Hello everyone! I hope that you are staying safe and warm wherever this post may find you. I also trust that those who attended Midwinter have finally all made it back home without further incident, particularly those of you who were stranded at airports waiting for flights, any flights, that would get you home. Since midwinter there has been considerable unpacking – literally and metaphorically. Some of you are unpacking suitcases full of books, posters, and other exciting finds from the exhibits, along with meeting notes and your conference clothes. Many people have also been unpacking all those thoughts swirling around in your head from networking, engaging sessions and keynotes, committee meetings, encounters with colleagues, and the barrage of online conversations related to the Youth Media Awards (YMAs) and the much needed conversations about walking the walk to ensure everyone is treated equitably and humanely. The latter stemming from multiple…
Tag: ALSC Board
A Hive of Activity: Board Updates, Committees, and Volunteers
ALSC’s Busy Worker Bees What’s that sound? Do you hear it? Sounds like a buzz or maybe a hum. If you think it is a colony of busy bees you are 100% correct – ALSC Member Busy Worker Bees! With summer reading in full force and school (public and university) starting for others, ALSC members are hard at work engaging their communities to build healthy, successful futures for all children. At the same time, hundreds of you are also serving on ALSC process and award committees, moving the association’s work forward. In July many process committee members began new appointments and these committees started examining current and future projects to prioritize their work. I have been hearing from committees about some of their work and reading with interest the blog posts of various committees. As always, I’m amazed and humbled to be working alongside all of you – our awesome…
Community Forum on Digital Literacy, Digital Citizenship for Children in Libraries
The ALSC Board of Directors and 2017 ALSC President Nina Lindsay will be co-hosting an ALSC/AASL Collaborative Community Forum live chat on the topic of Digital Literacy, Digital Citizenship for Children in Libraries. The forum will be held on Thursday, March 23, 2017 at: 1 pm Eastern 12 pm Central 11 am Mountain 10 am Pacific With library and education funding and policy in question, who is teaching children information literacy–where and how? From “fake news” to new privacy concerns, from government “data rescue” to the threat to intellectual freedom with loss of data and access to broadband, what on-the-ground strategies can library staff in public and school libraries employ to prepare children to be digitally literate citizens? This ALSC Community Forum will be jointly hosted by ALSC’s Intellectual Freedom Committee and American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Directors. We are delighted to open this forum to both divisions’ members. Helpful Resources…
Find Your Footing Despite the Flood of Fake News
Yipes! Does it seem like “fake news” is getting more prevalent? Are you feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, confused about how to help your patrons navigate this unstable landscape? Photo courtesy of Walt Stoneburner
In Response to the Award Committee Conversation #alaac14
Dear fellow ALSC members: Please pardon my delay in joining the current conversation surrounding the clarification of confidentiality in regard to reviewing, social media and electronic communication for members of ALSC award committees. My hotel does not have wi-fi and the business center closes at 4 pm, (apparently most of “what happens in Vegas” doesn’t happen online), and combined with required meetings yesterday my reading and response to email has been significantly delayed. Over the past several years the ALSC office and officers have fielded a growing number of inquiries from members of award committees regarding appropriate written expression which maintains the confidentiality and integrity of the awards. The guidelines that had served us well were no longer sufficient to navigate the wildfire landscape of electronic communication and the exponential dissemination of opinion that occurs. In response, the ALSC Board appointed a task force which including past and present award chairs,…
ALSC Response to Horn Book July/August 2014 Issue Editorial #alaac14
As many of us begin to gather in Las Vegas for this year’s ALA Annual Conference, the excitement is building for the big event on Sunday evening, the Newbery-Caldecott Banquet, when we’ll celebrate the medal- and honor-winning book creators of two of the most prestigious awards in the world. This year there is a bit more buzz than usual as folks read and respond to this week’s editorial in Horn Book which expresses some concerns about a months-old revision to ALSC’s “Policy for Service on Award Committees”. As a member of the ALSC Board of Directors and chair of the Task Force that developed the recommendations that were subsequently adopted unanimously by the entire Board last January, I’m happy to provide some background about the updates. This Policy, which applies to those ALSC members serving on the selection committees of the book and media awards administered solely by ALSC (including…