Youth Services: Home

RCLS hosts many continuing education opportunities for member library staff throughout the year. To view archived webinars, visit the RCLS YouTube channel, or the Online Professional Development LibGuide. 

Please click on the individual award or grant for application information. For information about scholarships, please click here.

Louise Seaman Bechtel Fellowship

This fellowship provides up to a $7,500 stipend to allow a qualified children’s librarian to spend a month or more reading at the University of Florida’s Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature, which contains a special collection of 85,000 volumes of children’s literature published mostly before 1950.

Children's Literature Lecture Award

The Children's Literature Lecture award honors an author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children's literature, of any country, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site.

The Penguin Random House Young Readers Group Award

This award provides a $1200 stipend, provided by Penguin Young Readers Group and Random House Children's Books, for up to two winners to attend their first ALA Annual Conference. Applicants must have fewer than 10 years of experience as a children’s librarian and work directly with children.

ALSC Baker & Taylor Summer Reading Grant

This $3,000 grant provides financial assistance to a public library for developing an outstanding summer reading program for children.

The Maureen Hayes Author/Illustrator Award

This $4,000 award was established with funding from Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, in honor of Maureen Hayes, to bring together children and nationally recognized authors/illustrators by funding an author/illustrator visit to a school or public library that has not before had the opportunity to host one.

ALSC Distinguished Service Award

This award honors an individual member who has made significant contributions to and an impact on, library services to children and ALSC. The recipient receives $2,000 and an engraved pin at the ALSC Membership Meeting during the ALA Annual Conference.

Light the Way: Library Outreach to the Underserved Grant

This $3,000 grant is sponsored by Candlewick Press in honor of author Kate DiCamillo and the themes represented in her books. The grant will be awarded to a library with exceptional outreach to underserved populations in efforts to help them continue their service.

RCLS has a Foam Daddy HD Pro Stacker Foam Cannon for member libraries to borrow to use is large library events such as Foam Parties for all ages!

Please visit the Foam Daddy website for more information on the equipment and to purchase solution.

Borrowing Guidelines:

1. Contact Michelle Muller at michelle.muller@rcls.org to see if your date is available. Requests will be a first come first serve basis.

2. The equipment may be borrowed for a maximum of 5 days.

3. Libraries are responsible for providing their own solution and it must be a Foam Daddy product to maintain the warranty of the equipment.

4. Libraries must pick up and return the equipment to RCLS.  The Foam Cannon CANNOT travel through delivery.

5. Library staff who will be operating the equipment must watch the training videos and sign the borrowing form affirming they have in order to insure proper usage.

Upcoming Meetings

Teams links to join meetings will be sent to the appropriate email list the morning of the meeting. 
. Click here to access the RCLS calendar.

Click here to view the full CLOUSC schedule

Click here to view the full Teen Librarians schedule