ALA Cognotes May 2017 Preview - 4

4

MAY 2017 PREVIEW

COGNOTES

Bill Nye, The Science Guy, and Co-author Gregory Mone
Conclude Auditorium Speakers Series Monday Afternoon

S

cience educator, television presenter,
media personality, mechanical engineer, and New York Times bestselling
author William Sanford "Bill" Nye, popularly
known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is joined
in an Auditorium Speaker session on Monday,
June 26 at 2:00 p.m. by co-author Gregory
Mone, a novelist, science journalist, speaker,
and children's book author. The first book in
their new middle-grade series from Amulet
Books, an imprint of ABRAMS, Jack and the
Geniuses, published this spring and the second
will be out in fall 2017.
As creator of the Emmy award-winning
syndicated television show  "Bill Nye the
Science Guy," Nye first became a household
name while introducing the millennial generation to science and engineering.
Now he is best known as a champion of
scientific literacy, and has challenged climate
deniers, creationists, and other opponents of
evidence-based education and policy.  Since
2010, he has served as CEO of The Planetary
Society. Co-founded by Carl Sagan, The

CONFERENCE
SCHEDULER

Bill Nye and Gregory Mone
Auditorium Speakers Series
Monday 6/26, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Planetary Society sponsors projects that seed
innovative space technologies, nurture creative
young minds, and advocate for our future in
space. Nye made his much-anticipated return
to the screen in April 2017, in the new Netflix
series "Bill Nye Saves the World."
Mone has covered artificial intelligence,
robots, physics, and biology as a magazine
writer. "I'm always busy writing about strange
people building strange contraptions," he said.
His award-winning children's books include
Fish, Dangerous Waters, and The Truth About
Santa: Wormholes, Robots, and What Really
Happens on Christmas Eve, which at its heart
is about the power of science and technology
and which was picked by USA Today as one of
its "top five holiday books for geeks."
In Jack and the Geniuses, Nye and Mone
take middle-grade readers on a scientific adventure that features real-world science and
scientific facts along with action and a mystery
that will leave kids guessing until the end,
making the books ideal for STEM education.
Their appearance at the conference is
sponsored by Amulet Books, an imprint of
ABRAMS (booth # 3411).
Get details and add to your schedule now.

Want to
turn your
reluctant
young
readers into
bookworms?
We've got
the recipe!

Plum Pleasing Books
from

Offering discounts and
free shipping for orders
placed at Booth 1852

plumstreetpublishers.com

NEW CHILDREN'S BOOKS FROM AN EXPERIENCED TEAM

Bill Nye (Photo by Jessie DiFlorio)

Gregory Mone

Engage Your Community with
Everyday Democracy and Other
Dialogue and Deliberation Models

A

s urban areas face challenges
such as shifting demographics,
joblessness and crisis in public
education, policing and infrastructure,
public libraries have the opportunity
to bring disparate voices together and
lead change. At a one-day workshop
at the 2017 ALA Annual Conference,
100 participants from public libraries
serving large or urban communities will
work with trainers from the nonprofit
Everyday Democracy to learn to facilitate
important, issues-based conversations
with people from different backgrounds
and viewpoints. 
The Annual 2017 preconference
workshop is full, but there are still ways
for libraries of all types to get involved.
Read on, or for more information and to
access free online training and resources,
visit www.ala.org/LTC-models.
Everyday Democracy works to create
a democracy that includes all voices and
works for all people. Its unique Dialogueto-Change Process offers an adaptable
approach to community engagement that
is grounded in years of experience and
learning with communities throughout
the U.S. The process includes core elements of community organizing, facilitated meetings with small groups that later
come together, and a connection between
dialogue and action. 
Given the impact of racism on our
country, Everyday Democracy's process
and work pays special attention to how
structural racism and other inequities
affect the issues addressed. 
Participants in the Annual 2017
preconference (designed for large and/
or urban public libraries) will learn the
basic principles of Everyday Democracy's
approach, including organizing strategies
for building strong coalitions, relation-

ship building, recruiting diverse dialogue
participants, and more. But everyone can
access Everyday Democracy's materials
online. The organization offers discussion guides and  how-to handbooks, as
well as trainings, coaching, and other
resources, and the organization works
with national partners and with anchor
institutions throughout the country.
Visit www.everyday-democracy.org for
contact information, or to explore and
adapt resources for the specific needs of
your community. 
The Everyday Democracy workshop
is offered as part of Libraries Transforming Communities: Models for Change,
an initiative of ALA and the National
Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation
(NCDD) that invites library professionals to attend a free learning series
to explore various dialogue facilitation
approaches and position themselves to
foster conversation and lead change in
their communities.
Through this initiative, ALA and
NCDD are providing free online and
in-person trainings designed for three
library types: large or urban public libraries; academic libraries; and small or rural
public libraries. Trainings will be offered
in 2017 and 2018. For more information
about the free trainings available for your
library type, visit www.ala.org/LTC.

REGISTER
NOW
https://www.eventscribe.com/2017/ALA-Annual/ https://www.eventscribe.com/2017/ALA-Annual/fsPopup.asp?Mode=presInfo&PresentationID=284527 https://www.everyday-democracy.org/resources/guides https://www.everyday-democracy.org/resources/guides https://www.everyday-democracy.org/resources/handbooks http://www.everyday-democracy.org http://www.ala.org/LTC-models http://www.ala.org/LTC http://2017.alaannual.org/register-now http://www.plumstreetpublishers.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ALA Cognotes May 2017 Preview
