Cognotes 2018 Midwinter Meeting Denver Highlights - 1

COGNOTES

MIDWINTER MEETING & EXHIBITS

February 9-13, 2018

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS | DENVER
DENVER, CO

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

Bill Nye and Gregory Mone
Share Stories and Science
By Kacee Anderson/Northbrook Elementary

Mone used real kids that he had previously
written about in his magazine, as inspiration for
the characters in the Jack and the Geniuses series.
Nye resolved to have one of the characters be
a girl. "Objectively, half the humans are girls

losing session speakers Bill Nye and
Gregory Mone shared their love of
the natural world with ALA members
February 12, with a
discussion on science,
realistic characters,
and the mission of
libraries today. Bill
Nye, most famous for
the beloved television
show "Bill Nye the
Science Guy" teamed
up with Gregory
Mone, who has written about artificial
intelligence, robotics,
physics, and biology,
in both magazines
and award-winning
children's books.
After an initial
chance meeting and Science educator, mechanical engineer, television host, and
subsequent surfing New York Times bestselling author William Sanford "Bill" Nye,
and coauthor Gregory Mone speak at the Closing Session.
adventure, Nye contacted Mone wanting to start writing science- and women. Why not have half the engineers
themed adventures for kids. Nye said of Mone, and scientists be girls and women?" The female
"Greg can just lay down dialog. He's funny. I'm character Ava came about from Nye's mother,
funny looking, but he's funny."

» see page 3

2018 ALA President's Program:
Tough Questions, No Clear Answers
By Kacee Anderson /Northbrook Elementary

he question of neutrality in librarianship
is not new - yet is as relevant as ever. On
February 11, ALA President Jim Neal
introduced a panel which sought to discuss the
questions: Are libraries neutral? Have they ever
been? Should they be? Neal noted that while
libraries have always been presented as content
neutral, "our library should be vigorously advocating for a distinct set of values."
James LaRue, the director of the ALA's Of-

2018 MIDWINTER MEETING & EXHIBITS HIGHLIGHTS

fice for Intellectual Freedom and the Freedom
to Read Foundation, argued that, yes, libraries
should be neutral. "We do not deny access to
library services and resources. We do set limits
on behavior, but speech is not the same thing
as action." He added, "Suppressing speech in
any way is the foundation of censorship and
tyranny." LaRue argued that everyone gets a seat
at the table. Firefighters, nurses, and librarians
are all nonpartisan and will serve their patrons
» see page 12

AWARDSCOVERAGE

he American Library Association
announced the top books, video,
and audio books for children and
young adults - including the Caldecott,
Coretta Scott King, Newbery, and Printz
awards - at its Midwinter Meeting in Denver, Colorado (see story on page 6).

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan, published by Scribner, is the winner of the
2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and You Don't Have to
Say You Love Me: A Memoir by Sherman
Alexie, published by Little, Brown, is the
winner of the 2018 Andrew Carnegie
Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction (see
story on page 8).
RUSA's Notable Books Council, first
established in 1944, has announced the
2018 selections of the Notable Books
List, an annual best-of list comprised
of 26 titles written for adult readers and
published in the U.S. including fiction,
nonfiction, and poetry (see story on page 9).

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