ALA Annual is just around the corner! Whether you've already registered (can't wait to see you!) or you're on the fence (register by this Friday for the lowest rates!) there are plenty of networking activities, professional development opportunities, and chances to meet 50+ authors on tap!
i, which offers resources like Tips for Stretching your New Orleans Travel Dollars, Dining Options (divided into different categories including price and vegetarian options), Getting Around, Things to Do (including free activities), and Night Life options. If you are attending Annual and have never been to New Orleans, try to arrive a little early or give yourself some extra time after conference so you can enjoy the rich offerings of this city. The Wiki has lots of information on how to see New Orleans on the cheap. Teen librarians may not be independently wealthy but I would argue that we are some of the most FUN librarians out there. Don't leave without visiting the French Quarter, trying crawfish (if you never have), and buying a dumb touristy T-shirt to remember your trip.
The YALSA Teens and Technology Interest Group is organizing a program about Teens and Technology at ALA Annual in New Orleans on June 26 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The program will be conducted Pecha Kucha-style and allow for many short presentations on the latest technology trends for serving young adults.
Pecha Kucha 20x20 is a simple presentation format with 20 images shown, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and presenters will talk along to the image. If you are interested in participating, email your topic, along with a short description to keys.karen@gmail.com (Karen Keys). Applicants should send an email indicating interest by May 20. Approximately, a month before the conference, presenters will be asked to provide 20 slides.
Please note YALSA does not provide funding for registration and travel expenses for the presenters. If you agree to present, you are expected to attend the ALA Annual Conference and cover all costs.
For 12 years, YALSA has honored the best book for teens each year with the Printz Award. Now is the perfect time to showcase the winning book jackets on a calendar that will debut at Annual for the cost of only $15. Members of the Financial Advancement Committee will be selling the calendars at Saturday morning's Strategic Planning Session from 10 am to noon and again that same day outside the entrance to the Edwards luncheon. Sunday, you can purchase a Printz calendar at YALSA's Membership Booth from 2 to 5pm and, if you miss those opportunities, it will also be sold on Monday from 10 to 11 am at the Membership Booth, then later at the Membership meeting, and that evening at the Printz Awards, although quantities are limited!
FAC members have only 150 calendars to sell, but a few more will be available at the ALA Store during conference as well as in the ALA Online Store beginning in June. And you will want to have your calendar before the Printz Program and Reception because Paolo Bacigalupi will be speaking and could autograph it for you, in addition to the honor authors.
Scattered across the months, one can locate birthdays of YALSA's winning authors, in addition to when to celebrate National Elephant Appreciation, Tell a Joke, Don't Step on a Bee, National Turtle or Support Teen Lit Day. Equally valuable is learning which month is for Internet Safety, Get Caught Reading or Teen Esteem. The special days and months will help you plan displays, programs, and other activitites.
Remember last year when the Financial Advancement Committee asked you to "Give $10 in 10" Now they're offering you the chance to buy what will become both a collector's item and a source of programming ideas for years ahead. As always, all monies collected are donated to Friends of YALSA and in 2011 are being used to produce materials to support our award and selection lists.
Heading to New Orleans this summer? Whether you're a brand new or seasoned YALSA member, we need your help staffing our action-packed booth in the exhibit hall! This is a great opportunity to network with colleagues, learn more about your organization, and engage wandering attendees about the fabulosity of ALA's fastest growing division! The YALSA Booth will be open during the following hours:
Have you Tweeted your Senator today?
Today is National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) and it only takes a minute of your time to make a difference! All you need is Internet access and a Twitter account.
To learn more about other ways can advocate for library services to teens specifically, visit
http://tinyurl.com/YAadvocate. Thank you for all that you do to ensure teens have access to great library services and resources and thank you to YALSA's Legislation Committee for creating this advocacy tool!
1. Make sure you're logged into your Twitter account
2. Visit YALSA's Google map of U.S. Senators
3. Click on the push pin in your state
4. Click on the "Tweet Me" link
5. Click on the "Tweet" button (the text of the message has already been created & appears in the text box)
6. Encourage others to do this by forwarding the link of the map to them, adding the link to your Facebook page, blog or web site, etc.
Tweet your U.S. Senator today!
We Need you! Be the Member Manager for The Hub
We're hiring a new member manager for The Hub, YALSA's young adult literature blog, to begin July 1. The Hub's mission is to provide a one-stop-shop for teens and librarians to help them locate high-quality audio, video, and text content related to young adult literature. The deadline for applications is June 1, 2011.
The Member Manager will lead an advisory board and together the group will be responsible for the site, including recruiting bloggers and soliciting content submissions from the YALSA community.
Interested in the job? Read the position description and qualifications, then forward your cover letter and resume to
yalsa@ala.org by June 1.
Questions? Contact YALSA Program Officer for Continuing Education
Eve Gaus
Present a Program at the 2012 Annual Conference
Interested in presenting a program for YALSA at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, June 22-26? YALSA is looking for creative, innovative proposals that address new topics, or that address current topics in a unique way. Submit your proposal by filling out
this survey by May 31.
Be Popular with Your Teens -- PPYA 2012
By Jennifer Korn, Committee Member
It's all about the popular! The 2012 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults committee is looking for nominations from YALSA members, teachers, teen librarians, and especially the teens you serve. The 2012 themes are Get Your Geek On, Sticks and Stones (bullying), Adventure Seekers (adventurous hero tales), and Forbidden Romance. The committee will publish an annotated list of the nominated titles that best represent each list after Midwinter 2012.
These themed lists can be used to aid in collection development, inspire creative book displays, and provide overlooked but spot on readalike suggestions. Imagine showing your teen patrons some love with a "'Geeks will inherit the Earth" display. Provide your local school with an annotated list of books about bullying to support their Stop Bullying campaign. Supply your Sarah Dessen and Twilight fans with more romantic tales that leave them breathless.Create a heroic collection of adventures set in fantastical worlds and closer to home.
Help make this year's lists work for you by nominating a title today! Visit the Popular Paperbacks website for more information and to nominate a title.
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Don't Be Shy! Submit Your Summer Reading Program for YALSA's New Book
As you finalize your summer reading program plans, submit them for inclusion in YALSA's Complete Summer Reading Program Manual for Teen and Tweens! Send your creative ideas for possible inclusion by May 31. Kat Kan, the book's editor, is looking for information on summer reading programs and the other kinds of programming libraries do for teens and tweens during the summer. Want more information or interested in submitting your summer reading program? Visit the book's website!
Don't worry about completing every single question on the submission form if your library hasn't done certain kinds of programs. Submissions must come from ALA/YALSA members; if at least one person in a group is a YALSA member, use that person's ALA member number. If you haven't yet joined YALSA but plan to do so very soon, go ahead and submit your program.
We'd like to hear about all kinds of programs, and about programs for different kinds of audiences. If you've done anything with incarcerated teens, with teen parents, with teens living in group homes or shelters, with teens who are differently abled, both physical and mental, please submit your programs. If you use social networking tools to run your programs, please submit them.
Questions? Contact Kat at teenlibn@hotmail.com.
ALA/YALSA Election Results
YALSA has announced the results of its election! Thank you to everyone who ran for YALSA office this year.
YALSA President-Elect: Jack Martin
YALSA Fiscal Officer: Penny Johnson
YALSA Secretary: Sarajo Wentling
YALSA Board of Directors: (3-year Term) Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Gail Tobin, Christian Zabriskie
Edwards Committee: Charli Osborne, Ed Spicer, Jamie Watson
Printz Committee: Louise Brueggemann, Sharon Grover, Sharon Rawlins, Sarah Bean Thompson
Nonfiction Committee: Ruth Allen, Angie Manfredi, Judy Nelson, Laura Pearle
In addition to electing candidates, all four bylaws measures passed: creating a membership category for non-salaried librarians, creating a membership category for young adult services advocates, increasing dues rates for certain member categories, and reorganizing the nominating committee. To see the full bylaws results, please visit the YALSA Election webpage.
For ALA results, including ALA president-elect and ALA Council, visit
ALA's Election webpage.
Interested in running for office in 2012? Contact Nominating Committee Chair Linda Braun, lbraun@leonline.com.
WrestleMania Reading Challenge Registration Open
The 2011-2012 WrestleMania Reading Challenge has reopened for another year! Registration is now open at
www.ala.org/wrestlemania. Librarians and educators must register by July 31, 2011. In late August, they'll receive the number of posters they requested to begin promoting the program at their libraries and schools.
Participation by youth is open to legal residents of all 50 United States and the District of Columbia, as well as legal residents of Canada excluding Quebec. Participants must be in grades 5-12.
Youth who wish to compete for tickets and a trip to WrestleMania 28 in Miami, Florida, will complete and submit a special project during Teen Read Week, Oct. 16-22, 2011.
Twenty-one finalists will be chosen in January 2012 and will win transportation, hotel, tickets and spending money to attend WrestleMania 28 in Miami. Their sponsoring library will win $2,000. Finalists will compete in the WrestleMania Reading Challenge Championships, where they can win ringside tickets to WrestleMania 28 and other prizes.
Register today at
www.ala.org/wrestlemania!
Be Prepping for Teen Read Week™: Apply for a Grant from YALSA and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation
YALSA, through funding from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, will distribute 10 $1,000 Teen Read Week grants this year! The grants recognize the outstanding efforts of YALSA members and encourages librarians to plan engaging activities in honor of Teen Read Week.
Applicants must be YALSA members, live within 20 miles of a Dollar General store (check your state at
http://tinyurl.com/DGstate), and plan to host an event encouraging reading for teens at a library with the funds
YALSA encourages innovative proposals that are inclusive of underserved teen populations, including but not limited to teens with disabilities and teens who speak English as a second language.Individual library branches within a larger system are welcome to apply. Applications (Word doc) are due July 1, 2011. Recipients will be announced the week of August 1, 2011.Questions? Contact Letitia Smith at yalsa@ala.org.
While you're at the
Teen Read Week website, check out the free program ideas, resource lists, publicity tools, and products from ALA Graphics. And don't forget to
register!
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Reading Summer Reading with the Teens' Top Ten
Looking for books to encourage teens to read over the summer? Check out the newly announced Teens' Top Ten! Thanks to our sixteen book groups for determining this year's nominations and to the Teens' Top Ten/YA Galley groups for their hard work pulling the nominations together. You can download the
annotated nominations (PDF) as well as using the full list:
* Bachorz, Pam. Drought. Egmont USA. 2011. (978606840160).
* Beam, Cris. I Am J. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2011. (9780316053617).
* Beaudoin, Sean. You Killed Wesley Payne. 2011. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. (9780316077422).
* Black, Holly and Justine Larbalestier. Zombies vs. Unicorns. Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books. 2010. (9781416989530).
* Card, Orson Scott. The Lost Gate. Tor Books. 2011. (9780765326577).
* Clare, Cassandra. The Clockwork Angel. Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry. 2010. (9781416975861).
* Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay. Scholastic. 2010. (9780439023511).
* Collins, Yvonne. Love, Inc. Disney/Hyperion. 2011. (9781423131151).
* Condie, Ally. Matched. 2010. Penguin/Dutton. (9780525423645).
* Cremer, Andrea. Nightshade. Penguin/Philomel. 2010. (9780399254826).
* Fitzpatrick, Becca. Crescendo. Simon & Schuster Children's. 2010. (9781416989431).
* Grant, Michael. Lies. 2010. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books. (9780061449093).
* Hawkins, Rachel. Demonglass. Disney/Hyperion. 2011. (9781423121312).
* Hakwins, Rachel. Hex Hall. Disney/Hyperion. 2010. (9781423121305).
* Kagawa, Julie. The Iron King. 2010. Harlequin. (9780373210084).
* Lore, Pittacus. I Am Number Four. HarperCollins. 2010. (9780061969553).
* Moore, Peter. Red Moon Rising. Disney/Hyperion. 2011. (9781423116653).
* Nelson, Jandy. The Sky is Everywhere. 2010. Penguin/Dial Books for Young Readers. (9780142417805).
* Oliver, Lauren. Before I Fall. HarperCollins/HarperTeen. 2010. (9780061726804).
* O'Neal, Ellis. The False Princess. Egmont USA. 2011. (9781606840795).
* Patterson, James. Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel. Little, Brown & Company. 2011. (9780316036207).
* Pearce, Jackson. Sisters Red. Little, Brown and Company. 2010. (9780316068680).
* Smith, Cynthia Leitich. Blessed. Candlewick Press. 2011. (9780763643263).
* Westerfeld, Scott. Behemoth. Simon Pulse. 2010. (9781416971757).
* White, Kiersten. Paranormalcy. HarperCollins/HarperTeen. 2010. (9780061985843).
Looking for ways to promote the Teens' Top Ten? Check out the Teens' Top Ten toolkit (PDF).
Upcoming Professional Development
Registration is now open for three outstanding professional development opportunities!
Join YALSA for a new online course this summer, Navigating the Divide between Teens and Tweens.This course, co-taught by Beth Gallaway and Alissa Lauzon, will explore how YA and school librarians can best serve both their teen and tween patrons. This asynchronous course will run July 11 - August 11.
Registration is open
Join YALSA for our upcoming webinars. On May 19 join us for a conversation with Kim Bolan Cullin on
Best Practices in Teen Space Design. On June 16 join us for a conversation with Megan Honig on
Street Smart: Serving Teen Street Lit Readers.
Planning ahead? Mark your calendar for the next few webinars:
* July 14: Reading Unbound: E-Readers and Your Library
* Aug. 18: From 140 Characters to 10 Pages: Teens, Social Media and Information Literacy
* Sept. 15: Tweet, Like, Link: Creating a Social Media Policy for Your Library
Registration is open for all webinars (each costs $29 students/$39 for YALSA members/$195 for group registrations) at
www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars.
Bring YALSA to a Library School Near You
YALSA is bringing back its road trip in 2011 — and we’re hoping to come to your library school! In 2009, the YALSA Road Trip put some kind of YALSA presence in place in nearly 50 states via state library conferences. This time, we want to have a YALSA presence or program at all ALA-accredited library schools. To do this, we need some dedicated library school students and faculty to volunteer their time to help us achieve our goal. You don’t need to be a teen services expert or a long-time YALSA member to help out. All you need to have is enthusiasm for serving teens in libraries and some time to join the LIS Road Trip!
Find out how you can get involved and bring YALSA to your school at the YALSA LIS Road Trip webpage.
Meet YALSA's May Member of the Month: Robin Brenner
To see yourself in
YALSA E-News or to nominate a colleague, fill out the
YALSA Member of the Month form.
Name: Robin Brenner
Job: Reference and Teen Librarian, Brookline Public Library, Brookline MA
YALSA Member Since: 2001, Member, 2012 Nominating Committee, YALSA Mentor 2010-2011 Chair, 2011 Margaret A. Edwards Committee Committee Member Great Graphic Novels for Teens, 2007-2009 (Chair 2008-2009)
I Joined YALSA: I originally joined YALSA as a graduate school student in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois. I wanted to be a part of the wider community of librarians working in teen services, and YALSA
The Best Part of Being a YALSA Member: By far, my favorite part of being a member of YALSA is meeting all of my fellow YALSA folks. I've met so many mentors and colleagues, many of whom have become close friends, and every ALA I feel rejuvenated and inspired all over again. This community keeps me excited about what I do and gives me so much encouragement and advice back.
Hobbies: I am a media and pop culture junkie, and thus watch an enormous amount of television and films. I have been (most likely justly) accused of thinking about pop culture way too much, but I love examining all the whys and hows of what's evocative and popular when. I enjoy baking and especially cake decorating whenever I get the chance (especially for the variety of book clubs I attend.) Ask me about my Dune cake (or my armadillo cake) sometime. I greatly enjoy hosting a group of my friends for dinner every week (with my roommate's extraordinary cooking making every meal a tasty adventure) -- I feel bereft when I have to miss dinner.
Favorite YA Book: For right now, the books that linger in my imagination are Patrick Ness's
Chaos Walking Trilogy, Melina Marchetta's
Jellicoe Road, and Kristin Cashore's
Graceling.
Interest and Discussion Group Spotlight: Elections
by Linda Braun
Each year YALSA holds elections to determine who will be the next convener (or co-conveners) for the association’s interest and discussion groups. This year’s elections take place later in May, and those elected will take on the convener role on July 1.
What does an interest or discussion group convener do? The role of a convener is to organize and facilitate projects and activities of the group. This may include organizing a face-to-face meeting at Annual Conference or Midwinter Meeting, facilitating an online discussion, or putting together a resource such as the LIS Roadtrip Toolkit developed by the Student Interest Group.
Convening is an excellent opportunity to get involved in the association and work with members. It does not require attendance at Midwinter Meeting or Annual Conference.
If you are not ready to take on the role of convener, you might find now is the time to get involved as an interest or discussion group member. YALSA members can join any group of interest, an appointment is not required. You can learn more on the YALSA website at
http://tinyurl.com/376aben.
If you are interested in becoming a convener of a group, or have questions about membership contact me, Linda W. Braun, lbraun@leonline.com.
ALA Highlights: LibrariUS
ALA's Office for Library Advocacy and PLA are partnering with American Public Media's (APM) Public Insight Network have teamed up to help librarians and library patrons share stories about their library. Learn more about this initiative
here.
YALSA's President's Report
Kim Patton has had a busy April! Check the YALSA blog in the next few days to see her President's report.
ReachOut Reads
The Inspire USA Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the youth mental health site ReachOut.com, is releasing a list of recommended young adult fiction titles dealing with a range of issues like depression and eating disorders. Inspire USA is also announcing a schedule of live YA author chats on Ustream throughout the month of May, which is Mental Health Awareness month. The chats and books are listed at
http://reachout.com/reachoutreads.
The goal of this campaign is to promote positive mental health and build awareness of ReachOut.com a resource for teen and young adult readers of popular YA fiction. The list of books was developed by YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association, and has been reviewed by Inspire USA staff for positive mental health content.
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