CSD Winter Virtual Workshop: Book Buzz

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​Whether you attended the Book Buzz or wish you had, here is a lowdown on what happened at the Virtual Winter Workshop on January 25, 2023.
 
Lots of books and ideas and a few questions were shared. For a complete list of books shared by people before  the workshop, check out Book Buzz: New and Noteworthy Books 2022. We also shared our favorite new readalouds and graphic novels.
 
You might wonder what we mean by new and noteworthy. Well, new isn’t hard. We talked about books from 2022 (and a few from 2021).

​But how about “noteworthy”? Based on a poll we all participated in during the workshop, here is our definition(s): Interesting to me; worth talking about and sharing; worth reading more than once; inventive in some way; worth recommending; quality, well-written, memorable; something that sets it apart and makes it better; valuable for sharing with patrons.
 
We had a great discussion comparing pre- and post-pandemic reading habits and preferences, storytimes and attention span (both kids and parents). In general, graphic novels are ever popular, and kids and parents have had to learn or re-learn how to do story time.
 
A question arose about what libraries in small towns can do other than using the big vendors if they just want to buy one book. Shopping at Bookshop.org or making deals with local bookstores in small towns might be solutions for smaller libraries, but for the most part, it seems that we use Ingram and Baker & Taylor a lot, and sometimes Amazon.
 
A couple more interesting tidbits: Fun activities associated with lots of new books can be printed from publisher websites. And last but not least, you might also want to check out this pilot project from the state library who granted 5 libraries Welcoming Library kits.

Author

Holly Campbell-Polivka
2022-23 Lampman Chair