A is for Annual

What a conference!

ALA’s 2015 Annual Conference was full of more energy, enthusiasm, equality, and engagement than any I’ve ever witnessed, and whether you were one of the tens of thousands attending in San Francisco, were following from elsewhere in the world on social media (#alaac15 & #alaleftbehind), or are just now taking a quick breather from summer reading to catch up here on the ALSC Blog, I hope you can see that the future of library service to children is an exciting one!

In addition to learning and connecting, Annual is also a time of business when Board, staff, committees, and task forces work hard to move our association forward. There are two ALSC Board meetings at Annual and you can peruse the Board’s documents here and find updates on Twitter (#alscboard).

I’d like to bring you up to speed, as well. FYI, this past week, the ALSC Board:

• Considered a report from the Evolving Carnegie Task Force, which was charged with investigating the opportunities for evolving the Carnegie Medal from an award recognizing what was an evolving format at the time of its establishment a quarter of a century ago (videos) to current evolving formats and/or those who are doing great work with them. The next step is having further conversations with the Carnegie Corporation of New York, our partner in the support of this award.
• Heard from the chair of the Diversity within ALSC Task Force, Jos Holman, about their early work “to thoroughly examine diversity within all areas of ALSC such as membership, recruitment, award committees, and leadership and to recommend short-term and long-term strategies for developing richer diversity within the association.”
• Partnered with the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee (CSK) to pilot the expansion of ALSC’s Bill Morris Seminar in 2016 to include CSK members.
• Adjusted the expanded definitions in the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal committee manual to clarify the importance and eligibility of illustrated, graphic, and primary source materials in consideration of the Sibert award.
• Gave a collective thumbs-up to the Program Coordinating Committee’s great slate of proposed programs for next year’s Annual Conference in Orlando. (You won’t want to miss it June 23-28, 2016!)
• Approved ALSC’s healthy fiscal year 2016 budget, as recommended by the Budget Committee, with some exciting growth opportunities which you’ll be hearing about over the next couple of months.
• Wrapped up, together with the Organization & Bylaws Committee, the expansion of some committees to include co-chairs with overlapping terms to foster communication and continuity.
• Reviewed and discussed the Education Committee’s proposed scheduled revision of ALSC’s Competencies for Librarians Serving Children in Public Libraries; the final update will be available soon.

Thank you to all of our committees and task forces who work so diligently during and between conferences, as this work is truly where the rubber meets the road in achieving ALSC’s strategic goals of Advocacy, Education and Access to Library Services. Special gratitude is due to Local Arrangements Committee chair Christy Estrovitz and her entire team for all of their incredible work making ALSC members feel welcome in the Bay Area!

Then, as the sun began to set on the Bay and on Annual, it was time to bid farewell to Immediate Past President Starr LaTronica and other departing Board members Lisa Von Drasek, Rita Auerbach, Jamie Campbell Naidoo, and Michael Santangelo, and to welcome Vice President/President-Elect Betsy Orsburn and new Board members Jenna Nemec-Loise, Christine Caputo, Vicky Smith, and Mary Voors to the table. And, as I was honored to pick up the gavel as ALSC President for 2015-16, I look forward to hearing from you with any questions or ideas at andrewalsc@outlook.com.

 (All photos courtesy Andrew Medlar)