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WELCOME TO AJLSC...

AJL's Seattle Convention, July 4 - 7, 2010, program and highlights are online. Click Here: For program. For highlights of Day 1. For highlights of Day 2. DETAILS are on AJL's Facebook page (you are not required to sign up to view)

Check our Calendar page for information on current exhibits and an online course on providing library services to mobile and remote users.

Association of Jewish Libraries has become an affiliate of the American Library Association as of January, 2010. Click here to read Suzi Dubin's "People of the Books" column.

Our own Susan Dubin wrote her AJL President's Message in the Nov.-Dec. 2009 issue of AJL Newsletter, giving the following three (3) valuable links to help all our AJL and AJLSC libraries:

1. Looking for ways to promote your library to the powers-that-be who control the budget, read Stephen Krashen's summary of The Case for Libraries and Librarians - an Invited Paper, Submitted to the Obama-Biden Education Policy Working Group, December, 2008.

2. At the Continuing Education Unit Class at the 2008 Cleveland convention, Joanne P. Roukens, Executive Director, Highlands Regional Library Cooperative, NJ., presented a powerful presentation on becoming a library advocate. Her slide show is available: Valuing Libraries - Demonstrating the Contributions Libraries Make to Their Communities.
Also, see more as well as documents on the HRLC website.

3. Convention presentations are available in two places on our AJL website:
a. Convention Proceedings. Note: The 2009 Chicago Convention Proceedings include "Teaching the Holocaust through Picture Books" by Lisa Silverman (Library Director, Sinai Temple Blumenthal Library, Los Angeles).
b. AJL Podcasts -- "best talks on Jewish literature and the Jewish library world, with respected experts and popular authors."

Also, Convention Blogs contain lots of information, links, and helpful lists, including how to use Twitter successfully. This year, AJL will be using its AJL Facebook page for convention blogs - anyone can access it - just click on Convention Blogs.

Worth getting - FREE: Two AJLSC brochures for Jewish Book Month 2009 - compiled by Blumenthal Library Staff, Sinai Temple, and Ellen G. Cole, Levine Library, Temple Isaiah, Los Angeles -- just download and make copies:
-- IN CELEBRATION OF JEWISH BOOK MONTH 2009: A Selected List of Recent Books and DVDs For Adults
-- IN CELEBRATION OF JEWISH BOOK MONTH 2009: A Selected List of Recent Books and DVDs For Children and Teens

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The adult collection of the Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles has relocated to the American Jewish University Library! The children's collection remains at 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
LATEST NEWS: The transfer of the JCLLA books and materials to the AJU Ostrow Library is now complete. There are thousands of duplicate items awaiting distribution to other libraries. Interested libraries just need to complete the application form.
Please read details here.
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FREE - The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg - an award-winning 35mm. print is available for free; only cost is shipping and handling, and public performance rights if fee charged. The Ciesla Foundation were the producers of the 2001 Peabody Award winning film, which includes archival footage and interviews with celebrities.

Bibliography of Illustrated Books on the Holocaust, prepared by Lisa Silverman, Library Director, Sinai Temple Library.

Book Club Reading Selections for 2009-2010 have now been posted on the AJL website.

A new AJL Wiki is being created by AJL members, Diane Romm and Joyce Levine, Co-chairs, AJL Technology Committee. The AJL Wiki is a one-stop knowledge base for everything related to Judaica librarianship. They are requesting that everyone contribute ideas and information. "Together we can create a dynamic source of our collective knowledge that will be invaluable to current and future people who work in Jewish librarianship." View this work in progress at: http://ajlwiki.pbworks.com

Keep connected to AJL and new resources the easy way... Just go to the AJL website (www.JewishLibraries.org) and click on "Read the new AJL Blog - People of the Books. These blogs include links to important resources and documents. You can even subscribe so that the blog comes to you automatically via email.

Host-a-Jewish-Book-Author.com is a "free Web source of information on authors of Jewish-themed books wordwide." It is searchable by name, location, and genre, and links to author interviews and podcasts. It was launched in late 2007 by AJL member and literary agent Anna Olswanger, and was recently acquired by the Center for Jewsh Culture and Creativity. (Source: AJL Newsletter, Nov.-Dec.2009)

Check our Calendar -- Previous AJLSC Events for summary of past AJLSC programs, including links to resources and photos.

AWARDS FOR JUDAICA BOOKS

AJL 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award winners - for children's Judaica books.
    • [Younger Readers] New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story by April Halprin Wayland; illustrated by Stephane Jorisch
    • [Older Readers] The Importance of Wings by Robin Friedman
    • [Teen Readers] Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba by Margarita Engle

2010 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature - administered by Jewish Book Council.
    • Winners: Sarah Abrevaya Stein, Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce AND Kenneth B. Moss, Jewish Renaissance in the Russian Revolution (sharing $125,000 prize)
    • Finalists: Lila Corwin Berman - Speaking of Jews: Rabbis, Intellectuals, and the Creation of an American Public Identity
                       Ari Y. Kelman -- Station Identification: A Cultural History of Yiddish Radio in the United States
                       Danya Ruttenberg -- Surprised by God: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Religion

AJL 2010 Reference and Bibliography Award winners -- see AJL website.
   • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945
   • Bibliography Body-of-Work Award to Yossi Galron, Head of the Hebraica and Jewish Studies Library at The Ohio State University Libraries

2009 National Jewish Book Awards - See list of winners on Jewish Book Council website.

Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association --
Outstanding Reference Sources:
• Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social and Military History. Spencer C. Tucker, ed. 4 vols. ABC-CLIO, 2008.

2010 Sophie Brody Award "U.S. author of the most distinguished contribution to Jewish literature for adults" by American Library Association, Arthur Brody, and Brodart Foundation.
     • Award Winner: Jonathon Keats, The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-Six
     • Honorable Mentions: Thomas Buergenthal, Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy;
                                        Melvin Konner, The Jewish Body;
                                        Clara Kramer and Stephen Gantz, Clara’s War: One Girl’s Story of Survival.

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Please send questions, comments, or suggestions about this website to
Barbara Y. Leff, Chair, AJLSC Website Committee
[Special Thanks to Debbie Dubb for her help in redesigning our website and serving as adviser.]