Table of Contents
Happy National Library Week!
Discover the “Nuts & Bolts” of Teen Services
Give Them What They Want: Reaching Reluctant YA Readers: YALSA Annual Preconference
Upcoming Webinars: Free April Job Hunting Webinar for YALSA Members
Apply for YALSA's Mentoring Program
Submit Your Summer Reading Program for YALSA's Summer Reading Manual
LIS Students and Faculty: Join the YALSA Road Trip
Participate in National Library Legislative Day
Interest & Discussion Group Spotlight: Managing YA Services
Meet YALSA's April Member of the Month: Gretchen Kolderup
Talk Advocacy with a New Email Discussion List
Join the Discussion in May’s YA Forum
Let the Good Times Roll at ALA’s Annual Conference
Propose a 2012 ALA Annual Conference Program
ALA Highlights: Choose Privacy Week
Encourage Your Teens to Enter AdLit.org/Reading Rockets’ Citizen Writer Contest
YALSA President's Report
If you'd like to submit an item for a future YALSA E-News issue, please contact YALSA Web Services Manager Stephanie Kuenn at skuenn@ala.org. Submissions should relate directly to YALSA activities; submissions about YA services in general may be more appropriate for the YALSA Blog or the quarterly journal Young Adult Library Services. YALSA E-News mails on the second Tuesday of the month; content is due one week before the mail date (for the May issue, content is due on May 3).
If you want to share or reprint any of the content in YALSA E-News with your colleagues, on your library blog, or anywhere else that's appropriate, please feel free to do so! Just make sure to credit the original items to YALSA and YALSA E-News.
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Happy National Library Week!
Happy
National Library Week! Each year, we celebrate all things library during the third week of April, and we'd like to salute you, our members, for all you do to make a difference to teens in your schools and communities. Here are a few ways that we're celebrating Create Your Own Story this year:
Discover the “Nuts & Bolts” of Teen Services
By Rebecca Malinowski
Perfect for new librarians and library generalists (tell your coworkers!), the YALSA preconference “The Nuts & Bolts of Serving Teens: Practical Tips for the Library Generalist or New YA Librarian” will be held on Friday, June 24, from 12:30 to 4:30 P.M. in New Orleans. The half-day preconference covers the all the essentials for exemplary teen services.
Learn simple strategies for providing programs and services for teens, and discover hints and tips for managing a collection and incorporating technology into library services and teen programming. Managing teen behavior will also be addressed. Featured speakers include Erin Helmrich (Ann Arbor District Library), Mari Hardacre (Allen County Public Library), Jesse Vieau (Madison Public Library) and Angelina Manfredi (New Mexico).
Tickets cost $129. To register only for the half-day preconferences, please fill out page 13 of this form (skip Section I) and either mail or fax it to 800-521-6017 or mail it to: ALA Registration and Housing Headquarters, 568 Atrium Dr., Vernon Hills, IL 60061. You can also add ticketed events if you've already registered! You have two options: (1) By phone: Call ALA Registration at 1-800-974-3084 and ask to add a workshop or special event to your existing registration; (2) Online: Add an event to your existing registration by clicking this Annual Registration link. Use your login and password to access your existing Annual registration and add events in the “Your Events” section (screen 6). Then simply check out and pay for the events you’ve added.
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Give Them What They Want: Reaching Reluctant YA Readers: YALSA Annual Preconference
Updated with new authors! This pre-Annual workshop on Friday, June 24, 12:30-4:30 p.m. in New Orleans, will be jam-packed with seven popular YA authors and practical information from the moment it begins! Hear how to reach reluctant readers with 2.0 strategies from tech expert Linda Braun. Want to learn how popular YA authors reach reluctant readers with creative programming and subjects? Find out from Walter Dean Myers, Chris Grabenstein, Julie Halpern, James Kennedy, Sarah Dessen, Carolyn Mackler and Jay Asher. And that is just the beginning: library professionals will also highlight tips and creative strategies that can be applied to a variety of settings from passive programs to outreach.
Tickets cost $129. To register only for the half-day preconferences, please fill out page 13 of this form (skip Section I) and either mail or fax it to 800-521-6017 or mail it to: ALA Registration and Housing Headquarters, 568 Atrium Dr., Vernon Hills, IL 60061. You can also add ticketed events if you've already registered! You have two options: (1) By phone: Call ALA Registration at 1-800-974-3084 and ask to add a workshop or special event to your existing registration; (2) Online: Add an event to your existing registration by clicking this Annual Registration link. Use your login and password to access your existing Annual registration and add events in the “Your Events” section (screen 6). Then simply check out and pay for the events you’ve added.
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Upcoming Webinars: Free April Job Hunting Webinar for YALSA Members
YALSA’s April Third Thursday webinar is free for all YALSA members! Tackling the job search process can be a daunting task so let YALSA help. Join Courtney Young at 2 p.m. Eastern on April 21 for a discussion of practical job hunting tips for new graduates and early career librarians. Courtney will walk participants through the job application process from start to finish. Participants will learn tips on where to look for job postings, how to write an effective cover letter and resume and how to choose suitable references. Participants will also learn how to use social media to help their job search and how to start building their professional network.
This webinar is free for YALSA members; if you are a YALSA member who would like to register, please contact Eve Gaus at egaus@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433 ext. 5293.
Planning ahead? Mark your calendar for the next few webinars:
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May 19: Best Practices in Teen Space Design
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June 16: Street Smart: Serving Teen Street Lit Readers
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July 21: Reading Unbound: E-Readers and Your Library
Registration is open for all three webinars ($39 for YALSA members) at www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars.
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Apply for YALSA's Mentoring Program
YALSA is now accepting applications from members for its 2011-2012 mentoring program. The program will pair an experienced librarian (6 years experience or more) with a new librarian (fewer than 6 years experience) or graduate student in a library science program. The program will encourage both the mentor and protégé to provide guidance and support for one another.
Applications for the mentoring program close April 30. Applicants will be notified of their status in July, with training and matching to follow. The mentoring period is August 2011 to July 2012.
For more information, visit www.ala.org/yalsa/mentoring or contact Eve Gaus, YALSA program officer for continuing education, at egaus@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5293.
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Submit Your Summer Reading Program for YALSA's Summer Reading Manual
Get Published by YALSA!
If you have successfully run a summer reading program for teens and tweens in your library and would like to have information about it published in YALSA’s upcoming book,
YALSA’s Complete Summer Reading Manual for Teen and Tween Services,please consider submitting it to Editor Kat Kan by May 1! To download the submission form and learn more details, visit
YALSA's website. Questions? Contact Kat Kan at
teenlibn@hotmail.com.
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LIS Students and Faculty: Join the YALSA Road Trip!
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.
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Participate in National Library Legislative Day
National Library Legislative Day is May 9-10, and we need your help to advocate for libraries! You can join the effort from home by organizing a party to call, fax, email, or Tweet your senators and representatives about issues that affect libraries across the country. Wondering how you can get involved? Check out
YALSA's National Library Legislative Day wiki and our
2011 National Library Legislative Day toolkit (PDF) for tips on how you can make your voice heard. Coming to DC for the annual event? Register at the
National Library Legislative Day website.
Interest & Discussion Group Spotlight: Managing YA Services
By Katherine Trouern-Trend, Convenor
As a member of YALSA, you know that teens are not extra-terrestrials who need to be shushed and shoed away but rather passionate, animate, intelligent humans and valuable members of our communities. How do we make sure teens get the services that they need and want in our public libraries? How do we work with all staff to insure positive outcomes for our teen patrons?
If you work in any capacity with teens at a public library from the reference desk to teen services manager; or if you are a library student aspiring to a career in teen librarianship or public librarianship, we invite you to join the new Managing Young Adult Services Interest Group. Our goal is to be a forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of resources for current and future YA librarians to best advocate for and serve the young adults in our libraries. Just as young adults exist in every type of community (rural, urban, suburban), we welcome a diversity of voices to enrich our group.
As a member of this community, only virtual participation is required. We hope you’ll consider joining us. We will be using ALA Connect, Twitter, and meebo for virtual participation and for those attending Midwinter Meeting or Annual Conference, we will plan social gatherings at these events. Welcome. We promise to have fun along the way.
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Meet YALSA's April Member of the Month: Gretchen Kolderup
To see yourself in YALSA E-News or to nominate a colleague, fill out the YALSA Member of the Month form.
Name: Gretchen Kolderup
Job: Teen Services Librarian at New Canaan (Conn.) Library
YALSA Member Since: 2009
I Joined YALSA: to connect with other YA librarians and to broaden my view of library services to teens beyond what I was seeing in my library school classroom.
YALSA Activities: I'm currently serving on the Amazing Audiobooks committee and I'm a YALSA blogger.
The Best Part of Being a YALSA Member: Being able to share ideas about teen services and get excited about YA lit with other YA librarians! So many of us are the only person serving teens in our libraries, and the benefit of being able to exchange views with like-minded people is immeasurable.
Favorite YALSA Memory: Attending the YA Lit Symposium last November. I'd been to conferences before, but this was the first time I'd spent the entire weekend around just YA library folk and it was a blast! I learned a lot, I was finally able to meet people I'd only ever known online, and I spent the weekend sharing a mutual love for YA lit and getting it into the hands of teens with awesome people.
Hobbies: A lot of my hobbies celebrate my nerditude: I play D&D regularly with friends, I play video games, and I'm learning to play Magic: The Gathering. I also enjoy blogging, spending time with my dog, picking up new crafting skills and projects, and improving my cooking skills.
Favorite YA Book: : Are you really going to make me choose?! One of my very favorite books growing up was Diane Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard. I discovered it in middle school and I'm not sure I've ever so desperately wanted a story to be real. Paper Towns by John Green was the first book that really shook me awake to how downright awesome YA lit has gotten in the years since I was reading it as a teen myself. And one book (okay, series really) that I wish had gotten more attention is Monster Blood Tattoo (now renamed Foundling) by DM Cornish.
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Talk Advocacy with a New Email Discussion List
Looking for a space to discuss advocacy issues and teen library services. Check out YA Advocacy-L at http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/yadvocacy-l! Once you’ve subscribed to the list, you can join the conversation by sending a message to yadvocacy-l@ala.org.
This new email discussion list is a resource for those interested in advocacy related issues in library services to teens, including librarians and other library staff, trustees, educators, community advocates, and more. Subscribers are encouraged to share news and information, exchange resources and best practices, explore solutions to problems and network with one another to strengthen their advocacy efforts and affect positive change.
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Join the Discussion in May’s YA Forum
During the first week of each month, YALSA will host an asynchronous, monthly discussion forum on a current topic in YA services. These discussion forums are free to YALSA members and are hosted on ALA Connect. Each forum will be moderated by an expert in the field. Throughout the week members are encouraged to check in to the discussion forum and ask questions and contribute to the on-going discussion. The forum will open at 10am EST on the first Monday of the month and will close the following Friday at 3pm EST.
May’s YA Forum will take place May 2-6 and will focus on defending and stretching your budget. Your moderator will be Monique Delatte.
To learn more, visit the YA Forum webpage or YALSA’s space in ALA Connect.
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Let the Good Times Roll at ALA’s Annual Conference
By Tammy DiBartolo and Angela Germany, Local Arrangements Co-Chairs
Planning to come to New Orleans for ALA Annual Conference? There are countless fun and interesting things to do in New Orleans but here are a few favorites of locals.
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Tour New Orleans treasures like St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo and the Presbytere. End the day in Jackson Square with a picnic.
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Visit Southern Candy Makers for pralines. Buy enough to take back home!
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Tour a New Orleans cemetery. Visit the tomb of Marie Laveau.
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Beat the heat with a New Orleans original Snowball. Head to Plum Street or Hansen’s and ask to have your Snowball stuffed with ice cream.
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HBO’s series Treme is based on a real New Orleans neighborhood. Tour Treme, America’s oldest African American neighborhood.
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Visit the Jazz clubs on Frenchmen Street.
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Take a ride on a riverboat down the Mississippi River.
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Take a tour! Tour the historic French Quarter or take a Haunted History Tour just for fun.
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Is the heat bugging you? Stop by the Audubon Insectarium.
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Soak up the city’s literary history by visiting the Faulkner House in Pirate’s Alley or visit Napoleon House, a favorite hang-out of Tennessee Williams.
For more information, go to www.neworleanscvb.com and request a free New Orleans Guide.
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Propose a 2012 ALA Annual Conference Program
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.
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ALA Highlights: Choose Privacy Week
By Angela Maycock, assistant director, ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom
Choose Privacy Week is a new initiative – now in its second year – that invites library users into a national conversation about privacy rights in a digital age. The campaign’s goals are to give libraries the tools they need to educate and engage users, and to give citizens resources to think critically and make more informed choices about their privacy.
ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has developed a variety of resources to help libraries reach out to their communities, including sample programs, videos, games, lesson plans, and more. This year Choose Privacy Week is specifically focused on reaching young people. Teens and young adults have unique perspectives on privacy, particularly related to their use of technology and social media, and it’s crucial that their voices are heard in the discussion of what privacy means to us today. OIF hosted a conference to explore issues around young people and privacy in March 2011, and will be sharing some of the ideas and discussions that the event generated at http://youthprivacy.ala.org.
We hope you will consider starting a conversation on privacy among the young adults in your community. Contact Angela Maycock at amaycock@ala.org or visit http://privacyrevolution.org to learn more and to get involved!
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Encourage Your Teens to Enter AdLit.org/Reading Rockets’ Citizen Writer Contest
Reading Rockets and AdLit.org are back with a new writing contest! Citizen Writer offers great writing prompts with connections to civics, citizenship, and our communities. We want students to think and learn more about America's people, places, and ideals as they write. We've selected four very different kinds of writing prompts, designed to match students' interests and stretch their creative skills. For kids who enjoy visualizing their ideas, the mapmaking challenge could be a perfect fit; or, if you have students gifted in music and poetry, they might want to try the songwriting and verse challenge. As always, each prompt includes links to helpful background resources.
There are four grade levels for entries:
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Level I: K-grade 2
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Level II: grades 3-5
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Level III: grades 6-8
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Level IV: grades 9-12
Prize winners will have their work published on ReadingRockets.org and AdLit.org and will receive a gift basket of age-appropriate books and a personalized certificate.
All entries must be received by April 30, 2011.
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YALSA President's Report
Kim Patton had a busy March! Check the YALSA Blog in the next few days to see her president’s report.
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