LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PICKS WORLD HISTORY TEACHER FOR RESIDENCY Matthew C. Poth, a high school world history instructor in Sterling, VA, has been selected as the 2017–18 Library of Congress (LOC) Teacher-in-Residence. Of the appointment, Lee Ann Potter, director of educational outreach at the LOC, says “The Library of Congress holds extraordinary resources related to world history, and we’re really excited to work with an experienced teacher like Matt to make library treasures more approachable and usable for his fellow world history teachers.” Since 2000, teachers-in-residence have helped the LOC’s educational outreach office to strategize and bring collections into classrooms. Aside from that, Poth will work with his school’s librarian to create a multipart workshop for teachers across his district, as well as contribute regularly to the “Teaching with the Library of Congress” blog. STORYCORPS FOCUSES ON TEENS FOR GREAT THANKSGIVING LISTEN EVENT Nonprofit StoryCorps has announced the 2017 edition of its annual Great Thanksgiving Listen event. This year, high school students are being encouraged to take time after the turkey to record a conversation with an older person, perhaps a grandparent they’re visiting with, using StoryCorp’s oral history app. Teens can turn that interview into a complete story by adding photos and/or videos and then uploading it to an archive. The stories will be included in a StoryCorps collection at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Since the app was launched in March 2015, about 250,000 new American stories have been added to the archive, of which 75,000 were recorded during Thanksgiving. GIF-MAKING CONTEST TO RUN THROUGH OCTOBER 31 GIF IT UP, an annual, international GIF-creating competition, is open now through October 31, 2017. The contest is organized by Europeana, DPLA, Trove, and DigitalNZ. Each participant can enter up to three GIFS, either still image or video. Openly-licensed material with which to make GIFS is available. There will be four prize categories. The grand prize winner receives a GIF-optimized digital photo frame. All entries will be highlighted on the GIPHY Channel and promoted on social media with the hashtag #GIFITUP2017. CAPSTONE LAUNCHES ONLINE FORUM FOR EDUCATORS Capstone, publisher of children’s books and digital products and services, has launched Capstone Community, an online forum for educators to find resources, share ideas, and ask questions of a community of PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next users. “We see examples every day of how educators are using PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next in fun, exciting, and beneficial ways in their schools. We wanted to create a space where users could share their successes, discover best practices, and learn from each other,” says Matt Keller, Capstone’s chief marketing officer. The forum includes a resources section, which features lesson plans and activities, videos, and content maps. Teacher-librarian Shannon McClintock Miller will write a monthly column in the blog section. ACCOUNT OF AUSCHWITZ SURVIVOR EVA MOZES KOR HITS #1 ON AMAZON Surviving the Angel of Death (Tanglewood), the story of Holocaust Survivor Eva Mozes Kor, rose to #1 on Amazon’s Bestseller List for Teen Books. The ranking came on the heels of a BuzzFeed interview video of Kor sharing  her horrific Auschwitz experiences during the Holocaust in World War II. The video, posted on BuzzFeed’s Facebook page, has, as of this writing, garnered 151 million views, 1.5 million shares, and 101,000 comments, numbers which continue to rise. BAKER & TAYLOR SUMMER READING GRANT APPLICATIONS DUE NOVEMBER 15 The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) grant administration committee is accepting applications for the 2018 Baker & Taylor Summer Reading Program Grant of $3,000 through November 15, 2017. The committee is seeking program ideas for children up to 14 years old that can be executed in public libraries. Only personal members of both ALSC and the American Library Association are eligible to submit ideas. FREE WONDER PROGRAM TOOLKIT AVAILABLE For librarians looking to plan an event around the upcoming movie Wonder, based on R.J. Palacio's book, Lionsgate is offering a Wonder: Choose Kind Toolkit with activity ideas, as well as downloadable materials. A limited supply of raffle prizes is also available to libraries that host an event prior to the film’s opening on November 17. Contact Rachel Breinin at RGBreinin@aol.com or 914-921-3934. RELIEF FOR COLLEGE-BOUND PUERTO RICAN AND U.S. VIRGIN ISLAND STUDENTS The College Board is offering a free November or December SAT registration and CSS Profile fee waiver to all students in hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Those students should register for the November or December SAT, then call the College Board at 866-756-7346 to receive a refund of the registration fee. For the CSS Profile fee waiver, students should complete an application at cssprofile.org, and the system will automatically apply the waiver. Meanwhile, the State University of New York will offer in-state tuition to students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for at least the 2017–18 academic year, as requested by Governor Cuomo. This move follows a recent one by the University of Central Florida, which is also extending in-state tuition to residents of the U.S. territories. NEEDY DETROIT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GETS NEW BASKETBALL-THEMED LIBRARY The Detroit Pistons, in partnership with Farm Bureau Insurance, renovated the library of J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy on the East Side of Detroit. The makeover is the fifth conducted by the basketball team and the insurance company.  Among those attending the big reveal were Pistons’ center Eric Moreland and Farm Bureau’s vice president of marketing Vic Verchereau. J.E. Clark Prep was chosen for the latest renovation out of 65 schools in Michigan. Due to severe space constraints, the school didn’t have a library. AUTISM WELCOME HERE GRANT APPLICATIONS NOW AVAILABLE Libraries and Autism is taking applications for the 2018 Autism Welcome Here grant. A total of $5,000 will be awarded, either as one grant or as multiple grants in amounts totaling $5,000. Applicants can propose a new program or an enhancement to an existing one, as long as it benefits people of any age with autism or their families. The deadline to apply is December 1, 2017.