Author Eric Kimmel has recently published a new children’s story entitled Joseph and the Sabbath Fish. AJL member Lisa Silverman compares his version to the beloved Marilyn Hirsh book, Joseph Who Loved the Sabbath, in this article from the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/books/article/the_battle_of_the_fishy_folktales_20110830/

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) will hold the 47th Annual Convention in Los Angeles, California June 17-20, 2012. Librarians, archivists, scholars, educators, authors and others will meet to share their interest in Judaica librarianship and related topics. AJL is soliciting proposals for papers and presentations on aspects of Judaica librarianship as it pertains to libraries, archives, museums, schools, synagogues and related institutions. Past topics have included literature and other resources, collection management, programming, reader advisory services, special and rare collections, cataloging and classification, digital and electronic resources, technology and local Jewish history.

Submissions should include the following:

Presenter's name, address, affiliation, telephone and email contacts.
Brief biography
Title of proposed presentation
Summary of proposal
Specific technology or equipment requirements, if any

All submissions must be received by November 30, 2011.

Please submit proposals by email to:

benamou@library.ucla.edu

or by mail to:

Sharon Benamou
UCLA Library Cataloging & Metadata Center
11020 Kinross Ave. Box 957230
Los Angeles, CA 90095-7230

Proposals will be reviewed by the Program Planning Committee, which is composed of national and local AJL members. Notification will be made in January, 2012.

The Jewish Book Carnival is a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read, and comment on each others’ posts. The posts are hosted on one of the participant’s sites on the 15th of each month.

For the month of July, 2011, our host is author Ann Koffsky, who blogs at annkoffsky.com/blog. She's got a great round-up of posts from all over the blogosphere. You'll find author interviews, book reviews, and philosophical ponderings. To Ann's adorable embarrassment, two bloggers even submitted links to interviews with her, about her fun new picture book Noah's Swim-a-thon.

Enjoy the July Jewish Book Carnival at http://annkoffsky.com/2011/07/11/jewish-book-carnival-july-edition/.

Gathering Sparks by Howard Schwartz, illustrated by Kristina Swarner is the 2011 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Readers. Howard joined us in Montreal and wanted to share his article about the 16th Century teaching of Tikkun Olam that inspired the book. Let's all gather sparks together!

You can read Howard's article in Tikkun Magazine at http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/how-the-ari-created-a-myth-and-transformed-judaism.

Did you present at the 2011 AJLConvention in Montreal? Would you like your work to be included in the published proceedings that are available on AJL's website?

Please consider sharing your paper with those who were unable to attend your session. For submission guidelines and examples from previous years go to http://www.jewishlibraries.org/main/Events/PastConventions/ConventionProceedings.aspx.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!

Jasmin Nof
Proceedings Chair

The Israel branch of AJL, formally called Judaica Librarians' Group (Israel), issues a publication entitled Alon from time to time. The publication gives librarians an opportunity to describe briefly some interesting item they have come across in the course of their work. Articles are accepted in all languages and should be directed to the publication's editor, Rabbi Avishai Elboim, Director of the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv (rambaml1 at gmail dot com).

All the issues of the Alon are available at http://safranim.wordpress.com. So far only articles in Hebrew have been submitted but articles in any other language are welcome. A notice that a new issue has been posted to the Internet is sent to a couple of hundred Israeli librarians who are registered with the Judaica Librarians' Group. The audience is librarians working in the field of Judaica. Anyone can subscribe, just like anyone can subscribe to AJL's listserv, haSafran.  On the left hand side of the webpage, toward the bottom, is a link to the signup form.

We look forward to receiving your articles!

SOARING SOCIAL SKILLS THIS SUMMER with NATE and DARIM ONLINE, a 6-part webinar for Jewish organizations and educators on social media, begins today! The first session, "Congregational Education in a Networked World: Aligning Goals & Strategy," runs 1-2pm Eastern / 10-11am Pacific time on July 5. Sessions will be held weekly through August 9, 2011. Sessions will be recorded so that participants can view them at a later time. Registration for the entire series is $150.

Register at http://natedarim.eventbrite.com/.

Inspired after the great conference in Montreal? Disappointed that you didn’t have a chance to go? Want to get more involved in AJL? AJL Reviews is looking for new reviewers (or former reviewers who haven't participated in a while) for the adult reviews section. If you are interested, please send a brief writing sample to Merrily Hart (merrilyhart at gmail dot com) We are looking forward to hearing from you and working with you.

The Jewish Book Carnival is a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read, and comment on each others’ posts. The posts are hosted on one of the participant’s sites on the 15th of each month.

For the month of June, 2011, our host is Erika Dreifus at My Machberet (Hebrew for "notebook"). She's got a great round-up of posts from all over the blogosphere. You'll find author interviews, book reviews, suggested reading lists, reflections on Jewish Book Network experiences, and various Shavuot-themed posts.

Visit My Machberet for the June Jewish Book Carnival!

“Facebook Friday” is a series of live conversations with Judaica experts that take place on the Association of Jewish Libraries’ Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jewishlibraries.
 

On Friday June 3, 2011 between noon and 3:30 Eastern time, AJL convention co-chair Marsha Lustigman will answer questions about the AJL convention that will take place in Montreal, June 19-22, 2011. Users can post questions or comments on the wall of AJL’s Facebook page and receive responses from Marsha throughout the afternoon.

 

The page at www.facebook.com/jewishlibraries may be viewed by anyone with an Internet connection, but one must be a Facebook member and must click “Like” on AJL’s Facebook page in order to post questions and participate in the conversation. AJL’s Facebook page has 600 fans at the present time.

The Jewish Book Carnival is a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read, and comment on each others’ posts. The posts are hosted on one of the participant’s sites on the 15th of each month.

For May 2011, our host is The Whole Megillah at http://thewholemegillah.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/jewish-book-carnival-may-2011.You'll find links to book reviews, author interviews, library news, and even an original story for Lag B'Omer.

Please visit the Carnival and comment on the posts. If you'd like to participate in the June 15 Jewish Book Carnival at My Machberet, please contact host Erika Dreifus with a link from your own blog. For more information about the Jewish Book Carnival, click on the Jewish Book Carnival HQ link in the Resources/Blog section of the AJL website!

Hope everyone had a kosher and simcha-filled Pesach. Back to work for us here on the link round up. Here are this week’s bookmarkable links.

In the spirit of Preservation Week coming up…

The World Digital Library contains a number of digitized maps of Israel here: http://www.wdl.org/en/search/gallery?ql=eng&a=-8000&b=2010&c=IL&r=MiddleEastNorthAfrica

If a newspaper goes out of business, what happens to its archives? If a newspaper becomes available only online, what happens to yesterday’s (or last year’s) news? Why should we care? Read more about the recent Newspaper Archive Summit: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/news/2011/20110421_news_archive_summit.html

Follow the upcoming Archiving 2011 conference. Read more about it here: http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2011/04/event-archiving-2011_22.html

Check out the recently updated Digital Libraries Wiki by the ischool of Syracuse University: http://dl.ischool.syr.edu/index.php?title=Main_Page

That’s all for this week. Good Shabbos!

The Jewish Book Carnival is a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read, and comment on each others’ posts. The posts are hosted on one of the participant’s sites on the 15th of each month. For April 2011, our host is the Jewish Book Council blog at http://jewishbooks.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/jewish-book-carnival-april. There you will find links to Jewish book reviews, author interviews, and other booky Jewishy goodness.

Please visit the Carnival, comment on the posts, and if you'd like to play next time, send a booky Jewishy link from your own blog to our May host, The Whole Megillah, at BarbaraKrasner@att.net.

For more information about the Jewish Book Carnival, click on Jewish Book Carnival Headquarters on the right-hand sidebar here at People of the Books.

As the 2011 AJL Convention approaches, AJL will be publishing the remaining podcast episodes from the 2010 Convention at an accelerated rate! Watch Hasafran, Facebook, and Twitter for notices of new episodes. You can listen to any podcast episode at jewishlibraries.org/podcast.

If you're not familiar with podcasting, you can become a maven by reading the primer below. Enjoy!

What is a podcast?

A podcast is an audio or video program on the Internet. What makes it different from any old audio clip or YouTube video? A podcast is an ongoing show that has multiple episodes, and you can subscribe to it. The same way you can subscribe to a magazine and have each issue arrive at your house, you can subscribe to a podcast and have each new episode arrive on your computer. Subscriptions for podcasts are usually free.

What will you find on the AJL Podcast?

AJL’s podcast is made up of audio recordings of sessions from our conventions and other regional AJL-related events. We have been podcasting since 2008.

How do you get the AJL Podcast?

You can find the podcast at jewishlibraries.org/podcast.  At that location, you can read instructions for subscribing to the podcast. ***You do NOT have to subscribe to the podcast in order to listen to it!*** Just like you can buy an individual issue of a magazine at a newsstand without  subscribing to the magazine, you can listen to individual episodes of the AJL Podcast at our website without subscribing to it. It’s your own choice.

How is the AJL Podcast page organized?

When you go to jewishlibraries.org/podcast, you will see a complete list of all our audio recordings, alphabetically arranged by the last name of the speaker. You can click on the title of any recording to be taken to its individual page, where you can click the PLAY button to listen. If you would like to narrow your search, you have two options. You can click on a broad category of interest: RAS, SSC, or Children’s & Youth Literature. Alternatively, you can click on Index to be taken to more specific subject headings.

When scrolling through the complete list of audio recordings, you may notice that some speakers have multiple recordings. That is because so  many wonderful authors and AJL members return to our conventions with new information to share year after year!

Who’s in charge of the AJL Podcast?

The AJL Podcast is overseen by Heidi Estrin, who has been podcasting since 2005 at her synagogue library. Her library’s podcast is called The Book of Life, and it receives some support from AJL, making cross-promotion possible. You can hear episodes of The Book of Life at http://bookoflifepodcast.com.

Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee member Barbara Krasner has created an expert-packed workshop to guide Jewish children's writers in new directions with guest faculty and AJL member Linda Silver, author of Best Jewish Books for Children and Teens, to help. The workshop will take place at the homeplace of the Founders of Highlights for Children near Honesdale, Pennsylvania, May 15-18, 2011.

Additional guest faculty includes Margery Cuyler, publisher, Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books and its new Jewish imprint, Shofar Books; Ruth Katcher, Egmont editor-at-large; Natalie Blitt, expert on Jewish children’s literature and former program director and book selection committee chair, The PJ Library; Debra Hess, Senior Editor, Highlights for Children; and Laurel Snyder, author of Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher and Penny Dreadful.

Find complete information at http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/pages/current/FWsched_jewishThemed_11.html.

Thanks to Linda K. Wertheimer for hosting this month's Jewish Book Carnival over at Jewish Muse! She has gathered interesting posts about Purim, faith, reading recommendations, and by luck, multiple reviews of David Grossman's To the End of the Land.

Follow the links! Read the posts! Leave lots of comments! And watch for April's Jewish Book Carnival at The Jewish Book Council.

PRESS RELEASE

For more information, contact:
Daniel Scheide
dscheide@fau.edu

2011 Judaica Reference and Bibliography Awards Announced by Association of Jewish Libraries
For immediate release

The Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections Division of the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) is very pleased to announce the winners of its 2011 Judaica Reference and Bibliography Awards.

Reference

In the reference category, the winner is The Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, published by Brill. Edited by Dr. Norman Stillman of the University of Oklahoma, this 5-volume encyclopedia is the first English-language reference that deals with a part of Jewish history that is obscure and inaccessible for many readers. The Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World opens a new window into this world and will inevitably generate more research and interest in the field. An online version is currently available as well. More information on the Encyclopedia can be found at http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=227&pid=26005.

An honorable mention has been awarded to The Eerdman’s Dictionary of Early Judaism, edited by John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow. It is an essential reference in a field of study that has rapidly expanded in recent decades. More information on the Dictionary can be found at http://www.eerdmans.com/shop/product.asp?p_key=9780802825490.

Bibliography

In the bibliography category, the winner is The Bibliography of Jews in the Islamic World, published by Brill. Edited by María Angeles Gallego, Heather Bleaney and Pablo García Suárez, this bibliography is an important contribution to the study of Jews in the Islamic World due to its thematic and geographical scopes, especially considering the difficulties in covering such a diverse field and multitude of languages. More information on the Bibliography can be found at http://www.brill.nl/product_id31220.htm.

Thanks to Our Sponsors

We would like to thank Dr. Greta Silver of New York City and Eric Chaim Kline of Los Angeles, who respectively sponsor the annual Judaica Reference and Bibliography Awards. The 2011 awards will be presented at the AJL 46th Annual Convention banquet, which will take place on Tuesday evening, June 21, 2011 at the Marriott Montréal Château Champlain in Montréal, Québec.

For more information about AJL's Judaica Reference & Bibliography Awards, including past winners, please visit http://jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb/awards/ref_and_bib.htm.

Awards Committee

The Reference & Bibliography Awards Committee includes Michlean Amir (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), Yoram Bitton (Columbia University), Rachel Leket-Mor (Arizona State University), Daniel Rettberg (Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati), Pinchas Roth (Hebrew University), Rachel Simon (Princeton University), and Daniel Scheide, chair (Florida Atlantic University).

About the Association of Jewish Libraries

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) promotes Jewish literacy through enhancement of libraries and library resources and through leadership for the profession and practitioners of Judaica librarianship. The Association fosters access to information, learning, teaching and research relating to Jews, Judaism, the Jewish experience and Israel. Visit AJL at jewishlibraries.org.

10:00AM to 3:00PM - SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 2011

Featured Speakers:

Sid Jacobson was editor in chief at Harvey Comics, where he created Richie Rich, and was the executive editor at Marvel Comics. His collaborations with illustrator Ernie Colon include the fascinating 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, and the new illustrated biography of Anne Frank entitled, Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography.

William J. Rubin is the executive editor of Nachshon Press and the chief architect of the National Jewish Book Award winner, Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel.

Barry Deutsch is the 2011 Sydney Taylor Award winner for Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword.

Anastasia Betts is a well-known education professional with an expertise in graphic literature.

10:00 AM Registration and Bagels
10:30 AM Questions and Answers about graphic literature with authors Sid Jacobson, Barry Deutsch and William Rubin
12:00 PM Buffet Lunch with special presentation by Sydney Taylor Award winner Barry Deutsch
1:15 PM History of graphic literature for children with Anastasia Betts
2:30 PM Literature marketplace and autographing by local children's literature authors

Manuscript consultations available

Conference will be held at American Jewish University,
15600 Mulholland Dr., Los Angeles, CA

Sponsored by Sinai Temple Blumenthal Library, Association of Jewish Libraries, AJLSC, and American Jewish University

For reservations and information call Susan Dubin at (818) 886-6415, or send email to Lisa Silverman, lsilverman at sinaitemple dot org.

Registration: $55 (includes lunch); $45 for AJL members, and $45 for a manuscript consult.

The Association of Jewish Libraries is delighted to announce the winners of the 2011 Life Membership and Fanny Goldstein Merit Awards, to be presented at the AJL Annual Convention in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in June 2011.

Pearl Berger, Benjamin Gottesman Librarian and Dean of Libraries, Yeshiva University, New York, NY is the 2011 recipient of the Association’s Life Membership Award. Life Membership is granted in recognition of outstanding leadership and professional contributions to the Association and to the profession of Jewish librarianship.

Etta D. Gold, Library Director, Temple Beth Am, Miami, Florida will receive the Fanny Goldstein Merit Award for 2011. The Fanny Goldstein Merit Award, named for the librarian, social activist and founder of National Jewish Book Month, is bestowed in recognition of loyal and ongoing contributions to the Association and to the profession of Jewish librarianship.

Elizabeth F. Stabler
Chair
Life Member and Fanny Goldstein Awards Committee

Facebook members can easily keep up with AJL's doings by visiting the AJL Facebook page at facebook.com/jewishlibraries and clicking the Like button. If you already "like" AJL on Facebook, you should be receiving our status updates in your Facebook news feed (on your "wall").

If you have not been seeing AJL's status updates in your news feed lately, it's because when Facebook switched to the "new profile" (the one with your photos displayed across the top), they also switched to a setting to show ONLY posts from people or pages you had been interacting with recently.

If you enjoy reading what AJL has to say (even if you don't always want to leave a comment), you can easily ensure that you get all our updates. Here's how: Scroll down to the bottom of the news feed on your Home page and click on "Edit options" on the bottom right (as seen in the image below)  click on "Show posts from" and change the setting to "All of your friends and pages." That way you won't miss announcements about AJL events and other Jewish book and library news!