the sights, but with my busy schedule, I will be hard pressed to find the time for this trip in my foreseeable future. One extra day built into my trip would have afforded me quite a bit of sightseeing.

Present right away! (Also, take good notes!).Present what you learned, or even a simple conference itinerary with highlights, to your director, board, and staff immediately upon return. I’ve been back in my library for two months now, and in the chaos that is Summer Reading, I still haven’t had a chance to present to the staff. While we are already implementing some program ideas brought back from the conference, with each passing day, I fear that I’m going to forget some great tidbit of information that I had hoped to pass on to our staff. Hopefully my notes will jog my memory!

**********************************************

Photo courtesy of Joey Yother Photography

Our guest blogger today is Amanda Yother. Amanda is the Children’s Services Coordinator at the Putnam County Library in beautiful Cookeville, Tennessee. She loves learning through playing and revisiting her favorite novels from childhood with her book club kids. Amanda was a recipient of the 2014 Penguin Young Readers Award. She can be contacted at [email protected].

Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.

If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at [email protected].

My husband and I meet a Mike Myers Dr. Evil look-alike on the Vegas strip

There were many things that made me laugh in Las Vegas at ALA Annual this year. There were zany, homemade costumes worn by street performers and sky high food prices (an $18 burger? You can’t be serious), but the best laughs were found inside the Las Vegas Convention Center. This being my first ALA Annual, I had spent a lot of time in advance researching which authors and illustrators would be visiting the publisher’s booths in the exhibit hall. When I looked at my final list, I realized that many of these picture book icons had one thing in common: they all wrote or illustrated humorous books that I love to use in Storytime. Following are my experiences in just one day of ALA Annual in which I met these talented people and ways in which you can use their books in preschool or family Storytime.

Jon Scieszka (1^st time)

Rikki Unterbrink and Jon Scieszka at the YALSA Coffee Klatch

9:00am – I signed up for YALSA’s YA Author Coffee Klatch for several reasons, but the top reason was a chance to meet Jon Scieszka. I was five years old when The True Story of the Three Little Pigs was published (the book celebrates its 25th anniversary this year) and eight when my mom brought home an autographed copy of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. She had just met Scieszka at a teacher’s conference. I had never seen an autographed book before and thought it was pretty much the coolest thing in the world. I read the story many times and continued to read any Scieszka books I could get my hands on all the way into adulthood. So, when the other young adult author enthusiasts at my Coffee Klatch table asked which author I was most excited to meet, you know what I said. Wouldn’t you know that when the whistle blew and the authors made their way to each table that Jon Scieszka came to our table first. And sat right next to me. Scieszka talked about the first book in his new series, Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor which will be released on August 19^th. Since each author only got five minutes at each table, there wasn’t much time for me to tell Scieszka how influential he has been on my life. It’s a good thing I got a few more chances!

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
in Storytime:

In advance, gather several items and place in a large bucket, basket or cauldron. Three pig toys or puppets, one wolf toy or puppet, a bundle of sticks, straw, a toy brick, box of cake mix or bag of sugar, handkerchief, and spectacles.

Before reading the story, inform the kids that you have gathered some items for your ‘story bucket’ and you need their help to figure out which popular folk tale you’re going to be reading to them. Pull out the sugar, handkerchief, and spectacles before the others and see if they can guess what the story it about and who the characters might be.

After the story, sing “The Three Little Pig Blues” from Greg & Steve Playing Favorites. Shakers are a nice addition to this song. Have children huff & puff and say “not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!” during the song.

Since it is the 25^th anniversary of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and the wolf is attempting to bake a cake for his granny, end the program with cupcakes!

Dan Santat

11:00am – As I waited in line for Dan Santat, I called my mother in Ohio and told her that I had just sat next to my childhood hero, Jon Scieszka for coffee. She was very excited for me and recalled her experience meeting him all those years ago. I told her that I hoped for another chance to meet him and to get his autograph.

As a huge fan of The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz, illustrated by Dan Santat, I was definitely eager to meet Santat. I practically squealed with delight when I discovered the free book he was signing was the follow-up to Ninja Pigs, Ninja Red Riding Hood. If you haven’t read these books you’re missing out. Ninja Pigs would make a nice addition to the “Three Little Pigs” Storytime theme. Another great book of Santat’s to use in a “Bad Moods” themed Storytime is Crankenstein.

Crankenstein in Storytime:

During the story, have children moan and groan along with Crankenstein. Make sure to get into it yourself! Other good books to use in this Storytime are The Three Grumpies by Tamra Wight, The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen and The Not-So-Scary Snorklum by Paul Bright.

Songs and Rhymes:

Five Cranky Crabs
http://wiki.kcls.org/index.php/Five_Cranky_Crabs

Old MacDonald Felt So Glad
Storytimes for Two-Year-Olds by Judy Nichols, second edition

I’m So Mad
Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes audio CD

Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen

1:30pm – I couldn’t believe I was one of the first people in line for Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen. Both have exceptional talent and have published many award-winning and beloved children’s books. Put them together and you’ve got something magical called Extra Yarn, a 2013 Caldecott Honor recipient. When many authors and illustrators are signing books at the same time at ALA Annual things can get a little crazy in the exhibit hall. Often there are no signs to mark which line is for whom and where it ends. You may find yourself arriving at a booth only to find the end of the queue is somewhere in the next aisle at the back of the hall. I took great pleasure in telling people that I was near the front of the line. However, I found myself getting rather annoyed that people kept asking, “Is this the line for Jon Klassen?” and overlooking the fact that another very talented person was appearing with him! I understand that Klassen has won the Caldecott Medal, a Caldecott Honor, and numerous other awards but he was not the funny man I was there to meet. In my opinion, Mac Barnett is a comic genius bringing the library world some fantastic read-aloud stories including Count the Monkeys, Mustache!, Guess Again, and President Taft is Stuck in the Bath. He has also written a hilarious mystery series for middle grade readers called The Brixton Brothers.

from left: Rikki Unterbrink, Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen

I was definitely star struck when it was my turn to meet Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen. I am slightly embarrassed to say that I practically ignored Klassen and told Barnett how much of a fangirl I am for his work. I told him, “I want you to know that everyone has been saying this is the Jon Klassen line and I keep telling them it is the Mac Barnett line.” Well, Barnett thought this comment was hilarious and elbowed Klassen saying, “Did you hear that Jon? She said it’s the Mac Barnett line! Ha! I have fans, too!” Barnett took several photos with me and even purposely made Klassen lean farther out of the frame for one of them.

Count the Monkeys in Storytime:

I used this book during an evening family Storytime with much success. The book requires audience participation to help count the monkeys (which don’t actually appear in the book at all because they are scared of the various other animals in the book). Toward the end of the book, have a surprise guest reader sneak in the back of the room dressed as one of the lumberjacks from the book. He or she can carry mini flapjacks to share as a snack.

Extra Yarn in Storytime:

Extension activities to use before or after reading the story:
Have children and parents sit in a circle and toss a skein of rainbow yarn across the circle to someone. Have them loop the yarn around their finger and toss the rest to someone else. After the yarn has been tossed at least once to everyone, talk about the web you’ve made and how each person is important to your web and your world. If someone leaves the group, part of the web falls away. Have one or two people drop their yarn to illustrate this. Compare this to Annabelle’s magical yarn and how she uses it to change her world in the story.

Dancing Sheep action rhyme by Susan Dailey
(Use a sheep or llama puppet for extra fun)
http://www.susanmdailey.com/fingerplays.html

Mustache! in Storytime:

In the book, King Duncan hangs giant banners and posters of himself all around his kingdom as a “gift” to his people only to find that his subjects have painted mustaches on all of them. After reading the book, give children a washable marker and a picture from a magazine (or a copy of Duncan’s face!) and let them graffiti the picture with mustaches. Other fun books to read with this theme: Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos and Mo’s Mustache by Ben Clanton. For songs give each child a paper or fake mustache to hold and adapt Woodie Guthrie’s song “Put Your Finger in the Air” to “Put Your Mustache in the Air.”

Mustache Song:
(author unknown)
You are my mustache, my trendy mustache.
You make me happy, when skies are gray.
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you.
So please don’t shave my mustache away.

Jon Scieszka (2^nd time)

I get my book signed by Jon Scieszka!

2:00pm – This line was very long. Clearly, I was not the only fan of Scieszka’s at ALA and I was worried I would be too far back in line to actually receive a free book. Sure enough, when the representative from Penguin Young Readers Group approached me as I neared the front of the line, I was not surprised that they were nearly out of books. I asked if I could have him sign something else (I brought a special tote bag for just this purpose) and she said yes. However, as I got even closer to the front of the line I was handed a book! Some had left the line thinking they were not getting a book which turned out very nicely for me indeed. I received my copy of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and stepped up to have it signed. “Back for more, eh?” Scieszka said to me. He remembered me from that morning! Hooray! I told him the story about my mom bringing home his book so many years ago and how I had talked to her earlier that day to tell her how thrilled I was that we both finally got to share the experience of meeting him. He said, “That’s great. Tell your mom I miss her.” What a great guy.

Tom Angleberger

4:00pm – I was glad my husband, Travis, had tagged along to Las Vegas because he got the chance to meet Tom Angleberger with me. Travis has read all of the Origami Yoda books by Angleberger and I really enjoy his picture book, Crankee Doodle. Angleberger was just as we expected. Wearing a Rebel Alliance baseball cap and nerdy t-shirt, he looked like he had just stepped off the pages of one of his books. He was very gracious and friendly. We look forward to reading the final installment of Origami Yoda, Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus.

Crankee Doodle in Storytime:

This book just begs to be read aloud by two actors/librarians. After seeing this book performed in a similar fashion, I just had to do it during a family Storytime because it’s fun for both children and adults. Young children may not understand the reference to the song, Yankee Doodle, but older children and parents think it’s hilarious. In the book, Crankee Doodle’s pony tries to convince him to go to town to buy a new hat, but Crankee doesn’t want anything to do with going to town. Read this book using a horse puppet for the pony’s part and a tri-corner hat (we made one out of paper) and baseball cap for Crankee’s part. Follow up with a rousing sing-along of the original song.

Mac Barnett & Jon Scieszka (3^rd time)

Jon Scieszka, Rikki Unterbrink and Mac Barnett with Battle Bunny book

4:30pm – Proof that dreams really do come true, I got to end the day chatting with both Barnett and Sciezska at the same time. Both remembered me and actually told each other about our previous meetings and posed with me for the most memorable photo of all. Barnett and Scieszka co-wrote a book called Battle Bunny, a “deliciously subversive piece of metafiction” according to Booklist. I told the authors that I love the book, but I am worried that library patrons will start to scribble all over future books using this one as inspiration. I haven’t yet figured out how to use this one in Storytime, but Barnett informed me that if you go to http://mybirthdaybunny.com/make-your-own/ readers can download and print the pages for their very own bunny story. Perhaps I will make my own called Funny Bunny and turn all of the fluffy animal characters into children’s book authors that I met one day in Las Vegas.

(All photos courtesy of guest blogger)

*********************************

Our guest blogger today is Rikki Unterbrink. Rikki was a 2014 Penguin Young Readers grant recipient and is the Youth Services Director for Shelby County Libraries in Sidney, Ohio. She is a co-creator of the Teen Think Tank, a grass roots roundtable for teen and tween librarians in Ohio, a member of the Teen Services Division of the Ohio Library Council and a book reviewer for the Southwestern Ohio Young Adult Materials Review Group. This year she also received the Penguin Young Readers Award to attend her first ALA Annual. Rikki enjoys presenting at numerous conferences, performing family Storytimes, dressing up in hilarious costumes and playing with puppets at the library. She lives in Wapakoneta, Ohio with her handsome, band director husband (their life is just like The Music Man) and three crazy but charming cats, Ron Weasley, Katniss Everdeen and Chandler Bing (he’s adopted). You can find her posting for the Shelby County Libraries Facebook page, reviewing on Goodreads or you may contact her by email at [email protected].

Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.

If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at [email protected].

One great initiative that the Public Awareness Committee works to promote is El día de los niños/ El día de los libros (Children’s Day/ Book Day), which was founded in 1996 by Latino children’s author Pat Mora. Día is a special way for libraries to emphasize the importance of advocating literacy to children of all backgrounds while also encouraging families and children to connect with multicultural books, cultures and languages. Exposure to diversity on a regular basis is very important for children and the public library is poised as the perfect space to provide diverse encounters. You can read more about why nurturing cultural diversity in your library is important by reading Jamie Campbell Naidoo’s wonderful ALSC white paper The Importance of Diversity in Library Programs and Material Collections for Children.

At the recent ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Naidoo and Debby Gold of the Cuyahoga County Public Library presented a poster session titled “How Do You Día?”on behalf of the Public Awareness Committee. They invited all who visited the poster session to submit and share their own Día success stories into their iDía jar.

Seven awesome iDías were submitted and here they are!

* A public library donates a book for every child to celebrate Día and partners with other organizations to donate goods for diverse programming.

* At the Salt Lake County Public Library four people demonstrated science experiments in four difference languages to introduce diversity into the community.

* Dallas Public Library offers bilingual Día storytimes and crafts.

* A library shares Spanish language uses for materials and provides multicultural book talks.

* Each New Orleans Public Library branch hosts a yearly program geared towards Día  programming. Themes may focus on different countries and their cultures, such as Africa, China, India and Italy. Local authors are also brought in.

* A library in Commerce, CA invited author Antonio Sacre to read during a storytime program.

* A library holds multicultural craft events, including creating Native American dream catchers, basket weaving and Egyptian vases. They also invited an Indian dance troupe to perform.

What stellar iDías! I especially love the iDía to hold a science program in various languages. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the poster session and shared their success stories! Do you have an iDía that you would like to share? Tell us! Better yet, show us! Share photos from your diverse library program by posting on the Día Facebook page.

_________________________________________________________________

Nicole Lee Martin is a Children’s Librarian at the Grafton-Midview Public Library in Grafton, OH and is writing this post for the Public Awareness Committee. You can reach her at [email protected].

Las Vegas, the city of distractions, proved to be an entertaining and exciting location for my first Annual Conference. With so many wonderful restaurants, an energetic exhibit hall, and lots of great meetings and sessions to attend, it was very easy to miss out on something. The following list highlights 10 things you might have missed at Annual 2014:

1.  The Long but Super Fast Registration Line!

With over 18,000 people attending ALA Annual in Las Vegas, it is no surprise that the registration lines got a little long. As nervous as I was when I first stepped into the line, it went incredibly fast! The staff did a fantastic job getting everyone in and out, all of our questions answered, and communicating their excitement for the conference. Thanks ALA staffers for your hard work leading up to and during the conference!

2. The Banned Book Video Booth

The energy and excitement at the Banned Book Week Video booth was evident every time I walked by (located near the exhibit hall). Librarians and other library-loving individuals seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to read some of their favorite banned books and talk about the importance of intellectual freedom and free access to materials. One of my favorite moments of the conference was watching a captivating librarian read And Tango Makes Three!

3. Networking Between Sessions and In The Exhibit Hall!

One of the highlights of every conference is networking with other passionate professionals in our field. While waiting in line to meet Marcus Zusak (who truly is a delight!), I met two charming librarians from around the US. What began as a quick chat about how excited we were to meet Zusak turned into a longer discussion about makerspaces and the maker movement in school and public libraries. Thanks Lynda Reynolds, Director of the Stillwater Public Library (Oklahoma) and Jessica Stewart, Librarian at The Meadows School in Nevada for the great conversation!

4. Author Meet and Greets

Every time the exhibit hall was open, there seemed to be at least one fantastic author signing copies of our favorite books and answering some of our best questions. Each author seemed pleased when I told them I felt like I was meeting a rock star (which to us, authors and illustrators are our rock stars!). Two of my favorites this trip were Kadir Nelson and Tom Angleberger.

5. Dinner with Friends from Afar

Conferences are some of the best times to get together with other professionals from near and far to eat dinner, relax, and enjoy both library and non library conversation. Las Vegas in particular had some of the best restaurants to choose from, and the air conditioning offered an appreciated chance to rehydrate and reenergize.

6. The Scholastic Literary Brunch

Over a hundred youth librarians gathered in one of the ballrooms at Caesars one morning to eat, network, and listen to some wonderful authors talk about and read from their new books. In groups of three, authors performed an excerpt from their new books reader’s theater style. It was a really wonderful experience!

7. The Starbucks Line (A Great Place for Networking!)

No surprise, but librarians love their coffee! The line at the Starbucks next to the exhibit hall always seemed to be out the door, but the coffee was good and the conversation was always great!

8. The Comic Book, Graphic Novel, and Trade Paperback Aisle in the Exhibit Hall

As a first-time ALA Annual attendee, the comic book, graphic novel, and trade paperback aisle in the exhibit hall was an unexpected treat! While there, I got to meet so many wonderful artists and writers; Stacey King, an author for UDON Entertainment’s upcoming “Manga Classics” line was wonderful to talk to, signed my books, and posed for quite a few pictures!

9. The ALSC Membership Meeting

The 2014 ALSC Membership Meeting offered a great opportunity to chat with other youth librarians, meet members of the ALSC board, hear about the awards and accomplishments of professionals in our field, and discuss the very important white paper The Importance of Diversity in Library Programs and Material Collections for Children. If you have not read it yet, I encourage you to stop reading this blog and go check it out at http://www.ala.org/alsc/importance-diversity.

10. Your Flight!

Flight delays were plentiful on the way home from Annual due to thunderstorms in the Midwest and Northeast. Anyone flying anywhere near Chicago was probably stranded either in Vegas or somewhere along your route!

Thank you so much to everyone who agreed to be pictured in this blog and to everyone who made my first ALA Annual Conference such a wonderful experience! A very special thank you to everyone involved in helping me attend my first ALA Annual Conference, especially everyone involved in the Penguin Young Readers Group Award. I look forward to seeing everyone at Midwinter 2015 in Chicago and Annual 2015 in San Francisco!

*************************************************

Our guest blogger today is JoAnna Schofield.  JoAnna is an Early Childhood Librarian at the Highland Square Branch Library, part of the Akron-Summit County Public Library System in Akron, Ohio. She passionately enjoys her toddler, preschool, and school age programming and outreach. She is eagerly awaiting her great artists themed preschool story time series and her STEAM after school club this fall. When she is not connecting with the Highland Square community, she is training for her first half-marathon this September, spending time with her family at the Akron Zoo, and looking at the newest memes of Grumpy Cat. Her inspiration comes from her three beautiful children: Jackson (4), Parker (3), and Amelia Jane (16 months). She can be reached at [email protected].

Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.

If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at [email protected].

ALSC Award Acceptance Speeches (image courtesy ALSC)

The 2014 ALSC book and media award acceptance speeches evoked plenty of emotion. Some were funny and warm. Some were emotional and informative. You can read them yourself on the ALSC website! Download a copy of the PDF of each of the speeches:

• Batchelder [PDF - 1 MB]
• Belpré [PDF - 2.3 MB]
• Caldecott [PDF - 2 MB]
• Carnegie [PDF - 1 MB]
• Geisel [PDF - 1.4 MB]
• Newbery [PDF - 2 MB]
• Sibert [PDF - 1.1 MB]

You can also watch reaction videos from the 2014 ALA Youth Media Award winners. Videos of the award speech presentations and inspiration videos that concluded the banquet will be posted soon.

Occasionally ALSC members wonder why ALSC award titles are automatically added to our list of Notable Books for Children. The ALSC Board periodically considers issues such as this to make sure we’re shepherding our awards and lists of recommended media appropriately. At its Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, the ALSC Board reaffirmed the policy that all award and honor books chosen by ALSC book award committees will be automatically included on our Notable Books list. I am writing as a member of the Board because we wanted to share a summary of our discussion and thinking.

It was the consensus of the Board that the Notables list represents our division and, as such, should include the books cited by our award committees. Although some have argued that the Notables list should only include titles chosen by the Notable Books Committee itself, the Board sees the list as a cooperative effort between the Notables Committee and the awards committees. When members accept appointment to the Notables Committee, they do so with the understanding that the award titles, as specified in the Notables Manual, will be included on the final list.

It has also been suggested that including the award titles limits the number of books the Notables Committee can cite on its own. This is not at all the case. The Notables Manual does not specify a maximum number of titles for the Notables list. Clearly some Notables chairs prefer a shorter list than others, and some years produce more outstanding books than others, but the inclusion of award titles in no way limits the number of books the Notables Committee can add to its list.

This policy only applies to books honored by the ALSC award committees – Newbery, Caldecott, Batchelder, Belpré, Geisel, and Sibert. The Board respects the significance and value of other ALA youth book awards; only the ALSC award books, however, will be automatically included since these are the books chosen by our division’s members on our division’s committees. The Notables list on our website will include links to the other ALA youth book awards.

We welcome responses to this policy from our members.

Rita Auerbach on behalf of the ALSC Board

Medalist Yuyi Morales created this dress to match her award-winning book, Niño Wrestles the World.

The Pura Belpré Award Celebración is always my favorite event at ALA. The award is given to an illustrator and a writer whose work “best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.” I was a committee member back in 2010, and I try to help with the event each year because I love spending time with my friends from REFORMA (The National Association to Promote Library And Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking)  and CAYASC (Children’s and Young Adult Services Committee). It’s always really fun to meet the award recipients, too, of course!

This year’s decorations were especially beautiful. Committee member Armando Ramirez provided bright purple papel picado which he had custom designed with Pura Belpré’s image on every sheet of the delicate paper. Armando also brought his collection of beautiful rebozos to adorn the tables.

Since it was the first event of the day to take place in the Caesar’s Palace Octavius Ballroom, the hotel workers were nice enough to let us take a sneak peek the night before the Celebración. After the event, the workers let a few of us leave via the secret freight elevator in the kitchen.

As always, the speeches were the best part of the event. The authors and illustrators shared heartbreaking and heartwarming stories about growing up Latino in the United States.

José-Luis Orozco

As is the tradition, after the speeches we held hands and swayed while singing the folksong “De Colores.” This year we were lucky enough to have José-Luis Orozco perform for us. Since I am a huge fan, I gave him a special gift which he wore during the performance–a hand carved guitar pick holder on a leather string which was made by one of my library’s teen volunteers.

Meg Medina’s Young Adult novel wins the medal.

I almost forgot to mention how much I loved this year’s winning titles: Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina, and Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales. Please try to buy multiple copies of each for your library’s Children’s and Young Adult collections.

Rebecca Hickman, Youth Services Librarian, Alvin Sherman Library at Nova Southeastern University.

I’m back home now and reflecting on my #alaac14 conference experience. It was amazing – full of inspiring ideas, friends (old and new), and thrilling moments (I can’t be the only one who got a little teary at the Newbery-Caldecott Banquet).

Las Vegas was definitely a unique, if difficult city to navigate. But I won’t soon forget the over the top glitz and glitter. In fact, even the restrooms were luxurious! I thought it would be a fun adventure to take pictures of these sumptuously lavish (but oh-so-necessary) rooms as I traversed the city. Here are a few of my favorites:

Checking out the ornate restroom at the Venetian with my fellow Denver Public Library children’s librarian Gigi Pagliarulo – photo courtesy of the author

I was delighted to find these beautiful tiles in the Paris – photo courtesy of the author

A beautiful chandelier hidden at the Bellagio – photo courtesy of the author

One of the first bathrooms I discovered was this one at the Venetian – photo courtesy of the author

ALSC member Susan Kusel taking in the splendor of the restroom of the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at the Paris – photo courtesy of the author

All that glitters at the Wynn – photo courtesy of the author

The floral details of this sink at the Paris were lovely – photo courtesy of the author

If you were not able to attend the Newbery Caldecott Banquet in Las Vegas and are sad they you missed hearing the speeches, do not despair! They are now available online at http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia. Enjoy!

Yesterday I attended ECRR 2.0 Apps for Early Literacy session at #alaac14. A panel of 6 individuals passionate about early literacy discussed current research for best practices, as well as demonstrating a few of their favorite apps.

Panelist Chip D. from TED Erickson encouraged us to think about the 3 C’s:

Content – Is the content of the app developmentally appropriate? High quality? Intentional in its support of ECRR 2?

Context – Is the app appropriate for the context? Will it be used one on one? In storytime? In another setting?

Child – It is appropriate for the individual child? Each child is unique and their personality, interests, and preferences should be taken into account.

It’s tough thinking of things to do every month with your TAG. I know that’s why I ended my TAG 2 years ago. But I’ve been inspired to give it a second go after visiting the Harry Potter Alliance booth in the exhibit hall.

The HP Alliance provides community service opportunities for teens through  book donations (Accio Books), voting campaigns, civil rights, hunger, and much more.

You can start a chapter at your school or library and if your teens are not into Harry Potter, your group can campaign under the Hunger Games or other groups.

For more info on The Harry Potter Alliance, visit www.thehpalliance.org

Yesterday was a long and interesting travel day. It started in the Fort Lauderdale Airport. As I was sitting at the gate putting on my good luck Virgin Mary earrings, I looked up and saw a thin nun wearing a blue suit and veil walk past me. When she returned to the gate I said hi and told her about the coincidence. She introduced me to her biological sister who was also a nun. They told me about their order, the Daughters of St. Paul, which runs a publishing house. I asked if they were going to ALA, and they said they didn’t know about the conference–that they were parting ways at the gate, heading to different bases after their biological family reunion.

They gave me a sales pitch for their products which include children’s books of Bible stories, religious fiction, and books of saints for children. They showed me their apps and ebooks, too. I think they should be exhibitors at next year’s conference.

Dropping in on the ALSC Notable Children’s Books Committee meeting is a must-do for me at annual.  It is fascinating to hear a committee at work.  Books are introduced by one committee member, then positive comments are shared by any member who wants to speak, followed lastly by concerns.  The books they are discussing are laid out on tables in the back of the room, so you can take a look at them during or after the session.  For me, it’s a great way to hear first-hand about books that should be on my radar, plus hearing the insightful comments of the committee members is always informative.

Ashley Waring, Children’s Librarian
Reading Public Library, MA

Just for fun, and to get a different flavor of the Annual Conference, check out the Top Ten Tweets from Thursday and Friday as compiled by American Libraries Magazine.

Markus Zusak said something in his Margaret A. Edwards acceptance speech that really resonated with me: “Follow your vision completely. Follow it and do not stop.

Zusak was speaking specifically about writers sticking to the story they know they want to write, but I think those words have relevance to youth services practitioners, too. When we have ideas for excellent services, motivation for changes that will motivate our communities, etc., we need to follow those visions. We need to put our energy and focus into making these transformative visions happen. We need to trust that we are taking our institutions in a good direction and see change and ideas to full fruition. That’s when amazing things happen.

What an exceptional reminder to stay the course and do those amazing things.

This morning I attended a wonderful session titled Every Child Ready To Read 2 – Does It Really Work? Evaluating the Program at #alaac14.

This conversation stimulating session presented the results of an important research study on the impact of ECRR 2 on library storytimes. The research was done in Washington state in 40 libraries of differing sizes over two years. Two groups were created for comparison. One group was experimental in which librarians were provided with training focused around ECRR 2. The second was a control group that was observed, but never given any training. Storytimes were filmed and coded to analyze librarian actions and their on the behavior of children from birth through 60 months. They call their method of evaluation BCPAF/PET and they see it as a way to bridge ECRR 1 and 2 in an effective and intentional way that is easy to plan, identify, and evaluate for librarians.

Overall, they found that any storytime makes a difference. However, the researchers found that purposeful focus on early literacy principles makes a difference in programs and in children’s early literacy behaviors. In other words, being intentional about planning storytimes makes a difference.

What can we do as librarians? Be intentional about planning your storytime. Pick a few behaviors and make small changes. Be intentional and be flexible. The researchers also mentioned that BCPAF/PET can be used also for evaluation – self reflection, peer monitoring, researchers or admin.

Soon the VIEWS2 website will be up and that will have more information on the planning tools, librarian and child behaviors.

I attended two jam-packed sessions this Saturday morning at #alaac14.

The first session was Every Child Ready to Read 2–Does it Really Work?  Once attendees found the session room location at the end of the South Hall maze, we were rewarded with some cheese.  Cheese in the form of proven RESEARCH that shows that yes, what libraries do during early childhood storytimes makes a difference!  Two researchers from the University of Washington’s Project VIEWS2, led by the late Eliza Dresang, gave an overview of the multi-year project investigating the work of librarians and the effect on children.  Unsurprising to those in the library community, the verdict is in–we are doing great work!  Suprising to me was the fact that this was the first formal research of its kind to show that “purposeful focus on early literacy principles makes a difference in programs and in children’s early literacy behaviors.”  More insights and hard facts are in production from the Project VIEWS2 folks, including a white paper and website with practical tips and videos.  Handouts from this session (and a previous presentation at PLA) are available on the conference websites.

The second morning session I attended was What No Tchotskes?: Creating an Experience Based Summer Program.  If the reward of the first session was the proof in the pudding, the reward of this session was that PRIZES ARE NOT NECESSARY in summer reading programs.  Three Illinois librarians presented ways in which they have completely re-thought their summer library programs.  Oh wait, I mean summer learning challenges!  The librarians emphasized experienced-based activities such as group art projects, cards with challenge suggestions to try at home or at the library, curiousity kits/stations, and a host of other ways to get kids doing/trying/thinking rather than counting/earning/winning.  “Make the incentive coming to the library versus soming to the library for an incentive,” was my favorite quote of the session.  Research shows that if we want kids to love reading, they need to develop intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation. The Illinois trio were happily surprised there were no major complaints about the lack of plastic toy prizes or other accountability rewards.  Instead, kids and their families were engaged and engrossed in the experience itself, rather than the structure, theme, or incentive.  Lastly, the panel recommended taking small steps toward radical change by stating that it’s ok to fall, as long as you fall forward.

Bottom line: youth librarians are boss and we’ve got data and experience to prove it.

Tessa Michaelson Schmidt
Public Library Youth & Special Services Consultant
Madison, Wisconsin

I am relatively new to this whole conference thing, so the idea of just cancelling a session threw me for a loop. I was really looking forward to “Creating Fun, Accessible Programming for Youth with Disabilities” this morning. But it was cancelled. Why? Who knows. But the convention center is nothing if not filled with countless things to do, so I headed over to the exhibition halls. The time I would have spent in that no doubt informative session turned into time getting books autographed by Brian Floca (!!!) and Jarett Krosoczka (!!!). Again, being relatively new to this conference thing, I am in awe of how many authors you could hit if you decided to throw a stick in the exhibition hall.

Ashley Waring, Children’s Librarian
Reading Public Library, MA

The OCLC Symposium this afternoon, titled The Internet of Things: Coming Soon to Everywhere, was a fascinating and intriguing discussion. The primary speaker — Daniel Obodovski, co-author of The Silent Intelligence: The Internet of Things — offered the projection that we could have as many as 50 billion connected devices by 2020. These items with internet connectivity will include wearable fitness and medical devices, appliances in the home like your coffee pot, alarm clock, & refrigerator, cars that will talk to each other, even shoes may be connected to the internet. The big questions of the day were:

• What does this mean for libraries?
• How can we use this connectivity between devices to offer a higher level of service to our customers?
• How does this impact the privacy of patrons and should we be concerned?

A thought-provoking and important topic.

Yup, I totally got to draw an awesome comic with some of my favorite comic artists. Then they signed it and took a picture with me. For real! What great way to finish off my long first day at annual.

The Comics Quickfire event was like a game show with audience participation and super talented and funny comics combined.  My challenge was to do a “jam drawing” with Sean O’Neill (Rocket Robinson and the Pharaoh’s Fortune), Nathan Hale (Hazardous Tales series), and Jake Parker (Missile Mouse).  Our drawing needed to feature various things suggested by the audience (a chicken, a tornado, some mashed potatoes…).  Needless to say, my porcupine and boot were not the best contributions to the picture!

Ashley Waring, Children’s Librarian
Reading Public Library, MA

ALSC invites you to celebrate diversity in children’s books and library programs at ALA Annual Conference.  Learn more about the Día initiative and how to incorporate diversity into your library programs and collections for children.

On Sunday, June 29th stop by the How do YOU Día?: An Interactive Showcase of Culturally Diverse Children’s Library Programsposter on the Exhibit Hall floor between 12:30-2pm PT. ALSC’s Public Awareness Committee members will be showcasing successful a variety of successful Día programs and will be sharing materials and ideas to help you get started in your own community.

Continue to learn more about how to incorporate Día into your programming at Dynamic Digital Día: Promoting Cultural Competence in Digital Storytimes. The program will be held at the Las Vegas Hotel in Pavilion 11 on Sunday, June 29th from 3-4pm. Speakers will discuss ways in which librarians can provide broader access to culturally responsive materials. The program will provide selection criteria and suggestions for using apps to promote cultural competence in children’s library programs.

Be sure to also celebrate this year’s Pura Belpré Medal winners and honorees at the 18th Annual Pura Belpré Award Celebración. Enjoy live entertainment and a book signing by the winning authors and illustrators on Sunday, June 29th from 1-3pm PT at Caesars Palace.

Learn more about this important topic by downloading ALSC’s The Importance of Diversity in Library Programs and Material Collections for Children white paper. This white paper, written for the Association for Library Service to Children by Jamie Campbell Naidoo, PhD, was adopted by ALSC’s Board of Directors on April 5, 2014.

In addition, join the conversation at the ALSC Membership Meeting on the importance of diversity in children’s librarianship. The meeting will be held Monday, June 30th from 10:00am – 11:30am at LVCC-N252.

I attended an event this afternoon put on by Bloomsbury Children’s Books to celebrate their author Brian Conaghan’s book When Mr. Dog Bites. Conaghan spoke about his protagonist, who has Tourette’s syndrome, and the fact that his book resultantly includes bad language. Conaghan went on to talk about how his young readers express that they aren’t phased by bad language in books like his, namely because it’s not gratuitous–it’s part of the character and makes the character more genuine and fully fleshed out.

As a librarian who has responded to caregivers’ concerns about language in books for youth, I think Conaghan’s point is incredibly important. For many people, the way they speak and the words they use are absolutely intertwined with who they are. And genuine characters–characters to whom young readers connect–may be all shades of different from the readers themselves, and the values of their caregivers. That doesn’t make a book objectionable. It makes it real.

Looking for ALA Annual programs on apps for kids? ALSC will be hosting two educational programs on apps – “The Apps are All Right! Exploring the Role of Apps in Children’s and Teen Services” and “Whet Your APPetite: Rapid Reviews of Apps for Children from Preschool to Tweens”, which will take place at the 2014 ALA Annual Conference.

The Apps are All Right! program is scheduled for Saturday, June 28, 2014, 8:30 – 10:00am PT in Room S230 of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Designed as a primer for children’s and teen librarians, this program will offer a dynamic overview of the place of the app as a new format within the library profession. Four panelists will provide relevant research and examples from practice with diverse populations of children and teens. Participants will also be invited to explore the continuously evolving rationale for strengthening the role of the children’s and teen librarian in app recommendation for the communities libraries serve.

The Whet Your APPetite program is scheduled for Sunday, June 29, 2014, 1:00 – 2:30pm PT in Pavilion 11 of the Las Vegas Hotel. This program will showcase some new and favorite apps selected by ALSC’s Children and Technology Committee and Digital Content Task Force. A variety of app recommendations will be paired with ideas for how to use them with children in your library.

Dear fellow ALSC members:

Please pardon my delay in joining the current conversation surrounding the clarification of confidentiality in regard to reviewing, social media and electronic communication for members of ALSC award committees. My hotel does not have wi-fi and the business center closes at 4 pm, (apparently most of “what happens in Vegas” doesn’t happen online), and combined with required meetings yesterday my reading and response to email has been significantly delayed.

Over the past several years the ALSC office and officers have fielded a growing number of inquiries from members of award committees regarding appropriate written expression which maintains the confidentiality and integrity of the awards. The guidelines that had served us well were no longer sufficient to navigate the wildfire landscape of electronic communication and the exponential dissemination of opinion that occurs.

In response, the ALSC Board appointed a task force which including past and present award chairs, reviewers and a blogger and a representative from publishing to provide a broad and textured range of perspective. This dedicated group diligently consulted with colleagues, discussed and deliberated before presenting their recommendation to the ALSC Board last January during midwinter. There was further careful consideration and conversation between the Task Force and the Board in a public meeting which ultimately resulted in adoption of their recommendations. Mahnaz Dar from School Library Journal interviewed me and reported on this issue shortly after Midwinter.

The intention of this clarification is to support, not suppress the members of the award committees. Some recent responses have labelled this action as “preemptive” in a pejorative manner. To return to the wildfire analogy, it is better to prevent a fire than try to contain one that has been set ablaze. Indeed, there have been cases when an individual has (inadvertently) crossed the line of confidentiality and has later removed a blog post.

That is becoming ever more difficult in this age of instant re-tweeting and “sharing”. Once information and opinion has been unleashed, it can no longer be retrieved. Even traditional means of disseminating information can unintentionally go awry, (e.g. the unfortunate premature release of this year’s acceptance speeches prior to the awards banquet, ironically by The Horn Book). By providing clear and, yes, cautious parameters members have a better sense of the expectations of conduct and can avoid these missteps which are potentially embarrassing for the poster.

The issue of reviewing while on an awards committee predates the current communication climate. During my tenures on award committees, I elected to review only titles that would were ineligible for that committee: books from other countries, books for young adults, etc., as did many of my fellow committee members. The editors of School Library Journal understood and, indeed, expected and respected that discretion.

The Task Force and the Board carefully considered the implications of these clarifications regarding the service of editors of review media on award committees. It was determined that there would not be an issue if those editors did not publish signed reviews of eligible books. Again, titles outside the parameters of the committee’s consideration could be individually and specifically reviewed. We recognize the expertise and experience of these professionals and value their contribution to the process.

Award committees have structures in in place that preserve the integrity of process and thus the award itself. Indeed, I have twice had the privilege of serving as a judge for The New York Times Best Illustrated Books, (both times with Roger Sutton). We were strictly prohibited form telling anyone of our role until after publication of the list to avoid undue influence over selection and revelation. (This required months of keeping a delicious secret to myself, when I love to share information!) I am currently a judge for the National Book Award which has its own set of guidelines regulating conduct and confidentiality.

It is the responsibility of the Board to protect the integrity of the process of the ALSC awards in stewardship this very valuable asset of the association. We would have been remiss not to have responded to the changing conditions that necessitated this thorough examination and careful contemplation of practice.

I am grateful to all for your passion and professionalism surrounding this issue and for the opportunity to address your concerns and questions.

As many of us begin to gather in Las Vegas for this year’s ALA Annual Conference, the excitement is building for the big event on Sunday evening, the Newbery-Caldecott Banquet, when we’ll celebrate the medal- and honor-winning book creators of two of the most prestigious awards in the world. This year there is a bit more buzz than usual as folks read and respond to this week’s editorial in Horn Book which expresses some concerns about a months-old revision to ALSC’s “Policy for Service on Award Committees”. As a member of the ALSC Board of Directors and chair of the Task Force that developed the recommendations that were subsequently adopted unanimously by the entire Board last January, I’m happy to provide some background about the updates.

This Policy, which applies to those ALSC members serving on the selection committees of the book and media awards administered solely by ALSC (including the Caldecott, Geisel, Newbery, and Sibert, among others), has existed for a long time with the purpose of supporting members in fulfilling the responsibilities that come with the honor of accepting the opportunity to volunteer on one of these committees. These include guidelines on issues ranging from the importance of attending the committee meetings to the fact that it wouldn’t be fair for an author or a publisher of an eligible book (or their close family members) to serve on a committee that could possibly consider their own book for a medal.

They also include guidelines regarding the confidentiality of the award process. This is an area in which the ALSC leadership and staff receive many, many questions every year from committee members who are anxious to respect the privacy of fellow committee members and creators of eligible titles. Those aspects of the guidelines, as they stood through last year, were causing more confusion than clarity, in large part because they were written before the full advent of social media and therefore couldn’t entirely take into account the increased number of forums which exist today where books and media are publicly and electronically discussed.

To address that, last year the ALSC Board appointed a Task Force which I chaired and which included members with backgrounds in blogging, reviewing, marketing for a major publisher, serving on many different award committees, chairing the Newbery committee, and consulting for chairs of award selection committees. Our objective was “To review and update the ALSC Policy for Service on Award Committees document with further clarification in regard to the confidentiality and conflict of interest guidelines as they pertain to bloggers and others engaged in social media activities while serving on an ALSC Award Committee” and to provide those recommendations to the ALSC Board for their action on them.

Task #1 was to determine if maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of the awards and the award process, as mentioned above, even still mattered in this day and age. After all, some media awards encourage open, public discussion (such as ALSC’s Notable Lists) and some present short lists of nominees (like the Academy Awards). Following conscientious discussion, consideration, and consultation with many stakeholders over many months, it became clear that confidentiality remains key to the success of these particular awards which are so important to ALSC members, the publishing industry, and kids around the world.

In today’s electronic environment, any recorded comments can quickly and uncontrollably go viral, and the Horn Book editorial is a perfect example of how words (like the revised ALSC guidelines), written with the best of intentions, can be taken out of context, misconstrued, and distributed within seconds. In short, when they’re no longer confidential the writer has no control over how they’re used.

Another change over time is that book reviews and their journals are moving further and faster away from being individual print copies in a pile on a desk seen only by collection development librarians and are very much part of the e-environment, quickly turning into database articles, tweets, posts, and marketing material for online shopping. When reviews (which by definition tell the writer’s opinion of the quality of the material—how “distinguished” it is, to use a word appearing in many an ALSC award criteria) go public in these and other ways, and the name on them is that of a committee member, it can be (and has been) easily interpreted as showing the hand of the committee. It also can be (and has been) very possible for committee members to hold off on tweeting, Facebooking, and posting about titles which are eligible for their specific award (and only their specific award) for the short time of their service.

An additional product of the Task Force was an expansion of the FAQs, which all award committee members receive, which offer guidance and support for how to talk about and promote books during award committee service, because it is extremely important, as the FAQs say, to “obtain a variety of critical opinions about books under consideration throughout the year,” and that can most definitely be done “without violating confidentiality guidelines.”

Please feel free to take a look at our Task Force’s documents, which are available on ALA Connect with no log-in necessary:

• The Final Report of the Task Force to the ALSC Board of Directors
• The proposed revised policy itself
• The proposed revised FAQs to explain the guidelines, provide concrete examples, and support book discussion and conversation

These are simply taking the guidelines which have been in place for many, many years, applying them to today’s digital reality, and clarifying the gray areas so that committee members may perform and enjoy both their committee work and their other professional responsibilities, which may or may not include publishing signed reviews, while respecting the integrity and excitement of the most important awards for children’s books and media.

************************************************

Our guest blogger today is Andrew Medlar. Andrew is the Division Councilor for ALSC, serving on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors, and chaired the ALSC Award Service and Social Media Review Task Force in 2013.

If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at [email protected].