HVLA Scholarship Information

Once again this year the Hudson Valley Library Association (HVLA) will award a $1000 scholarship to a current school librarian for use toward professional development. Applicants should be current members of HVLA. Membership Applications and information is found here

The application deadline is Friday, February 13, 2015, and the recipient will be announced on Friday, March 13, 2015. Upon receiving the scholarship award the winner will have until December 31, 2015 to use the funds and will be expected to share a response to his or her award and experiences through a post (or posts) on the HVLA blog.

HVLA is a network of supportive and enthusiastic educators who are passionate about the world of school libraries. HVLA offers members the opportunity to connect with fellow school librarians and share knowledge and experiences through meetings, listservs, and events. If you are interested please fill out this google form: HVLA Scholarship Award

The following HVLA members are also serving on the 2015 Scholarship Committee:

Diane Del Priore, Regis High School -- ddelpriore@regis.org

Ingrid Peck, Horace Mann School  --  Ingrid_Peck@horacemann.org

Susannah Goldstein, Convent of the Sacred Heart, NYC  --  susannah.goldstein@gmail.com

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to any of the committee members. Thank you!

Story Buddies: A Guest Blog Post from Constance Vidor

I joined sixth grade classes with second grade classes to hear and discuss a story together.  I paired each older student with a younger student for "turn and talk" times at various points in the story. The story I chose was Prince Janos and His Extraordinary Companions from Csenge Zalka's Tales of Superhuman Powers (McFarland, 2013). In this tale, the Prince goes out into the world to "see what he can see and learn what he can learn," and meets five people along the way, each of whom has a special power, such as superhuman speed, speech, or hearing. He makes friends with each one and as the story progresses each friend comes forward to "save the day" with their particular special power.

Every time a challenging situation arose in the story I paused and asked the students to turn and talk with their buddies, then come up with suggestions about which one of the five extraordinary companions might be able to use a special power to help out. For example, when the King offers to let the Prince and his companions to take as much of his treasure as they can carry, which of the companions might step forward? The strong man named Carries Mountains, who can carry a mountain on his shoulder, is the story's solution, but the students made some different choices with excellent justifications.

Having buddies of different ages seemed to make my students especially well engaged with the discussions and the "turn and talk" activities. Moreover, this experience allowed me to "trick" my older students into listening to a folk tale!

For librarians who would like to try this, here are a few tips:

--Prepare name tags for each student. When students enter the space, have younger students sit on one side and older on the other. Hand out name tags and assign younger children to older children. You probably don't need to spend time trying to create "perfect pairs" because you won't know who is going to be in class or not in school that day.

--Tell each group of students what is going to happen and what to expect. Have a discussion with older students about their responsibilities as "mentors."

--I told the story but I think reading aloud could also work well. The benefit of telling a story is that no one is frustrated about not being able to see the pictures--we all see them equally well in our imaginations!

--A super-hero tale works well because it is appealing to such a wide range of ages and offers many opportunities for discussion. However, I am sure that anyone reading this blog post will have lots of ideas about ways to adapt a "Story Buddy" program for different kinds of stories.

YA Literature Symposium 2014 Recap

The Young Adult Literature Symposium was held in Austin, Texas this year from Friday, November 14th to Sunday, November 16th. The Young Adult Literature Symposium is one of my favorite conferences because it gets at the heart of what librarians who serve tweens and teens care about.

There were many interesting panels this year and I unfortunately could not attend them all but I will tell you a little bit about the ones the I was able to attend and what information I took from them. I want to point out that this will just be a quick overview of some of the sessions that I was able to attend. There are always multiple sessions running at any given time as well as poster sessions. As I am only one person I can only share what I experienced and even then only briefly otherwise we’ll be here forever. For more information check here: http://yalitsymposium12.ning.com/page/preliminaryprogram

The first session I attended on Saturday morning was “YA Realness: What makes ‘contemporary realism’ feel true to readers?” This was an author panel that was led by the author’s themselves. Authors included Sarah Zarr, Matt De La Peña, Coe Booth, Sarah Ryan and Jo Knowles.  It was a great way to start off the conference.They spoke a lot about authenticity and getting at the heart of human experience. I enjoyed this session because we got to hear from the authors’ different perspectives. I will say that I had not read some of these authors books and now want to make a more concerted effort to do so.

The next session I attended was “Talking Book Covers with Young Adults: Whitewashing, Sexism and More.” This session was probably the most useful for school librarians. The main speaker was Allie Jane Bruce who works at Bank Street and the participating authors were Malinda Lo and Jaqueline Woodson. I felt this was the most applicable to me because I could use the base lesson plan that Allie used and re-adapt it to my purposes. I have already begun discussions with some teachers about working on book covers to further discussions and issues of diversity. As both a librarian and the middle school diversity coordinator this works so well with what I aim to do with students. From what I recall, this project was done with 6th grade students (Don’t quote me on that!).  

Here is a very quick overview of what Allie presented as a 12 week project.

Week 1: Race & Covers

What are books for?

What messages are being sent through covers?

Week 2: Language (Common language for the group - perhaps also start whole project with group norms?)

Week 3: Gender and Covers

Week 4: Out of the Library (Real World Applications)

Week 5: Body Image

Week 6: Claims vs. Actions (this gets wonky - my notes are weird on this part)

Week 7:LGBTQ and Banning

Week 8: Iceberg of Identity

Week 9: Barnes and Noble Trip

Week 10 & 11: Publishers Visit

Week 12: Zen Shorts

Culminating Projects

For more information I am sure Allie would be happy to hear from everyone and I can

also provide more in depth notes and also some ideas I have around this project. I found it very fascinating and am impressed with what they have done with it. I am sure this project could also be shortened for this with limited time with their students.

Next I attended the Teens’ Top Ten Author Luncheon which was a nice place to meet people outside of my usual social circle and also to hear funny stories from Lauren Oliver, Jennifer A. Nielsen & Julie Kagawa.

For Saturday afternoon, I attended “Where are the Heroes of Color in Fantasy & Sci-fi?” which was an excellent session led by some familiar faces. Kerry Roeder, our illustrious HVLA President, Angie Ungaro, past president, and Sarah Murphy, previous board member, led the discussion which included a discussion with authors’ Amalie Howard, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Cynthia Leitich Smith and Joe Monti who is Executive Editor at Saga Press. The discussion was animated and thought provoking.

Kerry, Angie & Sarah are hoping to post this session on their amazing podcast The Watchers Podcast: http://watcherspodcast.tumblr.com/ Please also check out this site to receive more information about the panelists, articles, booklists and other important resources.

The last session I attended on Saturday was entitled “Who gets to tell our stories? Authentic Portrayals of Trans* Youth in YA Fiction. This panel was presented by Talya Sokoll, Jillian McCoy and another familiar face Kyle Lukoff, our current membership coordinator. This session also included two young authors Arin Andrew and Katie Hill who have written memoirs, “Some Assembly Required” and “Rethinking Normal” respectively, about their own experiences. This session started with some important definitions, moved toward the history of lgbtq literature, provided reading lists and then some interesting discussions. For more resources check here: http://bit.ly/1zN1Es7

After this final session there was a Book Blitz in which everyone receives a Yalsa tote and 6 tickets for signings. There are several authors there but you have to pick the 6 that you would like to see and get your books signed.

Okay, Sunday! Sunday, I attended “Genre Queer: Smashing the Closet” which was led by Christie Gibrich and Katelyn Brown. The participating authors included Malinda Lo, Robin Talley and Kristen Elizabeth Clark. Malinda Lo who is the cofounder of the blog Diversity in YA: http://www.diversityinya.com/ shared with us some interesting statistics about lgbtq literature. Unfortunately there were not a lot of handouts so I do not have one to share with you. Is is posted on the blog though so do check it out. There was a lot of discussion about representation through different genres including historical fiction & speculative fiction. There was an emphasis on the importance of moving beyond problem stories or coming out stories.

The last session I attended before heading back home to beautiful Brooklyn was “Keeping it Really Weird” which was an author led panel. The authors included were Chris Barton, Andrew Smith, Lisa Yee, Jonathan Auxier, Bruce Coville, Laurie Ann Thompson, Kris Dinnison & Kelly Milner Halls. This session was really just fun. Everyone was very funny and quirky and some of their discussions were heartfelt but for the most part this was the session to come to laugh.

I know these were all really brief overviews but this post is very long. If you wall want more information please feel free to contact me or some of the people who moderated these sessions. You can also check out my Twitter feed from the weekend @MollyTyn for some fun quotes of the weekend. Thanks All!

Member Spotlight: Christina Kover, The Chapin School

Christina Kover and the Misnomer of "Classroom Libraries”

Recently, on our own HVLA listserv, I caught a post that mentioned Chapin’s beloved Lower School Librarian, Christina Kover.

Michael T. Clark, the library director of The Stanwich School recalled an “amazing” comment Christina made over lunch during BookFest about  “[moving] away from the misnomer of “classroom libraries” & start[ing] a clearer conversation about the expectations of what would be in the collection… and who put it together. “

Since it’s a topic that concerns so many of us, I thought I’d use this member spotlight entry to have Christina elaborate even more.

Christina, although you’ve been at Chapin for 12 years, you began your professional career as a children’s specialist at the New York Public Library.  How has that influenced your understanding of what a library should be?

At the time I started, when things were becoming more privatized and less accessible,  I was struck by what a genuinely altruistic institution it was.  There was a sense that this was an institution that was really there for everyone. I loved that.  It felt really good to be part of that.  There was a genuine and sincere desire to think about how to best service New York City. 

Could you clarify the unique position of librarians, who we are, what we do, and how it’s different from teachers?

Librarians are not only teaching their own curriculum but there is also the potential to be the supporting cast members of a production.   The production values are not necessarily as good without our presence, support, and influence.   A lot of us are generalists – we know a lot about a lot or at least know where to find it.

The classroom collections are usually developed with specific curriculuar areas and skills in mind.  That’s fine, but if a child is interested in deep sea creatures and they just want to pore over the images, or if they want to get mulitple books on the topic that then branches out into biographies, or learn more about a specific animal, or if they want to read outside of their reading level, a classroom collection just doesn’t have that volume or breadth necessary to explore different avenues.

When it comes time to defend your library’s value over classroom collections, what arguments come to mind?

Libraries lend themselves to allowing the student to discover who they are thanks to their sheer variety.  Some students feel restricted because a classroom teacher’s main concern is their reading level.  A librarian’s concern is their interest level.

Many thanks, Christina!  

--- Natasha Goldberg, Middle School Librarian, Chapin School

Three November Events of Note

#1 Books of Wonder 

MEET THE 2014 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTS!

Monday, November 17th, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Books of Wonder, 18 West 18th St., NYC

Join us on November 17th as we present the 2014 National Book Award Finalists! 

JOHN COREY WHALEY explains how losing your head isn't the worst thing that can happen; 

DEBORAH WILES regales with tales of the Sixties; 

ELIOT SCHREFER introduces readers to the elusive chimpanzees and those who live around them; and 

STEVE SHEINKIN educates readers with an astonishing civil rights story.

JOHN COREY WHALEY for Noggin
DEBORAH WILES for The Revolution: The Sixties Trilogy #2
ELIOT SCHREFER for Threatened
STEVE SHEINKIN for The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

#2 WORD Bookstore (Jersey City)

Little Failure with Gary Shteyngart

Word Bookstore - Jersey City --  11/12/2014 - 7:30pm

This event will take place at our Jersey City location. (GMaps)

Gary Shteyngart joins us for a reading and signing in honor of the paperback release of his New York Times bestselling memoir, Little Failure, which has been hailed by NPR as "dazzling . . . a rich, nuanced memoir.”

Facebook RSVP encouraged, but not required.

#3  92nd St Y (92Y)

• 

  Chris Van Allsburg

  Sat, Nov 15, 2014, 12:30 pm

  Do pet-store hamsters hunger for freedom? They do in Chris Van Allsburg’s heartwarming new picture book, The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie.

  LEARN MORE

A Mock Newbery Newbie Shares Her Tales from the Frontlines

There’s an epidemic – no, not ebola – spreading through our fair city and it’s the Mock Newbery Club movement.   As Malcolm Gladwell might point out, I was not one of its “early adopters.”   I only began this past September, following an invitation from fellow HVLA-ers to stop by Packer for a Mock Newbery party held to celebrate (or was it to rue?) the announcement of Flora & Ulysses.

I had such fun being a fly on the wall of this party.  I took in the kids’ impassioned defenses of Counting by 7s and Better Nate Than Ever, watched some boy’s book trailer for Doll Bones, all the while thinking – I have to bring this magic to Chapin.  

Fast forward to a feverish volley of emails between me, Kristyn Dorfman (Packer) & Hannah Mermelstein (Saint Ann’s), guiding me through the Mock Newbery basics (of which, Hannah rightly pointed out, many online guides already exist).   

Unfortunately for Kristyn and Hannah, I’m a sucker for getting my story firsthand (especially from talented librarians I’ve determined, at some HVLA meeting or other, are exciting role models!)

So here’s what I learned.   The first step is coming up with a list of 2014 titles you think stand a shot at the Newbery.  I did this over the summer, adding my personal touch – a brochure to distribute to the kids.  The SLJ blog, Heavy Medal, can be useful for compiling the initial list of candidates but also give you some bum steers depending on your students’ tastes.   My advice?  Choose what you think your community will gravitate to first.

Next, order the books.  I ordered 2-3 copies of each title in the  brochure, plus digital copies to read on my iPhone en route to work.  (Thank you, oh gracious Head Librarian, Barbara Lutz!) Then, I designated a cart in the library where the books could be easily found.   In September, I made a goofy (but well-received) i-movie Trailer announcement that I played to the entire Middle School community (classes 4-7) and created an online voting form in Google docs that put the Newbery criteria into kidspeak. 

Inspired by the HVLA partnerships I saw happening in Brooklyn, I also reached out to Chapin’s traditional rival across the street, Brearley.   The fabulous Head Librarian there, Amy Chow, was eager to partner and begin planning afterschool Mock-Newbery events that I pray will not result in an East Side Story rumble.

I’ll be updating you about what books are trending best in my upcoming blog post, but feel free to reach me at goldberg@chapin.edu with any questions in the meantime.  As I’ve learned through my ten years as a member, sometimes an email from an HVLA pal makes all the difference.

- Natasha Goldberg, Middle School Librarian, Chapin School

Sound Sites on a Tricky Night

Building your Twitter PLN or seeking new sites around the web? Here are a few sure to delight:

Twitter #:

#sljsummit

#bookfest14

#edchat

#edtechchat

#tlchat

#library

#kidlit

#yalitchat

#makerspace

#makerfaire

A few sites:

Nerdy Book Club

Mind/Shift

Nov/Dec Horn Book Mag Preview

WP Article: Teacher Shadows Student for 2 Days

Fundraising for We Need Diverse Books campaign

October 31 Neil Gaiman at NYPL


Please share your favorite Twitter hashtags and/or favorite library-related sites in the comments section!

Member Spotlight: Susan Harris, The Harvey School

This week, we asked HVLA member Susan Harris to share a little about herself and her program!

1) What is your role at The Harvey School?
 I'm currently the Director if Educational Technology, Teacher, Advisor for Community Service, and Girls Rugby Coach. I was doing all of those things as the sole school librarian (6 - 12)  until we hired Sumana Shankar this year to take over the library and work more with grades 6 - 8.  My home is still in the library, as it should be.  I also develop and organize faculty professional development programs. 

2) With what age range do you primarily work?

9 - 12, although in Edtech I work with MS faculty and students as well. 

3) What is your view on the balance of materials (print, digital, otherwise) available to students for checkout in the library? (both dream and reality!)

We tend heavily towards online resources.  Our students rarely refer to non fiction print, and demand for fiction in print has really dropped off as well.  

​4) What are the top three information skills all students should learn and have?

​Locating, evaluating, analyzing information

5)  Makerspaces are a hot topic for schools right now. What is the mission of the makerspace at your school?

​We've just begun this fall and are still wrestling with a lot of issues, like staffing (in a remote location on campus), faculty buy-in, and dedicating time during the school day for student use.  In my view, the mission is: To provide a space for students and teachers to explore and learn together with no agenda and no right or wrong answers.  

6) What is unique about your makerspace?

​I'm not sure anything is really - we've used existing models and drawn on experience of other schools.   

7) What was the best professional development experience you've had in the past two years?

​NYSAIS NEIT conferences at Mohonk, for the past two years.  

8) What are two of your favorite digital/book blogs/websites you read regularly?

Freetech4teachers; Mindshift​

9) What is the best book you've read this year?

The Dinner by Herman Koch.  His second, Summer House with Swimming Pool was a disappointment - too formulaic. 

10) If you could turn any book into a movie, which would it be?

Swamplandia - lots of opportunities for crazy scenery and some special effects.  

Upcoming Literary Events

There are some great things happening both in the metro NYC area and beyond! Please add any others you would like to share in the comments section below.

1) Saturday October 25: Bank Street BOOKFEST

As of 6:00pm on Tuesday October 14, there were still 10 tickets left for this fantastic event. Matt de la Pena will be the keynote speaker, and many authors and favorite literary figures will be on hand leading inspiring discussions. Small group participation in discussions will also be offered. Books (and signings) will be available for purchase throughout the day.

2) Dreaming of writing that novel? NaNoWriMo is coming November 1!

This month-long online support group encourages writers of all kind to get their words on paper. With badges and goal setting, this program might just be what you need to start that novel!

3) Author/Illustrator Event with Julie Salamon and Jill Weber Sunday November 2, 2pm

Cat in the City is a darling of many readers in the 8 to 12 year-old set. Come meet the author, Julie Salamon, and illustrator, Jill Weber, and hear about their process at BookCourt bookstore in Brooklyn.

4) Darien Public Library presents Dana Cowin, Food & Wine editor-in-chief, November 11, 7pm

For those of you who love to cook - or who wish you were better at it - this is the event for you. The Darien Public Library brings Dana Cowin to share her brand new cookbook Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen.

5) November 14, 6:30pm-9:30pm, Bronx Stories

Held at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, this spoken word event aims to share the stories of the Bronx. Members of the community will share their stories to build an understanding of the borough as well as encourage "a deeper understanding of the arts."

The School Library Space Debate

For many of us, our memories of our school libraries include shelves and shelves of print books, a few computers, a printer perhaps, and a circulation desk with a librarian. Selecting books for pleasure, performing research processes and developing perfunctory tech skills constituted a solid library program and space. Within the last decade, the services school libraries provide has changed dramatically. What does the space look like now?

• Split of print materials and digital materials with guided instruction on how to use them effectively and safely;
• Devices and digital material for check-out;
• Self-checkout stations starting in the Lower School;
• 3-D Printers, some in staffed spaces, some available for sign-up;
• Laptops or tablets utilized for creating and/or sharing student work within the school community;
• Cafe offerings, such as tea or coffee service
• Experimental or beta-phase tech equipment
• Online reading or tech communities with virtual meetings or live meetings
• Maker kits for check-out
• "Library" changed to “Learning Commons” or “Information Station”
• Additional makerspace materials including, but not limited to: origami, book making supplies, robotics, magnetic poetry, Legos, other craft or tech centered activities;
• Gaming materials including, but not limited to: board games, card games, console systems;
• And more!

What implications and applications do these have for our profession as independent school librarians? Our spaces? This is a relevant issue, and one that marries disciplines and departments as seen in the recent profusion of workshops, seminars and webinars related to the changing face of the library and role in the school. This topic has also been increasingly written about in scholarly research and professional journals.

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) states in the introduction of Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action (2009):

In recognition of these demands, the American Association if School Librarians

(AASL) has developed learning standards that expand the definition of information literacy to include multiple literacies, including digital, visual, textual and technological. (p. 5)

Our role as librarians is no longer offering finite experiences with reader’s advisory, navigating print materials or a handful of online databases and websites for research. Our responsibility is to offer fluid learning experiences and exposures that evolve on a schedule that moves at the speed of our technological lives and those of our students. But more so, it is providing mindful, just-in-time learning opportunities students will apply in both their educational and personal lives. This may require shifting departmental roles and labels. It may require a serious, informed review of curricula. It may require a shift in teacher and administrator perception of library class or library time. And offering a space that resonates and accommodates these shifts in use and role will dramatically figure in our daily work today and for days and years to come.

References

American Association of School Librarians. (2009). Standards for the 21st century learner in

action. Chcago, IL: American Library Association.

Please add to the conversation in the comments section! Share your makerspace components, current research you’ve read, or recent changes you’ve made to your space to accommodate the variety of literacies libraries serve to meet.