The Biggest Thank You

Hello ALSC Members,

ALA Annual has now come and gone, and I can’t believe how quickly it went! It’s equally unbelievable how quickly my term as President has gone. I am now officially the Immediate Past-President, and it’s a strange feeling, especially with so much still happening in the coming year. While I did start my June blog post noting that it was my last as President, I was given the opportunity to do one last post to wrap things up.

The weekend of ALA Annual was as busy as I expected, but it was definitely one of my most memorable conferences to date. The ALSC Executive Committee and Board spent a fair amount of time together, going over the last year and looking to the future. The new Directors were installed as well—congrats to Alia Jones, Valerie Tohom and President-Elect Ariana Hussain—and we saw the departure of three other amazing people: Directors Jaime Eastman and Maria Estrella, as well as Past-President, Dr. Jonda C. McNair. We also had the chance to celebrate the installation of our new President, Dr. Claudette S. McLinn, who was officially inaugurated on the Monday afternoon, and celebrated at the inauguration dinner that same evening, along with the new ALA President and other division and roundtable Presidents.

I had the opportunity to attend many events and had the chance to celebrate many amazing authors and illustrators and librarians throughout the course of the weekend. This included the winners and honorees at the Pura Belpré Celebración, the ALSC Awards event, the ALSC Membership Meeting, and the Newbery-Caldecott-Legacy banquet. It’s a very different experience being at the front of the room looking out at all of you fabulous members, but it’s truly humbling to be celebrating such incredible literature and professional work!

Though I did not get a chance to attend many panels throughout Annual, I did get to put on my own—masterfully organized by Maria Vega and Celeste Swanson—on the subject of AI and its impacts on children and our profession. Panelists Martha Brockenbrough, Dr. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Dr. Desmond Upton Patton all spoke to the challenges of approaching and using this rapidly changing technology from an ethical and responsible perspective, providing attendees with a lot of food for thought. I could not have wrapped up the conference in a more inspiring way.

But as you all know, there are still a lot of big changes on the way for ALA and ALSC. The resolution to reunify the two divisions was officially passed by ALA Council over the weekend, marking the start of a year of transition that will require intentional and collaborative work between the two Boards. I am looking forward to being a part of the working group that will be taking the lead on this task, and I also look forward to engaging with you, our fearless members, to make sure our division continues to serve you and provide robust member benefits for years to come. Keep your eyes open for upcoming opportunities to take part in virtual town halls and surveys in the coming months!

I said a lot of Thank You’s in my last blog post, so I won’t go through all of those again. I just want to say one last humongous THANK YOU to everyone in children’s librarianship and children’s literature, for doing the amazing work that you do and for working hard to build a brighter future for our young ones.

You inspire me daily! You are how ALSC can do what we do to unify people from so many different places throughout the country and around the world. And it is YOU who help remain unified in our fight against those who would rather see us keep our mouths shut and our eyes down. Keep up the good fight!

I hope to see many of you in the coming years at other ALA conferences and events, including ALSC Institute, which is taking place in Buffalo next fall.

Onwards!

Rob Bittner, PhD (He/Him)
Past-President, Association for Library Services to Children

The post The Biggest Thank You appeared first on ALSC Blog.

 Hello ALSC Members, ALA Annual has now come and gone, and I can’t believe how quickly it went! It’s equally unbelievable how quickly my term as President has gone. I am now officially the Immediate Past-President, and it’s a strange feeling, especially with so much still happening in the coming year. While I did start my June blog post noting that it was my last as President, I was given the opportunity to do one last post to wrap things up. The weekend of ALA Annual was as busy as I expected, but it was definitely one of my most memorable conferences to date. The ALSC Executive Committee and Board spent a fair amount of time together, going over the last year and looking to the future. The new Directors were installed as well—congrats to Alia Jones, Valerie Tohom and President-Elect Ariana Hussain—and we saw the departure of three other…
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