Category Archives: Spring Semester

Mark Your Calendar: Spring events with BCLC

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Spring is here! And while it may be the cold and drizzly version at the moment, the leaves and flowers phase is just around the corner, right? (RIGHT???)

As we await the outdoor blooms, there are lots of interesting things popping up around the Butler Center and beyond to keep us busy in the meantime.

Butler Scholarship

Are you a DU SOIS student from an underrepresented group in librarianship? Studying youth literature? Committed to serving the kids in your community or school library? Applications are being accepted for the Butler Youth Services Scholarship until May 29, 2026. For more information, head to the BCLC website or contact us at butler@dom.edu.

A Chat with Donna Seaman

Join us as the DU English Department and Butler Children’s Literature Center welcome Donna Seaman, Editor-in-Chief and Adult Books Editor for Booklist, for a talk about and readings from her memoir, River of Books: A Life in Reading. Seaman will discuss her work for Booklist and the American Library Association, books and book reviews, and anything else that arises in the Q&A portion of the program.

About Donna Seaman:

Donna Seaman is Editor-in-Chief and Adult Books Editor for Booklist, published in Chicago by the American Library Association. A recipient of the Louis Shores Award for Excellence in Book Reviewing and the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award, Seaman is on the Content Leadership Team for the American Writers Museum and an adjunct creative writing professor at Northwestern University. Seaman’s author interviews are collected in Writers on the Air: Conversations about Books and she is the author of Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists and River of Books: A Life in Reading. 

Register here to join us (in person or via Zoom). Dominican students and alumni receive first consideration for admission.

2026 Butler/Follett Lecture

Dominican’s School of Information Studies and Butler Children’s Literature Center are thrilled to welcome Dr. Lorena Camargo Gonzalez for a combined Butler/Follett Lecture: “From Abuela’s Stories to Tomorrow’s Shelves: Latinx Children’s Literature Across Time” 

Dr. Camargo Gonzalez will examine the historical and cultural trajectories of Latinx children’s literature, beginning with intergenerational oral traditions and moving through key publishing milestones to contemporary movements for representation and equity. By analyzing themes of identity, language, diaspora, and activism, this lecture highlights both the progress made and the ongoing challenges shaping the field’s future. 

*Registration for this event opens March 16, 2026.

  • Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 
  • Time: 6:00 p.m. with a dessert reception to follow
  • Location: Dominican University, Chicago Campus (Pilsen)
    1805 S Paulina St 
    Chicago, IL 60608
    *Street parking available on 17th, 18th, and 19th Streets

About Dr. Lorena Camargo Gonzalez

Lorena Camargo Gonzalez [she/her/ella] is an Assistant Professor of Undergraduate Studies in Education and Gender Equity at Sacramento State University and the 2025-2026 Follett Chair for the School of Information Studies at Dominican University. She earned her Ph.D. in Education from UCLA with a focus on Race and Ethnic Studies and is a proud first-generation college graduate and immigrant. Her interdisciplinary research centers on Latinx children’s literature, particularly questions of representation, identity, and storytelling. She also examines the role of Latinx librarian activism in advancing racial justice and supporting culturally sustaining learning spaces for young readers. Her work appears in publications such as the Handbook of Latinos and Education, Urban Education, and the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.   

Bologna Children’s Book Fair

In mid-April, join us (via social media) as SOIS and the BCLC explore the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and beyond. Students will engage with publishing and youth literature experts from around the world to celebrate the newest and best in global youth literature.

Follow the adventure on:

Butler Children’s Literature Center

                                                                           

    


butlercenterdominican

At Home or On the Road: Connect w/ BCLC this Spring

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The Butler Center space and staff have lots of plans this semester, and we hope you’ll join us!

Illinois Youth Services Institute

The Butler Center is a proud sponsor of IYSI 2025 taking place in Bloomington-Normal, February 27-28th. While registration is closed, I’m sure many of our IL library friends will be there. Look for the BCLC booth during exhibit hall hours:

  • Thursday, February 27 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Sponsor Exhibit Reception
  • Friday, February 28 from 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. at the Sponsor Exhibits Coffee
  • Friday, February 28 from 9:00 – 1:00 pm during the concurrent exhibits hours

Or you’ll likely find me in the following sessions:

  • Once Upon a Time Again: Finding New Narratives in Old Tales with Dr. Janice Del Negro
    • Thursday, February 27 from 2-3pm in Redbird B
    • Award-winning author, educator, and storyteller Janice M. Del Negro will briefly discuss the place of fairy tales in youth literature as well as the process of retelling tales, including a storytelling demonstration of classic tales retold. Workshop includes demonstrations, discussion, language games, and exercises on retelling tales and changing points of view. Includes resource handouts.
  • Strengthening the Library Ecosystem
    • Thursday, February 27 from 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM in Redbird G
    • Our panel presentation will have a focus on the importance of forging partnerships between public and school libraries as a foundation for literacy efforts. This session aims to equip youth services professionals with innovative strategies for enhancing engagement and promoting literacy through collaborative programming across different types of libraries and organization and system engagement. RAILS, IHLS, and AISLE members will share best practices, strategies for networking with library groups and organizations, and an update of resources and information. We will also cover various entry points into schools and cross-type library programming. This session will focus on strengthening the partnership between school and public libraries for the benefit of all with support from various stakeholders.

Annual Butler Lecture

Can’t make it to IYSI? Join the Butler Center as we host award-winning author (and our OPRF neighbor) Candace Fleming at the 13th Annual Butler Lecture. In “Searching the World for Stories,” she discusses the “extreme research” involved in creating her nonfiction (and fiction) books. Learning hieroglyphs? Nursing orphaned rhino babies? It’s part of the job.

Candace Fleming is the author of more than fifty books for children and young adults, including the 2021 Sibert Medal-winning Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera, as well as the 2021 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award-winning The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh. A recipient of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, she is also the two-time winner of both the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, and the Sibert Honor. Her most recent titles are The Enigma Girls and Narwhal, Unicorn of the Arctic. Find out more about the author an her work at CandaceFleming.com

The lecture will be followed by a Q&A, reception, and book signing.
Register today!

Spring Break

Classes may be suspended for DU-SOIS students to get some well-earned R&R (March 3-7), but if you’re staying local, you can still check in with BCLC Tuesday-Thursday from 9-3pm or Monday and Friday from 2-5pm. Or drop a note to butler@dom.edu to make special arrangements.

Bologna Children’s Book Fair

BCLC curator, Jen Clemons, is off the Italy with LIS youth services students for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Watch for updates to our socials in early April for a peek at some of the sights, sounds, and tastes Bologna has to offer. Want to join in 2026? LIS 796: International Book Fair is open to SOIS students and Students-at-Large. Contact us at butler@dom.edu to find out more.

Butler Youth Services Scholarship

Applications are being accepted for the Butler Youth Services Scholarship. This $15,000 scholarship will be awarded to a student seeking to earn a Dominican University MLIS with a focus on children’s services for public or school libraries. Preference will be given to graduates of a Dominican University undergraduate program who are from a background underrepresented in the field of library science. This competitive award will consider merit, academic excellence, leadership qualities, and the desire and disposition to work with young people as part of the applicant selection process.

Applications are due May 5, 2025 for Fall 2025 award. Visit DOM.EDU to find out more.