Like many of you, I will be heading off to Dallas soon to attend the ALA Midwinter conference. For the past few years, I have been on different committees ranging from Grant Administration to award selection. Midwinter is always an exciting time to catch up with friends and see what is going on in the world of librarianship, yet it can feel overwhelming. There are so many possibilities, so many meetings and so much new information. I find it helpful to dive into a conference with specific goals in mind.
This year the lens I am wearing (outside of committee duties) is for finding new graphic novels to bring to my teachers. My colleagues and I are developing a seed collection of graphic novels by grade level to aid our teachers, and while our own library collection of graphic novels is terrific, fresh titles are always appreciated! To that end I hope to be able to spend some time on the floor speaking with publishers, and I also hope to be able to dip into one of the Notable Children’s Book Committee meetings as well. If you have not sat in on an open committee meeting before, I encourage you to do so. Not only does it give you a sense of what committee membership is like, but you will also walk away with a large amount of helpful information!
Do you have specific goals for your midwinter experience?
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A complete list of books to be discussed as possible Notable Children’s Books at this year’s conference can be found here.
Wish I could go. As a matter of fact, I have worked in east central Florida libraries (I can’t even tell you which agencies without fear of punishment!) since 1993 and do not know of any librarian here that has been “allowed” to attend as a professional librarian. Most librarians who ‘do’ go have to do so at their own expense and in their own time. The ideals we are taught in the masters programs and in these symposiums, conventions, etc are sadly not put into practice much here.
Jonathan…I’m so sorry your experience is this way! Is there anyway that you can take advantage of some of the online classes or webinars that ALSC provides?