This was posted to the ALSC and YALSA listservs but in case you missed it…if you are going to the PLA conference next month consider taking a side trip to the Kerlan Collection.
On Wednesday, March 26, 2008, 10-11 a.m. Kerlan Collection Curator Karen Hoyle will talk briefly about the collection and author Megan McDonald will also speak, followed by tour of book/manuscript/storage area and an autographing session.
On Thursday, March 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday, March 28 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. visitors may also peruse books and manuscripts that you pre select. Books and manuscripts include those by Walter Dean Myers, Christopher Paul Curtis, Francesca Lia Block, Nancy Garden, Robert Lipsyte, Jacqueline Woodson, Gary Paulsen and many others. To view a manuscript, 1) visit http://special.lib.umn.edu/clrc [Kerlan mss holdings] and 2)email your manuscript request(s) one day in advance to clrc@umn.edu. The collection is accessible by public transportation. If you need directions, email clrc@umn.edu.
The Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota is one of the world’s great children’s literature research collections. The Kerlan Collection contains more than 100,000 children’s books as well as original manuscripts, artwork, galleys, and color proofs for more than 12,000 children’s books.