Children's Librarian's Professional Development Calendar for May

It's conference month! Both RIEMA and RILA have conferences in May. Also, May 10-14 is Children's Book Week, which means we will learn what the Children's Choice winners are, and meanwhile you can check out the nominations.

There isn't too too much else going on, because the summer is fast approaching. And this summer, we'll have the first ever Youth RARI, so that's something to look forward to.

Mostly, I will spend the coming month planning the nitty gritty of summer reading and trying to wrap up the library floorplan redesign, because that was my big project for the winter. And it's no longer winter.

So here are the children's librarian professional development highlights for May (after the jump):

May 1: Reading Across Rhode Island Breakfast. 9-11 a.m. @Rhodes on the Pawtuxet. Sponsored by the Rhode Island Center for the book and a billion other organizations. Not for children, technically, but I'm going, and it's a good reminder that Youth RARI swiftly approaches (June 12 @the statehouse)! This year's book (for adults) is the Geurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, which I loved because it was epistolary!

May 3: A Closer Look at Picture Book Illustration at RISD. 9:30 a.m.- 12 p.m. @the RISD library. Sponsored by OLIS. I'm interested in having more author and illustrator visits at my library, so I'm definitely going to this. It starts with a tour of the RISD library and ends with a panel of "up and coming" illustrators who will describe the process of (obviously) illustrating a children's book. When I have authors and illustrators visit, I'm going to want to design some art programs to create *buzz* before the visit, so I'm hoping for some inspiration.

May 8: RIEMA Conference and YART. Conference starts at 7:30 a.m., YART is 11:10-12 p.m. @the Crown Plaza Hotel, Warwick. Sponsored by RIEMA and OLIS, respectively. This year, RIEMA has been focused on advocacy with RIDE, the new Information Literacy standards from AASL, and the changes to PD schedules. So the conference reflects that, but it also offers some collection development workshops (RICBA, RITBA, current reference), plus YART will be embedded in the conference, and the topic for this YART is service to GLBTQ teens, with a GLSEN speaker. Oh, and the keynote speaker is Steve Kluger, whose book I will review asap.

May 18: Booklist "Trends in Teen Lit: the Independent View" Webinar. 2 p.m. @the internets. Sponsored by Booklist and some publishers. I have not 100% committed to this. I have never done a webinar, but I'm always interested in offering my teens out-of-the-ordinary choices. Also, I really like Orca books. So I'm toying with the idea of registering for this, and if I don't, I'll definitely watch it online after the fact.

May 27 and 28: RILA Conference. @the Bryant Center. Sponsored by RILA. This is embarrassing: I just joined RILA. I guess since I belonged to RIEMA, I never bothered, but it's seriously weird because I love professional organizations. So now I belong. Anyway, I'm going on Thursday, because I'm interested in the Sex in Teen Literature and the Fat Lit workshops, and I'm interested in the San Jose Way thing they're doing in East Providence, even though the workshop is probably aimed at library managers.

However, it's hard not to go on Friday, too, because there are workshops on art and serving people with autism, and more important, the PCL board plus the PCL director are presenting on the transition! What will they say? Will I agree? Will I learn things I never knew about my own library? Wait, I'm not actually going. Which is probably for the best. I am not good at just observing things.