Hi Joyce,

I am very sorry to hear you are concerned about the new timeline. We have received a lot of feedback from school & public librarians and it has been overwhelmingly positive.

There will be adjustments that need to be made by many programs and districts but after the initial year, I am confident that this is the right decision that was decided by The Nutmeg Steering Committee.

We did realize that, due to budget constraints, some schools may be unable to purchase the nominated books when they are announced to the librarians in February. The nominees may need to be purchased with funds that come available on July 1, or possibly from an outside sources such as bookfair fundraisers, or PTO/PTA groups. I know some school librarians can extend budget deadlines by using an Open PO to encumber funds and not list the exact titles until a later date.

With the new timeline following the school year, we expect that the main kickoff/jumpstart/book talks/ push to read the new nominees will start in schools in the fall. I think it’s great that you use the nominees as part of summer reading and I’m sure with a little creative thinking, you can find a way to still make this work OR this might mean that required summer reading for your district does not connect directly to the Nutmeg nominees.

In my district, students are encouraged to read the nominees over the summer but the required list varies only slightly year to year and might include previous nominees but none from the current list. This also helps the LA teachers cause they don’t have to read so new books each summer (many read the new nominees anyway but it’s of their own choosing) and it helps with budget cause the LA Dept does purchase multiple copies to loan to the public library and therefore they don’t have to invest in all new books each year.

I wish you luck in working out your program and budget during this transition year for The Nutmeg Book Award.  

Please contact me off the listserv if you have any further comments or questions.

Lisa Garofalo

Co-Chair, Nutmeg Steering Committee

Lisa Garofalo

School Librarian

Ellington Middle School & Crystal Lake School

Ellington, CT

lgarofalo@ellingtonschools.net

From: casl-l-bounces@mylist.net [mailto:casl-l-bounces@mylist.net] On Behalf Of Lynch, Joyce
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 2:21 PM
To: CASL-L@mylist.net
Subject: [CASL-L] Nutmeg Timing

I am just curious how others feel about the change to the timing of the Nutmeg announcement and voting. 

Our school uses the Nutmegs for our summer reading program; and I've always appreciated how there has been enough time to order the needed titles, read them, and booktalk them before the end of the school year. In addition to the 5 copies of each title that our library purchases, the LA department buys 10 copies of each title as well. Those are loaned out to the public library to ensure that students have access to the the books throughout the summer. 

Now, I am very concerned that there will not be enough time and we will have to totally revamp our summer reading program. 

If this change remains, instead of our school buying 15 copies of each title, we will only buy 1 copy.

I'd like to hear what others think. Do you think this is timing change will have a positive or a negative effect on summer reading in general and the Nutmegs specifically?

Thanks,

--
Joyce Lynch
Library Information Teacher
Middle School of Plainville
150 Northwest Drive
Plainville, CT 06062
860-793-3250