Last winter, I applied for and won the $3000 Libraries Transforming Communities grant. I planned to host a series of virtual conversations with young families, thus combining community engagement and conversation with some of the principles of early literacy.  My experience of parents who are new to parenting is that the connection with other parents is invaluable.  Just knowing that other parents are having similar experiences is heartening, and often conversations will spark new ideas for successful parenting.  Unfortunately, even with a grant that helped to provide digital access, I didn’t get a great turnout for my virtual events.  The engagement I had with families was rich, but they weren’t engaging with each other. I’ve recently transferred the conversation project to an in-person, outdoor program and am having much more luck engaging with lots of families, but it’s not the focused conversation opportunity I was hoping for.

This year, iREAD received a request for Spanish-language graphics in addition to the Spanish and English bookmarks and posters they already offer for sale, and are offering them for download.  Going forward, such graphics will be included in the Resource Guide along with the other reproducible spot art. 

Please check out the CSD summer reading page.​

1. The Spring Workshop continues.  Our next watch & read is about EDI in services. Click here for the content. Remember, you can watch or read any of the links, or none! These resources aren't going away so feel free to bookmark them. 

2. If you can, join us for a debrief/sharing on May 7th, 11 AM-1PM. The Zoom Link is pasted and highlighted at the top of the shared Google Doc.
​
3. Check out this EDI tip from Bryce.  See YouTube video below.

Incoming CSD Chair: The primary responsibilities of the Incoming Chair are to advocate for CSD members as a member of the OLA Annual Conference Program Committee; to coordinate CSD’s annual fundraising activity (typically held concurrently with the Spring CSD Member Workshop); and to support and learn from the current Chair and Past Chair.   This is a three year commitment.  Click here for the full job description.  This position will start in September 2021.

The Children's Services Division is pleased to announce our first ever virtual auction fundraiser. You can support the mission and purpose of the CSD by making a purchase at our virtual auction.  Browse the collection for an impressive selection of quality books. Your purchase helps us fund future scholarships and workshops. 

The books for our auction were donated by a member of the Amelia Bloomer Award Committee. Books considered for the Amelia Bloomer List must include significant feminist content, be well-written and well-illustrated (if applicable), and be appealing for young readers from birth to age 18. While not all of these books won the award, they are all high-quality titles.

​A big thank you to those who attended the Spring Workshop Series: Summer Reading.  We had about 30 people sharing TONS of ideas for Summer at our first ever CSD Virtual Spring Workshop Series!  If you didn't make the meeting or just want to remember parts of the conversation, here are the notes. Thanks to Greta and Bryce for taking notes during the meeting to help with this!   If you need to find the notes later, head to our Spring Workshop Series webpage or our Summer Reading webpage.