Reserve your spot today for “Advocating in a Tough Economy: An Advocacy Institute Workshop” during ALA’s 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. Advanced registration is economically priced at $50 for the half-day program and will be available until May 14, 2010.

Learn how to better advocate for your library throughout this recession, and get the facts on frontline advocacy, the newest initiative from ALA President Camila Alire. Breakout sessions will focus on maintaining your budget, working with decision-makers, tips for a successful campaign and fundraising, and melding tradition and social networking to create positive messaging.

The program will take place from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday, June 25, at the Grand Hyatt Washington. For more information and to register, please visit, http://www.ala.org/advocacyinstitute.

Advocating in a Tough Economy: An Advocacy Institute Workshop is co-sponsored by the Delaware Library Association, the Maryland Library Association, the Virginia Library Association, and the Washington, D.C. Library Association. It is organized by the Advocacy Training Subcommittee of the ALA Committee on Library Advocacy, in conjunction with the ALA Office for Library Advocacy, the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF), the ALA Chapter Relations Office, and the ALA Office of Government Relations.

Representing YALSA is a special honor and responsibility. As a representative to IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations), I am the “face” of the organization. When I work with other professional associations, I am the communication lynchpin. I have to listen well to make sure I understand what concerns and trends are emerging, using my experience as a YALSA member as my hearing timbre. How do these ideas potentially impact YALSA? Likewise, I listen for opportunities to insert the concerns, values, and possible contributions of YALSA. I also have to listen to the silence, the unspoken, to make sure that the voice of YALSA and YALSA ideas are heard.
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Budget blues getting you down? Wondering how to get your voice heard? Want to stand up for libraries? Get ready for National Library Advocacy Day, this year’s re-imagined National Library Legislative Day on June 29^th, 2010, in conjunction with ALA’s Annual Convention in Washington, DC.

Thanks to the Friends of YALSA, funding has been provided for five YALSA members to receive up to $1,000 in travel stipends to attend the event. The deadline for applications is next Friday, April 30^th, so fill out your application (PDF) or (Word) today.

Applications and information on eligibility and selection criteria are available here.  You can also check out Stephanie Kuenn’s post for the complete list of instructions.

See you on Capitol Hill!

Win up to $1K to attend Library Advocacy Day YALSA will offer travel stipends of up to $1,000 each to five YALSA members to participate in ALA’s Library Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. on June 29, 2010, held in conjunction with ALA Annual Conference. Applications are available as a PDF or Word document. They can also be downloaded at YALSA’s Awards and Grants page and must be sent to yalsa@ala.org. Applications are due one week from today, so be sure to get yours in!

William McKinley High School of Lima, Ohio, celebrates Teen Tech Week The kids on Glee went to the library last week. At about the sixteen-minute mark, you’ll see a familiar poster in the background.

Share your Great Idea You can win a prize from YALSA! Do you have a great idea to support YALSA’s goals in its strategic plan (PDF)? Share them with YALSA and you could win a prizes worth up to $250. Download an entry form (Word doc) today. Entries are due by May 1.

Register for our next webinar on advocacy Karen Keys will lead an hourlong webinar called VIPs: Why You Need Them for Advocacy on May 20 at 2 p.m. Eastern. Karen will explore how librarians and library workers can help grow their library program by improving communication and developing professional relationships with local town councilors, school board members, Chamber of Commerce members, and so on. Registration costs $39 for individual YALSA members, $49 for all other individuals and $195 for groups. Contact Eve Gaus at egaus@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5293 for more information.  Mark your calendar for June 17, when Sarah Debraski will lead a webinar on YA classics.

After the jump, find out how you can save on early bird registration for YALSA’s YA Lit Symposium and ALA’s Annual Conference, sign up for YALSA’s Annual preconferences, register for Teen Read Week and the WrestleMania Reading Challenge, and more!

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The Smithsonian Institution is affectionately called “Our Nation’s Attic” and it certainly earns that title.  The Smithsonian is made up of several different museums, each holding unique treasures.

Want to see Kermit the Frog, Jerry Seinfeld’s puffy shirt, the Star Spangled Banner, or an Inauguration gown worn by a First Lady?  Drop by the National Museum of American History.  This museum has undergone a big face lift, so even if you have been here before, it is worth seeing again.
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This week YALSA Board members are discussing their experience serving on the Board. This post is one in that series.

This podcast is the final post in YALSA’s Life on the YALSA Board series. In this audio you’ll hear YALSA Director Sara Ryan, Fiscal Officer Mary Hastler, Secretary Francisca Goldsmith, and Immediate Past President Sarah Debraski discuss what it’s like to serve on the YALSA Board, the work that they do, the time that it takes, and why it’s a worthwhile experience.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is seeking input from the educational community’s key stakeholders including parents, teachers, librarians, students & administrators on needed changes to the current federal education law, feedback on the Obama Administration’s “Blueprint for Reform” and any other education related ideas stakeholders may want to share. HELP is a bipartisan committee that has started the process of reauthorizing the federal education bill, known as Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA).  The “Blueprint for Reform” can be accessed at

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/blueprint.pdf

Individuals are invited to submit comments until Friday, May 7th by sending them to ESEAcomments@help.senate.gov. This is a key opportunity to let elected officials know about the essential role that school librarians and school libraries play in student achievement.  Please take a few minutes to email your comments to the Senate committee and encourage library supporters to do the same.

For help with developing your comments, you may want to read the testimony of Jaime Greene, a school librarian who testified before the HELP Committee earlier today: http://tinyurl.com/34xahs2 .  Other good resources with information about the important role school libraries play is www.ala.org/additup and AASL’s advocacy page on their web site: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslissues/advocacy/advocacy.cfm

One important issue to include in your comments is to let the Committee know how important the highly rated Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program is.  In his FY2011 budget request, President Obama consolidated Improving Literacy Through School Libraries with five other literacy programs. This would mean that the only federal funding specifically earmarked for school libraries would disappear.  Instead, school libraries will have to directly compete with dissimilar programs to receive federal dollars under the President’s plan.  However, Congress is drafting their own budget for FY2011 right now, and there is no word yet if they will go along with President Obama’s recommendation of consolidation.  Hearing from you could help save the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program.

Please pass this item on to friends, colleagues, etc. and encourage them to send their comments to the HELP Committee.  Thanks for all that you do to ensure young people have access to excellent library staff and resources!

This week YALSA Board members are writing about their experience serving on the Board. This post is one in that series.

The Fiscal Officer is elected for a three year term. A three year term is just right as I wrap up the second year of my three year term as Fiscal Officer. The first year provides an opportunity to experience and become familiar with the responsibilities of the position, the second and third years are all about implementation. The Fiscal Officer is a member of the Executive Board as well as a voting member on the YALSA Board. (more…)

This week YALSA Board members are discussing their experience serving on the Board. This post is one in that series.

The position of Secretary was added to the YALSA Board, by membership vote,  only four years ago.  Until my term began, in 2008, the role of keeping our volunteer association’s formal record fell to YALSA staff.  The addition of this position to the Board places that responsibility with membership; in addition, the position of Secretary adds another voice—and set of energies—to the Board’s Executive Committee.

I ran for the position of Secretary for several reasons:  I had been on the YALSA Board when the idea of creating the position was under discussion and then development and I was a promoter of the concept.  In addition, I have served in a few other elected offices, in other professional organizations, at the time when that position was first initiated, so I had a good sense of the kind of ground-breaking and flexibility the initial office-holder needed to bring to the effort of “launching” how the position might work to the advancement of the Board and membership as a whole. (more…)

If you like your YA literature gritty and urban, consider one of the earliest choices that meet those criteria: A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Sandwich.  Alice Childress’ novel explores the world of a young heroin addict, at a time when there was no DARE, no “Just Say No”, and few options.  And in exposing the lack of options, Childress gives us a chilling look at how urban life used to be–yet it’s a world that doesn’t feel that distant from today’s cities.

A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Sandwich
Alice Childress
Published 1973

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