I was eager to attend the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) session at #alaac22. While pursuing my LIS degree, I have sought knowledge about indigenous librarianship, so Celebrate Indigenous Storytelling: Books from across the Northern Border hosted by USBBY was appealing to me. Neil Christopher and Louise Flaherty with Inhabit Media conveyed their commitment to producing stories in Inuktut, English and French. Over 80% are created by indigenous authors. Maps were shown to help us learn that the community of Iqaluit is located on the island of Baffin in the Arctic Circle.
Author: Melinda Sandkam
The Walter Awards and Symposium
Though not an official #alaac22 event, the Walter Dean Myers Awards & Symposium held at the DC Public Library yesterday was a wonderful celebration of this year’s award-winning and honor titles. This is the seventh annual Walter Award named for the children’s and young adult author Walter Dean Myers who championed diversity in books.
Kal Penn Closes Out #PLA2022
I found it interesting that Kal Penn brought us back to the concept of Imposter Syndrome this evening as the closing speaker for #PLA2022. Of course, not everyone may have attended the Career Self-Care Session where Erin Collier-Plummer spoke of managing imposter syndrome, but I had and so it struck a chord. Why do so many of us not give ourselves enough credit for being the right person for a job – having the qualifications and the passion to do it and do it well? Hearing Kal Penn’s journey from being a successful actor to serving as Associate Director of White Office for Public Engagement for President Barack Obama was inspiring enough. But after entertaining us with the details, I was surprised to hear Kal Penn talk of Imposter Syndrome – that even this accomplished individual was hesitant about his qualifications. What resonated with me was that it was his…
Accessibility of All Sorts #PLA2022
The #PLA2022 Virtual Conference had multiple opportunities to learn more about accessibility, while the conference itself utilized captioning throughout and sign language interpreters for the headline speakers. This struck me as especially pertinent in the week that the movie CODA was recognized for outstanding performances of its cast – many of whom are deaf – and that I am writing a reading response for Cece Bell’s graphic novel El Deafo. Sonia and Scott Norris spoke on Scalable Web Accessibility Training for Library Staff in Every Position. They shared fundamental accessibility components as well as more advanced ones for your library’s web team to utilize. The training should be meaningful and relatable to staff while complying with state laws. Just as we translate library information to a variety of languages, and utilize multiple marketing tools to reach different audiences, we should strive to meet the needs of the members of our…
Boost Your Self-Confidence at #PLA2022
Each of the Career Self-Care Sessions offered at #PLA2022 Virtual encouraged learning from every situation and being positive as you move forward. As I complete my LIS degree and embark on a job search this spring, these were timely messages, but they are also applicable for anyone applying for a new position or seeking to grow in their career.
Inspirational Opening Session #PLA2022
As those of us attending #PLA2022 signed in virtually for the opening session, there was great joy and energy from at least 38 of the United States, a number of our Canadian neighbors, and even attendees from Thailand and Lithuania. The fun music had us all dancing and we speculated on whether this music was playing in Portland or not as the audience seemed much calmer then we were. There was great collegiality in the chat, and much gratitude expressed for being able to participate from a distance.