I joined ALSC in 2016. I was just a first semester graduate student with very little idea of what to expect as a children’s librarian. One of the coordinators in my grad school program had mentioned that ALSC had a fantastic student rate, so I went for it. (It’s only $20!) Turns out, it was a great choice. I took several (as you may have guessed) children and youth specific courses in grad school that heavily used ALSC data and research. At this point, I was somewhat familiar with navigating the website and finding what information I needed to find.
I decided that I probably couldn’t balance full-time graduate school and full-time librarianship and add joining a committee to the mix. (But you can!) Throughout my grad school experience, I was anticipating graduation so I could volunteer to serve on a committee. When the time came, you bet your bottom dollar, I filled out an application. I was appointed to serve on the pilot team for the Early and Family Literacy Committee. This was so exciting. Not only was I able to be on a committee, but I was able to help shape the way the committee would be explored for years to come. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of serving on the Quicklist Committee and now the Membership Committee. While you’re not expected to serve year after year once you start, it is a great way to network and improve various skills that come in handy in your day-to-day work! One other experience I’ve had with committees is standing for election to the Caldecott Committee. While I didn’t end up on that year’s committee, I’m definitely grateful for the experience and find that the self-advocating and promotion I had to do here helped me use those skills while at work!
Another great thing that ALSC offers is scholarship opportunities! There are a handful of scholarships to help pay for grad school, ones that help librarians with professional development, and more! During 2020, while we were all stuck at home, I decided I wanted to attend the ALSC National Institute. It was virtual (of course), and that made it an easy decision. I didn’t have to fly anywhere, pack anything, or most importantly, lug everything back home. I saw a blog post on the ALSC website about applying for the Friends of ALSC Institute Scholarship, so I filled out an application and surprise, I got it! It was really a great experience, and I’m so lucky that I was able to learn so much.
During the early days of the pandemic, I pretty much lived on the ALSC website, watching webinars. Webinars, both upcoming and archived ones, are free to watch on-demand for ALSC members. I’m fairly sure I started with “Leadership in Youth Services, Part 1: Leading Outside Your Organization” and continued to go in chronological order from there. While I was on the archived webinar site, I was able to navigate myself to the Member and Community Events page, which introduced me to the “We Are ALSC” chats. These were fantastic during the early days of the pandemic when contact was still mostly in the form of Zoom (and the chats still are). These chats tend to happen several times a year, and a great way to catch them is by keeping up with the ALSC blog.
I’ve been in children’s services for almost seven years. I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what ALSC has to offer. I have a running list of things I’ve yet to do with my ALSC membership. I hope to one day attend the National Institute in person, attend the Bill Morris Seminar, serve on an award committee (particularly Caldecott), and maybe even serve on the board. The possibilities with ALSC seem endless. What has been your favorite way you’ve utilized your ALSC membership?
Sarah Clarke is a Senior Children’s Librarian at the St. Agnes branch of the New York Public Library and a member of the ALSC Membership Committee.
This blog post relates to ALSC Core Competencies of: VII. Professionalism and Professional Development.