Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Farewell to CCBC-Net



When CCBC-Net began in April, 1995, we wanted to offer an exciting new way to engage in discussion of books for children and teens. Our first topical discussion was held in July of that year. We’ve been exploring individual books, topics and issues in the world of literature for children and teens on a monthly basis ever since.
The original welcome message on CCBC-Net included 8 pages of directions

Across CCBC-Net's twenty year history, there have been thousands of posts as members of the CCBC-Net community have shared their insights, observations, perspectives, experiences, and enthusiasm around books for youth.  At the time we launched CCBC-Net, listservs were on the cutting edge, and ours allowed for a vibrant, lively discussion of subjects near and dear to our hearts and our professions. We have had over 2,000 subscribers from all over the world and from many walks of life, and the listserv has seen some great discussions.

Today, while listservs still have a place, they have been joined by blogs, Facebook, Twitter feeds, Pinterest posts, and other forms of social media that offer different ways to connect and engage.  Listservs are no longer the go-to form of social media for discussion and, as a result, we have observed a sharp decline in activity on CCBC-Net over the past few years.  Our attempt to revitalize CCBC-Net in 2014 with changes that included book discussions and Q&A with authors and illustrators – while illuminating -- did little to increase participation.

For this reason, after much consideration and discussion, we have decided to bring the CCBC-Net listserv to a close at the end of 2014.  

We’ll still be talking about books for children and teens, publishing trends, and essential issues in the world of children's and young adult literature, in person as always at the CCBC, as well as here on this blog. Look for more author and illustrator interviews, too, like this one with Eric Gansworth from earlier this year. That’s one thing we look forward to carrying forward in this new forum.  And as with CCBC-Net, we welcome your suggestions of topics for discussion.

Onward!

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for the long run --- it has been great!

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  2. Is there a way to subscribe to this blog to receive posts in my email? Sorry if I missed it! Thank you for the years of CCBC-net and for this blog!

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  3. Linda, on the top of the right-hand column there is a space where you can put your email address to follow the blog via email. Thanks for the suggestion!

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    1. Thank you! I'll look forward to receiving the blog posts. All the best.

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  4. I mostly lurked on the listserv, but thank you for providing it and running it for so long! Looking forward to following things here instead:>)

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  5. To my friends Ginny and K T- Thank you for your years of experience and skills in keeping us aware and informed.
    Here's to a Happy New Year.
    {karen kosko}

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  6. Thank you KT and Ginny K and all the staff at CCBC. I understand the decision and look forward to the new format. It's been a great 20 year run and now ionto 2015! Thank you for all you have done so far.

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  7. Thank you so much for all that you do to support children and young adult lit and the people who create and utilize that literature. I'll miss CCBC-Net, but I know I will still enjoy our conversations no matter where they happen.

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