Association of Jewish Libraries

Conference 2022: Together Again!

Shalom Safranim and Friends!

Here is your weekly conference update to keep you informed about the upcoming AJL conference, June 27–29, 2022, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Member Awards and Scholarships

Please join us in celebrating those receiving AJL member awards and scholarships!

Fanny Goldstein Merit Award

Lisa Silverman will receive the Fanny Goldstein Merit Award—named for the librarian, social activist, and founder of National Jewish Book Month—bestowed in recognition of loyal and ongoing contributions to the Association and to the profession of Jewish librarianship. The award will be presented during lunch (12:30 pm) on Tuesday, June 28.

Lisa Silverman began her career as a day school librarian at the Sinai Akiba Academy in Los Angeles and Adat Ari El Day School in Valley Village, California. She spent fifteen years as the library director at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, providing library services and educational programming for the day school, religious school, and synagogue community including teaching adult education classes, facilitating book groups, and hosting author events, family programs, and film discussions. In 2015, Lisa became the library director of the Burton Sperber Jewish Community Library at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles where she designed the new space, built the collection, and provided extensive programming. She also developed and launched a new online digital Jewish Community Library Consortium of California in partnership with the Jewish Community Library of San Francisco.

Kar-Ben Publishing Scholarship, in honor of Kar-Ben Founders Judye Groner and Madeline Wikler

Congratulations to Heidi Rabinowitz on being awarded the Kar-Ben Publishing Scholarship, a conference attendance scholarship that recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to Jewish children's literacy. Heidi will be recognized at the SSCPL Division meeting on Tuesday, June 28 (10:45 am).

Heidi Rabinowitz is the library director at Feldman Children's Library of Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton, Florida, past president of the Association of Jewish Libraries, and currently serves as AJL's member relations chair. She engages in numerous projects that promote Jewish children's literature, hosting "The Book of Life: A Podcast About Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)" at bookoflifepodcast.com, founding the popular Jewish Kidlit Mavens group on Facebook, and helping to run The Sydney Taylor Shmooze, a mock award blog at sydneytaylorshmooze.com. Heidi is a past chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, and has served on the book selection committee for PJ Library.

Accreditation Awards

Join us at the SSCPL Division meeting (Tuesday, June 28, 10:45 am) as we recognize our colleagues whose libraries have received accreditation during the past year:

Basic Accreditation

Congregation Keneseth Israel Library

Sean Boyle, Librarian

The Frisch School Library

David Sclar, PhD, Librarian and Director of Student Research & Special Collections 

Temple Sinai DC Library

Ruth Polk, Librarian

Advanced Accreditation Renewal

Hendel Family Library of the Westchester Jewish Center

Arlene Ratzabi, Librarian

Student Scholarships

AJL is pleased to have awarded two academic scholarships with conference subvention to Anna Kovler and Katie Webber. These scholarships are awarded to students with a history of participating in Judaic studies or libraries who are accepted into or attending an accredited graduate school of library and information science.

Anna Kovler is an emerging archivist and librarian currently working with the Judaica collection at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto. Anna previously worked as a writer for a contemporary art gallery and published art criticism in international magazines. She holds a master of fine arts and is close to graduating from the Master of Information program at the University of Toronto. Having immigrated to Israel at the age of five, Anna spent part of her childhood near Be’er Sheva; she attended Hebrew day schools after immigrating to Canada. She is interested in the intersection of art and Jewish studies as well as the increasing role of women in religious leadership.

Katie Webber is a master's student in library and information science  with a concentration in archives and records management at Simmons University. She graduated from Rice University and double-majored in religion and women, gender, and sexuality studies, with a minor in Jewish studies. She has worked as a project archivist at the Houston Jewish History Archive and as a digital humanities and indexing fellow at the Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization. This summer she is participating in the YIVO Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish.

New Additions to the Exhibit Hall

AJL 2022: Together Again! would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, exhibitors, and advertisers. Please stop by the Exhibit Hall during the conference and visit them online.

Thank you in advance for supporting AJL's sponsors, exhibitors, and advertisers! 

In addition to those previously announced, AJL welcomes two new exhibitors:

Reminders

• View the updated preliminary program.

• Register on our conference webpage; check the instructions to add tours or additional meals to your cart.

• Monday night dinner is not included in conference registration, but you can add a boxed kosher dinner during or after registering. Select "Monday Boxed Kosher Dinner (veggie wrap, chips, fruit, dessert)" via the ticket dropdown menu on the conference webpage.

• Visit the AJL Zazzle store for Conference 2022 T-shirts, mugs, notebooks, and more!

• Reminder: Out of concern for the safety of our conference attendees and guests, everyone attending must be fully vaccinated. You will be asked to show your ID and proof of vaccination at the registration table, so please be prepared (take a photo of your vaccination card, upload it to a vaccination passport app, or bring it with you.)

• Don't forget to download and configure Socio, our conference app! Web and mobile instructions are available here. And once you have Socio, we encourage you to create your own personal agenda! You'll have your schedule at your fingertips, and it will help us ensure the appropriate meeting room size for the sessions. Don't worry—you can change your preferences at at any time.