Let's Chat Children's Librarians!

My new tweep, Michelle is leaping out in front and hosting a children's librarian chat on Thursday night at 9pm ET.

As Michelle writes on her blog, Lit Chat for Kids:  "I don't know if this has been done on Twitter with this exact topic, but I will be hosting my first one tomorrow night at 9 PM ET, hashtag #jlib. If you are a children's librarian or studying to be one, you are invited to this chat. We will be talking about a variety of Children's library related issues such as: collection development, programming, outreach and more. Feel free to submit your questions to me here or DM me on Twitter (mmlibrarian). Hope to see you then"

I don't think I can resist!  Hope to chat with you all there!

Oh, and Michelle?  You go girl!!!

The Wandering Librarian

Yesterday, a pleasant person stopped by our desk, introduced herself and handed us a slip of paper with an url for a blog called Every Library I Can. Ellen works part-time at a branch of the Ramsey County MN libraries but it is her avocation to visit libraries everywhere and share her thoughts and observations about them.  Yesterday, it was our turn.

As an inveterate library visitor myself, I loved getting a chance to meet and talk with Ellen. We chatted on our feelings about the behemothy boat that is a signature piece as well as an anchor around the neck of the staff.  Most visitors fall in love with this thing...understandable but it is a director's/architect's dream that in reality has been a nightmare in the library. Well, at least the outside.

We were able to show our guest the inside of the boat which is truly and nautically delightful and might be one of the most perfect program spaces I have worked in or observed. The walls are almost all bulletin board; the carpeting is wonderful; there is a small tiled area for messy crafty, goopy stuff; there is a sink and seeming miles of closets, cupboards, drawers and hidey-holes to contain our program materials and props. Ellen was justifiably delighted. As we've talked about re-purposing the boat over the years, we always assure the public that the true boat -the inside -will always be there for them.



And we have made some progress over the past few years in making the outside of the boat more reader-friendly: comfy chairs; books on display everywhere; signs that indicate it is a Reading Boat. Staffers have become masterful at keeping reading the prime focus and running and climbing slightly less prevalent.

So it meant alot to us when Ellen introduced herself and we had a chance to talk about the good and bad on the boat. And it was fun to read her post and see her thoughts about what is truly special about that piece of nautica.  Her blog is on my feeds now - not because she stopped here; but because she has a bright and lively eye and a clear love for the way each library adapts; solves and does uniquely fun things to create a special space for the community.

I want to join her journey and talk with her all day. Since I can't, I will content myself with being an armchair observer of her adventures.

How Sweet It Is!

I love bloggers that sweetly share serious program how-to's on their blogs - from storytimes to school age successes. The best blogs also share tips on what to do differently and time-saving, staff-saving thoughts on future iterations of their programs.

Mollie Kay over at What Happens in Storytime... helped me out by doing just that. She posts about her life-sized Candyland program with a wonderfully detailed post chock-full of helpful pictures. Although we tried this once, it wasn't quite what we'd hoped for. But after reading this post I am excited to go at it again using her tips and a great list of resources. Thanks Mollie!

Youth Librarianship & Innovation

During one of the recent dust-ups about the worth/importance/immediacy of youth librarian's work vis a vis the larger library world (sorry, but I refuse to link to posts where the troglodyte comments are too depressing to read), one comment in particular rocked my socks off.  The writer sniffed that during the time she worked as a youth librarian she had never seen anything done in an innovative way.

Wow. Simply, wow. I am never at a loss in finding youth folks pushing the envelope of innovation. Check out my blog roll on the left for just a small selection of innovators. Colleagues working at small libraries; colleagues working with tots; colleagues working with teens..I mean, really, I see so much innovation, sometimes I think my eyes will bleed, my brain will pop and my heart will bust...all from happiness, of course!

I got thinking about this when Amy over at Show Me Librarian blogged about how she pushed her thinking forward while doing a literacy night. She liked the positives happening with school partnerships but started visioning and problem solving while out at schools. She saw new paths and blocks to build on. It is leading her to innovate and do more effective work that is simply...more...and better...and wow!

That's how innovation happens, in my opinion. You chat, you listen, you read, you reflect and when you are in a situation, you start evolving your thinking and solving problems. R. Davis Lankes recently wrote that being a rock star librarian is getting people to question. I would posit that all innovation grows from questioning. Questioning and thinking and re-thinking and puzzling until a way becomes clear.

In the national youth services community, we are celebrating Library Journal's selection of one of our own - Melissa Depper, she of the marvelous Mel's Desk and a founder of Flannel Friday - as a Mover & Shaker. Her work is consistently innovative as well as foundational. She pushes the envelope and enfolds people through her mentorship and support and sharing with those around her.  I am so, so pleased that she is a "sung hero".

Everyday, I watch my co-workers innovate and solve - two share what they know and discover through social media and blogs. Sara over at S. Bryce Kozla and Brooke over at Reading with Red explore their paths to discovery. Like Amy; like Mel, they turn a clear eye and an inquiring mind to bringing service to the kids and the community. With their co-workers, I watch them invent, solve, innovate and create. Through this process their ideas - and mine - grow and change and our service evolves and becomes even better.

Innovation isn't technology. Innovation is evolution. Innovation is clearly connectivity.

Youth librarians have been pushing that innovation envelope for so long that "rock star" isn't even in the vocabulary anymore. We are all, at the least, galactic stars!

Flannel Friday Fiesta! A Civilian's View

Flannel Friday is fast approaching it's second anniversary. As the auspicious day approaches, participants in Flannel Friday are sharing what this movement has meant to them. Sharon over at her blog Rain Makes Applesauce is gathering the posts of participants. All are worth reading.

I myself am not a flannelist anymore. Or a prop-meister. Or a storytime provider. I once was and enjoyed that part of my work more than I can say. But even as a manager, I love and appreciate the efforts in the field of storytime and early literacy and the great places people are taking them. So, though I am not an active participant and really just an observer, let me still share with you what these intrepid folks and their blogs have meant to me and my professional life.

The blogs that participants are encouraged to start have often blossomed well beyond sharing flannel stories and patterns. Many of these new bloggers have expanded their content with thoughts about their work, programs, children's services and issues swirling around youth librarianship. When I celebrated the linkiness of my life a few weeks ago, it was also a homage to FF folks who have jumped into the blogosphere with both feet and enriched my thinking and work life so profoundly.

The FF community also led me fully into the world of Twitter. Many of these bloggers were the first tweeps I followed and chatted with. They have become a community of friends that I rely on and learn from.

I am in awe of the founders of (thank you, thank you) as well as the participants in this amazing grassroots effort. You have affected a sea change in youth librarianship and connectivity.

Big fireworks for you all!

Image: 'Fireworks 04'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/53139634@N00/472327992 Found on flickrcc.net

Get a Fresh Start - Unprogramming Webinar

I'm doing a webinar along with three of my favorite BFF-brarians on Wednesday March 6, sponsored by our state library agency. My part is on unprogramming - freeing yourself to play with content, literacy and kids as leaders in programs. What's about the rest? Read on:

Your youth services might be a well-oiled machine of systematic displays and story times, but how often do you look at WHY you do what you do? Sometimes you need to reinvent the wheel and break the mold. Hear from three youth services experts in the state on ways think of yourself as an educator (versus entertainer), literacy enthusiast (versus craft expert), and life changer (versus summer library soldier).

Mark your March calendar for:

Fresh Practices for Youth Services Librarians

3:00-4:00pm CST Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Hosts: Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, DPI Library Consultant; Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System Youth Services and Outreach Coordinator; Sharon Grover, Hedberg Public Library (Janesville) Head of Youth Services; Marge Loch-Wouters, La Crosse Public Library Head of Youth Services

No need to register—just click the link on the scheduled meeting day and time. Sign in with your first name or library/school name. Webinars will be recorded and archived for later viewing. 

Here are some links referenced on the webinar to leave you an easy trail (I've scribbled links at webinars - all incorrectly so I want to give attendees a break):

Barbara Scott's Children's Programming blog - not too active recently except for Lego programs, but go back and find detailed plans for book parties. She is the inspiration for the way our programs have become unprogrammed!

Pubyac is the mother of all youth listservs. While stumpers can dominate, the programs shared are dynamite.

teachingbooks.net is rich with content focusing on youth book creators: trailers, author interviews, discussion questions and more.

S. Bryce Kozla- yes, Sara works with me. Her blog is truly a trip into a young librarian's journey to awesome - from programs described to the ways of thinking why she does what she does. In this post she explains how to stay au courant with kids' passions and obsessions.

Pinterest. It's how I program now; I can say nothing more.

Hope you join us for an interactive good time!

P. S. The webinar is over. It was fun!  And this is where to find the archive under "Professional Development"


Image: 'Eggs-tra Special for You, Happy Easter!'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/66606673@N00/450373034 Found on flickrcc.net

The Sleeping Lionesses Awake...

That's the way it feels to me lately. The issue of gender in librarianship, especially as it relates to those of us who work in youth librarianship, has been sleepily in the background for a long time.

A number of issues that have cropped up recently have brought the subject back to the forefront and women and men are standing up and saying, "Whoa! Wait! Stop!" "Let's back up here and get real again!". It feels as if powerful people who have long been sleeping are once again awakening and looking around - and want to claim -or reclaim -some power that has long been lost or trivialized.

Part of the discussion has been in the blogosophere; part on twitter and part on a librarian group on Facebook, Think Tank. What started in a somewhat rancorous way is building to something slightly different - an open and honest exploration of the roots of discourse on gender in librarianship. People are talking, exploring and sharing.

Kate Kosturski over at Librarian Kate blog has written two posts in the last few days tracing the scholarly research on gender and librarianship (here and here) and they are fascinating.  Her part 3 will be on youth librarianship as it relates to gender issues.  Please read the posts and consider sharing your experiences of gender bias in youth work with her at librariankate7578 at gmail dot com. I think we need to read more.

I can imagine the research is might thin on this topic. Other than recent blog posts , some of which I cited in my last post,  I have seldom read of youth librarianship and bias issues in my almost 40 years in the business. What there is probably was published in small presses and gathered in the marvelous Alternative Library Literature anthologies (edited by Jim Danky and Sandy Berman) of the '80s through early part of this century.

I, for one, am glad we're waking up to have this discussion.

Image: 'Open wide.....'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/66164549@N00/2884630721 Found on flickrcc.net

Women and Youth Librarianship

On this the first day of Women's History month, the issues of gender and power are much on my mind.

Hi Miss Julie just wrote one of the most powerful posts I have read on the issue of the politics of this power and how woman are pushed towards silence. She turns a burning light on this in particular in her own life and then in relation to the world of children's work within librarianship.

This post links directly with her earlier post on recognition and youth work. For those in youth work who read this earlier post's comments section, it was stunning how utterly and completely some of the comments missed and blew past the point of her post. Dear Abby advice on how to "put yourself out there" wasn't where Julie's post was going. My read was she was calling out the larger world of librarianship for the disregard and disrespect for the marvelous and powerful work youth librarians are doing (although one commenter insisted that youth librarians don't really do anything innovative...oh, why yes, that *is* the sound of my teeth grinding).

There have been some ugly bullying of women bloggers, FBers and tweeters in the recent past - most swirl around the picayune-ness; the paltry-ness; the unimportance of our concerns - from Arcgate to our observations on how we appropriate cultural touchpoints. It's ok to provide book recommendations for another librarian's offspring but shut-up will you in the world of politics and opinion. Smile and be nice.

It is the subtle and not so subtle pushing women back and down - and in youth work, where our clientele is devalued because of their powerlessness in the larger society, we work under the burden of powerlessness by association in the eyes of some in our profession. Is it reflective of the larger society that so devalues women by insisting our little minds can't handle our own decisions on our lady parts? That continues to put roadblocks to upward mobility and insists that we need to be uber people that parent, work, achieve, clean, and look fetching and smile, smile , smile all the time? Um, yes.


The discussions on blogs and twitter have been painful and eye-opening. Here are some of the links that have particularly made me think deeply and know I - and many other women and youth library workers - are not entirely nuts in thinking "What the deuce is going on with our colleagues?" I thank Kelly Jensen and Sophie Brookover for some of these links.

Kelly over at Stacked
Kristin at Action Librarian
Ingrid at Magpie Librarian
Nicolas at information.games 
Jacob at Beerbrarian
Me (I know this is so self-regarding)

There are more posts out there on the issues of women and librarianship, power and gender. Please share and let's keep this conversation going. These are issues of long standing, my friends, and battles that have been going on since long before I was a SLIS student and young librarian decades ago (I'll share those stories another day). I am just discouraged that 40 years later, we see the same poor behaviors.

Gender matters. Being supportive matters. Making sure there is an interlocutor between brain and mouth or fingertips matters. Let's get started on supporting each other and celebrating the work we all do on behalf of varied clienteles. Nobody is better than anybody. We are all in this together. Like that.

Image: 'The Hidden Beauty!'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/44345361@N06/5929570738 Found on flickrcc.net

How Did I Get So Lucky?

I ran across an extraordinary post....

How many times lately have I been tweeting or doing blog posts about some amazing thing I've read from Youth Services bloggers I follow? So much of what I read takes me to places of discovery that I have never been before. And it clearly inspires my blogging and TTFLF's content.

This post is completely happening because I was blown away by Amy Koester's Peer Sourcing post at Show Me Librarian. In the post she acknowledges the power of collaboration and learning from others to build the scaffolding to new programming and thinking paradigms in her work. As I've said before, everything comes from somewhere - whether hatched in our brain or sparked by something we read or hear or collaborate on.

When I started blogging five years ago, there were mostly kidlit blogs - lots of reviews of and thoughts about children and teen books. Only a handful of bloggers shared programs, initiatives and opinions on youth services. And that was what I was really after. 

As the years have gone on, more youth people have joined the conversation. From robust posts at ALSC, YALSA, and the Hub to individual bloggers inspired by Flannel Fridays or a desire to share their professional journeys in working with youth, I now have over 100 blogs that I follow. They  are ripe with opinions, storytime ideas; teen program mojo; cool initiatives and more. Who knew?

I agree with Amy that we learn from others in a way that informs and improves our work. This is really a shout-out to all the youth services bloggers for putting it out there and sharing. I learn every day and in every way from you all. You all make me a better librarian. And you inform what I write about here.

Really, I am so lucky!

Hey, You! We Want to Be Talking with You...

Ok, ok, so I feel a little guilty even bringing this up. As a blogger, I know I have a slightly bigger audience than I would without. But no guts, no glory. I join my colleagues in the blogosophere to invite you to read through the suggested Conversation Starters at ALA and vote for ones you'd love to be involved in.

I hope you consider two I am lucky enough to be involved in with my fabulous colleagues: Amy over at Show Me Librarian; Amy over at Catch the Possibilities and Mel over at Mel's Desk. After some chatting on twitter that moved over to a google doc (more than 144 characters...wow!), we decided to try the conversations even further out with more people jumping in and proposed two programs for ALA this summer. We are excited about the possibilities!

Thinking Outside the Storytime Box: Building Your Preschool Programming
STEM for preschoolers! Dance parties for toddlers! When we stretch beyond storytime, our youngest patrons benefit from richer learning experiences, their parents and caregivers engage with the library in fresh ways, and staff become motivated by new, creative challenges. Jump out of the storytime box and explore active and passive early-childhood programs that are easy to plan and repeat, maximize your staff resources, and enable you to reach more young families. Our panel will share program ideas, planning resources, and early literacy connections to help you leave prepared to build on the core storytime experience.
Presenters: Amy Commers, Amy Koester, Melissa Depper, Marge Loch-Wouters

Unprogramming: Recipes for School-Age Programming Success  
Do you find yourself spending tons of time planning school-age programs that are over in the blink of an eye? Are you ready to challenge yourself to be more efficient with your staff time and department's resources? Discover how to streamline planning and preparation while offering worthwhile literacy-centered programs--where kids help shape the direction of the program! Panelists will share tips for "unprogramming" at your library as well as ideas for helping staff adapt to this new style. Prepare to leave with a myriad of program ideas and resources for unprogramming on your own.
Presenters: Marge Loch-Wouters, Amy Koester

If these topics are ones you would love to chat on and you are an ALA member, please do vote for these...and a host of other good ones proposed by ALA members. Read them and leap!

Me - IRL!! Well, Kinda

Stop by our Wisconsin Library Association Youth Services Shout-out blog and get a little more info on me and a picture that is less than a week old!

What *Does* Make a Great Library Worker?

At Stephen's Lighthouse today, he links to Kitty Pope's list of what makes a great library worker. I couldn't agree with Kitty's point more:

• Passion
• Flexibility
• Inquisitive life-long learner
• Patience
• Team Playing
• Be positive
• Believe people are good
• Make a difference in the lives of patrons
• Lead
• Communicate
• Innovate
• Market
• Understand and embrace change

I would add: honesty. What else?

Everything Old is New Again

I always think it's funny - and a little bit sad - when bug-eyed articles come out about some aspect of adult library programming being trendy and pushing the envelope. What stands out is it's usually something that, in some format, youth services librarians have been doing for decades in their programs.

When I first read the Wall Street Journal article on programs being held on hog butchering and blacksmithing, I thought ho-hum. We've been bringing in sheep, snakes, horses, cows, giant shopping cart go-carts and heavy equipment vehicles for kids to explore and discover since forever.  Programming that informs kids by sharing stories or information books and then hands-on experience with an IRL thing has long been a staple of most youth programs.

I feel the same way about gaming. While most adult services folks think of gaming as avant-garde and new, new, new, I would argue that again, gaming has had a respected place in libraries for a long time in youth areas. When I first came to our library, we had a robust tech gaming program - wii, lan; computer games; multi-player games. But our gaming assistants also developed the seeds of Lego Club, board game night, giant Candyland and Pokemon Club; card games - to the dismay of the manager who oversaw the gaming. He insisted that wasn't "real" gaming.  I always disagreed.

Libraries have been providing and playing games with kids from almost the beginning of their existence. Think of chess and checkers clubs; scavenger hunts; book bingo; game-based SLP reading programs; Lego and Pokemon Clubs; board games available in the room for kids to play with. They have engaged kids in skills-building - math; engineering; problem solving; planning; and cooperation to name a few. When our city council balked at funding the computers and video games, our director used that argument to win them over. Electronic gaming is just another face of what we've always been doing in youth services.

Makerspaces are the new glamor-boy. Uh-huh. This blog post was jump-started by Amy over at Show Me Librarian who shared some thoughtful comments on arts and crafts and the nature of maker spaces.  I'm with her. Youth librarians have been doing makerspaces, again, for decades. Programs that provide kids with hands on time to create paper airplanes or tissue box racecars; moebius strip making; knitting; crafting; building; Legos; science experiments...I could go on and on. Youth librarians have been working with kids to grow skills, to create opportunities for them to create and make since forever.

In many ways, it's all in the branding. Here at our library, we tend to embrace any new paradigm that comes along (Harlem Shake dance next?). I think of it in the same way as hopping on the PR train for children's book film premiers or debuts of popular children's books and creating a program to capitalize on the hype. So, for these new adult bandwagon efforts: DIY? Re-brand craft programs and scrapbooking. Gaming? Re-brand Pokemon club. Tech Creator Space? Re-brand cartooning; writing; creating book trailer programs. Makerspaces? Re-brand Legos clubs; science discovery programs and more.

But, in a deeper way, this "second-coming" hype also speaks to me about the disdain or dismissal or outright ignorance by others in our profession of efforts by youth folks. It's echoes what Julie was speaking about at Hi Miss Julie when she addressed the issue of power and youth librarianship (and the plethora of commentators who.so.missed.the.point). There may be some adult services librarians who realize that the programs and spaces they are now creating are based on efforts in programming that youth librarians (and others who work with kids in schools and youth serving organizations) have been doing since the beginning of children's spaces in libraries in the last century. People have come before. In the same way I admire, emulate and credit great efforts by colleagues serving all ages in all types of libraries, I hope to see that same reciprocity from all my colleagues serving other ages.

Will it happen?  You tell me.
.

Selling UP!!

Marketing is not always a favorite part of our jobs.  Whether we lack confidence in our ability to write copy for our programs or find the perfect graphic for a poster or design an effective handout, it can all be slightly fraught. But one thing that we all can do, no matter what our talents, is sell up or personally invite people to our programs.

Lisa of Libraryland has a great post on February 9 detailing her marketing approach to get the word out to people. In it, she talks about the "personal touch" - actually walking up and inviting people to be part of whatever effort you are hoping to engage people in.

It's always a surprise to me when staffers assume "everybody knows" about a youth program. Sure we have handouts; media PR; posters; sometimes flyers to the schools; Facebook and Twitter. But that still doesn't mean people are aware of what we offer. Even frequent library users, with busy lives and multi-tasking minds, miss out on our info stream.

I can't stress the "personal touch" or "personal approach" enough. The staff at service desks and walking the floors are our best sales force.  Sharing information about upcoming programs; inviting participation; talking about initiatives can all help alert families to the fun the library has in store. These conversations in which we invite our families and talk personally to them results in more participation. It's surprising what a difference this makes.

We saw this again and again over the past few months while we were delaying our winter storytime start until we had hired our new librarian colleague (Hi Brooke!). We made sure we had plenty of passive programs planned - the Smart Cookie Club in January and "Book Bundles - Storytimes in a Stack" (learned from Amy at Show Me Librarian blog) in February.

When staff would get questions about when storytime would start, some would reply, "In March".  While all too true, there was more information to be shared. Savvy staff would invite people to be part of our Smart Cookie Club or talk enthusiastically about the upcoming storytime in a stack contained in book bundles. They would chat about the hiring of our new colleague and our excitement. They would explain that we wanted to see them in the interim.

Lately, I've encouraged staffers to engage more with parents who are reading to their preschoolers in the library and ask them if they are part of our 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Club. We have been registering many more kids into the program because of this personal invite. The parents are pleasantly surprised and appreciate hearing about this DIY program.

A little up-selling never hurts and always helps. So let's get out there and start those conversations with our customers!

Image: 'Little secret'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/20722444@N00/224674200 Found on flickrcc.net

I Wanna Be on a Youth Book Award Committee

Many (most) of us have this aspiration. There are a number of avenues to make this dream come true - among them through the many excellent awards bestowed by state library associations; in the blogosphere with awards like the Cybils and through national associations like NCTE; USBBY; National Council on Teachers of English that have book awards. I would be kidding myself - and you - if I didn't say that most of the time, people really, really, really, really want to serve on one of the "big" ALA award committees (Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Coretta Scott King, Geisel, like that).

But I tell you, you need to crawl before you can walk; walk before you can run; and run before you can race strategically. So what are the pathways to becoming a critical reader (an absolute MUST) and an awesome award committee candidate? Sarah at GreenBeanTeenQueen wrote a great blog post about the critical reading aspect so please start there. Her wise words and links to other wise words are outstanding

Let's assume you are already a member of one of the ALA youth divisions or sections that present youth awards (oh, you're not? I'm sorry you can't pass go if you are not a member - and, not to be mean but, rightly so). Don't just say, "Well, I review books on my blog or for print publication". That's like talking to yourself in the mirror. You need to learn how to give and take - not just express yourself but learn about what the book reveals to others as well. I.am.not.dissing.book.review.bloggers.or.reviewers. I blog; I have reviewed for a SLJ. For me, the experience of writing is "in my head", or like talking to myself. Although I assume you are out there, my friends, it is faith, comments -and kind tweeps - that make me believe I am not whispering, Midas-like, into a hole I've dug in my back yard. Don't get me wrong, it won't hurt you to review - but discussion chops are huge.

I would suggest getting involved in or starting a youth book discussion group - no, not a "this-is-what's-happening-in-my-life-right-now" book discussion group, but one that truly delves into a book or group of youth books and examines them carefully and thoughtfully. If you are near a children's literature center like the CCBC; Butler; or others you may find high level discussions scheduled that really help you learn how to do outstanding discussion work. Use the CCBC's outstanding guidelines; they help one become a far better critical thinker, listener and  reader. I cut my teeth on the CCBC discussions before I served on my first award committee and learned how to listen, share, think and react to each book's positives and negatives.

Apply to attend the ALSC Bill Morris Book Evaluation seminar at midwinter every two years - if all goes well, the next one will be at January 2014 in Philly. As Dan Rude wrote on the ALSC blog before the last seminar application process opened up in September 2011: " This invitational seminar supports and honors William C. Morris’ dedication to connecting librarians and children with excellent children’s books by bringing ALSC members with limited evaluation experience together with those who have served on ALSC’s media evaluation committees. Attendees are trained and mentored in the group process and in children’s media evaluation techniques, resulting in new and emerging leaders for future ALSC evaluation committees." I attended one as an observer and the training/mentoring is priceless.

If you are attending ALA, spend time at open Notable Book discussions and Best Book lists discussions . You can learn a ton from observation. Who is able to speak to the book rather than bringing in their experience sharing with their own child or grandchild ("Binky LOVED this book!")?  Who is able to articulate a point of view clearly without getting pushy or disrespectful in their zeal? How is the book talked about? What does it reveal about the book rather than the speaker? You quickly learn who has had experience in speaking in a thoughtful way about the plot, voice, characterizations, art, design, impact, troubling details, scope, or importance of the book they are discussing. Learn, grasshopper, learn.

If you want to be on a book award committee in ALSC, do a little heavy lifting and spend some time on one of their process committees. You meet great colleagues; become an awesome advocate for ALL children's librarians and help push the envelope of innovation at a national level. I have served non-stop on ALSC committees (sometimes more than one in a year) for over 30 years and served on Caldecott and Newbery once each. You can do the math on where I spend my professional association time.

As I've said before, the process committees are like meat and potatoes compared to the dessert-like high of award committees. Too much sugar gets you shaky and pound-heavy (and makes you hallucinate that you are far greater than you really are). The process committees keep you nimble, yet rooted in youth librarianship goodness  - and humble (publishers rarely fête you but the changes and advances you make with colleagues on process committee last for decades). And your hard work on these committees plus added skills learned in book discussions and reviewing just may earn you a coveted call to serve.

You also need to be aware that in a big division like ALSC with 3,000-4,000 members, there are quite a few people who want to serve. ALSC vice-presidents and nominating committees can attest to the plethora of volunteer forms asking for award committee consideration only. A few years back, the ALSC board made the decision that if one has served on an award committee or Notables, they need to wait five years before serving again. I applaud this decision. This has opened far more spots to new people and spread out the opportunity. That doesn't stop people from then working to get on YALSA or other youth award committees in those off years but at least it's a start.

Finally, if you've served on an award committee a time or two or three, make room for others and don't be a pig. Sorry to be harsh but you all know who you are out there. Everyone who is a member of the division deserves a chance to be part of an award committee and have that special shining year. The more the same people flit between YALSA and ALSC award committees, the smaller the pool of people who can weigh in as new voices to these committees. Stating that you deserve constant award book committees because you know books is silly - so do tons of your colleagues; we pride ourselves in youth librarianship on our literature chops. Stating that being appointed/elected to award committees is the only way to attend conferences may be true, but it's still selfish. Learn to advocate for your worth at your library and the worth to the library of your experience serving on a process committee. Don't be such a special snowflake; let others play in the sandbox; bring back your best kindergarten-sharing self; like that.

These are my top tips - what are yours (especially in terms of YALSA)?


Image: 'throwing a fit'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/88013032@N00/2965376213 Found on flickrcc.net