The final open meeting of the Notable Recordings Committee discusses 5 remaining titles, including When the Stars are Scattered. In this post, ALSC members can learn a little more about volunteering for committees.
Category: Virtual Institute 2020
Virtual and Augmented Reality! An #alsc20 Highlight by Eileen Drummond
Virtual Reality, augmented reality – what is the difference? How can a non- video game playing librarian like myself, incorporate this technology into a library program? My own inclination is to shy away from technology that I don’t understand because I worry how I can help young people utilize that technology. The 2020 Institute session “Virtual and Augmented Reality: Designing Immersive Learning Youth Programs” led by Zachary Stier introduces librarians to the idea of using virtual and augmented reality to educate and enhance the learning experiences of young people. Augmented Reality is what the game Pokemon Go is. It is interacting with digital elements using a smart device. Virtual Reality is being immersed in an entirely new world. I initially wondered how can video games could be educational because the video games that my sons play, Fortnite and Star Wars Battlefront, do not seem to have much learning potential. To…
An #alsc20 Highlight by Jennifer Minehardt
Wow, what an awesome two days spent at this year’s virtual ALSC National Institute! There were so many wonderful programs to choose from over the course of two days. I’m excited to go back and watch some of the sessions I missed! With that being said, I can’t wait to talk about this amazing new book, We Are Water Protectors, written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade. We spent a wonderful hour and fifteen minutes listening to the author and illustrator talk about their work and their different processes and how they came to collaborate on this book together. This is an own voices story told by both an indigenous author and illustrator. The author told us that this book is her love letter to the people of the Standing Rock movement as well as all the indigenous people that are fighting to protect their water sources as…
An #alsc20 Highlight from Beatrice Canales
The 2020 ALSC Institute was a new experience for me. This experience was the first time I attended the institute and since it was virtual, I had the time to savor many parts of it. The parts I could not attend was recorded so I will enjoy the conference later next week. As an educator, the two sessions that I enjoyed the most were, “Family Matters: Sharing Generational Love in Children’s Literature” and “Partnering to Improve Indigenous Representation”. The best part of these sessions and the overall sense of the conference pertain to the passion and responsibility of all librarians, educators, writers, illustrators, and more to show children of all ages that they matter. The “Family Matters: Sharing Generational Love in Children’s Literature” session demonstrated to the audience that “emotional truth” reigns in writing children’s literature. The audience felt that truth in the stories that the authors and illustrators used…
An #alsc20 Highlight by Faith Hvisdas
Attending the ALSC Virtual Institute was an invigorating experience. After nearly seven months of living a new lifestyle due to the Coronavirus and world events, it was refreshing to hear from so many library professionals about how passionate they all still are about their work, and their willingness to serve communities. I especially appreciated the panel on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion within ALSC. This panel allowed several professionals to speak about the initiatives that ALSC is taking in these important areas. I enjoyed hearing from the Equity fellows, and hearing about the work that they are doing in libraries. When Ayn spoke, she mentioned that she would not get to go to Midwinter if it was not for this fellowship. Conferences are always an amazing way to learn and connect with others in our professional field. Ayn also mentioned her mentor, and how having a mentor was extremely supportive for…
An #alsc20 Highlight by Sarah West
This year I had the chance to attend ALSC’s Virtual National Institute. I was so excited, I had never been to the National Institute, virtual or in person. Thanks to the 2020 Friends of ALSC Virtual Institute Scholarship, I got to attend. Of course the first thing I did when I got the email was to look at the schedule. I saw that this year there was a panel called “Diversity Needs Jewish Books: A Missing Piece of the Diversity Conversation.” I stopped in my tracks. As a 26 year old Jewish woman, I had grown up with just a handful of books about Jewish people, but how many times can I read Joseph Had a Little Overcoat? I didn’t know I’ve been waiting for this panel my whole life, but now I knew. “Diversity Needs Jewish Books: A Missing Piece of the Diversity Conversation” was hosted by four…
An #alsc20 Highlight by Samantha Mairson
Curiosity Kitchen Promoting Healthy Living through Programming and Partnerships at #alsc20 This session interested me because my library launched a “Cooking with Kids” virtual cooking class program during COVID and it has been incredibly successful. Unfortunately, I went on lunch break at the time this session aired live during the conference. I desperately needed the break so I watched the archived video recording of this session instead of attending live. I easily navigated to the archived recording via the ALSC Institute conference webpage. The recording is hosted on Vimeo. It is captioned and shows as being posted to Vimeo on Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 6:37 PM EST… but the session wasn’t hosted until October 2 at 2pm so I must be reading placeholder metadata. The ALSC Institute team has also provided a session chat transcript in the WordPress conference attendee portal. Unfortunately, the chat transcript for this session is…
#alsc20 Children’s Librarianship in Communities Experiencing Trauma
Traumatic events can occur at any time in any community, and libraries work to step up. This year, with the pandemic and other major issues facing our country, our communities have been impacted even more. In this session, presenters Beth Patin, Anita Montoya, and Oralia Garza de Cortes spoke to their experiences serving their communities through a variety of traumatic events and how traumas in their communities have impacted how they serve their customers.