As I transition off the ALSC Program Coordinating Committee , I have intentionally made space for reflection of the last three years serving in this group as a member, and as co-chair. While each year has presented its own set of opportunities and challenges, one thing has remained consistent: helping elevate learning and growth opportunities for professionals working with children.
Before sharing insight from my experience, I feel like it’s important to describe what it is the Program Coordinating Committee actually does. This ALSC committee, which falls under the priority group focusing on professional development, essentially does what the title would suggest: coordinates programs. What that entails, however, and what committee members are tasked with may be less clear.
In a nutshell, the ALSC Program Coordinating Committee is the group that reviews ALSC-related programs submitted for ALA Annual, and bi-annually for ALSC Institute. Each member independently reviews and scores proposals based on criteria related to membership appeal, relevancy, quality and value, before convening as a group to determine the final proposals the committee suggests for the conference. These suggestions are then submitted for final approval by the ALSC President. This committee is also tasked with acting as a liaison between the program presenter(s) and ALSC leading up to the conference to pass on relevant information and questions.
Now that I have better outlined what it is that we do, I’d like to share a little more about what we look for when reviewing program proposal submissions. I know the committee has plans to share best practices for writing a proposal in the near future, so I will just highlight some of the things that came up time and time again during our review process and in our group discussions:
A primary focus of not only this committee, but of ALSC as a whole, is to elevate services that have a clear focus and/or outcome related to diversity, equity and inclusion. These topics will be top of mind as proposals are being reviewed, so be sure that the content, objectives and outcomes have been crafted through a DEI lens and can be equitably replicated by other libraries. When proposing a session intended to serve the needs of a specific identity group, be mindful to include a presenter or component that brings in the lived-experience of someone falling into that same group.
Spend time clearly defining your learning outcomes, and tying them back to content that will be shared in your presentation. The stronger the outcomes and takeaways for participants are, the higher your proposal will score in the review process.
Participatory elements for conference session attendees tend to have higher engagement than presentation-only or panel discussions. This is not to say that the other two presentation styles do not provide value or will not be selected, but opportunities for participant interaction outlined in a proposal will definitely be noted by committee members during deliberation.
Programs that have elements of timeliness are often well-received if it’s on a high demand topic, appeals to a larger group, or supports service provision efforts that are often overlooked.
Content related to the Pandemic has very low interest amongst membership.
Finally, I will leave everyone with the suggestion that if you are interested in submitting a proposal, take some time to see what has been presented in recent years. ALSC frequently does a membership scan of what children’s librarians are looking for in professional development: those topics are occasionally listed out on the ALSC Continuing Education Proposals and Submissions page , which houses CFPS for ALA Annual Conference, ALA LLX, ALSC National Institute, and ALSC eLearning. As we all know, the best way to know what membership is interested in learning about is to hear it from them directly!
Our guest blogger today is Ericka Brunson-Rochette (she/her). Ericka is a Community Librarian serving youth and families at Deschutes Public Library in Central Oregon. She is the outgoing Co-Chair for the ALSC Program Coordinating Committee, and is the incoming Vice President/President Elect for the Oregon Library Association.
(Photo courtesy of guest blogger)
The post Reflections on Writing a Successful Program Proposal appeared first on ALSC Blog .
All Rights Reserved Book Blog