I never imagined a time when librarians would be advocating to close libraries, when the ALA Annual conference would be cancelled, or when staying inside would be the norm, but here we are. #COVID19 has struck the world and it is terrifying. And that is OK. These are unprecedented times. As a librarian, it is typically hard to imagine that we could ever be deemed “un-essential.” Just because libraries are not open- does not mean we cannot help people. Librarians around the world are rising to the challenge, putting on digital story times, providing access to different resources, aiding students and teachers with online learning and more. We are proving more than ever that we can be of support, even without our physical buildings and materials. The pressure to produce can be overwhelming. I am inundated with e-mails and Facebook notifications every time I log online. There seems to be an…
Author: Emily Mroczek-Bayci
What I learned from my #alaleftbehind adventure #alamw20
Live blogging from a conference when you’re not actually there is not as crazy as it seems- thanks to the Internet of course! Again and again I wonder how “they” ever did it anything my BFF the internet! Here are five fun things I’ve learned while NOT attending a conference: Graphic Novels are taking over the world. The fact that a graphic novel won the Odyssey (Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka) and the Newbery (Jerry Craft’s New Kid) and a Printz Honor (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Meby Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell)is so unprecedentedly awesome. Hopefully this can show to all the teachers, educators, students (myself) out there that graphic novels are REAL literature with so, so many benefits! It is important to think critically. Yes, my favorite song of all-time is EVERYTHING IS AWESOME but I need to remember it might not always be awesome! #critlib is the latest…
The YMA’s are coming! Prediction Round Up #alscleftbehind #alaleftbehind
The YMA’s are coming, The YMA’s are coming. THE YMA’S ARE COMING! As the 2020 Youth Media Awards are less than eight hours away- most committee members are hopefully in bed after surviving the day without blabbing the big news and getting sleep before the ever-exciting phone call to the lucky winners. As for me, I’m using every minute to continue to get predictions in because- why not? And statistics are fun, especially mocks/ Youth Media Award related statistics! Betsy Bird switched up her predictions this year by dividing into categories, Heavy Medal did the full balloting process, Colby Sharp made a video of his picks, I decided to take all of the winners of the ALSC submitted results and find the winners among those! I went through every category and awarded four points to every medalist and three points to the honor winner. My list includes the clear winners from…
Virtual Exhibit Hall #alamw20 #alaleftbehind #alscleftbehind
I’m an exhibit hall junkie I love getting the scoop on what books are coming out and of course the swag, all of the swag. Sadly we cannot get the swag when we are #alaleftbehind but we can still browse covers of ARC’s without actually being there– Harper Collins Children’s Books @writerkmc and One of Us is Next at @randomhousekids #alamw2020 pic.twitter.com/sfwMMdXGEd — Stimola Literary Studio (@StimolaLiterary) January 25, 2020 @AnnickPress now this is how you rep Native lit! 🔥🔥🔥 #bravo #indigenousoutloud #puebloabroad #diversebooks #alamw2020 #aila #NativeTwitter pic.twitter.com/ZpgVomB8cx — Lee Francis (@leefrancisIV) January 26, 2020 I spy Witches of Ash and Ruin Arcs at the Disney booth at #alamw2020! 🧙♀️ 🧙♀️ 🌙 🌙 https://t.co/WNRBKJGAx7 — E Latimer (@ELatimerWrites) January 26, 2020 Thanks to @Remy_Lai for this pic of QUINTESSENCE at @alamw with lots of wonderful book friends! If you’re there, come get a sneak peek at Macmillan’s Booth 1241!#alamw20 #alamw2020 #mglit…
Top Tweets of #alamw20 #alaleftbehind
Here are my favorite tweets from Midwinter so far. They make me feel like I’m there when I’m #alscleftbehind. Coding, #girlpower. We need better. "1.4 million jobs will be open in the U.S. in computing-related fields. 3% will be filled by women." Learning about #GirlsWhoCode and thinking about how to implement this in my school. #BraveNotPerfect #alamw2020 pic.twitter.com/HJOMRkMkhN — Lindsey Kimery (@LindsKAnderson) January 25, 2020 This donut. This donut is everything. I'm so jazzed up after presenting at #alamw2020 that I can barely sit still long enough to eat this beautiful 🍩from @beilersdonuts. I recommend going, it's in @RdgTerminalMkt! pic.twitter.com/FSp2zWN4gx — Kate(lyn) Angell (@kate_angell) January 25, 2020 Hooray for ALA drink specials. Cheers from afar! Spotted at 13 at the Downtown Philadelphia @Marriott – not my personal faves but I do love that we get our own drink specials 🤣 #alamw2020 pic.twitter.com/35ezJSH7dw — Andrea Buntz Neiman (@andreabneiman) January 25, 2020…
#alamw20 #alscleftbehind, still blogging #alaleftbehind
This is my first time missing Midwinter in a few years and let’s just say I’m feeling a little left out and #alaleftbehind! I’m not letting the lack of conference attendance bring me down for and am seeing how much of #Alamw20 I can experience from afar. So please join me in my adventures of blogging and experiencing #alamw20 from my desk in Naperville, my bed etc. etc. etc. If you know any good users to follow on Twitter, livestreams or information about what’s happening- please leave a comment here! This is what I have so far! Live Streams The I Love My Librarian Award Ceremony will be held on Facebook livestream Saturday, January 25, 3:00- 4:30 p.m. EST. The United for Libraries Institute; Trustees, Friends and Foundations, will be livestreamed Sat. 1-4 p.m.! Springshare is live streaming ALL of their guest speakers. They don’t mess around! Of course the webcast of the YMA’s on Monday morning…
Best of the Decade: Children’s Librarianship
It is time to look at the best of the decade in children’s librarianship and literature, because what a decade it has been! There’s been highs and lows from drama in publishing to people holding one another accountable for better books, better representation, better [programming and better everything. Let’s take some time to celebrate the good that has happened. And strive to do even better in the decade to come! These awards are solely my own opinion, not the opinions of ALSC and are completely for fun! Best Newbery Award Winner: I’m very partial to Merci Suarez Changes Gears (the last and best Newbery winner of the decade!) but have to admit that I’m of course biased because that was my year on the committee. From Rebecca Stead starting the decade strong with When You Reach Me, to a sports book in verse winning with The Crossover by Kwame Alexander…
Mock Elections Season is Upon Us, Time to Make Lists
The Youth Media Awards are awesome and all, but I’ve always had a bit of an obsession with mock elections (specifically Mock Newbery). I got hooked during my first librarian job in Cincinnati. Sam Bloom hosted an amazing Mock Newbery event for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and other area libraries. Since then I’ve had visions of creating my own mock training events. I’m hosting one in Naperville this year and in determining my mock list, I acted like a true librarian and crowd sourced. Inspired by Jen/ J’s starred review spreadsheet I looked at five different mock lists (and starred reviews) and compiled statistics for my own spreadsheet! My sources were: Jen J’s starred review spreadsheet, Heavy Medal nominations, Betsy Bird’s Newbery predictions, the State of Rhode Island, Goodreads Mock Newbery, Anderson’s Bookshop Mock Newbery, Northport-East Northport Library Newbery Club, I listed the title, author, number of shout outs…