Thinking About Your Library's Thanksgiving Collection

With the spotlight on diversity and inclusion, November is a good time to take a look at your library's Thanksgiving collection. It may be time to select new materials that reflect Native American perspectives on Thanksgiving, evaluate and deselect materials that are outdated, biased, inaccurate or misrepresentative. As you create displays or hang posters, consider what you are showing and who might be seeing it.

Resources you might want to use:

Debbie Reese's 2009 article on American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving 

Debbie Reese's 2014 article about Oyate's List of Books to Avoid, as well as books Debbie recommends

The educator's page at the National Museum of the American Indian (NAMI) website

American Indian Library Association book reviews page

Oyate's website where you can find book reviews, resources, workshops, and criteria for evaluating books for anti-Indian bias

The paper "I is for Inclusion: The Portrayal of Native Americans in Books for Young People" which covers background, evaluation, and sources for books among other things.

The Resource List from the WLA Preconference Representation, Authenticity, and Being Real: Diversity in Youth Services presented by Anna Haase Krueger and Tamara Lee of the Ramsey County Library, MN 

This list is by no means exhaustive, so please share your resources or suggestions in the comments.  

Race for Results Report Out - WI Shows Wide Gap

The Wisconsin Education Association Council's  (WEAC) website just published an article Oct 25: "Wisconsin has nation's widest gap in well-being between white and African American children, report says". The article highlights information about the findings in the Race for Results: Building a Path for Opportunity for All Children report which examines statistics in all 50 states by the Casey Foundation including:

• In Wisconsin, just 64% of African American students graduate high school on time, compared to 93% of white non-Hispanic students. Only 78% of Hispanic and American Indian students graduate on time.
• 72% of white children in Wisconsin live in families that are economically secure compared to just 24% of African American children, 30% of Latino children, 31% of Hmong children, and 36% of American Indian children.
• Wisconsin children in immigrant families are one third less likely to live in families who are economically secure (double the poverty level) than children in US-born families.
• The 4th grade reading proficiency rate of Wisconsin children in US-born families is dramatically low, only 39%. That compares to an appallingly low rate of 9% of Wisconsin children in immigrant families.

To download the full report, click here

WLA Preconference Resources: Diversity in Youth Services

Anna Haase Krueger has shared many of the wonderful resources shared at the Representation, Authenticity and Being Real: Diversity in Youth Services WLA preconference.  Find the link below with recommended blogs, great publishers and imprints, and more!

LINK

C.A.L.L.: Conference About Libraries & Literacy

Thursday, February 1, 2018

https://callconferenceblog.wordpress.com/

It is our distinct pleasure to invite you to the second Conference About Libraries & Literacy (C.A.L.L.). The conference is a collaboration between UW-La Crosse Murphy Library, the School District of La Crosse & La Crosse Public Library and will take place on the UW-La Crosse campus on Thursday, February 1, 2018. Librarians from all types of libraries (school, public, academic, special, etc.) are welcome to attend.

In an age of globalization, interdependence is something we should embrace. K-12 students become the community citizens and/or college students of tomorrow. Librarians touch their lives from the beginning of their school years through high school graduation; to after-school-hours and summer programming or as a safe place to go when school libraries close; to vocational job training or university research. Networking and collaborative initiatives between these groups is the direction of this conference.

The theme of the conference will be “Librarians as Advocates.”  In a world where funding and investment in libraries is a constant battle and where libraries and their staff are sometimes perceived as outdated and irrelevant to life in the 21st century, how can librarians advocate for libraries and for their profession? Additionally, with threats to net neutrality, copyright, fair use, privacy and confidentiality, how can librarians also advocate for their patrons and their communities? And finally, how can librarians from various types of libraries work together to be advocates for each other and for our libraries?

We are delighted to invite presenters on the following topics of interest that may include, but are not limited to:

●      Successful collaborations for libraries and literacy

●      Innovative programs or initiatives which feature advocacy for libraries and literacy

●      Beyond Google: how to advocate for library resources

Submission Details

To submit a conference proposal, please use the submission form. The deadline to submit proposals is Thursday, November 30, 2017.  The committee invites proposals that address current challenges faced by professionals in the field and are solution-oriented as well as stimulate and provoke discussion and audience engagement. Presentation sessions are 30 minutes each with 15 minutes scheduled for questions/discussion. Collaborative and interactive presentations are encouraged and panel presentations are also accepted. Notification of acceptance will be Friday, December 15, 2017.

If you have any questions or need clarification, please contact Liz Humrickhouse at  ehumrickhouse@uwlax.edu.

We look forward to seeing you at the Conference About Libraries and Literacy!

Cindy Halter, School District of La Crosse

Teri Holford, UW-La Crosse Murphy Library

Liz Humrickhouse, UW-La Crosse Murphy Library

Linda Jerome, La Crosse Public Library

Guest Post: Let's Talk About Reading

Author: Julie Kinney, Young Adult Librarian, Marathon County Public Library

Reading is a developmental process; not every six year old is ready to learn to read, while some four year olds are.  Early reading instruction is something that most parents do naturally:   They read to their children on a regular basis and invite them to handle books.  Most young children pick up that there is a right way to read a book; going from left to right and up and down.  They learn that there is a beginning and an end.  They begin to match pictures with the words that Mom or Dad say.  Some children memorize a favorite book and most children are delighted to “read” a book to their parents. 

But what happens if you grow up in a family where reading books to children doesn’t happen?  Unfortunately, those children don’t learn the basics about how books are supposed to be read.  Those children don’t hear Mom and Dad read or learn how to match pictures to sounds.  Inevitably, those kids are at a higher risk for reading problems down the road.

What can libraries and guardians do to support children on their literacy journey?  Read more about building successful readers in the rest of Julie's blog post HERE.

Congratulations to the Newly Elected YSS Board Members

Please join the YSS board in welcoming our newly elected YSS board members:

• Katie Kiekhaefer, Chair
• Claire Parrish, Director at Large
• Emily Sanders, Director at Large

Stay tuned for introductions to the board members in early 2018.

The current YSS board would like to thank ALL the fantastic candidates we had run for 2018 board positions. It is a wonderful thing for our section, our members, and our organization - WLA - to have so many motivated and involved volunteers who are willing to serve and to share their time, talents, and abilities.

We'd also like to thank the many volunteers who served on the various YSS committees, as well as those who were part of the WLA street team and those who spent some of their time at the conference staffing the YSS booth in the exhibit hall.

Wow! WLA Conference Wants You!

Four days of learning, networking, deep thinking and fun just wrapped up at the WI Library Association's fall conference in the Dells. While there will be reports of individual sessions in the coming weeks on this blog, I wanted to highlight a few reasons I think conferences where we come together are so vital:

• We meet, network & catch up with peers from across the state & across multiple library types.
• We have opportunities to learn things from different perspectives than our own and to stay fresh.
• We get practical information as well as mind-blowing new insight.
• We can have fun with our YSS peers who work so hard to make the conference meaningful and helpful.
• We can celebrate and support each other, cheering and honoring people like Leah Langby, IFLS youth consultant and this year's Librarian of the Year.
• We can take time away from work to refresh and retool.

Wait, you couldn't be there this year? Here are some strategies to make attendance at next year's conference in La Crosse (October 23-26) possible - and probable:

MEMBERSHIP
Join WLA as a member. It's $50 annually if you make $16K or less. If you make more than this, you pay an addition $3 for every $1000 you make. Membership saves you lots of money on conference registration and helps keep WLA strong. Besides benefits listed on the link, you get a strong lobbying voice; opportunities to lead; access to create great content for your peers through YSS committees; and life-long friendships. Your membership runs for 1 year from the date you pay (rather than Jan-Dec). Please join and help us keep WLA strong!

FREEING UP TIME
Plan to take a storytime, outreach and programming break on Oct 23-16, 2018 and let your community know that you are going to learn a ton to help them by attending the conference! Leah Langby shares some reasons why breaks work!

TOO EXPENSIVE?
I hear you. In order to make membership and conference attendance affordable when I was younger, I put a little $$ aside each paycheck for membership dues and conference expenses. I also asked my sweet mom, who gave me thoughtful but often unneeded birthday and holiday gifts, if she would cover my ALA and WLA memberships (win-win!!). Later, I also realized if I didn't go out to eat for one meal each month or skipped two barista-prepared double lattes monthly, I'd have enough for dues as well.

I DON'T KNOW ANYONE...
YSS will take care of you! The booth is full of friendly people and you can chat with so many people there who would love to get to know you and about your work and library. It is networking heaven!

Finally, La Crosse, right on the Mississippi River, is a beautiful, walkable friendly conference site with stores, shops, tasty eating places (BBQ; fancy dancy; bar food; pizza; tapas and noshes) close by to the conference center. It's historical and modern setting makes it a crown jewel of the west coast of Wisco. Hope to see you there!

Fakemon Creations

If your library kids are anything like mine, the Pokemon revival is still going strong.  Pokemon books are flying off the shelf, kids are playing Pokemon Go at the library, and Pokemon events are seeing great attendance numbers.

SO, if you are wondering what to do next with your Pokemon obsessed patrons (I know I am!), check out Falling Flannelboard's Fakemon Creations post.  It's a great school-age program with writing elements, clay play, and a scavenger hunt!  It could definitely be adapted to younger or older ages as well.

Gotta catch 'em all!

IFLS SLP/Access Workshop with Renee Grassi

Indianhead Federated Library System will be hosting an SLP/Youth workshop

Thursday, November 9
9:30-3:30 pm
Our Savior's Lutheran Church
910 9th St East, Menomonie


9:30-11:30:   Libraries for All: Creating Welcoming and Accessible Libraries for Youth with Disabilities
Big or small, rural or urban - all libraries serve youth with disabilities. In this 2-hour workshop, Renee Grassi will show how your library can develop an awareness and an enhanced spirit of inclusion to youth with disabilities and their needs for library service.  Attendees will learn about innovative programming, outreach ideas, and how to build relationships with parents and caregivers. Participants will also learn about inclusive customer service, strategies for making your SLP more accessible and different approaches to promotion and marketing to welcome families with youth with disabilities to your library.

11:45-12:30:  Break-Out Sessions with IFLS Librarians

1. Outreach and Partnerships
2. Program Idea Swap

12:30-1:15:  Lunch and Exploring Maker Kits

1:15-2:00:  Break-Out Sessions with IFLS Librarians

1. Family Programs
2. Teen Programs 

2:10-3:30:  Re-thinking the SLP

Discussion groups, group conversation and individual reflection about how we are planning, executing, and evaluating our SLP programs.  Why are we doing them, and are we making our goals?

To register, click here!

Coming Up at the WLA Conference Next Week

Another YSS Volunteer Opportunity @ WLA

YSS is currently looking for members interested in being room monitors for YSS sponsored sessions at WLA. Room monitors check-in with speakers, sit through the presentation, count how many people attend the session, report attendance to the WLA registration table and if need be, alert speakers if they are reaching their time limit. If you are interested, please visit our Google Doc to sign up!

A few more conference highlights:

Burr/Worzalla Children's Book Winner

Thursday, October 19 2:15-3:00 PM

Join Sarah L. Thomson, author of this year’s Burr/Worzalla Award winner, as she presents on her title Deadly Flowers: A Ninja’s Tale, the exciting coming-of age story about Kata, a female ninja who must pave her own path when her first mission gets wildly out of hand.  Thomson’s book was selected as the winner by the Children's Book Award Committee of the WLA Youth Services Section after the examination and evaluation of titles from 2016 by authors and illustrators with a Wisconsin connection.

YSS Presents: R-Rated Storytime Social
Thursday, October 19 7:15 PM

Join YSS for an informal discussion of Andrea Davis Pinkney's luncheon presentation followed by R-Rated Storytime Social - A low-key, open-mic session for each and every youth services librarian who has ever experienced the occasional inappropriate moment on the job. From Freudian slips to unintentional innuendo to those crazy things that kids say, we know you've had THAT moment. Come ready to share and laugh along as we celebrate the unforeseen naughtiness that comes with the territory.

Can’t make it to the social but would like to share your story? YSS members are encouraged to send their most outrageous story time moment to YSS Board Member Caitlin Schaefer at cschaffer@cooney.lib.wi.us We’ll be sure and share it with the rest!

To STEM or not to STEM...

While the title is a bit misleading, I think it is worth examining our (everyone's?) love of STEM.  Certainly there is value in exploring all of the science, experimentation, building and learning that happen in our programming, but I appreciate the focus here on all of the ways non-STEM activities, learning and experiencing actually contribute to the tech fields.  a good reminder that kindness, compassion and the arts help make us better innovators too.

https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/30/dear-tech-world-stemism-is-hurting-us/

Cooperative Children’s Book Center presents… Great New Books for Children and Teens

Wauwatosa Public Library
November 16, 2017 - 1:00 p.m.

The Milwaukee County Federated Library System invites you to a presentation of some of the best books of this year. CCBC librarians Merri Lindgren and Megan Schliesman will highlight some of the books that will be included in CCBC Choices 2018, the next edition of the CCBC’s annual best-of-the-year list. The session will focus on books for kids from birth-high school. The session is open to all who are interested. Light refreshments will be served.

1:00-1:30   Book Browsing
1:30 – 3:00  CCBC Choices 2018 Preview focusing on books for Birth - High School
3:00-3:30   Book Browsing

For more information or to register, contact Heide Piehler, Youth Services Librarian by email at heide.piehler@mcfls.org or phone 414-847-2681

Badgerlink and Book Reviews

Dear Library Staff Serving Youth,

 

Supporting library staff who do collection development (especially on a tight budget) has been on my mind. Whether you are the sole book selector for your library, or only do it occasionally, you could probably benefit from access to multiple library and book review journals. However, most libraries can’t afford these print subscriptions, so what is one to do? Answer: Access journals for FREE online via BadgerLink. Don’t believe me? Look at what is available through one of the BadgerLink resources:

Available in Academic Search Premier:

·         American Libraries (PDF; 1975-present)

·         Booklist (PDF; 2002-14 days ago)

·         Children & Libraries (PDF 2003-present)

·         Computers in Libraries (PDF; 1993-present)

·         Information Today (PDF; 1996-present)

·         Information Technology & Libraries (PDF: 2004-present)

·         Kirkus Reviews (HTML; 2001-present)

·         Library Journal (PDF; 1975-present)

·         School Library Journal (PDF; 1974-present)

·         Teacher Librarian (PDF; 1990-present)

Attached is a handy step-by-step screenshot guide, and a video tutorial is forthcoming.

Need help? Contact a BadgerLink Librarian via https://badgerlink.dpi.wi.gov/ask-librarian

 

I hope you find these tools useful. Thanks for all of your efforts to provide high quality and diverse collections for youth and families across Wisconsin.

 

Warmly,

Tessa Michaelson Schmidt

Public Library Youth and Inclusive Services Consultant

State Library Agency

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

125 South Webster Street
Madison, WI 53703

(608) 267-5077

tessa.schmidt@dpi.wi.gov

20th Annual Charlotte Zolotow Lecture Featuring Jason Reynolds

Thursday Nov 2

Varsity Hall, Union South, 1308 W. Dayton Street, Madison
7:30 p.m.

Jason Reynolds burst onto the writing scene in 2014 with the publication of When I Was the Greatest,which won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award. Since then he has written seven highly acclaimed novels for children and teens, including The Boy in the Black Suit (2015), All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely) (2015), As Brave as You (2016), Ghost (2016), Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2017), Patina (2017), and Long Way Down (2017). A dynamic and compelling writer and speaker, in just four years he has become one of the brightest stars in the field of children’s and young adult literature.

The annual Charlotte Zolotow Lecture is sponsored by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with support from the Friends of the CCBC. This event is part of the 2017 Wisconsin Book Festival and is free and open to the public.

Click here for details on this free event.

Bathroom Book Blurbs: Reading Recommendations in Every Stall

Captive audience taken to a whole other level!  Jaime Leroy over at School Library Journal touts an innovative way to advertise library books . . . in the bathroom!  She says "We all have students who love to read, tolerate reading, or avoid it at all costs. But they all have one thing in common—they go to the bathroom. I use this to my advantage."

And you can too!  Hang posters for upcoming programs and events, promote "New Reads," and even pin up your newsletter (Leroy's planned one is called "Potty Mouth") in the restrooms for a new way to capture the attention of library visitors.

See Leroy's full Bathroom Book Blurb post HERE.