Thanks to the Executive Board’s donation five $1,000 NCAAL X Travel Grants were made available to attend the NCAAL 10. The grants were designed to encourage conference attendance for a librarians in the first five years of their career. Four librarians completed the application process.
Applicants explained how their work in a library setting has addressed an identified community need, provided an innovative approach to service and had a measurable impact or improvement in service. They also had to create a unique and entertaining video/PowerPoint, Keynote or iMovie documenting their library story of success.
Join them as they showcase their visual presentations at the conference.
Evelyn Coleman, White Socks Only, Calvin Ramsey, Ruth and the Green Book, Carole Weatherford, Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins.
Young children of today have not been exposed to institutional segregation and white supremacy prevalent decades ago. Segregated lunch counters, water fountains, and restrooms are no longer a part of the American landscape. Discrimination of any kind is now illegal. Black Americans worked long and hard to right these wrongs. However, prejudice and bigotry still flourish in America. Books can provide not only a chance to educate children about the past, but offer an opportunity to equip them with tools for sorting through complicated or confusing issues. Join these award winning authors and they share this issue from a child’s perspective.
Is it more prestigious and lucrative to get your book published by a company that pays royalty advances as part of its publishing agreement? Must you be represented by a literary agent in order to secure such an opportunity? Are certain types of books more likely to qualify for publication from this type of publisher? Learn how the process works within the so-called “traditional” publishing environment as you consider your options in the contemporary marketplace, where digital technology has created a variety of publishing choices.
We have heard the outcry about needing diverse books. Guess who has stood the test of time in providing diverse books for nearly thirty years, Just Us Books. More than two and a half decades ago, Wade and Cheryl Hudson were parents on a desperate search for children’s books that addressed Black history, Black heritage and Black experiences. Disappointed by the limited number and unreliable availability, the couple embarked upon a mission: to produce the kind of positive, vibrant Black –interest books that they wanted for their own two children. So, in 1988, the Hudson started Just Us Books, the nation’s leading independent publisher of Black interest for young people. In this program, Wade and Cheryl share their incredible journey.
There are diverse communities throughout the country and, most, if not all, still have libraries or access to libraries. We recognize that the existence of libraries is threatened. However, there can be new avenues for libraries to serve the greater community and communities still threatened by a “digital divide”. Libraries can serve as clearinghouses for information and a resource for dissemination of environmental and health information. Many communities, particularly, communities of color, suffer disproportionately from a multitude of diverse health/environmental health and environmental issues. Environmental Justice is a term used to reflect the fact that low-income and/or minority communities have historically been disproportionately impacted by adverse environmental effects. Libraries can help to increase the community’s capacity to understand and participate in defining and addressing their environmental and environmental justice issues. Libraries can serve a multigenerational constituency by providing Internet access as well as print documents. Libraries can also provide access to online mapping and screening tools to assist communities in determining their environmental and/or health risks and present threats (e.g. ToxMap, EJSCREEN). This workshop will provide useful information about library-based health information centers, environmental programming in libraries and grant programs to assist libraries in being a resource for environmental and health/environmental health information.
Climate change has and will continue to produce an increasing burden on vulnerable populations including children, the elderly, low-income communities of color, and tribes. Beyond increased burdens on health, climate change impacts will continue to result in the need for a strong, coordinated, and intentional disaster response and ultimate recovery for communities affected by climate-related disasters. Dr. Mildred McClain and Dr. Yomi Noibi have both committed themselves to increasing awareness of issues around climate change that affect vulnerable populations and communities of color.
There’s something magical about a first novel — that promise of a new voice, the possibility of finding a writer you can follow for years to come. The debut novel is evenmore important for the writer because it might spark a great career. Writing your first book is no mean feat. Let’s hear about two exciting debut novels. The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter: a Novel by Kia Corthron; the story sweeps American history from 1941 to the twenty-first century through the lives of four men—two white brothers from rural Alabama, and two black brothers from small-town Maryland—whose journey culminates in an explosive and devastating encounter between the two families. Passage by Khary Lazarre-White; tells the story of Warrior, a young black man, who is surrounded by deep family love and a sustaining connection to his history, connections that arm him as he confronts the urban forces that he faces--both supernatural and human--forces that seek his very destruction.
Authors will share the pros and cons their writing journey and reveal how these books propelled their careers.
Sponsored by Seven Stories an Imprint of Penguin/Random House
According to a recent study, published in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, practicing mindfulness meditation appears to be associated with measurable changes in the brain regions involved in memory, learning, and emotion. Mindfulness meditation focuses attention on breathing to develop increased awareness of the present. Previous research has demonstrated that mindfulness meditation may reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. The part of NIH that has primary research for mindfulness meditation is the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. https://nccih.nih.gov/
Stephanie Phillips has practiced and studied mindfulness for many years. In this presentation, she will present information on research about the benefits of mindfulness meditation and lead the group in meditation sessions.
Join Khary Lazarre-White as he shares his over twenty years of work with Bro/Sis, a community based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to developing youth into empowered critical thinkers and community leaders. Founded in 1995, The Brotherhood/Sister Sol (Bro/Sis) provides comprehensive, holistic and long-term support services to youth who range in age from eight to twenty-two. Bro/Sis offers wrap around evidence-based programming. An excellent model for youth engagement.
If you ever get the chance to travel to South Africa, instead of a “hello”, you may instead be greeted with the Zulu phrase Sawubona (see:ya:wu:bow:nah), “we see you”. Instead of a passive hello, this Zulu greeting is an intentional acknowledgment and active witnessing of the presence of other and their place in their community. IMLS hopes to inspire and support more of the library field, civic institutions, the philanthropic community, community and local non-profits and to affirm to our communities, Sawubona!
IMLS is gathering input from the library, museum, and community revitalization fields to develop frameworks, tools, and resources to support staff skill-building needed to help transform the connections libraries have with their communities. The Community Catalyst Initiative intends to support libraries as they develop a deeper understanding of how they can partner with their communities to bring about positive change around a shared vision or goal. During this session, BCALA members will delve into the recent findings shared in IMLS’s recent publication “Strengthening Networks, Sparking Change: Museums and Libraries as Community Catalysts” and explore how their institutions can best leverage federal investments and their own local assets to best support their communities. As IMLS move forward with the Community Catalyst Initiative and other legacy funding priorities like the National Leadership Grant for Libraries, it hopes to explore the role of libraries in community development and for participants at BCALA to share their thoughts on how IMLS and the field can be enablers of community vitality and co-creators of positive community change.
OPUSSEVEN’s creative director Dwayne Bishop and Dr. Lambert Shell, Director of Roosevelt Public Library will share a collaborative project.
Today’s atmosphere is rapidly becoming more open, mobile and accessible, how do libraries continue to engage this new user on this new environment? We will try to answer this question by exploring RPL Connect – an ambitious and collaborative project in partnership with the Roosevelt Public Library. Come and interact, engage and share your ideas which we believe is the basis for successfully expanding the walls of the library via digital channels.
RPL Connect will be a leading-edge multi-media, multi-platform solution firmly rooted in the belief that our past must be carefully and accurately curated. It’s a digital cultural repository, a place for leaning and preserving the precious part of our lives - our collective history, our living history.
