CYA: Children & Young Adults

Dear Librarian,

As you probably know, Oklahoma won the First Book contest and will win 50,000 books for Oklahoma pre-school children. The big book giveaway is scheduled for September 19 (yes, this is a new date) at the Oklahoma City Omniplex.

Those libraries and organizations that have registered with First Book will receive an email some time tomorrow. The email will include an application for books and related information.

If your program intends to apply, you need to respond to the e-mail immediately! Books will be given away on a first come, first served basis. If you wait to respond, it could be too late. We were advised that on some occasions the books are obligated in an hour!

Leslie Gelders

Literacy Coordinator

Oklahoma Department of Libraries

Dear Librarian,

Congratulations to everyone who helped Oklahoma win the national First Book contest. As a result of our efforts, the state will receive 50,000 new books to give to children at-risk for low literacy.

The First Book contest tallied more than 133,000 votes. More than 34,000 of those votes selected Oklahoma as the state to receive the windfall of books.

This contest provided a wonderful demonstration of what can happen when many organizations join together to share the gift of reading.

The big book giveaway is tentatively scheduled for September 20 in Oklahoma City.

Many of you have been curious about how the books will get into the hands of children. Eligible organizations throughout the state may apply to receive a portion of the books for giveaway to young readers. Eligibility requirements are:

• programs that predominantly serve children from low-income families; and,

• programs that do not discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or physical or mental disability.

Is your library eligible? Perhaps. Your library may be located in an area that predominantly serves low-income children, or you may have an early literacy program targeting these youngsters, or you may be aware of organizations in your community that would be eligible. First Book will make the determination of eligibility as well as the quantity of books to be distributed to qualifying organizations.

To be considered for participation, organizations must register at http://register.firstbook.org

The next step will be to fill out an application in order to receive free books.  Very soon, First Book will be forwarding a link to this application form to those who are registered. So, if you are interested, please register as soon as possible.

Once the online application process begins, selection of free book recipients will be made on a first come, first served basis.

Organizations approved to participate will need to have someone attend the Oklahoma City event on September 20 in order to pick up their free books.

Congratulations, again. We did it! I am so proud to be State Librarian of Oklahoma—where there has been this tremendous outpouring of support for children and literacy.

Sincerely,

Susan McVey, Director
Oklahoma Department of Libraries

The contest for the Nancy Drew Special Screening Contest is now closed. The movie will be next Monday, June 11th at the Quail Springs Mall. I wanted to open it up for the state to give everyone a chance. Since it’s summer, I thought that people would be traveling more and would like to attend.

Thanks to all participants! And, remember, there doesn’t have to be a contest to post in the forums!

I will be receiving more Nancy Drew posters and bookmarks and will get your requests out to you asap. The movie opens wide June 15th.

Thanks again for your huge response.

Here are my statistics for the Nancy Drew bookmarks and posters:

• 104 Libraries requested materials.
• 372 posters and
• 8,015 bookmarks were mailed out.

I’ve let the CSLP-CA Rep know just how enthusiastic everyone was to get the materials and promote the movie. And, that it’s not only young girls, but their mothers as well that are interested.

As of this writing, I am completely out of bookmarks. I do have a few posters left. I have asked for another box of bookmarks, and I will know soon if I am to receive anymore. [I just got off the phone with the CSLP-CA Rep and she is sending another 3 boxes of bookmarks and more posters. Request away! --Adrienne 11:13 am]
Thank you all so much for you exuberance. I’ve let the PTB (Powers That Be) know that we are most interested in any and all promotional items for upcoming movies.

Thanks Again!

Okay, here we go:

I have 10 Nancy Drew Get A Clue special screening movie passes. The passes are for Monday, June 11, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. at the AMC Quail Springs, 2501 West Memorial, OKC. These are compliments of FOXCW Oklahoma City and our CSLP-CA & NY representatives. Each single pass admits two people. Arrive early as seating is first come, first serve. The movie is rated PG.

Now, here’s what you have to do:

Go post in the forums. Either start a topic or reply to a previous post. The rule is to post something of substance. As the administrator I am able to see who posted and when to determine the winners. The first 10 people to post will receive one ticket. Once you win a ticket your library/branch will no longer be qualified to win again. You can still post in the forums, though. {hint, hint}

For those whose firewalls don’t allow posting on forums, you can e-mail your post to me. Have the forum name that you want it posted. The time on my e-mail will count as your post on the forums.