CSLA 2009-Thursday

Greetings from the California School Library Association (CSLA) conference in Ontario, CA. I arrived just in time to pick up my registration packet and get the materials I would need to serve as facilitator for two today’s workshops. A facilitator’s job is to welcome and introduce the presenter or guest speaker, get tech help if needed, hand out and retrieve evaluations, count the people in attendance and give the presenter a small gift. It is a fun and easy volunteer job, because you help at sessions you would be in anyway.

The first session I attended was “New Trends: The best in YA Literature” presented by Michael Cart. Every year he reads hundreds of books for young adults (that’s you) and share information about them with the rest of us. He talked for two hours and only got through half his list of good books published in 2009. Look for some of those titles to turn up on the shelves of our library.

The second session, “Reinventing a Library Practice Cutriculum”, presented by Mark Bobrosky, gave me some good ideas for assignments that I can use in our Library Science classes. Many of them will help you with your research skills.

After that session, there was a break, before the opening of the exhibit hall. This is where the various vendors and special displays are located. There were representatives of companies that sell books, software, library furniture, library t-shirts and other things. The first night some of the vendors sponsor food stations, so you can get enough to count as dinner while you browse. Many vendors also have candy, pens, or other small giveaways to encourage people to stop and talk to them. The winners of the poster contest were on display. Our own M.S. in first period got an honorable mention. Finally, to show that even librarians can be silly, there was a library cart drill team contest. One of the teams wore cow costumes and has carts named things like the “Moobery awards”. Everyone seemed to enjoy the lightheartedness of the event.