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14 COGNOTES DENVER DECEMBER PREVIEW
Awesome Foundation Libraries Chapter Hosts Pitch Event for Ideas
The Awesome Foundation’s Libraries Chapter (http://www.awesomefoundation.org/en/chapters/libraries) is hosting its first ever Awesome Ideas Pitch for Libraries during the 2018 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver. We’re looking for great ideas for small projects that could impact your community, demonstrate a new idea, or improve a tool or service. Up to eight teams will share their ideas with the attendees and the audience and judges will choose their favorite. The winner will walk out of the event with $1,000 to implement their idea.
The Awesome Libraries micro-grant initiative is an international community-funded effort that follows on the Awesome Foundation’s model: the grant brings together a group of trustees who make or direct a personal contribution to collectively fund one project per quarter.
Transformative innovation is often driven by small scale projects and experiments. In the past six months the chapter has supported projects from around the world that reflect the potential of citizen – and library – driven collaborations to address community issues and innovations. These include funding a digitization project for children’s textbooks in Chad, a one-day conference on community social justice in Texas, a teen empowerment project in Illinois, a collection gadgets and equipment for special needs patrons in Michigan, a set of high quality materials for check-out to pre-K teachers in India, and a collection of materials in Pashto, Farsi, and Arabic languages for a migrant and refugee library in Serbia.
For Midwinter, we are looking for great ideas that just need a little funding to get started. We see this as a chance to share an idea, move a project along, or do something wacky, fun, experimental, or artistic with no strings attached. To be considered for the pitch event, interested participants will need to put together a project and fill out a Pitch Proposal. To help support this event and future awesome projects by being a trustee or donating or to keep up to date on quarterly winners and where projects have gone, join the newsletter. You’ll find them at http://www.awesomefoundation.org/en/chapters/libraries.
If you just want to be inspired by the awesome ideas brewing in the field, come to the pitch on Saturday, February 10 at 4:30 p.m., Colorado Convention Center, Rm. 405/407.
DOWNTOWN DENVER ACCOMMODATIONS
American Library Association 2018 Midwinter Meeting
- Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center - HQ
- Sheraton Denver Downtown - Co-HQ
- Crowne Plaza Denver
- The Curtis, a Doubletree by Hilton
- Embassy Suites by Hilton Denver Downtown
- Grand Hyatt Denver
- Hilton Garden Inn Denver Downtown
- Holiday Inn Express Denver Downtown
- Hyatt House Denver Downtown
- Hyatt Place Denver Downtown
- Magnolia Hotel Denver
- HIlton Denver City Center (Formally Marriott Denver City Center)
Elizabeth Hyde Among Featured Authors at the Gala Author Tea
Elisabeth Hyde, Spencer Wise, Ariel Lawhon, and Molly Tanzer will be among featured authors at United for Libraries’ Gala Author Tea, sponsored by ReferenceUSA, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. on Monday, February 12 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. A light offering of tea, finger sandwiches, and a variety of sweet treats will be served. A book signing will follow.
United for Libraries will recognize the winners of the 2017 National Friends of Libraries Week Awards during the program. Elisabeth Hyde (Go Ask Fannie) is the author of five critically acclaimed novels, most recently In the Heart of the Canyon, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a People Magazine Great Read. Trained as a lawyer, she worked for the U.S. Department of Justice before she started writing full-time. Spencer Wise (The Emperor of Shoes) is a graduate of Tufts University and the University of Texas at Austin. He recently won the 2017 Gulf Coast Prize in nonfiction. His work has appeared in Narrative Magazine, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Florida Review, and New Ohio Review.
Ariel Lawhon (I Was Anastasia) is cofounder of the popular website SheReads.org. A novelist, blogger, and lifelong reader, she lives in the rolling hills outside Nashville, Tenn., with her husband, four sons, and black lab – who is, thankfully, a female. Molly Tanzer (Creatures of Will and Temper) is the Sydney J. Bounds and Wonderland Book Award – nominated author of Vermilion, A Pretty Mouth, The Pleasure Merchant, and other works.
Advance tickets to the Gala Author Tea cost $60, $55 for United for Libraries division members. Onsite tickets cost $65, if available. Advance purchase is recommended. Event code: UNI1.
For more information on purchasing tickets and other United for Libraries events and meetings at the ALA Midwinter Meeting, visit www.ala.org/united/events_conferences/midwinter.
United for Libraries to Host Free Institute for Friends, Foundations, and Trustees
United for Libraries will host a free “United for Libraries Institute: Friends, Trustees, Foundations” at the ALA Midwinter Meeting on Friday, February 9 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Library Trustees, Friends groups, Foundations, and staff are invited to join a free afternoon of expert speakers and learning opportunities. Miguel Figueroa of ALA’s Center for the Future of Libraries will be the keynote speaker. Additional speakers will lead concurrent breakout sessions.
This event is free but registration is required event code: UNI2).
For more information and a complete schedule of United for Libraries programs at the Midwinter Meeting, visit www.ala.org/united. United for Libraries: The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, is a division of the American Library Association with approximately 4,000 personal and group members representing hundreds of thousands of library supporters. United for Libraries supports those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries, and brings together library trustees, advocates, friends, and foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. To join, please visit www.ala.org/united or call (800) 545-2433, ext. 2161.
