It may seem like summer reading just ended, but many of us are already planning what our programs will look like for next year. As you envision Summer Reading 2021, would an extra $3,000 help your program to be more innovative? ALSC and the Programs and Services Recognition Committee are now accepting online applications for the ALSC/Baker & Taylor Summer Reading Grant. This $3,000 grant is designed to encourage reading programs for children in public libraries, while recognizing ALSC members for outstanding program development. Due to COVID-19, the committee will consider proposals for virtual programming, as well as in-person programs which can take into account public health and safety measures Each application will be judged on the following: The plan and outline submitted for a theme-based summer reading program in a public library Program ideas that are open to all children (birth – 14 years) The committee encourages innovative proposals involving…
Category: Awards & Scholarships
work of ALSC Priority Group III and other items dealing with awards and scholarships that might be of interest to ALSC members
It’s a hard Mock life!
It’s almost time for awards season! Did you run a mock election? If so, it’s time to post your results. Head over to the Mock Elections page. Lisa Nowlain is an artist and librarian in Nevada City, CA.
Submit Your 2020 Mock Elections Results!
It’s almost that time of year again! The 2020 ALA Youth Media Awards are coming up on January 27, 2020 at 8 a.m. ET. The ALSC Blog has a “YMA Mock Elections” page dedicated to each award year and libraries, schools, bookstore, and book clubs are welcome to submit their mock election results based on the exciting and robust discussions they’ve had in their own groups. Check out the real 2019 recorded webcast and 2019 Mock Elections results page. The 2020 Mock Elections submission form is now open! We look forward to receiving and posting your mock results on the 2020 page. Please submit your results by January 17, 2020 to have them featured on the ALSC Blog.
The Distinguished Service Award: the Ongoing Legacy of Children’s Services in America
Recently I have been going through files that describe the work of Alice M. Jordan (1870-1960) the pioneering children’s librarian in the Boston Public Library. Among Miss Jordan’s accomplishments were the following: establishing children’s services in the BPL, creating the New England Round Table of Children’s Librarians, an early and still active professional organization, mentoring Bertha Mahony Miller (1882-1969), who founded the Horn Book Magazine and teaching at Simmons College. Her contemporaries were two other pioneers Anne Carroll Moore (1871-1961) at the New York Public Library and Caroline Hewins (1846-1926) at the Hartford Public Library in Connecticut.
Fascinating Worlds of Children’s Lit: Adventures from the Baldwin Library
Along with feature articles, interviews, and columns, did you know Children and Libraries also features reports written by ALSC’s Bechtel Fellowship winners? The Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship provides a grant of up to $4,000 for a children’s librarian to spend up to four weeks reading and studying at the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature of the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville. And, during their visits, Bechtel winners enter some fascinating worlds of story and illustration. In this edition of CAL Rewind, we highlight Bechtel stories from past winners: Bridgid Mangan, Wendy Stephens, and Angela Reynolds. Who knows…maybe they will inspire a future Bechtel winner or two. (Bechtel Fellowship 2020 applications are still open!) The Many Faces of Little Red The Better to See You With: Peering into the Story of Little Red Riding Hood, 1695–1939 by Angela J. Reynolds Meet Little Red Riding Hood. She’s been around…
The Mentor Connection, Finding the Next Distinguished Service Award Winner
I am certain many, if not all of you reading this blog can think of an individual who had a profound impact on your future direction in children’s services. A person whose interest, support, and encouragement you have always remembered and been grateful for in your life. It might have been a person who gave you the freedom to develop programs that hadn’t been done in your community and that freedom made the difference for children who didn’t know what a library could mean in their lives. Such an individual should be recognized by our profession with a Distinguished Service Award.
The Phoenix Award: From the Ashes—20 Years Later
Read about one librarian’s love for the Phoenix Award, which is intended to recognize books of high literary merit, which never won award at the time publication, and which is still worthy of recognition.
Get to know ALSC’s Book & Media Awards
One of the things librarians do best is promote great books and get them into the hands of the kids and families we work with. We know that access to good books can have an extraordinarily important impact on young people’s cognitive, emotional and social development. I believe that developing a familiarity with various children’s book awards represents one great way of building your book curation repertoire. If you know what the awards are for, you can do a better job of evaluating why specific books win specific awards, which will help you decide if and how you may best promote them to your community. Keeping up with children’s literature awards takes a fair amount of effort because there are dozens, if not hundreds, of children’s book awards given out every year by many organizations. However, luckily for us, our association administers some of children’s literature’s most prestigious awards and…