Bookapalooza Packing

On March 13th 2019, ALSC announced the three winners of the 2019 Bookapalooza Program; McNary Community Library of McNary, Arizona; Jaffrey Public Library of Jaffrey, New Hampshire; and Lawrence County Public Library of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. These three libraries will receive books,and audiobooks published for children birth through fourteen.

Each year, the ALSC office receives nearly 3,000 newly published materials from children’s trade publishers. These materials are submitted for consideration by the ALSC award and media evaluation selection committees. By the end of each year, our shelves are filled to the last inch! It’s really exciting to watch the shelves fill up throughout the year.

ALSC staff had the tiring, but fun, task of organizing, dividing, and packing these thousands of materials to be sent to our Bookapalooza winners. This year, due to the awards coordinator vacancy, staff pitched in and completed packing over the course  of a few weeks. Staff re-read the winning Bookapalooza applicants’ submission forms to understand how the materials will be used and divide the collection evenly. Each of our three winning libraries will be receiving 40-50 boxes of materials in April.

It was difficult to stay on task and not get distracted by all the amazing books and all the sorting, taping and lifting felt like a workout session…but brownies were present to help us through!

Ariana Hussain, Grant Administration Committee chair, expressed, “The committee was deeply moved by amount of need in many of the applications we received, and impressed by the many different ways applicant’s proposed to use and share the Bookapalooza materials in their communities.” ALSC Staff also shared these sentiments. It’s a privilege to be able to send these materials to three winning libraries each year, where we know ALSC members are engaging communities to build healthy successful futures for all children.

You can learn more about the ALSC Bookapalooza Program on the ALSC website!

This post addresses the ALSC Core Competency IV: Knowledge Curation, Management of Materials.