PLA Blog

From the preconference luncheon featuring YA author Meg Cabot:

On libraries: “I spent so much time in the library as a kid. The library had air conditioning, vending machines, spacious bathrooms, and books. I thought it was heaven. I could read whatever I wanted! I spent so much time escaping into the world of fiction.”

On writing: “If you have a dream, you should at least try to pursue it. Live the dream! Why not? It’s fiction.”

On librarians: “Thank you all so much. I’m glad I didn’t become a veterinarian. If I had, I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you; I’d be somewhere with my finger up a dog’s butt.”

On Sunday, June 24, I attended the program “Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails: Every BOY Ready to Read @ Your Library,” presented by Dr. Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D. He explained the gender differences between boys and girls and how we could use this in our storytimes. A few highlights from his Powerpoint presentation:

•Gender gap
-Between 1980-2004, gender gap of leisure-time reading
-1 in 10 boys now reads for fun
-Gender gap has become a chasm (“…a marker of gender identity: girls read, boys don’t.” –Bauerlein & Stotsky 2005, Bauerlein 2007)

•Sex differences in brain development (Harriet Hanlon, et al. 1999)
-studied 224 girls, 284 boys, ages 2 months to 16 years
-fine motor skills and language : girls develop faster
-gross motor skills, spatial memory, visual targeting : boys develop faster

•Learning styles
-Boys listen better when they are standing (rather than sitting – “their brains shut off”)
-Most young girls learn better when sitting
-Does not mean there is a difference in rank (or abilities)
-Boys are taught to sit still in school like the girls (so then school = girly … why they hate it)
-Best temperature to learn: 60 degrees boys, 75 degrees girls (children and young adults for normal size) – 6 degrees of separation

•Extraneous noise (Colin, Elliot and assoc.)
-Bother girls and women at sound levels 10 to 40x lower than boys/,men
-Girls are aware of what’s going on around them
-90-92% of boys not bothered by noise

•Storytime
-Offer Noisy Time Story Time (and Quiet Time Story Time)
-Noisy:
-Turn the thermostat down
-Seats are optional (bean bag chairs?) – boys love to crouch
-Rule: No hitting, can’t disturb others
-Choose stories boys enjoy (Watch out for “demand characteristics” – what’s the right choice?)
-Allow buzzing/tapping/clicking

For more information, visit Dr. Sax’s website: www.boysadrift.com (same title as his new book, being published in August 2007)

For the second year in a row I attended this great program organized by ALA ’s Office for Diversity. - “a celebration of the written and spoken word, lyrics, and song.” The premise is basic: bring together authors, poets, musicians, and dancers to provide a sampler of local talent and a range of perspectives about the town where the conference is held and other cultures. I found it to be the perfect start to the conference last year, and I early-on decided that I would not miss this year’s program. This time around the program was less politically charged than post-Katrina New Orleans, but there were still many unique voices:

-Program MC Jose Aponte, director of the San Diego County Library system, peppered the program with lively banter and library-related words of wisdom, emphasizing our duty as librarians to nurture and reconstruct our communities and make “our house”, the library, open to all ideas. He added that it is our role as librarians to support the next generation of writers, through “discipline, focus, legacy”.

-Da Grewp, a Washington DC band, played “Go-Go” music, D.C.’s version of funk.

- Nancy Garden read an abridged version of her contribution to the collection Hear Us Out! Lesbian and Gay Stories of Struggle, Progress, and Hope, which includes stories from different historical eras of the GLBT movement.

- Patrice Gaines described words as “magic” in her story, “In the Beginning There was a Word”, meant to encourage young people to read and explore the world of libraries.

-Anosh Irani brought a taste of India to the room with an excerpt from his new book The Song of Kahunsha.

- Reginald Harris painted a portrait of the “magic city” with his poems about Baltimore.

- C.M. Mayo read an excerpt from her collection of stories about her adventures in Baja California, the other Mexico.

- The Ishangi Family African Dancers performed their wonderful family dances to the playing of drums, reminding the audience that “life is life”, regardless of hardships or joys.

- E. Ethelbert Miller “informed, inspired, and entertained” (per Aponte) with his poems from Turn the Page and You Don’t Stop: Sharing Successful Chapters in Our Lives with Youth.

- Mary Kay Ricks read from her upcomng book Escape on the Pearl: the Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Railroad.

- Tim Tingle told us to the beat of a drum that “words bring spirit to a place”. He recounted storiespassed down from grandparents, and reminded everyone to “keep our eyes on where we are going, and not on the bloody footprints of the past.”

- The talented young writers of DC WritersCorp read from pieces they had written with their interpretations of characters from Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Sunday was a very busy day full of programs.

Nancy Pearl
First I arrive bright and early to see Nancy Pearl speak. It was fascinating to hear how each of her books came into being, especially her lastest book, Book Crush. She gave some suggestions of books for children and teens such as :
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz
The Paperboy by Pete Dexter
Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Lee
Each Little Bird that Sings by Deborah Wiles
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
The Great Good Thing by Rod Townley
Ragweed by Avi
The Teacher’s Funeral by Richard Peck
Thirsty by MT Anderson
Feed by MT Anderson
Looking for Normal by Betty Monthei
Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis

Off the Chain: Reader’s Advisory for Exploding Genres
I really enjoyed this program. I won’t go into too many details because one of my fellow bloggers have done a great job detailing the program. I know that RUSA/PLA CODES will be having the handouts from their program on their websites. I found the program very interesting and has given me more authors and books to add to my list of books to read. I liked the many ways of finding out about new literature online, such as lit blogs and email lists as well as MySpace.

English Only: Censorship and its Impact on Latino Children and Young Adults in Schools and Public Libraries
I came into this program about half way through but I am glad I did. This program was given by AFL REFORMA. I missed the presentation part, but I did come in just as they started the discussion groups for different types of libraries. The public library discussion group was led by Rose Trevino. This gave people from different library systems a chance to ask questions and talk about how their library systems have their foreign languages materials placed in the collection and any programming that they have in foreign languages. Suggestions were also given on how to start a collection or to grow your current collection.

Future Friends: Marketing Reference and User Services to Generation X
This program was given by RUSA RSS. The handouts for this program will also be posted on RUSA’s blog. First the presenters went into defining Generation X and the facts about this generation. They then presented what this particular generation are looking for when it comes to services and potential segments of this generation. After defining Generation X, the presentation then went into how this would pertain to advertising to this generation and the different stages to planning advertising.
The next part of this program had St. Charles Library system in Illinois talk about their programs that they have for 20- and 30-somethings’ as well how they market those programs. They also gave examples of different programs, such as a cooking for 1 or 2 program, white elephant exchange, creating a safe online presence, a course on wine, and an history crawl of the town. Then they followed with some of the challenges that they have had with marketing as well as what they have learned.
Following this presentation was another presentation on the Young Friends of the Kansas City Public Library a.k.a BooksEnds. They went over what the group was and also how they marketed to their Generation X population.

Final Thoughts on ALA Annual Conference 2007
Unfortunately this was my last day at the conference. After attending different programs on Sunday, I took the time to go to the Library School Reunion Event at the Rennaissance Mayflower Hotel. It was great being able to see some fellow alumni from University of South Florida along with some of the professors that I had taken classes from. It was a good way to end my last day at the conference. I have had a blast at this year’s Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. I am looking forward to the next time I can attend an Annual Conference. I have found out a lot of useful information to take back to my library. I also have had a great time blogging about my experiences and the different programs that I have attended. So it’s been fun and I hope all those staying through Tuesday ave a great rest of conference. This is Catherine Moffatt signing off.

Many thanks to Po Bronson for giving us the permission to podcast his presentation at the 2007 PLA Spring Symposium Author Luncheon!

After a brief introduction from PLA president Susan Hildreth. The author of What Should I Do With My Life? and Why Do I Love These People? spoke about recent research in child learning and self esteem (you can read more about it in his New York Times article and on his blog) and how it pertains to librarians, inspirational stories from his childhood and his travels, his family’s 45 books per month library habit, and so much more.

Have a listen, and feel free to add your feedback about the presentation by posting a comment here.

 

 PLA Blog: Po Bronson, 2007 Spring Symposium Author Luncheon [56:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (237)