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.

We held three workshops over the course of the year.  After the Fall workshop, our second workshop was a programming meetup, and the third was a gathering of fellow youth library workers to chat about and highlight new and noteworthy titles from 2022. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out the:

• Oregon library workers’ new and noteworthy read-aloud picks
  
• Oregon library workers’ new and noteworthy graphic novel picks
  
• New and Noteworthy books for ages 0-13​
  

• Deana Dartt, founder of Live Oak Consulting
• Brent Spencer, Indian Education Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Education
• Jennifer Belle, Assistant, Oregon Department of Education
• Cheyanne Heidt, Curriculum Specialist for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

Thank you to Jennifer Knight for organizing this event!  For more information about this event, please see our blog post.

​On that note, we had a very successful recruitment process this Summer and have already filled more board positions than usual for this early in the coming year, although we would love to have more!  Monica Hoffman will serve as our chair for 2023-2024.  Monica stepped up to serve in many ways this year, meeting with us co-chairs on a weekly basis, leading our most successful auction to date, and even finding time to present at this year’s OLA Conference. We are confident that we are leaving the CSD board in good hands!

We have been honored to serve as your co-chairs for the 2022-2023 year.  Our primary goal was to provide our members with resources, tools, techniques, and more to help you continue the amazing work you do with children and their grown-ups. Thank you again to everyone who helped make this such a successful year.   It has been our privilege to serve you! ​

​The Oregon Library Association adheres to the guiding principles of the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics and Library Bill of Rights. As such, we fully support the First Amendment rights of every individual to the intellectual freedoms to explore ideas, opinions, concepts, topics, and thoughts. Not every library resource is right for every patron, but the rights of every patron to make their own personal choices should be honored. We support the right of parents and guardians to guide their child’s reading and viewing choices, but that right does not extend to removing choices for others. The work of libraries and librarians is to serve everyone in their community and provide resources that are reflective of the world around us. 

Children will have fun creating their very own at home storytime felt song or create it yourself for a hopping good time at your storytime. This popular nursery rhyme helps children learn counting and develop language skills through song and repetition.

What is the Pura Belpré Award?
Established in 1996, it is presented each year to a Latine writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), divisions of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking ( REFORMA), an ALA affiliate. The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. As a children's librarian, storyteller, and author, she enriched the lives of Puerto Rican children in the U.S. through her pioneering work of preserving and disseminating Puerto Rican folklore.

​Criteria for text:

• Interpretation of the theme or concept
• Presentation of information including accuracy, clarity, and organization
• Development of a plot
• Delineation of characters
• Delineation of setting
• Appropriateness of style
• Particular attentions will be paid to cultural authenticity.

 
Criteria for illustrations:

• Excellence of execution in the artistic technique employed
• Excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, them, or concept
• Appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, them or concept
• Delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting mood or information through the pictures
• Positive an authentic portrayal of Latinx culture
• Excellence or presentation for an intended child audience

​To see a list of past winners, click here. 

Please feel free to reach out with any questions.

CSD has a new summer craft recipe card for you! Explore the great outdoors in your backyard!  This craft recipe will encourage children to get outdoors and explore all that nature has to offer.  Interacting with nature provides a multitude of learning opportunities for children.  Our nighttime camping scene craft encourages children to learn new plant material, terminology, explore their senses, and utilize their creative thinking skills. Who knows, maybe you'll inspire more families to camp out under the stars!