Hello Oregon Library Community,
 
To create awareness during Banned Book Week, Multnomah County Library's Intellectual Freedom Committee is sponsoring a talk focused on the current wave of book banning hitting public libraries and ways to fight censorship. The talk is virtual and open to all; we do ask attendees to register. 
 
If you know of people who might be interested, would you please share? I am attaching a flyer as well as the description below. Please let me know if you have any questions, and many thanks if you can help get the word out. 
 
Why Your Voice Matters, Even as Censorship Increases
A webinar on Thursday, October 5, 6-7:30pm.

​Follow the link above to register.
 
As censorship efforts continue across the country, what should we, the people, know? How can we ensure that our public libraries remain places of intellectual freedom? Kelly Jensen from Book Riot and John Chrastka from EveryLibrary will talk about public libraries, the current landscape of book bans, and the movement to push back. Hear stories of libraries defending the First Amendment and learn how you can support libraries.

We hope you are able to attend.

Check out this roundup of all the Stories Beyond Borders author webinars organized by the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) & the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Taskforce. 
 
The participating authors/creators are all featured on the Stories Beyond Borders: A Chinese American and Diasporic Reading List (bit.ly/calastoriesbeyond), and the recordings may be viewed in the links compiled below:
 
Middle Grade Storytellers
Panelists: Karina Yan Glaser, Lisa Yee, and Wendy Wan-Long Shang
Moderator: Amy Chow
bit.ly/sbbmiddle2
 
The Power of Art
Panelists: Gene Luen Yang, Julia Kuo, and Laura Gao
Moderator: Susen Shi 
bit.ly/sbbart2
 
Championing Chinese American Stories for Youth
Panelists: C.B. Lee and Grace Lin
Moderator: Amy Chow
bit.ly/sbbchamp2
 
Thank you for taking the time to join and for sharing the list with your networks!
 
Warmly,
CALA/YALSA Taskforce
Crystal Chen, Melody Leung, Jen Woo, Christy Lau, Susen Shi, Amy Chow, & Cathy Andronik

Now is the time to get lost in a good book (or a few thousand of them)!

Applications for the Bechtel Fellowship are now being accepted. 
​
The Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship provides a grant up to $7,500 to a qualified children's librarian to spend up to four weeks reading and studying at the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature of the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville. The Baldwin Library contains a special collection of 130,000 volumes of children's literature published mostly before 1950. The fellowship is endowed in memory of Louise Seaman Bechtel and Ruth M. Baldwin.

​The application and more information can be found here.

The deadline for submitting materials is October 15, 2023.

For any questions about the award/application, please contact ALSC Professional Recognition and Scholarships Committee Co-Chairs, Elizabeth Burns  (eburns@njstatelib.org) and Mary Schreiber (schreiberalsc@gmail.com)

As many of you know, Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15 – October 15. Here are three library-related resources that came to my attention this week. Of course, just Google the name of the month to find so much more.
 
The 2023 Latinx Kidlit Book Festival is free and online. Sessions are scheduled from September 20 through October 13. Offerings specifically for educators (inc. librarians) will be on Wednesday or Thursday evenings, and general sessions for anyone interested – including children and teens – will be offered all day on Fridays. Session descriptions indicate the target audience. Also, there’s now a database that “offers the ability to sort by age category, genre, theme, representation featured, and more, making it easier for teachers, librarians, and book lovers to find books by Latinx creators from picture books to young adult.”
 
On September 15, 2023, the Library of Congress posted a list of recordings of “author talks from these twelve authors that appeared at this year’s National Book Festival. There is something for everyone: fiction, nonfiction and poetry; middle grade, young adult and adult; fantasy and graphic novels.”
 
And, Jillian Heisse, a school librarian in Wisconsin, put together a set of slides with 20 Hispanic authors and/or illustrators and is happy for people to use them. “You could highlight a new creator and their books each day this month or choose to highlight one creator for a full week while reading their different books each day that week.”
 
Cheers,
Jen

P.S. Know why this celebration starts on the 15th of the month instead of the 1st? Check out Hispanic Heritage Month.gov for the answer.