In 2010, YALSA will launch a new online research journal. The association is now opening applications for the journal’s editor.

Candidates must email a cover letter, a resume which includes editing experiences, and two samples of published work to: Stephanie Kuenn, YALSA Communications Specialist, at skuenn@ala.org.  All resumes and supporting material must be submitted via email by no later than Sept. 30, 2009.  For further information please contact Stephanie Kuenn by email at skuenn@ala.org or phone: 1-800-545-2433, extension 2128.  Please note that this is not a salaried staff position.  YALSA’s goal is to have a Member Editor in place by January  2010 and to launch the journal in the fall 2010.
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“Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.
Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time, I didn’t know how lucky I was. ”

Living Dead Girl is a book you will love to hate.

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This program was jam packed with useful information for both public and school librarians. Gail Bush started things out with some historical context, and then Tasha Squires presented the Nuts and Bolts of Collaboration (available as a powerpoint on the ALA conference materials wiki). She had some really helpful hints on initiating the partnerships, working with your administration and structuring the partnership. Keeping statistics is key. It was really helpful to see the partnerships in action with specific examples ranging from discusion groups to reading challenges. Lots of ideas for these difficult economic times. Kathie Weinberg, Bethesda Library, MCPL

YALSA is looking for libraries that are holding events for teens some time during the week of July 27 that utilize volunteers.  If your library is doing something, please share a brief description of the event and how volunteers are involved on the YALSA wiki (registration is required, but it’s free and takes about a minute). Please encourage colleagues and friends who have events for teens scheduled next week to list their information on the wiki as well.

Thank you and thanks for all that you do to ensure teens have access to great library services and resources!

Last Saturday at ALA, the committee I’m on, Technology for YAs, sponsored “Downloadable Technology: Current and Future Trends,” a fantastic panel discussion featuring three speakers: Beth Gallaway on downloadable gaming, Kate Pritchard on downloadable and streaming music, and Karen Potash on OverDrive. If you weren’t able to attend, here’s an overview of how the panel gave librarians some great ideas about how to save money and keep on top of music, gaming, and ebook trends.

For the presenters’ slides, click here.

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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard about the controversy surrounding one of YALSA’s best-known lists: the Best Books for Young Adults. Heck, you’d have to be ignoring Twitter, various journals, and this very blog to have not heard a peep about the kerfuffle.

But what really happened?

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Registration for the 2009-2010 WrestleMania Reading Challenge will close July 31 —teens and tweens at your library could win a trip to WrestleMania XXVI in Phoenix, and you could win $2,000 for your library! Just complete Teen Read Week™ registration at www.ala.org/teenread and say “yes” to the WrestleMania Reading Challenge by July 31. .

The WrestleMania Reading Challenge, sponsored by YALSA and World Wrestling Entertainment, encourages teens and tweens in grades 5-12 to read one item a week for 10 weeks, starting in January. Teens and tweens can win prizes and incentives from WWE, including the chance to compete in the national WrestleMania Reading Challenge championships to win ringside tickets to WrestleMania XXVI in Phoenix in March. The sponsoring library of each finalist wins $2,000. Details on the 2010 challenge are available on YALSA’s website. After the jump, find out how students can win a trip to WrestleMania this year and read about the experiences of last year’s finalists.

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Now that conference is over and I’ve had a chance to reflect on everything, I do have to say that one of the things I am most excited about is the approval by the YALSA Board of Directors for the creation of a taskforce to develop policies and procedures for a new Readers’ Choice list (the name isn’t finalized – that’s one of the many things the taskforce will be working to determine).  While the Board has approved this list in concept, details for implementing and administering the list need to be worked out to ensure things run smoothly and that the list effectively serves our members.  Coordinating the nominations, opinions and voting of thousands of members will take some real thought and planning.  I’m sure current YALSA President Linda Braun, who will be appointing the members of the taskforce, would love to hear from anyone interested in serving on the group charged with developing the specifics for how this new list will work.

Quite a bit of the feedback I have seen over the past several years from our members indicates that many are anxious to contribute to YALSA virtually.  This new list will offer a chance to do this in a new and exciting way.  Not only do I think this list will offer all of our members a chance to share their opinions and expertise, on a personal note, after having the opportunity to serve YALSA for three years as a member of the Board of Directors, this is just the kind of participation I’m looking forward to in the future.   A chance to stay connected without necessarily traveling to conference, reading great books at my own pace, finding out if my thoughts about the books I love are reflected by my peers and friends in YALSA – what a great way to contribute to and benefit from the Association.  I can’t wait to see the fantastic list that I know will be produced by pulling together the collective knowledge of all of our amazing members!

One of the things that struck me the most about the many comments on YALSA’s new readers’ choice list, is the opposition some people in the field have had to the idea of creating a list based on input from YALSA’s 5,700 members.



One of the key messages I emphasized to the press during my year as president–something I said over and over again–was that teens and their caregivers should turn to their local school or public librarians for guidance in choosing reading materials.  YALSA works hard to show that young adult librarians are the experts in the field–not just a few, but all librarians.  It’s an important message and YALSA even has a white paper on the topic.  (more…)