ALSC accepting nominations for its professional awards
Laura M. Schulte-Cooper
Program Officer, Communications
Association for Library Service to Children
312-280-2165
For Immediate Release
September 19, 2006
ALSC accepting nominations for its professional awards
CHICAGO - The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), offers awards that: provide travel support for continuing education opportunities; honor individuals for superior service to ALSC or the profession; and recognize and support outstanding library programming for children.
Awards are open to ALSC members.
The application/nomination deadline for all awards is December 1, 2006. To download application/nomination forms, visit
www.ala.org/alsc and click on "Awards & Scholarships" and "Professional Awards."
The
ALSC/BWI Summer Reading Program Grant is designed to encourage reading programs for children in a public library by providing financial assistance of $3,000, while recognizing ALSC members for outstanding program development. The applicant must plan and present an outline for a theme-based summer reading program in a public library. The selection committee encourages proposals with innovative ways to promote involvement of children with physical or mental disabilities. The award is made possible through an annual grant from BWI.
The
ALSC/Sagebrush Education Resources Literature Program Grant is designed to honor an ALSC member who has developed and implemented a unique and outstanding reading or literature program for children. The award provides a grant of $1,000 to support the winning member's attendance at the ALA Annual Conference. The award is made possible through an annual grant from Sagebrush Corporation.
The purpose of the reading program must be to bring children and books together and to develop life-long reading habits in children. The program must be sponsored by a public library or school library media center; be specifically designed for and targeted at children, infants through age fourteen; and have taken place during the calendar year preceding the application deadline.
The
Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship is designed to allow qualified children's librarians to spend a month or more reading and studying at the Baldwin Library of the George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville. The Baldwin Library contains a special collection of 85,000 volumes of children's literature published mostly before 1950. The fellowship is endowed in memory of Louise Seaman Bechtel and Ruth M. Baldwin and will provide a stipend of $4,000 for travel and living expenses during the period of study. Up to two awards are granted annually.
Candidates must have the following qualifications to be considered: personal membership in ALSC; currently working in direct service to children; at least eight years professional experience in direct service to children; a graduate degree from an ALA-accredited program; willingness to write a report about his/her study.
The
Distinguished Service Award honors an individual ALSC member who has made significant contributions to, and an impact on, library services to children and/or ALSC. The recipient receives $1,000 and an engraved pin at the ALSC Membership Meeting during the ALA Annual Conference. Individuals nominated may be chosen from any facet of library services to children. The designee may be a practicing librarian in a public or school library, a library or information science educator, a member of the library press, or an editor or other employee of a publishing house. The individual may be active or retired. The nominee should be an individual who has made an immediate or sustained contribution to the understanding or expansion of library services to children or to ALSC. Both the nominee and the individual making the nomination must be members of ALSC.
The
Maureen Hayes Author/Illustrator Visit Award, established with funding from Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, pays the honorarium and travel for a visiting children's author or illustrator to a maximum of $4,000. Applicants seek to provide a visit from an author or illustrator who will speak to children who have not had the opportunity to hear a nationally known author or illustrator. Reasons for applying could include: particular interest in the work of an author or illustrator; the inability to host such an event without the award's monetary contribution; a special celebration; and so forth.
The
Penguin Young Readers Group Award, made possible by an annual gift from the Penguin Young Readers Group, enables children's librarians to attend the ALA Annual Conference. Four librarians working directly with children in elementary or middle schools, or public libraries will each receive $600. Requirements for application are: ALSC membership (applicant must be a member by the application deadline); one to 10 years of experience as a children's librarian; and no previous attendance at an annual ALA Conference.
For more information about each award and to download award application forms, visit
www.ala.org/alsc and click on "Awards & Scholarships" and "Professional Awards." To request a form to be sent by mail: send a postcard to ALSC, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; e-mail:
alsc@ala.org; or call 1-800-545-2433, ext. 2166.
The submission deadline for all professional award applications is December 1, 2006.
