{"id":35508,"date":"2026-04-08T00:01:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=35508"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:14:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:14:30","slug":"children-and-libraries-debuted-in-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2026\/04\/children-and-libraries-debuted-in-2003\/","title":{"rendered":"Children and Libraries Debuted in 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Where were you in the Spring of 2003? Were you working at a library, or attending story time? If you were working at a library, you might have also spent time that Spring reading the INAUGURAL issue<\/a> of ALSC\u2019s journal, Children and Libraries<\/a><\/em>. Our acclaimed, peer-reviewed journal debuted in 2003, and has continued to shape research and practices of ALSC members and children\u2019s libraries for over two decades since. Let\u2019s hop into our time machines and go back to that very first issue ahead of the next one hitting your inbox soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Why CAL?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In her note inside the inaugural issue, ALSC Executive Director Malore I. Brown wrote, \u201cOur new journal will embody the essence of library service to children and serve as a professional tool and a source of information to those in the field of librarianship\u2026Children and Libraries will serve as your sounding board and trusted resource. This journal is for you, by you\u2014and we encourage ALSC members to submit articles, items, news of interest, and, of course, your comments and suggestions.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara Genos, ALSC President at the time, wrote in her president\u2019s message, \u201cAt the risk of sounding hopelessly trite, remember this is our journal. It can only be as groundbreaking and as creative as its contributors. While celebrating our journal\u2019s launch, we also need to keep our eyes on the prize: simply the best libraries, the finest library collections, and excellent library service for America\u2019s children.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to every single contributor who has made 23 years of creative and groundbreaking contributions to this beloved journal. To this day, CAL is still \u201cfor you, by you<\/em>\u201d with regular committee columns, recurring author interviews and features and research and best practice articles submitted by members of our organization!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Interview with Eric Carle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our inaugural issue featured an interview with Eric Carle, the picture book legend! To date ourselves a bit, when Editor Sharon interviewed him, he was talking about the upcoming publication of Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See<\/em>? That book is now a storytime staple!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflections from a Bechtel Fellow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every year, ALSC members can apply to be a Bechtel Fellow and study the amazing collection at the Baldwin Library of Historical Children\u2019s Literature. As a former Bechtel fellow, I enjoyed reading Jane Marino\u2019s research article on children\u2019s music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children Talk About the Newbery Award with K.T. Horning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kids are hilarious, and this interview with students about their experiences with the famed Newbery award is no different. Hearing them argue over silver versus gray medals, how \u201cserious\u201d a book must be to earn a medal, what Newbery winning books they\u2019ve loved, and what they think makes a great book was fascinating as someone who knows how contentious an award can be, and is always interested in what really appeals to children reads. Be sure to read this interview and maybe consider asking your own young readers about their knowledge of the Newbery!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As ALA celebrates 150 years of service, take some time to explore our very first issue of CAL and see how 23 years of this journal captures so much of that history!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Children and Libraries<\/a><\/em> archive is available via the ALSC website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Aryssa Damron<\/strong> is a school librarian at an elementary school in Washington, D.C. She\u2019s the co-chair of the Children and Libraries Editorial Advisory Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where were you in the Spring of 2003? Were you working at a library, or attending story time? If you were working at a library, you might have also spent time that Spring reading the INAUGURAL issue of ALSC\u2019s journal, Children and Libraries. Our acclaimed, peer-reviewed journal debuted in 2003, and has continued to shape research and practices of ALSC members and children\u2019s libraries for over two decades since. Let\u2019s hop into our time machines and go back to that very first issue ahead of the next one hitting your inbox soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":35509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[2871,1],"tags":[2262,371],"class_list":["post-35508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogger-children-and-libraries-cal","category-uncategorized","tag-cal","tag-children-and-libraries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}