91´«Ã½

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½), is offering two online courses this summer: and . Both classes are asynchronous and run for six weeks, beginning July 6, 2021.

asks: What does it mean when we recommend Newbery Award winners to children in our communities? Should the Newbery seal of approval stand for 100 years? Why is that gold medal often considered the ‘kiss of death’ by kids? How can we help parents and teachers understand what the Newbery Medal is – and is not? Participants will gain a solid grounding in the history of the Newbery Medal and how it has changed over time; an opportunity to read, discuss and consider past and present Newbery winners with colleagues; a change to talk with former Newbery Committee members and a Newbery author, and suggestions for programming using Newbery-winning books. This course is offered as part of the ALSC .

The course instructor is KT Horning, Director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books. She has taught numerous courses for ALSC over the years, including classes on the Newbery and Caldecott Awards.

is a highly reflective course designed to help participants explore applications of the 2020 Competencies for Librarians Serving Children in Libraries. The course will focus on finding ways to demonstrate competence in the field, strategically plan library services using the competencies, action steps to put new competency-aligned practices into place, and creating artifacts to strengthen professional portfolios. The course will not cover each competency in-depth, but rather focus on the key competency areas, and is designed to offer both instructor- and student-led peer activities to draw on areas of expertise and support learners in areas needing development.

The course instructor is Amanda Yother, EdD candidate at The University of Memphis and former co-chair of the ALSC Education Committee, where she oversaw the 2020 revision of the ALSC Competencies for Librarians Serving Children in Libraries. She has a decade of professional experience in public libraries, school libraries and library training and development.

The Association for Library Service to Children is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. ALSC’s network includes more than 4,000 children’s and youth librarians, children’s literature experts, publishers, education and library school faculty members and other adults dedicated to creating a better future for children through libraries. For more information about ALSC, please visit .