ALSC Membership Benefit: Keep Current on Children’s Services

After working 7 years as a children’s librarian, I took a new role as a regional services librarian in 2023.

It was a move I made for my librarian career, although I loved my time as a children’s librarian. In my new job, it has been hard to remain relevant in the field since I don’t plan children’s programs regularly and no longer am involved in children’s collection development. As I adjusted to my new role and learned new skills, I felt like I was losing my sharpness as a children’s librarian. I heard similar concerns from other former children’s librarians who took on new jobs outside of the children’s department. We still want to remain relevant in children’s librarianship, but how can we do that?

The answer is staying relevant through and with an ALSC membership.

Here are at three ways ALSC can help you learn about up-to-date trends that will help serve children and families:

1. Subscriptions – As an ALSC member, you will find many opportunities for scholarships, awards, and grants. But one of the best benefits is being informed about the latest trends in children’s librarianship. Once you become a member of ALSC, you will receive a subscription to Children and Libraries: The Journal of ALSC every quarter. It’s like someone feeding nutritionally delicious ideas about what happens in the Children’s library world directly to your brain! My favorite feature in Winter 2024 issue was “Little Kids, Big Words: Using Colossal Words in the Library. By Colette Hiller.” Find more benefits of ALSC membership HERE.

2. Learning – You can learn new things through ALSC webinars, virtual events, online courses, and in-person training like at the ALSC institute. You will learn a lot during a short webinar! Check HERE for information on upcoming online training. 

   ALSC hosts casual, but valuable, social time such as the Youth Media Awards Predictions social, which happens before the annual YMA awards. Social time with other children’s librarians is the best way to catch up on what’s happening without any pressure. Stay tuned for the next ALSC social! 

3. Volunteering – I’ve been volunteering for ALSC committees since I was an MLS student. ALSC committee work taught me how to interact with diverse people in different time zones with compassion and fairness. Most of all, volunteering with ALSC is the best way to stay relevant in the profession! Nearly 60 ALSC committees, task forces, and discussion groups work on the most important topics in children’s librarianship, such as Early Childhood Programs and Services, Intellectual Freedom, Library Service to Underserved Children and Their Caregivers Committee, and more. 

In addition, ALSC also helps former and current children’s librarians reach their career goals with services like mentorship programs and membership exclusive webinars like “Climbing the Leadership Ladder: What You Need to Know Before Starting and How to Decide Where to Stop.”

This blog post relates to ALSC Core Competencies of: VII. Professionalism and Professional Development.

Hyunjin (Jin) Han is a Regional Services Librarian at Statesboro Regional Public Libraries in Georgia.

The post ALSC Membership Benefit: Keep Current on Children’s Services appeared first on ALSC Blog.

 After working 7 years as a children’s librarian, I took a new role as a regional services librarian in 2023. It was a move I made for my librarian career, although I loved my time as a children’s librarian. In my new job, it has been hard to remain relevant in the field since I don’t plan children’s programs regularly and no longer am involved in children’s collection development. As I adjusted to my new role and learned new skills, I felt like I was losing my sharpness as a children’s librarian. I heard similar concerns from other former children’s librarians who took on new jobs outside of the children’s department. We still want to remain relevant in children’s librarianship, but how can we do that? The answer is staying relevant through and with an ALSC membership. Here are at three ways ALSC can help you learn about up-to-date trends…
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