Video: Kickin’ it Old School with Newbery and Caldecott
Good ol’ CSPAN2.
Having attended the Youth Media Awards for the first time this year, I encountered high levels of enjoyment when I came upon CSPAN2 footage of the YMA announcements from January 15, 2001, when the world of librarianship was just a twinkle in my eye. It’s pretty clear to see that the event has grown in the decade since.
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A related aside: I have to say, I really like that they used to actually hold up the winning books – even though they go the PowerPoint route these days, they should still hold up the books.
Take a look (bonus points if you can remember which books won without checking):
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About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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I started going to the press conference a few years ago when they still did the holding-up-of-the-books and was fascinated by this. I mean, how did they managed to hide so many of them behind the podium? In just the right order.
Yeah, that’s a lot of books back there. Being the ALA and all, I’m guessing they had a mini library setup behind the podium. Multiple shelves with books sorted by Dewey classification for nonfiction, author last name for fiction with clear signage directing speakers to the correct area of the podium to find their books. Back in those days, they probably had someone on staff with the title of “YMA Podium Librarian”, tending to all things podium and book related.