Diversity

CHICAGO — Carolyn Garnes, founder and CEO of Aunt Lil’s Reading Room, is the 2015 recipient of the Zora Neale Hurston Award, an annual achievement award administered by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association and sponsored by HarperCollins.

CHICAGO — The ALA Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion was created in the spring of 2014 by then ALA President Barbara Stripling.

The Task Force is currently in the information-gathering phase. To aid with information gathering, it has launched a series of short surveys to be conducted at times to coincide with the ALA Midwinter Meetings and Annual Conferences through 2016. These surveys are designed to help understand the culture of the association, the profession and our communities with respect to equity, diversity and inclusion.

CHICAGO — The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), in collaboration with the Children’s Book Council (CBC), will be hosting a Day of Diversity: Dialogue and Action in Children’s Literature and Library Program on Jan. 30, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.

CHICAGO — On Wednesday, Nov. 19,  author Daniel Handler served as the host of the 2014 National Book Awards. Known for his quick wit and bold presentations, Handler pushed the envelope too far. Shortly after the announcement of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature to author Jacqueline Woodson, for her book “Brown Girl Dreaming,”  Handler’s poor attempt to joke with the crowd by folding in African-American stereotypes proved ill-fated.