The Newbery Caldecott Awards Banquet

Sunday evening was the lovely Newbery Caldecott Awards Banquet.  Before we get into the awards, I just want to commend whoever is doing the organizing of the banquet that I really appreciate the effort they have been putting in to accommodating people with dietary restrictions.  I have a lot of dietary restrictions, and it's really nice to be able to go the banquet and actually be able to eat a full meal.  It's gotten better every year, and this year they had it pretty much down.  

The banquet started with a cocktail hour.  Then around 6:30, people began gathering at the doors so everyone can have a mad dash inside and try to claim tables so you can all sit with all your friends.  Seriously, it can be a little dangerous.  You either need to step back and let the crazy people dash in, or be prepared to stick your elbows out.

 The Caldecott this year is going to Locomotive, by Brian Floca, so the program had this very cool pop out of a train.  Things started out by acknowledging the members of both the Newbery and the Caldecott committees.  We were asked to hold our applause until all names had been said.  Unlike a high school, where such an announcement would immediately have been followed by applause and hooting after every name, we were actually able to follow directions and applauded at the end.  Nice job adults, nice job.  We are an example to all.

The Art of the Author Visit: Connecting Teens with their Favorite Authors

Sunday was a good day for sessions.  I went to another great one called "The Art of the Author Visit: Connecting Teens with their Favorite Authors."  It was presented by Allison Tran, teen services librarian and Courtney Saldana from Ontario City Library, California.  They were also joined by Jessica Brody, author of the Unremembered series to get an author prospective of what makes things good or bad for the author.

First they talked about building partnerships.  Get to know the people who work at your local independent bookstore, if you're lucky enough to have one.  Network at conferences.  Talk to people, meet authors, get your face known.  Make use of bloggers in your community!  There are book bloggers who have a lot of clout in the field.  Connect with them.  Get to know your local book community - know what people are interested in.

In terms of contacting people, most authors would prefer to be emailed directly rather than going through a publicist.  Second best way is contacting the author's publicist, third is making a pitch personally, fourth is reaching out on social media.  If you do ask an author personally, make sure you follow up by email the next day.  And go ahead and ask!  The worst that can happen is they'll say no.

Make use of social media.  Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr are all great places to find authors.  Friend the authors, their publicist and their publishing houses.  Let authors know when you've read and enjoyed their books, or when your kids love their books.  It gets your name know and builds some good will.  Keep in mind Skype can be a great way to bring an author into your library when they can't make an in-person trip.

After laying the ground work, Allison and Courtney talked about holding individual events, individual authors, and hosting a festival.  Some tips: Crowd control!  If it's going to be big, have tickets so you know how many people are coming.  Make sure you have a room that can accommodate your numbers, even if that means moving out of the library.  Plan for preshow entertainment!  Author's schedules are often tight, and they could be late.  Don't let a huge crowd just sit there.  For any event, more sure to promote it!  Make displays with books, bios of the authors and other information.  Take lots of pictures at your events!  And always expect the unexpected.

Courtney talked about starting the Ontario Teen Book Fest which started quite small with just a couple authors, and is now a huge, yearly, day-long event with panels of authors.  Very cool.

After the talk, Jessica Brody did an abridge version of the author presentation she give to high school students, which was excellent.  Charming and engaging.

Resources
Meet Any Good Authors Lately?
Skype an Author Network

Children's Librarians in the Lead: Managing Change, Inspiring Innovation & Empowering the Next Generation

On Sunday I went to an excellent program called "Children's Librarians in the Lead: Managing Change, Inspiring Innovation & Empowering the Next Generation."  It was presented by Amber Creger, Kid's World Manger, Gretchen Caserotti, library director at Meridian Library, and Kiera Parrott, editor of School Library Journal.  The three gave some excellent advice.

They first started off asking who's already doing a management job without being in a management position.  Lots of hands went up.  This is a common occurrence.  Everyone has to work the reference desk, but no one wants to volunteer to work with kids or in the teen room.  Often a single librarian ends up wearing many hats and essentially managing staff, programing, ordering, everything that has to do with youth services.

YA Author Coffee Klatch

Something my fellow library friends and I have been doing regularly for the last several years is YALSA's YA Author Coffee Klatch.  It's usually held on Sunday morning, and it's like author speed dating.  You sit at a table and every two or three minutes a whistle is blown and a different author sits down with you to chat about their latest books and answer questions.

Last year the Klatch started almost 15 minutes late, and the authors had five minutes at the table.  This year things ran much more smoothly, and authors had less time at the tables but it allowed us to talk to many more authors.  I liked the shorter amount of time, actually.  I thought things ran very well this year.

The Rest of Saturday at ALA

Stan Lee was definitely the highlight of Saturday at the conference.  I checked out a couple more sessions, but they weren't really what I was looking for.  I went to "Common Core State Standards and General Education: Information Literacy Connects the Dots."  I was hoping to learn more about the Common Core Standards, more details of the ins and outs and other states implementation stories, but that's not really what it was.  It was just going over the basics, which was probably helpful for many but just not what I was looking for. 

I then checked out a session called "Teens, Turntables, and Tater-tots: Lunchroom Outreach with CLP-BAM! (Books and More)."  I thought that sounded cool, doing library lunchroom outreach.  What I did not realize was that CLP-BAM! was an organization that comes into your school to do this outreach for you.  So it wasn't exactly the focus I was looking for.  I did really like the idea though, even if I don't use the actual program itself.  I think it's great for the librarian to get out of the library (which I know is not always possible, especially when you're the only one) and do some outreach.  Lunch time is a great time to do this.  Some of the suggestions BAM! had was bringing popular books to lunch and doing remote check-outs, and getting kids signed up for library cards.

A came back with a lot of books on Saturday.  Like, 25 of them.  Since I'm moving from high school to middle school, I was asking all the vendors for suggestions of middle grade reads that would be coming out that I should be aware of.  I got some great stuff that I'm looking forward to reading.  In particular:

Sisters by Rain Telgemeier, a companion graphic memoir to Smile.  I'm sure it will be just as popular as Smile and Drama.  That is to say, very popular.

Smek for President! by Adam Rex.  I had no idea there was a follow up to The True Meaning of Smekday!  That book was excellent.  Really looking forward to reading this.

Kazu Kibuishi has been seriously ill, so it was great to see he's doing better and continuing on with the fabulous Amulet series.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.  I've been hearing wonderful things about this one, and it's Jacqueline Woodson, so how can you go wrong?

Stan Lee

I had the delight of hearing Stan Lee speak at the conference this year.  The room was completely filled, so I had to go to the overflow room, which was set up with sound and a projector so we could watch remotely.  That room was also completely full.  Everyone wanted some Stan Lee.

Stan Lee is clearly at the stage in his life where he's just going to say whatever the hell he wants to say and not give a damn.  And it was delightful.

Stan Lee started off by asking us "what the hell can I teach you about reading?"  Legit question, Stan Lee.  He then informed us "reading is good," which is going to get no argument from an audience full of librarians.  He told us about a time when comic books use to just be about fight scenes.  The plot and the characters didn't matter at all.  He didn't like doing this kind of comic, and he was going to quit, but his wife said, "Why don't you write whatever you want?  You'll get fired but you want to quit anyway."  Stan Lee thought this was good advice and created The Fantastic Four.

The Problem with the American Library Association

Ah, ALA.  Our mighty parent organization.  The American Library Association.  The organization which we're all suppose to belong to, with its millions of umbrella organizations (YALSA, AASL, etc.) and its practically unusable website.

The first day of the ALA 2014 annual conference in lovely (sarcasm) Las Vegas showed to us a serious flaw in the ALA system.  Fine, it showed us one particular flaw in the ALA system.  This problem is cost.  If you are a librarian working in the field, it cost $100 to join ALA.  It then costs an additional $50 per umbrella organization you may want to join.

If you are a member of ALA, it then cost you $235 for a full registration to the annual conference assuming you get in during the Early Bird Special.  It will then cost additional money if you want to go to the pre-conference or any special events being held.  For a non-member who isn't a student it will cost $325 for a full registration (with the early bird special).  Is it any wonder that some of us buy a $35 Exhibits Only pass?

ALA use to offer a $75 Exhibits Supreme pass that got you into the exhibit hall, the President's Program speakers, and the Auditorium Speaker Series.  That is no longer an option.  You can either get a full registration or an Exhibits Only, and this year, the Exhibits Only pass did not get you in Friday night, just Saturday-Monday.

Now, if you work for a large public library, or an academic institution, this all possibly doesn't matter to you because your library is going to pay your way.  They pay for your ALA membership, your conference registration, maybe even your flight, your hotel, food costs and everything!  That is pretty sweet if your library does that.  But if you work for a small public library without a lot of funding or a school library it is highly unlikely anyone is paying your way.  That means all those costs to be part of your overseeing organization are coming out of your pocket.

ALA is always saying how much they want young people to get more involved.  Maybe we would.  If we could afford it.  You know who had the Exhibit Only badges at the conference this year?  Young people.  People in their 20s and 30s.  The ones in their first or second jobs, with thousands of dollars of student loan debt, working their way up the library ladder.  Sorry ALA, but it's really hard to participate in your organization when you don't give us options.  You know what a lot of young people don't have?  Hundreds of dollars to spend on conferences.  You know what we'd like to do?  Get professional development like everyone else in our field.

I met some other youngish librarians who both worked in academic institutions who were lucky enough to be sent by their libraries.  They were horrified that my fellow school librarians and I were paying our own way.

This is what I want - options.  I want ALA to provide options for joining their organization.  I want there not just to be a student discount option, but also discounts depending on what kind of institution you are working for and what your budget is.  I want there to be options when registering for a conference.  I understand that people who pay more should get more at the conference, but if that's the case, give me an option between $35 and $235.  Help us out.  We want to go.  We really do.  And we don't just want to go to the exhibit hall and get free books (as awesome as that is).  We want to go to speakers and panels and discussions and learn things and share ideas.  Help us out!

And wake up.  This all makes you seem terribly out of touch.

And hire a professional to redo the website.  It's embarrassing.

Back Home

And I return from ALA.  I'm sorry I wasn't able to do full posts while I was away.  It turned out the hotel I was staying out did not have free wifi (who doesn't have free wifi these days?!) and I just couldn't bring myself to pay $13.99 for 24 hours of use.  So I didn't.  I did a lot of tweeting from the convention center though, so hopefully you were following along.  I am very glad to be back.  I did not enjoy Las Vegas and its 111 degree days.  And I don't care that people say, "but it's a dry heat."  Once it's over 100, it really doesn't matter any more.  So I'm glad to be away from that and back in a place that has moisture in the air.  I went to some great sessions and returned with lots of books, so I'll start writing stuff up.  Stay tuned!

ALA Annual Conference 2014

Vegas here I come!  I am headed off to the 2014 ALA Annual Conference which this year is in Las Vegas.  Lovely this time of year.  I hear it's been 100 or above all week.  I'll probably be spending my days in an over-air conditioned convention center, however, so it won't be too bad.  Everyone remember to hydrate!

The conference begins Friday evening and ends Tuesday.  I'll be doing full updates whenever I can on this blog, but make sure you're following me on Twitter @ariannalechan so you can know what's going on every minute.

Vegas, prepare yourself.  You are about to be overrun with thousands and thousands of librarians.  It should be good.