Illinois School Library Workers Symposium 2026

Hello all! 

Welcome to the 2026 Illinois School Library Workers Symposium. Meet us in the MAIN room Zoom for the morning welcome and first session. If you need help, use the chat feature on Sched or the MAIN room Zoom chat. 

Providing access to a wide range of books is not only good practice; it’s also essential for helping young people foster a love of literature. This session is a primer on what intellectual freedom is, including defining what constitutes book censorship. It will highlight some of the ways Illinois has been a leader in protecting the right to read, while also being frank about how too often, censorship still happens across the state.  Prepare to expand your understanding of what it means to be a champion for your students through championing their freedom to read. 

"Reading is boring." "I can't find anything to read." We've all heard it — and too often we respond by trying to convince kids reading is fun, or by handing them another book we're sure they'll love. But what if the real answer isn't a better pitch for reading? It's giving students genuine ownership over their own reading lives.
In this session, we'll dig into what kids are really telling us when they say they don't like reading, and practical conversation tactics that open doors instead of closing them. We'll also talk about why reading was never meant to compete — not with screens, not with other subjects, not with anything — and what changes when we stop treating it like something to win kids over to, and start treating it like something that belongs to them.
You'll leave with language you can use tomorrow, and a shift in how you see the reluctant reader in your room.

Feel free to eat on your own, or join us in the MAIN room for lunchtime chatter!

It’s hard to compare the singular experience of sharing a true story through the medium of comics. Cartoonist Lucy Knisley has written and drawn a number of graphic memoirs, travelogues, and graphic novels based on real life. In this talk, she shares some of her thoughts and experiences connecting with readers through this format, and how one might encourage young people to tell their own story through drawings and words. 

Explore the EBSCO databases available for the entire state of Illinois through IRIS. Look at what kind of information is available, tips and tricks of how to navigate around these databases, and how you can use these to help your students and your educators.

Whether you're new to Bluestem or looking to become more involved, this session will cover the award process, available resources, student engagement opportunities, and ways to join the Bluestem Committee. See slides here.