Last week I attended the Collaborative Summer Library Program (or CSLP) annual meeting. This is a 2-day meeting where decisions are made concerning future Summer Reading programs. Representatives from all 50 states as well as territories like American Samoa and Guam and nations like Bermuda all convened in Charleston, South Carolina.
We voted on slogans for the 2019 theme (space), a theme for 2020, new board members and committee chairs and the illustrator for 2020 was revealed (the 2019 illustrator had been announced previously). We also heard reports from several committees like Inclusion and Statistics. These committees are working towards making the CSLP programs more diverse as well as gathering data that we can present to our stakeholders on the importance of summer learning and the impact programs like ours have on children and families in our communities.
Upstart also presented us with possible catalog items for Summer Reading 2018, Libraries Rock! I’ll let you know that next summer will be LOUD! Lots of noise-making items: kazoos, slide whistles, microphones…
At the beginning of the week, as soon as I found out the finalists for 2019 slogan and 2020 themes I put it out on our Youth Services Facebook group and I voted for New Mexico based on how the people that responded wanted me to vote. The 2019 slogan is: A Universe of Stories. The 2020 theme is: Fairytales/Fantasy/Folklore/Mythology.
In case anyone doesn’t remember the artist for 2018 is Brian Pinkney
The artist for 2019 is Leeza Hernandez
And the illustrator for 2020 is Le Uyen Pham
The CSLP is a volunteer run organization. We have now hired an Organizational Coordinator to work on contracts and things like that but everything else is done by people that want to make a difference with the program. I’m going to send out committee descriptions soon on the Youth Services listserv and I encourage everyone to read them and sign up for a committee. Most of the work is done through email (and maybe an occasional phone call). You don’t have to attend the annual meeting to get involved! I began out by joining the vendor committee (we help decide design of the items in the catalog), then joined the Adult Manual committee (we read the manual that someone else has written) and offer suggestions for changes and offer possible program ideas, then ran for chair of the Vendor committee this year and was elected. It’s easy to get involved but your voice matters! If you’re interested in learning about a committee before I send out the info, don’t hesitate to reach out to me!