Cognotes 2018 Midwinter Meeting Denver Highlights - 12

COGNOTES

DENVER

LITA Excellence in Children's and Young
Adult Science Fiction Notable Lists
The LITA Committee Recognizing Excellence in Children's and Young Adult Science
Fiction presents the inaugural 2018 LITA Excellence in Children's and Young Adult Science
Fiction Notable Lists. The lists are composed
of notable children's and young adult science
fiction published in 2017, organized in three
age-appropriate categories. The annotated lists
will be posted on the website sfnotables.org.
The Golden Duck Notable Picture Books
List is selected from books intended for preschool children and very early readers, ages up
to 6 years old. Recognition is given to the author
and the illustrator.
Aliens Get the Sniffles Too! Ahhh-Choo! by
Katy S. Duffield, illustrated by K.G. Campbell.
Candlewick.
Life on Mars by Jon Agee. Dial Books.
Rufus Blasts Off! by Kim Griswell, illustrated
by Valeri Gorbachev. Sterling Children's Books.
Zelda's Big Adventure by Marie Alafaci, illustrated by Shane McG. Clarion Books.
Charlotte the Scientist is Squished by Camille
Andros, illustrated by Brianne Farley. Clarion
Books.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The Classic Illustrated Storybook by Kim Smith. Quirk Books.
The Eleanor Cameron Notable Middle
Grade Books List titles are chapter books or
short novels that may be illustrated. They are
written for ages 7 - 11. Containing more science fiction than fantasy, the main characters
are problem solvers and science users rather
than someone who must be rescued. This list
is named for Eleanor Cameron, author of the
Mushroom Planet series.
Lucy and the Rocket Dog by Will Buckingham, illustrated by Monica Arnaldo. Alfred A.
Knopf.
Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King.
Arthur A. Levine Books.
Watchdog by Will McIntosh. Delacorte Press.

The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole by
Michelle Cuevas. Dial Books.
Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth by Frank
Cottrell Boyce. Walden Pond Press.
Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869
by Alex Alice, illustrated by Alex Alice. First
Second. (Graphic novel).
The Countdown Conspiracy by Katie Slivensky. HarperCollins.
Last Day on Mars by Kevin Emerson. Walden
Pond Press.
Crash Course #1 by Landry Q. Walker, illustrated by Keith Zoo. Penguin Workshop.
One Trick Pony by Nathan Hale. Amulet
Books. (Graphic novel).
The Hal Clement Notable Young Adult
Books List contains science fiction books
written for ages 12-18 with a young adult
protagonist, a teenager who must make adult
decisions. This list is named for Hal Clement,
the pen name of Harry Stubbs, a well-known
science fiction writer and high school science
teacher who promoted children's science fiction.
Jek/Hyde by Amy Ross. Harlequin Teen.
The Innocence Treatment by Ari Goelman.
Roaring Brook Press.
Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray. Little, Brown.
Nyxia by Scott Reintgen. Penguin Random
House.
Spliced by Jon McGoran. Holiday House.
The Dark Intercept by Julia Keller. Tor Teen.
This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada. Simon
Pulse.
What Goes Up by Katie Kennedy. Bloomsbury USA Childrens.
Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski.
HarperTeen.
All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis. Harlequin Teen.
Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld, illustrated by
Alex Puvilland. First Second. (Graphic novel).
The Evaporation of Sofi Snow by Mary Weber.
Thomas Nelson.

MIDWINTER MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

President's Program
» from page 1

regardless of background and beliefs. LaRue
also stated that libraries must remain neutral
in service, access, and collections.
Chris Bourg, director of Libraries at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was
the first to argue that libraries are not, in fact,
neutral. Bourg proclaimed, "Libraries are not
now, have never been, and cannot be, neutral."
Bourg defined libraries as social institutions
providing access to community. She noted that
the prevalence of white librarians itself presents
a bias. Bourg also argued that collection development decisions are already made in a literary
bias. "It is impossible to be neutral. Our work
is political and not neutral."
Em Claire Knowles, assistant dean for student and alumni affairs at the Simmons College
School of Library and Information Science, argued, "Neutrality is a process to which libraries

Em Claire Knowles, arguing for the
affirmative, speaks during the ALA
President's Program on February 11.

"BILL" NYE AND GREGORY MONE: LEARNING FROM LIBRARIANS

and librarians must fully commit." In order to
keep residents informed, "We must be able to
consider and represent facts without being influenced by personal experiences and feelings."
Knowles stated that libraries must provide equal
access to materials, meeting spaces, and services.
Libraries provide a safe, responsible space for
diverging opinions, as long as all groups are
abiding by the rules.
In Knowles' view, libraries strive for balanced
and unbiased choices, which begin with a solid
collection development policy. "In the writing of policy, we must be actively striving for
neutrality. To do this, diversity of opinion must
be there." When creating a collection development policy, libraries must not shy away from
controversial topics.
David Lankes, director of the University of
South Carolina's School of Library and Information Science, argues, "Libraries are not neutral
organizations. And the myth of neutrality
prevents an engaged professional conversation
with diverse communities." Libraries seek to
serve patrons equitably. Lankes argues, "Equity
is not neutrality. If you differentiate services in
any way, you are not neutral." He brought up
several instances when librarians are not neutral,
from content filters to sources school librarians
allow students to use. He also stated that, "You
cannot be passionate advocates for your community and still be neutral."
A commentary panel followed the speakers.
Emily Drabinski, coordinator of library instruction at Long Island University, Brooklyn, discussed library spaces, materials, and collection
development decisions that are made. "Each
choice we make for something is a choice we
make against another. We have to make decisions about resources." Libraries need to "Consider what ideals should guide our practice."
Emily Knox, assistant professor in the School
of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, noted that it's often
difficult to begin discussions on harder topics.
It might be better to start with looking at how
simpler policies impact users. Later Knox posed
the question, "Does supporting or not supporting Black Lives Matter mean you're neutral? No.
Making a decision means you're not neutral."
She went on to state that a Black History Month
display in a library shows that the library does,
in fact, believe that black lives matter.
Knox also argued that libraries have always
taken a strong position against censorship and
that this is not a neutral position. "You can be
nonjudgmental, but you cannot be neutral,
because you're always making a choice."
Kathleen de la Peña McCook, distinguished
university professor of librarianship at the
School of Information, University of South
Florida in Tampa, began her time by selecting a
book for the other commentators and panelists.
She discussed the fact that libraries must make
all people feel welcome. "People will self-select
outside of the library if we don't make them feel
comfortable. We can't show them both sides if
they don't come in."
Kelvin Watson, director of the Broward
County (Fla.) Libraries Division, defined neutrality as the absence of decided views. He said
that while libraries might be claiming neutrality,
"We can't be neutral on social and political issues
that impact our customers, because social and
political issues impact us as well."
The session concluded with a conversation
with attendees. Panelists agreed that if we're going to matter we have to take stands on things.
We must have a welcoming community in
which we can have hard conversations.

http://www.sfnotables.org

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