How do I arrange for my university class/group to visit the CCBC.
We love talking to university students about the CCBC and books for children and teens! Please complete our Request form, which will ask you to provide information about your class, your students, and what you’d like us to provide, and when you want to come.
If we are including books for display and a presentation, we’ll want to know what grade range(s) to pull for (e.g., Picture Books for K-3; Books about or for use with K-12 English Language Learners; etc). We’ll also want to know how many students are in your class or group. It sometimes takes a little back and forth to find a date and time that works but we are always able to arrange something.
Can my class/group meet in the CCBC conference room?
The CCBC conference room is available for one-time use as the room schedule allows. It is not available for classes or groups to use on a regular basis for their meetings. Email us to inquire about availability for a one-time use. If you are coming to make use of CCBC resources and want a tour and/or presentation, see the question above.
When the CCBC conference room is not in use, students may drop in and use it to study or meet informally. Please check in at the CCBC reference desk before doing so in case we are getting ready to set up for an event or class visit.
Can the CCBC come to my school/district and give a presentation for teachers?
As a general rule, the CCBC can only provide outreach programs involving travel when they are arranged and sponsored by consortia such as Wisconsin public library systems and CESAs. Please read more about our hands-on workshops.
We are always happy to host teachers and librarians from a district here at the CCBC for a presentation. (See next question.)
A group of us from my school/district would like to arrange a visit to the CCBC to look at books. How do we arrange this?
We are happy to work with you to find a date for your visit. Please use our Request form to provide us with information about your group.
We’ll want to know if you are interested in a presentation, just looking at books, or both. If you are interested in hearing about books in the most recent edition of CCBC Choices, our annual best-of-the-year list, we’ll want to know if we should focus on a specific audience age/grade range. If you are interested in finding out about both newer and older (but still relatively recent) books on specific themes and topics, we’ll want your list of themes/topics at least two weeks, and preferably more, in advance of your visit, including the age/grade ranges we should focus on.
If you are interested in hands-on examination of new books and have a list of titles you want to see, we will want that list at least two weeks in advance of your visit.
I need a book for one of my classes. Can I borrow it from the CCBC?
The CCBC does not check books out. If you are a faculty member or TA looking to use books on a specific theme or topic for your class, we encourage you to arrange a visit to the CCBC for your class. You can meet in our conference room and we will arrange to have relevant books pulled/on display.
If you are in the library you can ask at the Reference Desk about our short-term borrowing: We will loan out a limited number of books for same-day, short period loan, and you will have to leave photo ID and contact information at our reference desk.
Can I bring my elementary/middle/high school students to the CCBC?
We can’t accommodate school groups or classes at the CCBC. However, we do make an exception for students who are studying Ellen Raskin’s Newbery Award-winning novel The Westing Game, as Ms. Raskin donated her manuscript to the CCBC so that students could see where books come from and how they are made. To inquire about seeing the manuscript materials by appointment, contact CCBC Director Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, 608-263-3721.
Our district/library is facing a book challenge. How can the CCBC help?
The CCBC Intellectual Freedom Information Services provides confidential, book-specific information and referral for Wisconsin librarians and teachers facing an actual or potential materials challenge. Call us at 608-263-3720 or email us (ccbcinfo@education.wisc.edu) to ask for assistance.
Can you help me find the name of my favorite book from childhood? I can’t remember the title or author.
We can try.
We’ll need to know whatever you can remember about it: characters, names, setting or anything else you can recall, such as the kind of book it was (picture book story, novel, informational book), whether it was a book you owned at home or obtained from a school or public library, and what decade/year you read it, if possible. (For example: “It was a novel about children who smuggle gold past Nazi soldiers on their sleds. I think I read it during elementary school in the 1970s.”) Email us or call us (608-263-3720) with as much information as you can remember. (By the way, the answer to the description above: Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan.) With this information, we are sometimes—but not always—able to track the title down. (Check out additional advice for finding old books from the New York Public Library.)
More about CCBC services to Wisconsin school and public librarians.