ALA Cognotes

2013 MIDWINTER MEETING January 2013—SEATTLE

See You in Chicago!

I hope you enjoyed the lively Midwinter Meeting in Seattle and came away with many new ideas and connections. Thanks to everyone for the hard work, creativity, and active participation. I am especially energized by the series of conversations around community engagement and the understanding of why this is so critical to the future of libraries and our nation.

For me, Midwinter is always a good time to reflect on the progress of my work and to review my personal goals. There's much more I want to accomplish in the next half of my presidential year, and we've got big plans for the Annual Conference in Chicago. We'll be continuing the conversations from Midwinter, and we have excellent speakers and authors already lined up, including Temple Grandin, Khaled Hosseini, Ping Fu, Congressman John Lewis, and Jonathan Kozol.

In addition to the hundreds of sessions and programs on top-of-mind topics, the pre-conferences, and all the networking you can handle, the exhibit floor will be the largest in years, with more than 800 exhibitors showing off the latest technologies, titles, furnishings and more.

I hope you will join us in Chicago for the Annual Conference in June. You can find more information and details about how to register and book housing at alaannual.org. Book early to be sure you get the discounted rates. See you in June!

- ALA President
Maureen Sullivan

(For more about the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, please see page 7)

Richard Harwood and ALA President Maureen Sullivan talk about libraries transforming communities.

Maureen Sullivan (from left), President, American Library Association; Jack Martin, President, Young Adult Library Services Association; Carolyn Brodie, President, Association for Library Service to Children; Jonda McNair, Chair, Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee; and Denice Adkins, President, REFORMA; announce the recipients of the 2013 ALA Youth Media Awards.

American Library Association Announces 2013 Youth Media Award Winners

On January 28 the American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video and au-diobooks for children and young adults - including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards - at its Midwinter Meeting in Seattle.

A list of all the 2013 award winners follows:

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature:

The One and Only Ivan, written by Katherine Apple-gate, is the 2013 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by HarperCollins Children's Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.

Three Newbery Honor Books also were named:

Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schlitz and published by Candlewick Press; Bomb: The Race to Build— and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, by Steve Sheinkin and published by Flash Point, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press; and

» see page 13

From Isolation to Engagement, Reclaiming Role of the Community

By Brad Martin LAC Group

Peter Block led a two-hour interactive workshop about what real transformation is and how to achieve it at the ALA President's Program on January 27.

Block, best-selling author of Community: The Structure of Belonging and well-known for his experience working on community engagement, wasted no time in saying, “The reason I am here is I love who you are, and what you do, period.”

He noted that “libraries are the most trusted agency in the city - fire departments

» see page 12