ALSC Wikipedia Update

Where were you when you decided to be a children’s librarian?

I was driving North on Highway 395 watching the alpenglow on the Sierra Nevada, reading The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe since I wasn’t actually driving, when it occurred to me — I should be a children’s librarian. The next day I walked into a public library in Tahoe City and asked the librarian where I could find information on being a children’s librarian. She directed me to a number of resources: in print, in Chicago, in magazines, and in her Rolodex. I searched the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, The Gale Encyclopedia of Associations, the Occupational Outlook, and I can’t even remember what else. I imagine that I might have sent a request to the ALA for information and considered joining the organization. Although I had heard of the Newbery and Caldecott award medals, I had no idea that they were sponsored by ALSC and wouldn’t learn that for a quite awhile.

Turn the clock forward 25 years and a simple search “library service to children” in your internet browser of choice reveals immeasurably more information. The first few hits are for ALSC itself. Right below those comes Wikipedia, that ever-present source of hopefully authentic information. I can promise you that ALSC’s page is authentic, up-to-date, and even enhanced because the Public Awareness Committee spent the past month updating this resource. Check out the links to awards, initiatives, and a new media mentorship Wikipedia page. And please, share this valuable resource with the next future children’s librarian that walks up to your desk.

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Andrea Milano is the Youth Services Manager at Lake Oswego Public Library just a few miles outside of Portland, OR. She has read thousands of books in her life, but her new longer commute has presented an opportunity to log time listening to audiobooks, her current favorite is Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan. You can reach her at amilano@ci.oswego.or.us