Youth Source

Penguin Young Readers Group Award

Four awards will enable children's librarians to attend the ALA's 2008 Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, June 26-July 2, 2008. Four librarians working directly with children in elementary, middle schools or public libraries will each receive $600. Application deadline is Monday, December 3.

For more info, including how to apply, visit the ALSC site.

Rolling Prairie Youth Newsletter

Rachel Miller, Consultant at the Rolling Prarie Library System edits a Bi-monthly Youth Services Newsletter. To check out the May issue go to "Let's Get it All Together."

NoveList and NoveList K-8 Available

Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White and the Illinois State Library are pleased to announce the E-Rich offering of NoveList & NoveList K-8.

NoveList allows adults and teens to find recommended books based on existing favorite books, favorite authors, subject interests and more. NoveList K-8 helps children in grades K-8, parents & teachers identify books that are appropriate for children's reading abilities and interests. This offering not only provides access to a database, but also offers a wide range of resources that will expand your staff's ability to serve readers of all ages and increase your library's reach.

NoveList and NoveList K-8 is avilable t ILLINET member academic, public, special, high school, middle school and elementary school library buildings. The Illinois State Library will subsidize 50% of the cost for each library building.

Application and invoice instructions can be found at the NoveList section of the Illinois State Library's webstie. Please contact Gwen Harrison at [email protected] or 217-785-7334 for further information.

Read for A Lifetime

The Illinois State LIbrary's "Read for a Lifetime" program for high school students has announced a new set of titles for the 2007-2008 school year.  With a few exceptions, next year's titles highlight Illinois authors or books with settings in Illinois.  You can check out the list at the Read for a Lifetime site.

The 2007-2008 school year marks the 10th anniversary of "Read for a Lifetime."

Online Booktalks for Illinois "Choice" Awards.

The DuPage Library System will offer a series of three online discussions of the Illinois Children's Choice Book Awards.  The OPAL collaborative web conferencing service for libraries will be used to make these programs available.  There is no need to register for these events, all you need is a computer with a headset and speakers.  The dates for the presentations are:

Tuesday, May 1st.  3:00 p.m. Central Time.  The Monarch Award, Pam Storm from the Carl Sandburg School in Charleston, ILllinois will introduce the K-3 nominated books.

Thursday, May 3rd.  3:00 p.m. Central Time.  Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award, Bonita Slovinski from Lincoln Junior High School in Naperville, IL  will talk about the books for grades 4 through 8.

Thursday, May 10th.  3:00 p.m. Central Time.  Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award.  The Abraham Lincoln Award is awarded annually to the author of the book voted as most outstanding by participating students in grades nine through twelve in Illinois.  Carolyn Roys from Lake Park High School in Roselle, IL will lead a lively discussion of the nominated books for 2008.

September-Adopt a School Library Month

From Lou Ann Jacobs, ISLMA Legislative Advocate:

On Thursday, March 29th U.S. Senator Dick Durbin introduced legislation that would designate September 2007 as Adopt a School Library Month.  The resolution was a surprise to ALA, AASL, and ISLMA.The full resolution can be viewed at:  Download senate_resolution_134.doc

The Resolution has no federal money attached.  It does give recognition to the problem of funding for school libraries and librarians. Hopefully, we can use this to our advantage on the state and local level.  It certainly does give awareness to the problems.

School librarians are encouraged to contact Senator Durbin and thank him for Senate Resolution 134 and his recognition of the problems facing school libraries in Illinois.

Tell the Senator about your own school and your school library.  So often, all a member of Congress sees are charts and graphs and numbers.  They do not get the stories about how what is happening with the people in their districts.

Senator Durbin can be contacted in the following manner:

Via Email Form:  http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm#contact 

Or through one of his offices:

Washington, DC
309 Hart Senate Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-2152
(202) 228-0400 - fax

Chicago
230 S Dearborn St. STE 3892
Chicago, IL 60604-1483
(312) 353-4952
(312) 353-0150 - fax

Springfield
525 South 8th St.
Springfield, IL 62703
(217 ) 492-4062
(217) 492-4382 - fax

Marion
701 N. Court St.
Marion, IL 62959
(618) 998-8812
(618) 997-0176 - fax

For more information, you can go to the link on Senator Durbin's website or check out coverage from a southern Illinois newspaper, the West Frankfort Daily American

Grant to Attend AASL

This year, Bound to Stay Bound, a supplier of children's and young adult books, would like to award two grants to members of the Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) to help defray the costs of attending their first American Association of School Librarian's Conference in Reno, NV, October 25-28, 2007.  The grants will be in the amount of $750 each and the ISLMA Grants and Awards Committee will determine the two winners.

Take a look at the ISLMA website at this address:  http://www.islma.org/Bound.htm for details of eligibility and the online application form.  Applications are due by May 4, 2007.