Spring Symposium in April

The Iowa Library Association’s Leadership Development Committee is sponsoring a continuing education event in April—the ILA Spring Symposium.  There are two locations: April 19-20 in Algona and April 26-27 in Atlantic.  Participants can choose to attend one day or both.

Southwest District Consultant Misty Gray has more: “…We have 2 keynote speakers. On Thursday, a performance by Pippa White, inspiring librarians to make a difference in their communities; Pippa will also present an afternoon session on public speaking skills. On Friday morning, Central District Consultant Maryann Mori begins with the day with ways to develop a people-focused library; in the afternoon, Maryann presents another session on developing a building plan.  

Both days have multiple afternoon sessions sure to broaden your horizons in library service. We'll wrap things up on Friday by putting out some fires - literally! In both towns, the local fire departments have agreed to offer fire extinguisher training…”

Thanks to Misty for sharing this news.
 And for more information--plus registration--click below. 

ILA Spring Symposium

Newbery & Caldecott Medal Winners For 2018

Last month, the American Library Association announced the annual award winners in children’s literature.  Starting with the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s books, the 2018 winner is Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly.  “…where Filipino folklore and real life converge at the bottom of a well…this tale shimmers with humor and authentic emotion.”  The Newbery Medal has been awarded annually since 1922 by the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) a division of ALA. 

Next is the 2018 Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children, awarded to Wolf in the Snow, illustrated and written by Matthew Cordell. 
“…a girl and a wolf cub get lost in the snow and rescue each other…such a deceptively simple book is such a dramatic story of survival.”  The Caldecott Medal has been awarded annually since 1938, also under the sponsorship of the ALSC-ALA.  

The Coretta Scott King Book Award recognizes African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults; Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson is the 2018 winner.  

Literally dozens more children and YA literature awards were included in ALA’s announcements, including the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children’s Videos, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award, etc.  And this interesting category: the Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appealed to teen audiences.

These award-winning children’s books make great
collection development tools for your library.
Learn more here

ALA Book Awards      

Your Input Needed

With interest from several academic libraries and some publics, the State Library of Iowa is investigating adding InfoLit Modules from Credo to the suite of online resources.  

To gauge interest, we’ve scheduled an informational webinar on Wednesday March 21 at 1:30PM (NOTE: the 1:30PM session is geared specifically for public libraries; another session follows at 3:00PM for academic libraries) Plan to attend to see a demonstration of this resource called InfoLit and learn more about how your library can assist your patrons with information literacy. 

The State Library is working with Credo to offer the best pricing options for Iowa libraries. Most likely, there will be separate pricing models for academics vs public libraries.  But first, we need to see how many libraries are interested to determine if there is value in adding these products to the State Library's online resources.  If so, then we’ll announce pricing and secure libraries' commitment to purchase.

The webinar is free—no registration is necessary.  But please note: given the nature of this program as a demonstration, there is no continuing education credit given.  So first join this online demonstration...then share your opinion.  Thank you!

InfoLit Demo