Bound to the Beginning: The Debut of the Sibert Award

Abstract

In 1997, Robert L. “Bob” Sibert, president of Bound to Stay Bound Books (BTSB), approached Susan Roman, the executive director of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) at the time, with the idea of sponsoring a new ALSC award focused on informational books. At the spring 1998 ALSC meeting, Roman suggested creating a task force to explore the possibility. The task force was approved by the ALSC Board at the 1998 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, and Leslie Edmonds Holt, then the ALSC president, appointed a three-person task force that included