FYI,   Although this isn’t specifically youth services related, I’m sharing this opportunity with you. Please share it with your library administration and colleagues in other departments. Library facilities are critical infrastructure in the best of times. Climate change promises to increase the critical nature of library facilities to build community resilience and well-being. Climate change is predicted to bring more severe and frequent storms, an increase in the number of heat waves, and regionally specific ha ...Continue Reading

Just forwarding the information about President Obama’s letter to library workers.   ~Sharon   All the best, *Sharon Rawlins, MLS (she/her/hers)*/Youth Services Specialist/ /Library Development Bureau/*New Jersey State Library* *P.*  609-278-2640 x116    *E.*  sraw...@njstatelib.org*W. * www.njstatelib.org   185 West State StreetP.O. Box 520, Trenton, NJ  08625 *From:* ALA President Emily Drabinski <Memb...@ala.org> *Sent:* Monday, July 17, ...Continue Reading

FYI,   Three libraries from NJ are the recipients of  ALA Teen Sci Fi Great Stories Club grant awards. The libraries are the Atlantic County Institute of Technology, Highland Park Public Library and Maplewood Memorial Library. Congratulations to all the NJ libraries who received these awards! Here is the press release: https://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2023/06/american-library-association-awards-29-libraries-teen-sci-fi-great-stories-club   ~Sharon     All the best, *Sharon Rawlins, MLS ...Continue Reading

Please excuse cross postings   *2026 Slogan and 2027 Theme Listening Sessions* *Save the Date!  *Thursday, August 24 ~ 1pm Eastern *OR * Friday, September 08 ~ 3pm Eastern   Talk up your favorite *2026 Slogan and 2027 Theme *from the vetted and translated voting slate.   How are the* Listening Sessions *different from the previous Wordsmithing sessions?  The longer list of possible slogans has now been reviewed for copyright, trademark and translated into Spanish.  We will not be tweakin ...Continue Reading

*FYI,* * * Learn more about services available to all NJ libraries and their patrons! All are welcome to these virtual information sessions, hosted by the New Jersey State Library. For comments, questions or feedback, please reach out to Michael Maziekien, Shared Services Project Specialist in the Library Development Bureau, at mmaz...@njstatelib.org.   *Back-to-School with EBSCO* Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 2:00 PM It’s back-to-school, so let's review the ways in which your EBSCO resources support your scho ...Continue Reading

FYI,   The American Library Association last published the Intellectual Freedom Manual in 2021, and it is now time for a new edition. Erin Berman and John Spears, the co-editors, are looking for input on what is needed in this next edition from library staff, students, trustees, educators, and anyone who has in stake in supporting intellectual freedom. It doesn’t matter whether you have never heard of the Intellectual Freedom Manual or you refer to it often—they want to hear from you. Please take a few minutes to ...Continue Reading

FYI, I’m passing along this CALA YALSA taskforce hosted webinar invitation. ~Sharon Hi everyone, As part of the work of the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) / Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Taskforce, we're hosting a series of webinars featuring authors from the Stories Beyond Borders: A Chinese American and Diasporic Reading List. You can view our printable PDF housed in the CALA repository (CALASYS): bit.ly/calastoriesbeyond The s ...Continue Reading

FYI,   Join /School Library Journal/ for their 12th Annual /SLJ/Teen Live! free virtual event on Thursday, August 17, 2023 to hear about the latest and most exciting forthcoming titles for teens and tweens. From rom-coms and mysteries to graphic novels and classic coming-of-age stories, their daylong program of author panels, in-depth conversations, and keynote talks will keep you inspired and entertained. For more information and to register visit https://rb.gy/fr3fc   Forwarded by:   Sharon Rawlins, M ...Continue Reading

FYI, 2022 Best of the Best Booklist from the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), an affiliate of the American Library Association. The Best of the Best Booklist celebrates stories from across the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) diaspora. All APALA members were invited to nominate picture book titles about AANHPI communities and experiences that were published in the 2022 calendar year. Members of the APALA Family Literacy Focus Committee evaluated the nominations agains ...Continue Reading

FYI,   Bilingual Spanish/English Solar Science Kits Libraries with a large percentage of Spanish speakers (or patrons of Hispanic/Latinx descent) are invited to apply to receive a Solar Science kit from NASA@ My Library. Thirty libraries will receive a kit meant to support the October 2023 and April 2024 eclipses, and other astronomy/solar science activities. The draft kit list is as follows: 4.5" Dobsonian Telescope with solar filter and moon filter 2 ...Continue Reading