Once while I was working the reference desk, a young woman around 12 years old or so approached me and asked if the library had any books on sperm.
Category: ALA Midwinter 2018
Next Steps for Early Literacy: Board Update
In my post last month post I invited you all to follow a couple of discussions happening at ALSC Board Meetings at Midwinter, including a our “mega-issue” discussion, Next Steps for Early Literacy. Following a review of the IMLS funded report Bringing Literacy Home: An Evaluation of the Every Child Ready to Read Program (2017), the ALSC Board examined the Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) product as a strategic initiative, considering the necessity of further development of the product in formal partnership with PLA. We recognized that ECRR is now foundational to libraries’ work in early literacy, and is understood today as a practice, not just a toolkit. This is exactly what we intended to achieve with this initiative, and while there are opportunities to develop and extend its practices further, we determined that the constraints of the formal ECRR partnership no longer best serve our strategic effectiveness in early literacy….
Leadership and ALSC at #alamw18
One of my favorite parts of Ala Midwinter 2018 was the Leadership and ALSC program. It started with an opening message from ALSC President Nina Lindsay, an update from the ALA Washington office and then a part where everybody in the room introduced themselves and said where they worked and their affiliation with ALSC. This part was super awesome because you were able to put faces to names and make new connections with people. I would highly recommend individuals to go to this program at future conferences. The second half of the program was a presentation- “Toxic Stress in the Library: The Upstream Impact of Life Adversity on Children,” presented by Dr. Janina Fariñas and Johanna Ulloa Girón MSW. The dynamic and brilliant duo tackled important and relevant issues about toxic stress and how it influences the way public libraries provide services to children. They provided real-life examples and solutions which they…
Finishing #alamw2018 strong with Bill Nye in real life! And Greg Mone too!
Science nerds and librarians were thrilled with a geeky and fun end to ALA Midwinter 2018 with Bill Nye (the science guy) and Greg Mone. Nye and Mone have a new middle-grade series out- Jack and the Geniuses, where kids go on scientific adventures around the world. The duo talked about their new series and interviewed one another. Here is some fun information I learned from the closing keynote: Bill Nye’s mom was a World War II Code Breaker! (Totally where he got his smarts) One of Jupiter’s moons- Europa is a fascinating area where there may (or may not) have been life. Side note (If Bill Nye could fund any expedition anywhere, it would be to Europa). One of Greg Mone’s and Bill Nye’s first interactions was surfing, where Bill kept talking about the science of waves etc. etc. People can eat three burritos for lunch on Antartica and then…
New members dinner at #alamw18
The ALSC Membership committee tried something new at this conference, a fun dutch (pay your own way) dinner for new members during the first night of ALA Midwinter. There were about 25-attendees including new-to ALSC members, old friends and individuals from the membership committee. It was a fun way to connect with old and new friends and find a familiar face to navigate the conference with. The membership committee had a great time and we are looking forward to doing more events like this at future conferences, so be on the lookout!!
Namaste, Library Peeps : Getting My Zen On at #alamw2018
One of the coolest amenities at ALA Midwinter 2018 was the Yoga / Meditation Room. I hope many of you had a chance to stop in for a moment, or two, or …. just hang out and be present for a while. For the past few conferences, ALA has been sponsoring the yoga / meditation room. Since I am moderately obsessed with yoga (although I’m not sure if that is a very “yogi” thing to say) I stopped by Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and got in some abbreviated practice. Even if you don’t have a yoga practice, being able to sit down and collect your thoughts and just BE for 10 minutes or so can be beneficial to both your mental and physical health. I found the room here in Denver to be an oasis of calm. Dim lights, soothing music, mats and meditation cushions as well as…
Cheering for #alayma
THE highlight of the #alamw18 conference for me is sitting in the audience at the announcements of the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards. Just to give you a little flavor, here was the line when I got to the convention center 30 minutes before the program was scheduled to start: This photo does not accurately portray the number of twists and turns and line segments there were so that people could still actually walk in the convention center. Once inside, it’s a magical wonderland filled with people who LOVE youth books. I hope that you got to tune in for the live broadcast of the awards. In case you didn’t, ilovelibraries.org has the full list of winners and honorees. I love that there were so many diverse and #ownvoices authors represented throughout the awards and many winners and honor books from small presses. It was a great year…
Learning, Connecting, and Having fun at ALA Midwinter 2018: It’s Been a Whirlwind #alamw18
It’s been a whirlwind, indeed. Although I’ve attended several Midwinter meetings over the years, this one has been especially fruitful. The sheer pace of meetings and activities has had me dashing all weekend. That’s my excuse for not posting sooner. I arrived from Chicagoland early Thursday afternoon; I managed to avoid the blizzard back home.While my coworkers had a snow day, we were enjoying 60 degree weather here in Denver. On Friday I attended the Bill Morris Seminar, the highlight of my conference experience so far. As part of the 2018 cohort, I came away with an expanded skill set for children’s literature and media evaluation. And I met some truly amazing people in the process. Immediately after that, I attended the inspiring opening session where activists Patrisse Cullars and Marley Dias discussed what inspired them to rise up and take action. Later that evening I joined up with the…