Tag Archives: ALA

Books, Check it Out:

Congrats to the 2021 Youth Media Award Winners

Need some new reading material to enjoy and recommend to students? ALA has you covered! At their virtual Midwinter conference, they announced the recipients of this year’s Youth Media Awards which includes digital media, videos, audiobooks and of course, regular books!

American Libraries Magazine has this article recapping all the winners. Linda Sue Park, creator of the site Kids Books by Korean Americans highlights some of the winners on her page. A CMLE office favorite, We Are Water Protectors, made history with a Caldecott win. And School Library Journal has this very detailed page with links to reviews, interviews, guest posts, and further reading suggestions to explore!

We’ll share some of the winners below (link to the full list here!) and want to let you know the links take you to Amazon. If you buy anything at all, Amazon will give us a small percent of their profits on the sale. It’s anonymous, so we won’t know it’s you – but we will still be grateful!💗

Newbery Medal: When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
“When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni’s Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now they want it back. And when one of the tigers approaches Lily with a deal–return what her grandmother stole in exchange for Halmoni’s health–Lily is tempted to agree. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice…and the courage to face a tiger.”

Caldecott Medal: We Are Water Protectors illustrated by Michaela Goade, written by Carole Lindstrom
“Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption―a bold and lyrical picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and vibrantly illustrated by Michaela Goade.”

Coretta Scott King Author Book Award: Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
“For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone’s hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he’s as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ’s house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ’s mom explains it’s because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that–but it doesn’t make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name. As ZJ contemplates his new reality, he has to figure out how to hold on tight to family traditions and recollections of the glory days, all the while wondering what their past amounts to if his father can’t remember it. And most importantly, can those happy feelings ever be reclaimed when they are all so busy aching for the past?”

Pura Belpré Awards (for a Latinx writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm, and celebrate the Latino cultural experience):
¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat illustrated and written by Raúl Gonzalez
“In this new Vamos! title, Let’s Go Eat, Little Lobo is excited to take in a show with wrestling star El Toro in his bustling border town. After getting lunch orders from The Bull and his friends to help prepare for the event, Little Lobo takes readers on a tour of food trucks that sell his favorite foods, like quesadillas with red peppers and Mexican-Korean tacos. Peppered with easy-to-remember Latin-American Spanish vocabulary, this glorious celebration of food is sure to leave every reader hungry for lunch!”

Schneider Family Book Award (for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience):
I Talk Like a River written by Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith
“When a boy who stutters feels isolated, alone, and incapable of communicating in the way he’d like, it takes a kindly father and a walk by the river to help him find his voice. Compassionate parents everywhere will instantly recognize a father’s ability to reconnect a child with the world around him. Poet Jordan Scott writes movingly in this powerful and ultimately uplifting book, based on his own experience, and masterfully illustrated by Greenaway Medalist Sydney Smith. A book for any child who feels lost, lonely, or unable to fit in.”

Odyssey Award (for best audiobook): Kent State by Deborah Wiles, produced by Paul R. Gagne for Scholastic Audio, narrated by Christopher Gebauer, Lauren Ezzo, Christina DeLaine, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, Korey Jackson, and David de Vries.
“From two-time National Book Award finalist Deborah Wiles, a masterpiece exploration of one of the darkest moments in our history, when American troops killed four American students protesting the Vietnam War.”

Advocacy

Advocacy Alert: What’s Happening This Week

Dusk at U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.

Here are some library  issues that are getting attention by our federal legislators right now. We are all part of this wonderful profession – it’s great to know what’s going on, and to be ready to share the message of “yay, libraries!” with stakeholders!

From ALA:

“There is a lot happening in D.C. right now. Here’s a brief update on a few of the issues that the Washington Office is working on, and information about how you can get involved!

#FundLibraries Update:

Today concludes our outreach to the House of Representatives around the #FundLibraries campaign. All “Dear Appropriator” letters for the FY 2019 budget have to be turned in to the House Appropriations Committee this afternoon. We had two letters circulating in support of federal library funding: one letter asking the House Appropriations Committee to fully fund the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), and the second asking the same for the Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) program.

Despite having only a week and a half to gather support for these letters – last year we had two additional weeks! – we still gained 97 signatures for the IAL letter and 136 signatures for LSTA. We also received word that several offices have opted to send separate letters in support of these programs. Want to see if your representative signed? Check our appropriations letter tracker. Stay tuned  – we are expecting similar letters to begin circulating in the Senate soon!

Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act:

After many years of hard work, we are one step closer to seeing the Marrakesh Treaty implemented in the United States. The Marrakesh Treaty is an international copyright treaty that was adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization and signed by the U.S. in October 2013. It provides a copyright exception – the first ever in an international treaty – for libraries as authorized entities to make accessible copies of articles and books for people with print disabilities and distribute those copies across borders. If the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act is passed the United States will be able to provide a wealth of new accessible content to Americans with print disabilities, including those who speak English as a second language. In many ways, this is a civil rights law. It affirms that access to information is a universal right for all people regardless of circumstance.

If your Senator is part of the Senate Judiciary Committee or Senate Foreign Relations Committe, ask them to show their support for people with print disabilities by cosponsoring the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (S. 2559). Want to learn more? Read about it here.

 Send an Email 

MSLA Reauthorization

The Museum and Library Services Act of 2017 (S. 2271) has been introduced by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). The 2017 MLSA reauthorizes the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), showing congressional support for the federal agency. IMLS administers funding through the Library Services Technology Act (LSTA), the only federal program that exclusively covers services and funding for libraries. The LSTA provides more than $183 million for libraries through the Grants to States program, the National Leadership Grants for Libraries, the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, and Native American Library Services.

Please call your Senators and ask them to show their support of libraries by cosponsoring MLSA. For more information, check out the latest District Dispatch post or read about the history of MLSA.

Send an email 

Net Neutrality

This past December, the FCC voted to gut the net neutrality protections that limit the power of Internet Service Providers to slow websites, block mobile apps, or control the information we access. This 3-2 vote to roll back enforceable net neutrality protections was made amid widespread protests, millions of public comments and overwhelming opposition from across the political spectrum. Modern libraries rely on the internet to collect, create and disseminate essential online information and services to the public. Strong net neutrality rules are critical to keeping the internet working the way it does now. 

The Congressional Review Act (CRA) gives Congress the ability and authority to nullify the FCC’s actions. With one more vote for the CRA, the Senate can move to restore net neutrality and protect the free and open internet. Call and email your members of Congress and ask them to use the CRA to overturn the FCC’s rulemaking.

 Send an email 

FDLP Moderization Act of 2018

The bipartisan FDLP Modernization Act of 2018 (H.R. 5305) was introduced on March 15 following months of effort by the Committee on House Administration. The bill would modernize the Federal Depository Library Program and related programs that provide public access to government information. The FDLP Modernization Act was developed with input from the library community following a series of public hearings in the Committee on House Administration in 2017, which included testimony from librarians. ALA welcomes the legislation and sent a letter of support, along with the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), following the bill’s introduction. Prior to this process, it had been 20 years since Congress last held hearings or introduced legislation regarding the FDLP. You can learn more about the bill on District Dispatch.”

CMLE, Conference, Materials, Resources, Training

American Libraries Association Annual Conference: Chicago June 2017

ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition, Chicago, June 22-27, 2017. Transforming our libraries, ourselves.

At CMLE we always encourage people to attend conferences. It’s a great way to keep up on interesting developments in the profession, to find people who do what you do professionally, and to enjoy yourself with a bunch of other library people! You can learn things, meet people, and make all kinds of connections in a way that takes longer and is harder to do online.

Note: The Minnesota Library Association Annual Conference, and the ITEM Annual Conference are both coming up in October!! We have scholarship money for you, to help defray the cost! These are just great opportunities for you, no matter what you do in a library; so consider attending! You can always contact us here at CMLE to ask questions about conferences, to talk about ideas you have, or just to get tips on attending.

Below is a quick recap of my trip to the ALA Annual Conference. This is such a huge conference that any individual look at it is just overwhelming with the amount of possible things to do, people to meet, and information to absorb! Browse around the website for yourself, to find all kinds of info; and check on social media to follow the #ALALeftBehind hashtag. If you are in a library or archive or museum or history center, or even if you just like books – this is YOUR conference!!

It is held this week  every year – please check it out for yourself in future years! There is also a Midwinter conference every year in late January, where the focus is on vendor exhibits and meetings with committees. Check out the meeting locations for the next ten years, so you can start making plans to attend now! (There are several coming up in Chicago over the next few years; this is ALA’s home, and being so close to us is a real bonus!)

There were more than 700 vendors at this conference, and you can see them all here. Hundreds of authors were there; you can see them all here. Over 2,000 sessions were held, on every topic you can imagine (and some that will boggle your mind!); you can browse all of them here. Whether or not you were able to attend a session, if something seems really important to you, or valuable to your work, or you just get excited about the topic, you can contact the presenter directly (do some Googling!)  and ask for information or slides or any handouts. Most presenters are happy to share their information – that is why they are at the conference. And as a frequent conference presenter myself, I can say that it feels great when people are interested in your work!

We will have all kinds of material available here at CMLE HQ; so feel free to come look through it all! Yes, I also picked up a lot of giveaways for you guys! We will be distributing out Advance Reader Copies (ACRs) of books not yet published, all kinds of pins to show library pride, posters, and other assorted items! (I have a plastic sandwich holder for some lucky person!) We will get some of this up on our website, so you know what we have available; but don’t hesitate to stop by and just browse! We have two large flat-rate post office boxes full of stuff, plus my backpack jammed full of things, plus a Trader Joe’s canvas bag stuffed with material we want to share with you. Make our distribution work easier by coming over to browse for yourself!

Continue reading American Libraries Association Annual Conference: Chicago June 2017 →

Books, Communication, Materials

American Library Association Urges Schools Not To Remove ‘13 Reasons Why’

13-reasons-why-5888f5cfd8122

“The popularity of the series might really save lives and so might more reading and talking about the issue.”

From Huffington Post, By Katherine Brooks 

“Following what’s been described as a “rash of suicides in southern Colorado,” a school district in the state ordered librarians to temporarily remove the book Thirteen Reasons Why from its shelves.

The YA novel, written by Jay Asher, is the source material for a wildly popular and highly contentious Netflix adaptation of the same name, about a high school girl who decides to commit suicide after compiling a series of tapes that chronicle her reasons for doing so.

The show, considered a smash success for the streaming service, has been both praised by critics for its unsettling take on teenage-centric TV and denounced by psychologists for its irresponsible depiction of mental illness.

Teachers and parents have expressed similar concerns, claiming that the TV show glorifies and romanticizes suicide ― taking issue with the graphic depiction of the lead character’s actual suicide, which some have claimed opens the door for copycats.

In response, the curriculum director at Mesa County Valley School District in Colorado, Leigh Grasso, told her schools’ librarians to temporarily pull copies of Asher’s book from circulation. “I think we were just being cautious until we had the opportunity to look at the book and see how closely related to the movie it was,” she told The Associated Press.

According to the AP, the order “rankled some librarians who called [the decision] censorship.” Following protests, the books ― 19 of which were already checked out by students at the time ― were officially returned to circulation.

“Censorship is a slippery slope,” one librarian wrote to the school, according to emails obtained by The Daily Sentinel through a Colorado Open Records Act request.”

Materials

GLBT Round Table 50th Anniversary Archive – Survey

“Hello! You are receiving this from the ALA Emerging Leaders team who are working on a project for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table. Our team is beginning the process of creating an online archive, to include digitized materials and an oral history of the round table, in order to document and preserve GLBTRT’s history and plan for its upcoming 50th Anniversary Celebration in 2020.

We are currently identifying people who are interested in contributing to this project, particularly those who have materials that could be included in the archive, or those with historical knowledge of the round table.

We would greatly appreciate your completion of this survey: http://tinyurl.com/glbtrt50

If you know of any ULS folks who may not subscribe to this listserv and may have items or knowledge to contribute, please forward this email to them.

If you have any questions about our project, please do not hesitate to ask. We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,

ALA Emerging Leaders Team I

Fobazi Ettarh, Andrew Grissom, Lucas McKeever, Ariana Santiago, and Stewart Van Cleve

 

Ariana E. Santiago
Instruction Librarian, University of Houston
ariana.e.santiago@gmail.com
asantiago2@uh.edu | 713-743-7419