“Collaboration” is the Operative Word — a CSLP Report
Unlike most professions, when summer rolls around the youth services world enters warp speed. The amount of work that goes into planning and executing a successful summer reading program can be daunting whether you’re a seasoned pro or a newbie fresh out of library school.
But that was the past. When Washington joined the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) in 2004 everything changed. Thanks to Martha Shinners at the State Library we suddenly had free manuals full of programs, slogans and bulletin boards. Upstart/Highsmith provided a catalog of incentives to purchase at reasonable prices complete with big name artists.
While it sure is nifty when the manual arrives, somebody has to create it and the Collaborative in CSLP makes that happen. Each April the state representative and their delegates meet for a three day conference to vote on artists, themes, slogans, PSAs and all other the minute details needed to run such a large organization. Committees are formed to create the various manuals, but there is time at the meetings for people to run up to the microphone, identify themselves and share their ideas. Over the course of the summer the vendor committee will have their email burst to overflowing with all the choices that will eventually turn into the Upstart/Highsmith catalog.
It has been my great pleasure to spend the last three years as one of the CSLP delegates for Washington State. I have volunteered for the Vendor Committee and can attest to how hard all the committees work to make the CSLP such an amazing and easy to use program.
What I found the most amazing was watching democracy in action. My first year at the Conference the states had weighted votes based on how many libraries are in each state, so states like California had way more votes than Washington. Watching poor Cindy from Montana make 47 hash marks for their votes took a while. But by my second year the Collaborative had grown in size and the executive board passed a motion to switch to equally weighted votes, so now each state gets 3 votes. The tally process goes much faster during the roll call! During breaks we would discuss what we wanted to vote for and caucus with the representatives from other states about what we were choosing (and why they should vote with us) and vice versa. There were lively discussions as the room debated how slogans would be interpreted in big cities like New York City versus a small town in Arkansas.
So when you flip through your CSLP manual with a pad of sticky notes and sigh a big sigh of relief, take a moment to mentally thank the volunteers from around the country that made it happen.
~~Angela Nolet, outgoing CSLP delegate for Washington State
[Editor's note: The new WA delegate is Tracy Rebstock from Liberty Lake Municipal Library – she is involved in teen services and I'm sure will contribute a great deal to the CSLP effort!]
Tags: CSLP, report, Summer Reading
