This was my first time attending the ALA Annual Conference and while overwhelming at times, it was so much fun! I am so glad to have had the opportunity to go and hope to have tons of ideas from the sessions.
It was also Madness on Michigan Ave. and Metra as I walked with the hundreds of people attending the Bulls rally at Grant Park…but so exciting!
My focus on sessions was centered on youth services. I got to talk with librarians of all types of libraries and from across the country and even met one from England and another from Canada! It is comforting to know we all deal with the same situations and also interesting to hear how others deal with the good and bad.
Friday, June 28th
Breaking Out: Veronica Roth and Debut Authors from the Class of 2k13 Discuss Their Upcoming Books
Friday, I went to a great author panel of debut young adult authors which included Veronica Roth of Divergent fame. I got to meet and sit with Mindy McGinnis, who wrote Not a Drop to Drink about a post-apocalyptic world in which water is scarce in cities. I also talked briefly with author Jennifer McGowan who wrote the historical fiction novel, Maid of Secrets and Tamera Wissinger who wrote a novel in verse called Gone Fishing. They were a high energy and engaging panel of speakers. These authors have also garnered several good and excellent reviews from Publishers Weekly and four starred Kirkus reviews. The Junior Library Guild also picked two Class of 2k13 books for its spring catalogue.
Additional authors in the panel were:
- K.A. Barson, 45 POUNDS, MORE OR LESS (YA Contemporary)
- Caela Carter, ME, HIM THEM AND IT (YA Contemporary)
- Debra Driza MILA 2.0 (YA Sci/fi)
- Geoffrey Girard PROJECT CAIN (YA Techno-thriller)
- Polly Holyoke THE NEPTUNE PROJECT (MG Sci/fi)
- Lydia Kang CONTROL (YA Sci/fi)
- Stephanie Kuehn CHARM & STRANGE (YA Literary Thriller)
- Demitria Lunetta IN THE AFTER (YA Post-Apocalyptic)
- Nicole McInnes BRIANNA ON THE BRINK (YA Contemporary)
- Kate Karyus Quinn ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE (YA Literary Horror)
- Liesl Shurtliff RUMP, THE TRUE STORY OF RUMPELSTILTSKIN (MG Fantasy)
- Tara Sullivan GOLDEN BOY (MG Contemporary)
- Cristin Terrill ALL OUR YESTERDAYS (YA Sci/fi)
Opening General Session
The opening session included speeches from ALA President Maureen Sullivan. She gave several awards and talked briefly about the focus of the conference. Following was Mayor Rahm Emanuel who spoke about the importance of libraries to children and the education system. Finally, speaker Steven Levitt talked about the ideas he presents in his books, Think Like a Freak and Freakanomics.
Following the General Session was the opening of the Exhibit Floor. I found myself at the beginning of the entrance and involuntarily participated in what some of us dubbed, “The Running of the Librarians.” It was simply spectacular to see all the big publishers, their booths, freebies and ARCS along with the smaller presses and vendors. Great exhibits overall a ton of fun. I had so much swag!!
Saturday, June 29th
I attended 3 sessions this day as well as walked more of the exhibit floor. I also stopped into the Association for Library Service to Children 101 meeting.
What Hot in STEAM Education: How Using ECRR2 Supports Literacy, Common Core and School Success.
This session was a mix of librarians from schools and public libraries. The majority was a conversation from Dr. Judy Cheatham, VP of Literacy Services for Reading is Fundamental. She was excellent and gave a very interesting presentation about the gaps in education systems and literacy, gave statistics on demographics and reviewed the many individual factors that encompass reading skills. Her presentation definitely has motivated me to learn more about how we as public and youth librarians can help children gain better literacy skills to supplement their schooling. I also liked her inclusion of the A in STEAM–the arts! We often are so focused on the analytical side of STEAM education, but often let the importance of creative play and artistic expression go awry. Additional presenters talked briefly about how they implement early literacy and STEAM programs for very young children in their library. Read more about Reading is Fundamental.
Arts 2.0: Libraries, Arts, and Technology
An excellent program presented by Heather Moorefield-Lang, an education and social sciences librarian at Virginia Tech Libraries. She shows us how different forms of art including IPad apps and websites can be used in conjunction with creativity. She covered collaborative art, music, readers theatre, improv and the visual arts, then pointed out how STEAM education can be used together with any of these artistic techniques. During the presentation I found myself thinking of ways we already offer children participatory artistic expression and ways to improve programming to incorporate more of these elements. Some free websites to check out include:
Tuesday, July 2nd
I attended the closing general session where ALA President Maureen Sullivan introduced the 2013-14 ALA President Barbara K. Stripling and introduced new Division Presidents. The keynote speaker was Octavia Spencer, best known for her role in the move The Help. She was great! I got to briefly meet her after and received a signed copy of her new book for children called Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit which comes out in October.
The Librarian of Spark and Spirit 