All eyes are focused on the presidential race, but it’s important not to overlook state and local races.  States, counties and cities all over the country are considering ballot initiatives that will affect public and school library funding and services.

Some of the ballot measures directly address library funding.  Others may deal with state and local revenue streams, which ultimately affect libraries and schools.  (more…)

Why do so many teens gravitate toward street lit?

The Baltimore City Paper has a provocative article about the dearth of YA fiction reflecting the lives of teens in urban poverty.

Though librarians often think of authors like Walter Dean Myers, Coe Booth, and Sharon Flake as the answer to teens of color looking for reflections of themselves in literature, Corbin believes they don’t go far enough: (more…)

Two new pieces of legislation, that are likely to be of interest to librarians working with teens, were just signed into law:

• The KIDS Act (Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act) which requires all convicted sexual offenders to register their email addresses and IM names in the National Sexual Offender registry.  Websites can use the information in this database to help guarantee that those online are safe from sexual offenders. For example, as reported in a post on the Facebook blog, Facebook plans to monitor the registry to make sure that those listed are not able to sign-up for the service.
• Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act was merged with the Broadband Data Improvement Act. (more…)

In this podcast YALSA Past President Pam Spencer Holley interviews ALA President Jim Rettig.

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Holley and Rettig discuss a wide-range of topics including:

• What life is like as ALA President
• Steps to take if you one-day want to be ALA President
• The importance of libraries from cradle to grave (more…)

Author Cynthia Leitich Smith will be on the main stage of ALA’s island in Second Life on the adult grid at 5pm PST tomorrow evening. She will talk about Tantalize and other upcoming latest releases. You can create a free account at www.secondlife.com to participate. The discussion will also be recorded here. Cynthia will be on the teen grid on the 28th of this month.

Recently I posted about various things I’d seen, read, and heard, and it ends up that I’m going to do the same thing in this post. Not really surprising I guess, since getting information out to people is a part of what librarians are about. So, here’s another short list of things I’ve come across recently that relate to libraries and teens:

• Video Games and Reading - On Monday, the New York Times, published the second in a series titled The Future of Reading.  The second installment in the series focuses on video games and what people are saying about the impact of gaming on reading skills.  The discussion includes what’s happening in libraries and publishing as a result of a new understanding of gaming and literacy.  One of my favorite quotes, from author and college professor Jay Parini, in the article highlights why libraries, reading, and games are a good match.  “I wouldn’t be surprised if, in 10 or 20 years, video games are creating fictional universes which are every bit as complex as the world of fiction of Dickens or Dostoevsky.”
• Cool Teen Programs on a Shoestring – This is the title of a new YALSA book that’s in the works that will highlight the creative, interesting, fun, successful programs librarians and teens are making happen without spending a lot of money.  (more…)

Teen Read Week Is Almost Here! Teen Read Week starts on Sunday! Bookmark www.ala.org/teenread and have your teens begin voting for the 2009 theme (voting doesn’t open until Sunday)! The theme options are: Seek the Unknown @ your library®, Read Beyond Reality @ your library or Unbelievable Reads @ your library.

Got a Cool Event for Teen Read Week? Tell Us! Visit YALSA’s Teen Read Week wiki and tell us what your Teen Read Week plans are! And after Teen Read Week, make sure to enter your event in the Best Teen Read Week Celebration Contest, from YALSA, AdLit.Org, Mirrorstone, 2008 TRW corporate sponsor.

And Don’t Forget the Teens’ Top Ten! Teens’ Top Ten voting starts Sunday as well! Encourage your teens to vote in the only booklist created entirely by and for teens! We’ve also developed a widget to add to your library blog or site to encourage teens to vote. Download the button to the left and link back to www.ala.org/teenstopten beginning Oct. 12.

Find out more news from the YALSA Office after the jump.

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There is no shortage of books on youth subcultures. Generally they fall into two types, popular and academic. Many popular works are written by rock journalists with strong editorial biases. Others are written by subcultural participants who also have agendas to push. Scholarly works are more objective but are often aimed at graduate level sociology students. Even if you are really interested in youth sociology these can be hard dry reading. Finding accessible, reasonably objective survey works for a reader who just wants to be a bit more “literate” about youth subcultures can be a challenge, but this book is good start. (more…)

Teen Read Week and voting for the Teens’ Top Ten begins in just 5 days. I can’t wait to see the votes come in and find out which of these books are teens’ favorites! Remember, this is the only teen choice where the books are nominated and voted on by teens all over the USA. It’s practically an American duty for teens to vote!

I asked a few teens what they were planning on voting for. Here are some of the responses: (more…)

YALSA recently finalized the slate of candidates for the 2009 election:

PRESIDENT:
Jerene Battisti
Kim Patton

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Kelly Czarnecki
Dora Ho
Sara Ryan
Stephanie Squicciarini

COUNCILOR:
Nick Buron
Elizabeth K. Shuping (more…)