I just returned from ALA Annual 2026, and what a whirlwind it was! It was wonderful to reconnect with old friends, meet new colleagues, and come away inspired by the incredible work happening in libraries across the country.
Category: Projects & Research
work of ALSC Priority Group V as well as other related project and research items of interest to ALSC members
Reflecting on My Experience in the 2025 Emerging Leaders Program
I had such a great time in Philadelphia completing the Emerging Leaders program and enjoying the excitement and chaos that is ALA Annual.
DCPL’s Illustrator Collection: An Interview with Wendy Lukehart
From 1919 to 1948, Louise Payson Latimer was the Director of Work with Children at the Washington (DC) Public Library. Latimer received frequent requests for “hard-to-access visual material” as well as general community members who were interested in the illustrations within children’s books during her tenure with the system. This prompted her to initiate the DC Public Library’s Illustrator Collection. At the time, Latimer recommended that the library purchase upwards of 800 picture books that she deemed worthy of “merit”. The collection now houses upwards of 20,000 primarily British and American books, many of which are first editions. To find out more about this interesting and unique collection, I interviewed Wendy Lukehart. Wendy is the Youth Collections Coordinator at DC Public Library and author of the article Louise Payson Latimer: Pioneer of Library Service to Children in Washington, DC. Wendy has become a fierce advocate for the collection, and one…
White House History in the Library
Seven months after making the switch from a public library to a school library, I took part in a weeklong institute that I had dreamed about for years: The White House History Teacher’s Institute. I spent 40 hours learning about White House resources, touring amazing local sites, and thinking critically about how I can incorporate primary sources, engaging historical moments and national history into my work as a school librarian.
Resources in Children and Libraries for Supporting Early Literacy Through Play
Play is a crucial aspect of cognitive development in young children. It is recognized by the Every Child Ready to Read program as one of the five key early literacy practices that can help promote reading readiness. Playing, exploring, and experimenting with open-ended materials as well as building concepts through direct experiences with people and objects are essential for healthy growth and development. Further, when parents and caregivers sit down to play and talk with their children they draw out babble and burgeoning language from babies and toddlers. As a result, children who engage in language-rich play in their early years are likely to start school with upwards of 10,000 more words in their oral language vocabulary than peers living in less stimulating environments.
Children In Crisis
REFORMA (The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking) and ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) have worked together for years, so it’s no surprise that their combined efforts have been so successful in addressing the reading needs of children, especially migrant children. When unaccompanied minors began arriving at the U.S. border from Central America in 2014, our goal was to provide some sort of assistance. And what better way than to share books in the language of the arriving children.
Five Questions with Joe Prince, the 2022 Bechtel Fellow
The Bechtel Fellowship is designed to allow qualified children’s librarians to spend up to four weeksreading and studying at the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature, a part of the George A.Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida, Gainesville. The Baldwin Library contains a specialcollection of 120,000 volumes of children’s literature published mostly before 1950. The fellowship isendowed in memory of Louise Seaman Bechtel and Ruth M. Baldwin and provides a stipend of up to$7,500.
Resiliency Kits: A Collection for Building a Self-Healing Community
Instead of a New Years resolution at the start of every year, I choose one word to focus on. This year I chose “anchor.” In 2022, I need a new idea of home, stability, and grounding. In 2021, my word was “resilience.” So many of us build resiliency out of necessity. We all experienced trauma throughout the pandemic, and continue to experience it today.