ALA Annual Conference Schedule (Actual)

FRIDAY
8 - 6 Tour of de Grummond Collection
6 - 7: 30 Exhibit Hall

SATURDAY
8 - 10 Making Multi-Age (newborn to five-year-old) Storytimes
the Best They Can Be
10:30 - 11:10 Doing Away with Dewey: Library Innovations for Service Excellence
11:10 - 12:00 How Audiobooks Have Been Successfully Used to Engage Readers
1:30 - 3:30 Sensory Storytime: Preschool Programming that Makes Sense for Kids with Autism
4 - 5:30 Power of Play

SUNDAY
8 - 8:30 Picture Books Go Digital
9 - 11:00 Liaisons with National Organizations Serving Children and Youth Committee Meeting
1 - 2:45 Volunteer at ALSC booth

ALA Annual Conference Schedule (Planned)

FRIDAY
8 - 5 Tour of de Grummond Collection
5 - 7: 30 Exhibit Hall

SATURDAY
8 - 10 Making Multi-Age (newborn to five-year-old) Storytimes
the Best They Can Be
10:30 - 12  Doing Away with Dewey: Library Innovations for Service Excellence
1:30 - 2:30 Sensory Storytime: Preschool Programming that Makes Sense for Kids with Autism
2:30 - 3:30 Why Transliteracy
4 - 5:30 Power of Play
8 - 10 Now Showing @ ALA: Library of the Early Mind

SUNDAY
8 - 9 Picture Books Go Digital
9 - 11 Liaisons with National Organizations Serving Children and Youth Committee Meeting
11 - 12 Early Literacy Model Magic
1 - 3 Volunteer at ALSC booth

ALA Annual Conference Schedule (Actual)

Items in italics are committee requirements.

Sunday, June 27
8:00 - 10:30 LNOSCY Committee Meeting
11:00 - 11:30  (end of) Dave Isay from StoryCorps
11:30 - 12:00 (end of) Celebrating the Spoken Word with Poetry for Young People
12:00 - 12:30 Exhibits
1:30 - 3:30 Question, Find, Evaluate, Apply: Translating Evidence Based Practice to Information Literacy Instruction
4:00 - 5:30 Japanese Paper Theater: Interactive Culture for Your Library

Monday, June 28
8:00 - 10:00 Dr. Patricia Kuhl, Co-Director of the University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences
10:30 - 1:00 ALSC Awards and Membership Meeting
1:30 - 3:30 Developmentally Appropriate Practice-What is the latest understandings of DAP and how to incorporate them into quality services
4:00 - 5:30 Who's driving the technology bandwagaon - the users or the librarians?

ALA Annual Conference Schedule (Planned)

Saw this article in the Canfield Neighbors newspaper!

ALA Annual Conference Schedule (Planned)
Items in italics are committee requirements.

Sunday, June 27
8:00 - 12:30 LNOSCY Committee Meeting
1:30 - 3:30 Question, Find, Evaluate, Apply: Translating Evidence Based Practice to Information Literacy Instruction
4:00 - 5:00 Japanese Paper Theater: Interactive Culture for Your Library

Monday, June 28
8:00 - 10:00 Dr. Patricia Kuhl, Co-Director of the University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences
10:30 - 11:30 Books in Many Languages: Reaching Out to Youth in a Multilingual World
1:30 - 3:30 Developmentally Appropriate Practice-What is the latest understandings of DAP and how to incorporate them into quality services
4:00 - 5:30 Who's driving the technology bandwagaon - the users or the librarians?
5:30 - 7:30 Poetry Blast

LNOSCY First Meeting

On January 17 at the first 2010 meeting of the Liaisons with National Organizations Serving Children and Youth (LNOSCY), commitee members were asked to upload pictures to a group Flickr account. These pictures capture developmentally appropriate or developmentally inappropriate practices when working with multi-age children in a public, non-daycare setting.

Our co-chair compared a public library's children's area to a caregiver's family room at home; while public libraries do not meet toddler/preschool daycare standards, we are concerned with a developmentally appropriate environment for multi-aged children.

In our pictures, our co-chair asked us to consider the architecture of our buildings, crafts used in programs (child vs. adult products), general safety and hygiene concerns, and food and animal policies. The pictures will be used during our program at Annual 2010 where we are collaborating with a Deputy Director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The program will probably be on Monday, June 28 from 1-3 or 3-5.

This project led to a related discussion about the need to have written policies that support practices. For example, if the library plans developmentally appropriate programs for certain age groups and hopes to draw and keep those participants, there should be a strict age policy posted in the library and on the website. This also means that staff must be consistent in following policies while being cognizant of creating programs for all ages. Sometimes this means using the same, popular topic but adapting the program to fit different age groups' developmental needs. Programming should also appeal to all kinds of readers.

This idea led to a discussion on how to address patron's needs for meeting a child's reading level. One statistical method that was mentioned was the Fry Readability Graph. We talked about how a child's background and experiences as well as his or her emotional development were additional factors in determining what materials the child would be able to understand.

This conversation led to a concern over the perception of reading. The connotations of the phrases "independent reading" versus "reading for pleasure" were discussed.

Lastly, each member was assigned two or three national organizations to contact. I chose the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America.

Most of the committee's future discussions will be done using ALAConnect which I have yet to fully explore and utilize.

ALA Midwinter Conference Schedule (Actual)

Italicized events are personal, sight-seeing events, not professional, conference related sessions.

Also, this "actual" schedule varies drastically from my planned schedule because of the distances (and time) involved in navigating to the various sessions.

Friday, January 15
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 Registration and Exhibit Hall
7:30 - 8:30 ALSC Speed Networking
9:30 - 10:00 Emerging Leader Reunion

Saturday, January 16
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 Sunrise Speaker Series featuring Elizabeth Gilbert
9:00 - 10:00 Exhibit Hall
10:30 - 12:00 OCLC Reaching Consumers through Nontraditional Methods: What Can WorldCat Do for You?
1:00 - 5:00 Visited McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings sculpture and walked part of the Freedom Trail
7:00 - 7:30 BWI Social
8:00 - 9:30 Attempted to attend the Notable Children's Videos Committee, discovered it was canceled but met Queens Children's Librarian Sueli Zaquem
10:30 - 12:00 ALA Social where I attempted to meet the EMIE Bulletin Editor

Sunday, January 17
8:00 a.m. - 11:30 LNOSCY Committee Meeting
12:00 - 1:00 Exhibit Hall
1:30 - 3:00 Cataloging of Children's Materials Committee
4:00 - 5:00 The Role of Commentary in the Standards Review Process from the ALA Office of Accreditation
Monday, January 18
6:30 a.m. - 7:30 (the last) Martin Luther King Sunrise Celebration, met EMIE Bulletin Editor
7:45 - 8:45 Youth Media Awards
8:45 - 9:15 Exhibit Hall
9:20 - 10:00 Youth Council Caucus

ALA Midwinter Conference Schedule (Planned)

Friday, January 15
7:30 - 8:00 ALSC Speed Networking
8:00 - 9:00 USBBY Presents the 2010 Outstanding International Books List
9:00 - 10:00 Emerging Leader Reunion

Saturday, January 16
7:00 - 8:00 OCLC Dewey Breakfast Update
8:00 - 9:00 Sunrise Speaker Series
10:30 - 11:30 OCLC Reaching Consumers Through Non-Traditional Methods
11:30 - 12:30 HarperCollins Childrens Books Seasonal Title Presentation
1:30 - 3:30 AASL/ALSC/YALSA Joint Intellectual Freedom Meeting
3:30 - 5:00 Great Interactive Software for Kids
5:15 - 7:00 Alexander Street Ethnographic Video Screening
8:00 - 10:00 Notable Children's Videos Committee
10:00 ALA Social

Sunday, January 17
8:00 - 12:00 LNOSCY Committee Meeting
1:30 - 3:30 Cataloging of Children's Materials Committee
4:00 - 5:00 Role of Commentary in the Standards Review Process
4:00 - 6:00 ALSC All Discussion Group Meeting

Monday, January 18
7:30 - 9:00 ALA Youth Media Awards
9:00 - 10:00 Youth Council Caucus

Collaboration Through Technology

As I prepare for my first American Library Association committee meeting at the midwinter conference next week, I reviewed Maureen Sullivan's "Leadership Principles and Practices" handout that I received during my Emerging Leader experience.

In my last post, I set up a vision for 2010 that utilizes more technology in my professional life. Therefore, it is important that Sullivan's handouts reminded me of the underlying purpose of using such technology; Technology aids collaboration.

The connection and collaboration of individuals around the world through the internet is indeed "... a synergistic process through which the outcomes are greater than the sum of the individual efforts."

I am excited to meet my fellow committee members next Sunday and am interested to experience their unique collaboration techniques and tools.

LNOSCY

Last Tuesday, I received an email responding to my ALSC Committee Volunteer application form.

I was surprised to see that I had been invited to serve immediately as a member of the Liaisons with National Organizations Serving Children and Youth (LNOSCY) committee for a two-year term.

I am excited and feel strongly about the functions and goals of this committee! I see it as a great opportunity to learn about and market to other child-friendly organizations as well as network with a broader selection of peers and gain leadership skills. This commitment also fulfills my "final" Emerging Leader charge to serve on a "real" committee.

In light of our budget concerns at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County and my switch from full to part-time, I was initially concerned about my ability to accept this invitation.

Fortunately, I work in a system that values professional development and supports it as they are able.

I have accepted the invitation!