ALSC FACT SHEET
Contact ALSC: 312-280-2163; 800-545-2433, ext. 2163, alsc@ala.org
The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of service to children in all types of libraries. ALSC sets the agenda for the future of children’s library service and acts as a children’s advocate, urging policy makers to support library service for children. To achieve its goals, ALSC partners with government and academic institutions, publishers, teachers and a wide range of organizations serving children from birth through age 14 and their families.
Mission
The mission of ALSC is to support the profession of children’s librarianship, enabling and encouraging its practitioners to provide the best library service to our nation’s children. ALSC is dedicated to creating a better future by creating better opportunities for today’s children. Through its programs and publications, ALSC provides leadership to the profession and public on behalf of high quality library services that support children in becoming lifelong learners.
Membership Benefits
ALSC, one of the 11 ALA divisions, has more than 4,000 individual and institutional members. Members receive a journal, Children and Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, three times a year; ALSConnect, a quarterly newsletter; discounts on publications, products and registration for ALSC events; the opportunity to serve on over 60 committees and task forces and to participate in many discussion groups on hot topics and current trends and issues in service to children; and educational and professional development opportunities.
Members are part of a vast network of colleagues, including librarians, educators, publishers, parents and children’s advocates. ALSC maintains various electronic discussion lists for members and a Web site (http://www.ala.org/alsc) that includes information about the mission, the wide-reaching programming and advocacy initiatives, and the extensive awards program, including scholarships and grants, as well as links to other sites.
ALSC provides professional advisory services to members requesting information on children’s library service, literature and professional development. ALSC works with other organizations that request advice on working to promote literacy for children and families. ALSC maintains a legislative network to keep members informed about government decisions that affect the service they provide. In order to have solid data for policy makers, ALSC promotes research in the area of library service to children.
Awards
ALSC administers the most prestigious awards in children’s literature—the John Newbery Medal, honoring the author of the past year’s most outstanding contribution to children’s literature, and the Randolph Caldecott Medal, honoring the illustrator of the past year’s most distinguished American picture book for children.
Other ALSC awards include: The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, to an author or illustrator for an outstanding contribution to children’s literature over a period of years; the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award, for the most distinguished informational book; the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, for the best children’s book published in a foreign language and then translated into English; the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children’s Video; the Pura Belpré Award, given in conjunction with REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, recognizing outstanding original works written or illustrated by a Latino/Latina author or illustrator; and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, to the author and illustrator of an outstanding book for beginning readers; and the Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production, given in conjunction with YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association and sponsored by Booklist magazine. These awards, and others, are announced during the ALA Midwinter Meeting and presented to the award winners during the ALA Annual Conference.
ALSC awards and publications provide direction to librarians, parents, educators and others who work with children. Awards also recognize and demonstrate appreciation for publishers who produce the best material for children.
Grants, Professional Awards and Scholarships
ALSC travel grants provide funding for attendance at ALA meetings and conferences. ALSC professional awards encourage development of reading programs on a local level and continuing education and recognize excellent service in the area of children’s librarianship. ALSC offers two $6,000 and four $6,500 scholarships to encourage graduate library study at the MLS or Ph.D. level for individuals pursuing a career in children’s librarianship. Support from corporate sponsors underwrites many of the ALSC grants and scholarships.
Partnerships and Projects
ALSC works with many youth, government and educational organizations to ensure literate youth today and informed leaders for tomorrow. Current activities include projects with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
ALSC is the national home of El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), thanks to a series of grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Día is an annual April 30 celebration of children, families, reading and cultures. 2006 marked the 10th anniversary of Día, founded in 1996 by children's book author Pat Mora. Nationally hundreds of libraries host Día celebrations with family programs including bilingual story hours, book giveaways and other literacy events. Target is Día's first official national sponsor. For more information, visit http://www.ala.org/dia.
The ALSC Born to Read project (initially funded by the Prudential Foundation) builds partnerships between librarians and health care providers in order to reach out to new and expectant "at-risk" parents and help them raise children who are "born to read."
The Boys and Girls Clubs Day for Kids (formerly National KidsDay) is on September 16, 2006. BGC Day for Kids is a day set aside each year to celebrate America's children through the gift of meaningful time with a positive adult. Further information is available on the BGC Web site at http://www.dayforkids.org/ .
ALSC and the Public Library Association (PLA) have partnered on the Every Child Ready to Read project to incorporate the latest research into a series of parent and caregiver workshops to provide public libraries with vital tools to help prepare parents for their critical role as their child's first teacher. These tools were developed by Dr. Grover C. Whitehurst and Dr. Christopher Lonigan, well-known researchers in emergent literacy, and have been tested and refined by library demonstration sites around the country.
Partnerships with outside organizations allow the association to more efficiently and effectively develop and distribute high quality promotional materials to libraries throughout the country.
Professional Education
ALSC members remain on the cutting edge of library service to children through participation in ALSC- and ALA-sponsored institutes, preconferences and education programs at national and regional conferences. ALSC develops competencies for children’s librarians in an effort to promote, strengthen and support the education of children’s specialists. We offer workshops and programs at Preconferences and during the ALA Annual Conference, and the ALSC Institute is held in even years in September, rotating among various locations around the country.
To find out more about working with ALSC, contact Diane Foote, Executive Director, 50 East Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Telephone: 800-545-2433, ext. 2162, dfoote@ala.org.
08/06
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ALSC Fact Sheet