LUCY Helps Librarians: Librarianship Upgrades for Children and Youth Services in Virginia

In the fall of 2009, library science faculty at Old Dominion University (ODU) received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program for a multifaceted, multicultural continuing education program for Virginia librarians. Librarianship Upgrades for Children and Youth Services, or LUCY for short, focuses on diversity training, workshops, and classes for professional children’s and young adult librarians, school librarians, paraprofessionals, and all those who work with children and young adults in libraries. The specific topics offered through the LUCY program are determined through needs assessment surveys administered in two ways. Some are distributed online through professional listservs, including those of the Virginia Library Association (VLA) and Virginia Educational Media Association (VEMA). Others are given out to school and public librarians who attend workshops and conference presentations. Some of these services include professional development workshops; credit courses; and the most successful resource, the online, annotated bibliography of multicultural literature.