Highlights from ALA Midwinter in Seattle

The biggest highlight was that on Friday of conference, there was sunlight most of the day! Other than that it was drizzly and 45 degrees.

Last summer a concern was brought to AASL regarding what AASL's policy is regarding genre shelving in school libraries. It was decided that a committee would be formed to research scholarly journals and see if any research had been done comparing a traditionally organized school library with one that is genre organized. The research turned up ONE paper. Therefore, the committee decided to host a roundtable discussion from a number of viewpoints regarding the topic.

It was an animated live discussion as well as a simultaneous Twitter feed. Christopher Harris, former MAME keynoter and New York State school library director, was unequivicoal in his belief that the Dewey Decimal System is an outmoded and inefficient tool to use in school libraries. Booing and hissing ensued. However, he presented a different classification system (http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/08/k-12/summer-project-kill-dewey/) that he and a colleague developed that organized books based upon what is actually taught  in schools rather than what Dewey came up with. Additionally a couple of the presenters and a number of Tweeters indicated that they had come up with a format for their own library to genre organize the fiction. This was beyond simply putting a sticker on the spine. Rather they actually changed the MARC record and reorganized the shelves so books with the same main genre were shelved together.

The argument for keeping the Dewey Decimal System revolved around the consistency that it presents students when they move from building to building, district to district, state to state, and country to country. It was also discussed that while there are some issues with the Dewey Decimal System, such as military history being 350's and military vehicles in the 620's, that can be addressed by having a professional school librarian doing collection development. Plus the fact that the Dewey Decimal System is already organizing by subject or genre, makes changing that section almost moot.

The final conclusion is that there is a need for research on this topic.

Also, if you are not aware, ALA does have the Special Presidential Task Force on School Libraries ( http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/schoolibrarytaskforce ) which has been working on "the development of a nationalpublic awareness and advocacy campaign for school libraries to address the impact of the de-professionalization and curtailment of school library instructional programs on students and student achievement." This task force was created because public libraries were unprepared, in some cases both collection-wise and in staffing, when school librarians were removed from the schools. Plus many academic librarians were reporting huge increases in the amount of remediation they were having to perform to assist students in performing effective research due to students coming from school districts that
did not have professional school librarians.

Finally, if you vote in AASL elections, please consider coming to Chicago for ALA Conference. I was roped into running for AASL Affiliate Chair. So a vote for Tom is a vote for Michigan!-)

More on ALA Midwinter in March's Media Matters newsletter.

Once again we are looking for people who are interested in becoming involved with MAME. An easy way to get involved is to serve as a Region Representative. You attend 4 Saturday morning meetings per year, share information between your Region and MAME, and you can request that your region pay for your registration to the Spring Leadership conference.  We also are looking for people who would be willing to serve as Media Spectrum editors, to help out with the Media Matters newsletter, and to volunteer to work on the 2013 Conference Committee. Please contact me or any of the Executive Committee members if you'd like more information or would like to volunteer.  

Tom 

  First presented in 1938, to Animals of the Bible, A Picture Book, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop; text selected by Helen Dean Fish (Stokes), the Caldecott Medal has honored artists for outstanding work in children's books. Randolph Caldecott, the award's namesake, was a children's illustrator in England during the 19th century. Caldecott's illustrations were known for creating "a sense of movement, vitality, and action that complemented the stories they accompanied."

Each year since, the ALA selects the winning book and presents the bronze Caldecott medal, designed by Rene Paul Chambellan, complete with the winner's name and year engraved on the back. The 2013 Caldecott Medal winner is This is Not My Hat, written & illustrated by Jon Klassen. 

The anniversary celebration actually began in Sept. 2012 at the ALSC National Institute and will continue this year with various events around the United States. For more information about the celebration and a complete list of this year's Caldecott, Newbery, and many other award and honor books go to the ALA Youth Media Awards website. 

The National Association of Elementary School Principal's 3rd Annual National Children's Book Award Contest  discovers, publishes and launches two aspiring writer's careers.   

NAESP's endorsement is to its 30,000 national membership (plus hundreds of thousands of teachers and students) with Charlesbridge's (a top national publisher from Boston) publishing of the top winners, is an incredible opportunity for children's book authors.

There will be two winners, a children's picture book winner and a children's chapter book winner.

You can enter at the NAESP website.

http://www.naesp.org/naesp-foundation/national-childrens-book-year-contest  

Teacher.net said "It is a great way to launch a writing career and an endorsement by them, the NAESP, will go far for your writing reputation."

The contest deadline is March 15th, 2013.

judy.hauser@oakland.k12.mi.us