Kelly Czarnecki talks with teen, Storm Basiat, in regards to Congressman’s Mark Kirk’s proposal to the Federal Trade Commission to warn parents of the “dangers Second Life presents.” Also discussed is how Kirk feels that access to Second Life should be banned in schools and libraries.

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Storm points out some great things to listeners such as:
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A. Several teen councils together.

On May 3rd, we held our first Multnomah County Library Teen Council Retreat. More than thirty teens attended, representing teen councils from several different branches. Our goals were simple: for the teens to meet, see that they’re part of something bigger than the council at their neighborhood library, and have fun.

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Last week on the MacBreak Weekly podcast roundtable members briefly discussed a little-known fact about MacBook USB ports. As I listened I thought to myself, “Oh my gosh, this is why L Lee had audio troubles this the semester.) When I had a chance, I emailed L Lee the information I’d heard on the podcast, and he agreed what they talked about could very well have been the problem.

Thinking about this I realized, once again, how serendipitous information gathering and the exchange of information with others can be. I also realized how important it is, as a librarian, to really listen to what others say so that these opportunities for serendipitous information exchange can actually take place.

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In this short podcast, Lindsey Dunn talks about YALSA’s Teens’ Top 10 Project, including a full-list of this year’s nominations.

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You can learn more about the the Teens’ Top 10 Project on the YALSA website and you can download a pdf file of the list of this year’s nominations.

I’ve recently been fortunate to give a variety of presentations about teens, music, and what that relationship means for your library. As Kelly mentioned in the last YALSA post, I’ll be live broadcasting an online stream for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County‘s teen retreat. For anyone interested in tuning in (see Kelly’s post for details), here are the presentation materials I’ll be using.

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If you’re free today, Wednesday, May 14 at 3:30pm EST, tune into ustream.tv for a presentation by Librarian Joseph Wilk on connecting with teens and music at your library. Go to www.ustream.tv, type in ‘plcmc’ in the upper right corner where it says ‘search here’, choose the ‘PLCMC Teens 1′ channel when it says ‘live’ and you’re in! You’ll need headphones and the latest Adobe Flash Player to view it. Think of the possibilities for using such a tool-gaming with other libraries, teens giving hosting their own radio show, author talks, etc. For more ideas, check out a past post by Linda Braun on the YALSA blog about Ustream and some other ideas and similar software from School Library Journal. Feel free to share your own experiences.

Since late January, I’ve served on YALSA’s Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults committee, which means, among other things, that I’ve spent an awful lot of time this year looking for books about ghosts, vampires, zombies, dead classmates, dead relatives, and road trips.

To come up with relevant titles to consider, I’ve used my own knowledge of YA books and gotten suggestions from teens.I’ve also been using reference tools, traditional and non-, to discover new titles or jog my memory.

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The countdown is over – it’s National Library Legislative Day! Today and tomorrow, let’s support all our colleagues who are in Washington by emailing or calling our Senators and Representatives. There are several pieces of pending legislation that affect teens, and your calls and letters will help! Here are a couple to consider:

• Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois has re-introduced the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), which passed in the House in 2006 but died in the Senate. He wants to ban Second Life in schools and libraries due to the “dangers” of virtual worlds for children.
• Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI-3) have introduced a bill to address the school library crisis facing the Nation: the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act. The inclusion of the SKILLs Act in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is vital to school libraries. It is the single most important piece of legislation concerning school libraries that will come before Congress this year.

Talking points and a “find your legislator” link can be found on the YALSA wiki. Don’t wait, do it now! Legislators are waiting to hear from you.

Maureen Ambrosino
YALSA Legislation Committee

My brain has been spinning for days thinking about the library’s role in the social graph. It started when on a recent TWIT podcast Kevin Rose, of Digg, mentioned the social graph. I’ve heard that term bandied about before, but when Rose said it this time I wondered if I really knew what it meant. A Google search led me to information on the social graph and the confirmation that this graph is really another way of talking about six degrees of separation. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is often quoted when people write about the social graph. For example, “Zuckerberg attributed the power of Facebook to the ‘social graph,’ the network of connections and relationships between people on the service. He said, ‘It’s the reason Facebook works.’”
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Earlier today, as I was waiting for a meeting to start, I found myself eavesdropping on a group of librarians who were lamenting the fact that the students they served only wanted to use Google. As I listened in on the conversation a couple of things came to mind.

• First, I thought, why is this conversation going on AGAIN? Aren’t librarians finally at the point where they realize Google is here to stay, we have to accept it, and our job is to figure out ways to help teens use it in the best way possible?
• Then I thought, are librarians such a judgmental lot? Are we always judging the teens who come into the library and not simply accepting them for who they are? Do we focus too much on what we judge to be the best in materials, searching, etc.? Is this the reason why a conversation on this topic STILL takes place?

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