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Category Archives: Events
ALISE and ALA mid-winter conferences
About 350 library educators, mainly from the US, gathered in Westminster, Colorado to discuss the expanding LIS education universe.
The ALISE (Association of Library and Information Science Educators) conference began with an academy that asked questions about the future of the profession. Later in the conference, some predictions were made, the most prevalent being the need for interdisciplinary approaches and partnerships, and continuing to keep current with technology.
The conference sessions largely consisted of juried papers, panel discussions, and SIG offerings. Some of the running threads included data science, fake news, collaboration, disabilities (especially Autism Spectrum Disorders), archives, international librarianship, ethics, technical services, health literacy, information literacy, curriculum, instruction, social justice, research methods, online education, technology, and scholarly communication.
The poster sessions were also very popular, and gave a preview of future LIS education: such as vlogging, entrepreneurship, health literacy, genealogy instruction, services to marginalized populations, reading culture, virtual reality, coding and programming, makerspaces, big data, open access publishing, ebook purchasing, and more.
School librarianship is not a major aspect of ALISE, although the issues certainly impact them. Sessions dealt with marginalized populations, literacies, technology, computational thinking, and global competence.
Across the board, the conference echoed a sense of community-centric approaches, the importance of values, leveraging technology, and need for more training in instruction.
Overlapping the ALISE conference was the ALA conference, held in Denver. Usually about 8000 members and 450 vendors attend this conference. This is an “all business” conference, filled with committee meetings and awards selection. Nevertheless, well known authors and celebrities, such as Bill Nye, present to appreciative librarian audiences. This year a three-day symposium discussed the future of libraries (echoing ALISE’s academy). Some major themes of the conference included equity/diversity/inclusion, the “libraries transform” advocacy campaign, and newsworthy advances in the profession.
School librarians emphasized the new standards, literary awards, advocacy, technology, and technical services.
Undergirding these conferences are information networking and socializing. The weather may be cold, but the feelings are warm.
American Library Association Literature Awards
The mid-winter American Library Association conference typically selects their literature awards at this time.
Yesterday, the American Library Association sent out a press release announcing the books that won the American Indian Library Association’s book awards for 2018.
Global Read Aloud Event
Since 2010, Global Read Aloud (GRA) has gained serious traction—reaching more than 2,000,000 students across 60 countries. For the next six weeks (ending in mid-November) educators from around the world will pick a book to read aloud to students while making as many global connections as possible through social media, video chat, blogging, and other mediums. For details about this project, go to
https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2017/10/03/seven-resources-you-need-to-start-global-read-aloud-2017?utm_source=TW-10032017&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ThisWeek&utm_content=Story-1
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Winner
Wolf Erlbruch is the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2017 Laureate. He received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria. Swedish Minister of Culture and Democracy, Mrs Alice Bah Kuhnke, gave a speech in honour of the laureate.
During the evening, musical entertainment was provided by Swedish opera singer Rickard Söderberg and the Sami artist Sofia Jannok. A dance adaption of Wolf Erlbruch’s book Duck, Death and the Tulip was performed by Fredrik Quiňones and Stacey Aung, choreographed by Mari Carrasco. The ceremony was hosted by Yukiko Duke, journalist and critic. Apart from the prize sum, 5 million SEK, the laureate received a diploma illustrated by Marcus-Gunnar Pettersson and Maja K Zetterberg.
“Being an illustrator, means you never work without a given text. To start reading a new manuscript is like entering a foreign country. You know nobody.” said Wolf Erlbruch in is acceptance speech.
He won the audience’s heart by loosing his glasses before starting to speak. Erlbruch also mentioned the difficulties of sometimes finding the right pictures.
“Some texts more or less illustrate themselves. Then there is poetry, which is impossible to translate.” said Wolf Erlbruch before finishing his speech by reciting from his favourite poem by Seamus Heaney.
In her congratulatory speech, Minister Alice Bah Kuhnke said:
“Mr Erlbruch is a brave writer and in many ways his writing is reminiscent of Astrid Lindgren’s. His work reflects what children’s lives are like – they contain the light-hearted and the deeply existential, side by side. We are in awe of the incomprehensible, we find happiness in small pleasures and we become angry over injustices.”
About Wolf Erlbruch
Born in 1948, is a German illustrator and picturebook author. He has written some ten books of his own and illustrated nearly fifty titles by other authors. He is best known for his illustrations of The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business (1994), which became a great success around the world.
For further information, please contact:
Mariella Kucer, Communications Officer
Tel +46(0)765401017
E-mail: mariella.kucer@alma.se
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest award for children’s and young adult literature. The award, which amounts to SEK 5 million, is given annually to a single laureate or to several. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature. The UN convention of rights of the child is the foundation of our work. An expert jury selects the laureate(s) from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is administrated by the Swedish Arts Council.
School Library Help in Guatamala
In 2010, Librarians Without Borders partnered with the Asturias Academy in Guatemala to build a school library. Each year, LWB runs an annual service trip. Over 120 librarians and library science students have worked to help our partner realize and grow their dream of an open stacks, circulating school library.
We invite you to work alongside us this year from April 21 to May 1, 2017. This year’s work at the Academy will include collection management, library programming, and training for teachers.
Journey with us! For details and to apply, visit www.librarianswithoutborders.org
Library of Congress Literacy Awards Proposals
The Library of Congress Literacy Awards 2017 application period is now open. To apply or nominate an organization, visit Apply.
Statement of Purpose
The Library’s mission is to provide Congress, the federal government and the American people with a rich, diverse and enduring source of knowledge that can be relied upon to support their intellectual and creative endeavors. Through the generosity of David M. Rubenstein, the Library of Congress Literacy Awards program furthers this mission by honoring organizations that have made outstanding contributions to increasing literacy in the United States or abroad. The awards also encourage the continuing development of innovative methods for promoting literacy and the wide dissemination of the most effective practices. They are intended to draw public attention to the importance of literacy, and the need to promote literacy and encourage reading.
Prizes and Winners
The David M. Rubenstein Prize ($150,000) is awarded for an outstanding and measurable contribution to increasing literacy levels to an organization based either inside or outside the United States that has demonstrated exceptional and sustained depth in its commitment to the advancement of literacy.
- 2016 Winner: WETA Reading Rockets
The American Prize ($50,000) is awarded for a significant and measurable contribution to increasing literacy levels or the national awareness of the importance of literacy to an organization that is based in the United States.
- 2016 Winner: Parent-Child Home Program
The International Prize ($50,000) is awarded for a significant and measurable contribution to increasing literacy levels to an organization that is based outside the United States.
- 2016 Winner: Libraries Without Borders
About
“Thomas Jefferson, the Library of Congress’s spiritual founder, wrote of the pursuit of happiness. I like to think that literacy is fundamental to that pursuit. So many doors are closed to those who cannot read. Everyone in this world has a right to happiness and with that comes the right to read.” — Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress (October 27, 2016)
By recognizing current achievements, the awards seek to enable organizations, foundations and other private sector groups to strengthen their involvement in literacy and reading promotion and to encourage collaboration with like-minded organizations.
Since 2013, the Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program has recognized 60 organizations worldwide. Seventeen additional organizations are honored in 2016.
The Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program is completing year four of a five-year pilot project designed to broaden and stimulate public understanding about the essential role of literacy in all aspects of society. In the spirit of sharing experiences and new ideas we hope to continue in this work and we encourage organizations to continue to be actively engaged with the program and its activities.
The Library of Congress is grateful to the members of the Literacy Awards Advisory Board for their generous and dedicated service and advice and to David M. Rubenstein for his concern, as a citizen, about the state of literacy in the United States and throughout the world.