Thank you!

Thank you for a great year!

The Children’s Services Division had an eventful and highly successful year!  As the 2022-23 session draws to a close, we have many accomplishments to highlight and many people to thank. ​

One of our first accomplishments of the year was the launch of the Oregon Library Presenters’ Directory, a database of artists, educators, and presenters for Oregon library audiences. This directory can be accessed year-round and replaces the bi-yearly Performers Showcase event. At our 2022 Fall workshop, Jaime Thoreson and Anna Bruce introduced the directory to the youth library community and walked attendees through the wide array of information it has to offer.  Attendees were able to share their favorite presenters and connect with other library workers who were planning programs.  If you have questions about this directory, please contact [email protected], and if you know of a presenter that you think should be included in the directory, please send them this link to apply to be added.

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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​
  

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The Children’s Services Division funded two full scholarships and two partial scholarships to the OLA conference. The CSD board’s intention with these scholarships is to promote education in our field, especially for members from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, historically marginalized and underrepresented groups, those who are in positions serving under-represented groups, and those employed at small or rural institutions with limited funding. The CSD team was happy to be able to support four recipients this year, and we look forward to seeing how these recipients give back to the youth library community.  Thank you to Deborah Van Detta for her work leading the scholarship program.  Congratulations to our scholarship recipients:

• Kristen Buehner 
  
• Maria Aguilar 
  
• Monica Hoffman 
  
• Annie Wilson-Eikamp ​
  

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CSD and OASL co-sponsored an OLA pre-conference that provided training for school and public librarians on Tribal History/Shared History Curriculum and encouragement to think of ways for libraries to work with and support Oregon tribes. The pre-conference included a brief overview of the critical importance of including Indigenous voices in libraries, best practices for working with local tribes, and methods to select culturally appropriate and historically accurate material for our collections. Speakers for the event included:​

• 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.

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Rocío Espinoza-Cotero was our 2023 Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award recipient for her significant contributions as a librarian to the children of Oregon.  This award is presented annually by the CSD in memory of Evelyn Sibley Lampman (1907-1980), noted Oregon teacher, journalist, and author of children’s books.  It was a pleasure to celebrate Rocío Espinoza-Cotero’s many accomplishments at the Lampman Award Breakfast at the OLA conference in Bend.  A few tears were shed as people heard about her impact on children in her community of Hillsboro and the state of Oregon.  Thank you to Holly Campbell-Polivka for leading the Lampman team!

Rocío Espinoza-Cotero (center) with her Hillsboro Library teammates.

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CSD represented the youth library community at Legislative Day in Salem, OR.  Tara Morissette and Jane Corry attended and advocated the Oregon Legislature for full funding of OLA priorities.  CSD also donated several hundred books to legislators so they could then donate them to their local libraries. 

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​The annual CSD fundraiser was a huge success!  We earned the most money of any fundraiser in CSD history, which will enable CSD to provide workshops and scholarships next year. We are truly grateful for the book donations from members of our library community. A special shout out goes to Deborah Gitilitz, Natasha Forrester Campbell, Taylor Worley, and Janet Weber for their book donations to CSD. These books were high-quality titles, many from this past year.   A big thank you also goes to Monica Hoffman, who spent many hours organizing and planning this event.

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​Throughout 2022-2023, we held bimonthly CSD board meetings to report on current events and plans.   Thank you to all the board members for their work and dedication to making the Oregon Library Community a better place: Susan Cackler, Alec Chunn, Holly Campbell-Polivka, Monica Hoffman, Anna Bruce, Jaime Thoreson, Deborah Van Detta, and Jennifer Knight.  Thank you also to the committee members who helped our projects run smoothly and to the library workers who dropped in on our board meetings.  We are forever grateful to Greta Bergquist for her guidance and knowledge.  We encourage all youth library workers to drop in anytime to learn more about how our board plans and operates.  Please consider volunteering for CSD, it is so rewarding.

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​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! ​

CSD accomplishments 2022-23 by Tara Morissette

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Authors

Emily West and Tara Morissette
CSD Co-Chairs 2022-23