Kristina Seiden attending the 2024 Fay B. Children's Book Festival
Kristina Seiden, a current student in our Master of Library and Information Science program, recently had the opportunity to attend the 2024 Fay B. Kaigler Children鈥檚 Book Festival as a Student Ambassador. Below, she highlights the festival鈥檚 mission, sessions provided to attendees, and her experience as a Student Ambassador.
Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival Mission: 'To recognize excellence in the field of children's literature and to provide librarians, teachers, researchers, and community members the opportunity to learn about and appreciate interactions with children's people literature through presentations, workshops, and personal interactions with people of significance in this field.
Sessions: In addition to the numerous awards presented and keynote speakers, there were also 29 concurrent sessions that took place over the course of the three days of the festival. Attendees had the chance to attend up to 7 sessions and Mississippi educators also received Continuing Education Units for attending the sessions. Each presenter also recorded their sessions for attendees to virtually watch after the festival.
Student Ambassador Program: Student ambassadors were tasked with helping to keep the festival running smoothly. We conducted head counts of every presentation, helped presenters with passing items out, were trained and expected to help with weather-related safety procedures (there happened to be a tornado warning in the area on the first day of the festival), guided attendees through the luncheon lines, and even helped collect, wash, and dry dishes at a celebratory dinner.
While I was expected to fund my own travel arrangements to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, there were plenty of perks to volunteering to work the festival as a student ambassador. First and foremost, our $350 registration fee for the festival was waived. We were also given shared accommodations at a local hotel, were able to choose which sessions we wanted to attend and help out with, and were invited to all of the intimate dinners with the honored guests. Finally, we were given a private tour of the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection which is closed to the public.
I am immensely grateful that I was chosen to be a student ambassador for the 2024 Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival. Not only was I able to represent the University of South Florida as a MLIS student, but I was also able to represent Charleston County Public Library as a children's librarian. I met and exchanged ideas with authors, illustrators, educators, and other librarians from across the country. I came back inspired with new ideas and concepts to apply to both school and work from attending the speeches and concurrent sessions. The field of librarianship is constantly changing, and it is important to continuously learn from each other so that we can best serve our evolving communities. It sounds cliche, but I firmly believe in ''team work makes the dream work" and "sharing is caring." I am thankful for the new friends I've made and the ideas we've shared during the festival. It is my professional goal to one day be able to present my own original ideas to others in the field at a festival or conference in the future.