People of the Books

 AJL actively promotes Jewish literature through its various awards. In the field of Children’s Literature, the Sydney Taylor Awards are well-known to highlight the best in Jewish literature for children. Awards are given in three categories — younger readers (up to 8 years old), older readers (9-12), and teen (12 and up). This year AJL celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Sydney Taylor Awards at the annual Convention in Cleveland with a full day of special presentations.

  Sarah Gershman, winner of the Sydney Taylor Award for The Good Night Shma shares her story at one of the presentations.

The Association also gives awards for Bibliography and Reference works.

To encourage new Jewish writers, the Association also gives out a Manuscript award to an unpublished writer. Several of the Manuscript Award winners have gone on to have their books published and win a Sydney Taylor Book Award.

 Yael Mermelstein, winner of the Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award 2007.

Brenda Ferber was a Manuscript Award winner for Julia’s Kitchen and then went on to win the Sydney Taylor Award in 2007.

An upcoming event for those on the East Coast is the Jewish Literature for Children Conference organized by Anna Olswanger. It takes place at the 92nd Street Y and features authors, editors, publishers, and agents interested in Jewish literature for children.

For people who can not make it to New York, there is a West Coast Jewish Literature for Children Regional Conference coming up February 1st in Los Angeles and a Northwest Regional Conference in Seattle on February 15th. More to come on these events as they get closer!

‘Til Next Time,

Susan Dubin

AJL President

Seattle is the Evergreen State. AJL is starting to plan our 2010 Convention in this beautiful Northwest location. Consequently, David Hirsch, AJL Vice President/President-Elect, and I traveled up the coast to meet with our local Seattle committee, Janet Heineck, Toby Harris, and Rita Frischer, to check out hotels and lay some groundwork. We stayed at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront and the Fairmont Olympic. Both hotels are downtown, in easy walking distance of many classic Seattle sights. Both hotels are gorgeous and elegant and have great meeting space. We are waiting for the proposals and will go with the one that gives us the best rates (of course!). But either hotel will be a dynamite spot for the Convention and family vacations. Both hotels treated us royally and bent over backwards to impress— the Fairmont even copied our AJL logo in chocolate as a welcome dessert! Check out the photos to whet your appetite for Seattle in 2010…

While in Seattle, I spoke at the public library in North East Seattle about “Libraries as Bridges.” We were able to generate some interest in the Association of Jewish Libraries and to encourage some of the local Seattle people to participate in helping to plan the Convention (and be involved before and after!). Many thanks to Rita Frischer for arranging the program and to Marion Scichilone, Seattle Public Library Branch Manager  of
the North East Branch for making space available. Meeting in this location emphasized the broad application of this program to anyone interested in  books and libraries.

A very special treat at the program was a visit by an icon of Jewish Children’s literature — Chaya Burstein. She is now living in Seattle and still writing!

“til Next Time,

Susan Dubin

AJL President

One of our members from Argentina, Rita Saccal of the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano, just got back from the VII Convention of the RLIT (Red Latinoamericana de Informacion Teologica - Latin American Network of Theological Information) in Paraguay where she was the only Jewish librarian. Because of her input, for the first time in the history of this Red de Informacion Teologica (Network of Theological Information), to add Judaica in the Theological Librarianship Studies. She even taught the Convention participants to say the “Ha-Motzi” before meals! Many thanks, Rita, for introducing Judaic librarianship to this important South American organization.

This weekend, Vice President/President-Elect David Hirsch and I will be visiting Seattle to meet with the 2010 Convention committee and to check out the hotels we are considering for the Convention. While there, I will speak to a group at the Seattle Public Library Northeast Branch about the importance of libraries in our society and the role of librarians in building bridges with books and libraries. If you know anyone in the Seattle area, please invite them to attend!

‘Til next time,

Susan Dubin

AJL President

Right after returning from the AJL Convention, I headed out to Mickey Mouse Land  (Anaheim, California) to attend ALA. I spent all day on Friday at the Library Advocacy Workshop. It was very valuable even though much of the information had to do with influencing state and local governments to fund public and school libraries. There were some good suggestions for fundraising and a few good lists of how to present your case about the need for libraries and librarians. The AJL Convention also had a workshop on Valuing Libraries given by Joanne Roukens. If a chapter would like to bring Joanne Roukens to present a regional workshop, they should contact me to arrange it. It is well worthwhile!

I also spent time visiting the exhibits and speaking to some of the vendors about attending the AJL Convention next year in Chicago as well as trying to set up some agreements for AJL members to get discounts. More on that as agreements are worked out! For now, AJL members can get discounts from KarBen and Pitspopany Publishers.

‘Til Next Time,

Susan Dubin, AJL President

   Happy Canada Day to all AJL Canadian Members!

Many of our AJL members hail from our Northern neighbor. In fact, our current School, Synagogue, and Center Division President is from Bialik Hebrew Day School near Montreal. We have been fortunate to have several of our annual conventions in Canada. Most recently, we travelled to Toronto during the height of the SARS scare. Despite the news media hype, those of us who attended the Convention in 2003 had a marvelous time, completely germ-free.

We are just starting to plan our 2011 Convention in Montreal. If you live near there, please volunteer to help or join us for l’event fantastique!

‘Til next time,

Susan Dubin, AJL President

Hi! I am Susan Dubin, President of The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL), and we are “The People of the Books.” I just came back from our annual convention. This year we met in Cleveland at the Cleveland Marriott East, with some of the friendliest and most helpful hotel staffs I have ever known. The Cleveland chapter of the Association of Jewish Libraries organized the convention and provided learning, entertainment, and comraderie beyond excellent. Many of the sessions were recorded for podcasting and will be available soon on our website at www.jewishlibraries.org . In the meantime, you can read thoughts and observations from some of the convention attendees as well as some photos of the event at the 2008 AJL Convention Blog. Check it out! Nothing replaces the excitement of meeting old and new friends and being able to network in person, however.

The tone for the Convention was set by the keynote address by Dr. Ellen Frankel, CEO of the Jewish Publication Society. Dr. Frankel is a well-known author and publisher. She gave an overview of the history of Jewish publishing in the United Sates and left us with many words of wisdom.

One of the highlights of the Convention was a workshop on library advocacy. Unfortunately, libraries are very much undervalued in our society and several libraries have closed or reduced their services due to budget cuts. This workshop helped librarians to become their own best advocates and gave very practical tips on how to do that. The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) plans to offer this program to chapters or regions around the country as a way of supporting those members who are being faced with budget cuts or lay-offs.

Another amazing event was the post-convention 40th anniversary celebration of the Sydney Taylor Book Awards. This one-day workshop brought together authors, illustrators and publishers to reflect on the history of Jewish literature for children and speculate about future trends. One of the panels I attended on teen literature featured three prominent authors — Sonia Levitin, Carol Matas, and Margo Rabb — and had attendees in tears over the authors’ personal stories. The Newbery Medalist and Sydney Taylor Book Award-winning author Sid Fleischman was the luncheon keynote speaker.

Hopefully you will join us next year when we go to Chicago!

‘Til next time,

Susan Dubin