For our final blog post, the Washington D.C. Local Arrangements Committee decided to do a round-up of all the information we have shared concerning Washington D.C.  We hope you have found our info valuable and that you have a great time at Annual!

(more…)

As YALSA member Beth Gallaway mentioned in her comment on my post about getting involved in YALSA at Annual, just before Midwinter 2010 I wrote a YALSA Blog post highlighting the fact that YALSA is made up of a welcoming and friendly group of people.

As Annual is just a week away, really it’s just a week away, I wanted to once again point out the welcoming and friendly nature of YALSA members and member leaders. As I mentioned in that previous blog post, sometimes YALSA members can seem like a very cliquey group. But, that cliquey look is really because many of us have had the opportunity to get to know each other over several years and are excited to be finally talking once more face-to-face. If you think about it, the way we ended up looking like a clique was that sometime in the past each one of us walked up to another one of us and started a conversation. It can be scary and intimidating to do that, but it’s well worth it. (more…)

Join Us in DC! It’s not too late to join YALSA in Washington, D.C. next week for ALA’s Annual Conference. If you register online at www.ala.org/annual by Monday, June 21, you can still add tickets to YALSA’s special events, including our full-day preconference, It’s Perfectly Normal: Dealing with “Sensitive” Topics in Teen Services ($195 for YALSA members, students, and retirees; $235 for ALA members; $285 for nonmembers), featuring authors Ben Saenz, Laurie Halse Anderson, Nina LaCour, David Levithan and Ellen Hopkins, and YALSA’s half-day preconference on June 25, Promoting Teen Reading with Web 2.0 Tools ($99), featuring authors Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Malinda Lo, John Green, and David Levithan. From June 21 until 4 p.m. on June 23, you can reserve tickets to both preconferences or the Margaret A. Edwards Luncheon ($59), featuring Jim Murphy, by contacting Nichole Gilbert at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4387, or ngilbert@ala.org.

Tickets for the Printz Program and Reception ($35) and the YA Authors Coffee Klatch ($25) will be available onsite; see a YALSA staff member at the door.

To find out more about all of YALSA’s programs and events at ALA Annual, visit the YALSA Annual Wiki.

Boost teen reading with YALSA’s online courses Registration is now open for YALSA’s summer online courses! In Beyond Booklists: Serving Diverse Today’s Diverse Teens, instructor Jennifer Velasquez will guide participants in serving today’s diverse generation, including ways to design, implement and evaluate more in-depth services and programs for today’s diverse teen population and recent teen immigrants. Participants will also gain skills in addressing issues such as language barriers, cultural differences, and institutional support. In Power Up with Print, instructor Jamie Watson will show participants how to boost the library’s circulation through the development of teen-centered programs, material evaluation and selection, booktalks and more, as well as discuss the latest trends in YA lit. Course registration now open at www.ala.org/yalsa/onlinecourses. Courses cost $135 for YALSA members, $175 for ALA members, and $195 for nonmembers and will take place July 12 to August 9.

Want to win free books? Sign up for Teen Read Week & WrestleMania If you haven’t already, register for Teen Read Week and the WrestleMania Reading Challenge! In addition to showing YALSA that you support these programs — which encourage teens to read for fun — there are major benefits to doing so.

When you register for Teen Read Week, you’re automatically enrolled in a contest to win a collection of titles from Cinco Puntos, 25 manga titles from Viz Media, and a full set of the Fall 2010 launch list from Carolrhoda Lab. Register today!

When you register for the WrestleMania Reading Challenge, you’ll get a resource pack that includes posters featuring WWE Divas and Superstars, prizes for your participants (including Topps trading cards, a Coldstone Creamery gift card, and a WWE Shop coupon), and a toolkit for putting on the Challenge. You’ll also get entered to win one of five sets of books from Penguin. And remember: your teens and tweens could win a trip to WrestleMania and the chance for ringside seats, and your library could win $2,000 and even more books. So register today!

That’s it for this week’s update! To stay up to date on the latest from the YALSA Office, sign up to follow YALSA on Twitter or become a fan of YALSA on Facebook!

I cannot believe that Annual starts next week!  If you are like me and my colleagues, you have begun thinking about what to pack and what to do.  If you are new to Annual, the Local Arrangements Committee thought we’d share some last minute tips to help you:

(more…)

Though you will have many opportunities to see and hear from authors at the conference, there are a few teen-focused events elsewhere in DC that might warrant a little exploration.

Politics and Prose is one of American’s greatest independent bookstores, and if that isn’t enough to get you to take a field trip, Thursday before the conference they are hosting John Green and David Levithan. Green and Levithan are also at the conference, but this may be a good opportunity to watch them interact with their teen target audience. On Monday, Lynne Rae Perkins is appearing, and her new book is getting lots of buzz. Check out the complete calendar of events at Politics and Prose.

Right near the convention center is the Martin Luther King Library, and this year they will be the site of a reception for Capitol Choices. Capitol Choices is a group of librarians, teachers and booksellers from the Washington Metropolitan Region who discuss books for kids and teens and create a list of 100 books at year’s end. Come and enjoy refreshments, and chat with authors (including Jon Skovron, author of Struts and Frets) and many great advocates of children’s literature. The reception will be held on Sunday afternoon from 3-5.

There are several Association activities scheduled for Annual Conference that new and not so new members and member leaders should definitely take note of. Here are a few not to miss:

• YALSA Happy Hour: What better way to start Conference then by meeting YALSA people at a Happy Hour? The Happy Hour is scheduled for Friday, June 25, from 5 to 7 PM at the Old Dominion Brew House, just a short walk from the Convention Center. For those new to YALSA this is a good way to get to meet members and member leaders. You can talk with YALSA’s incoming President Elect, Sarah Flowers, about how to get involved in the work of YALSA’s member groups, network, and relax with a welcoming and friendly group of people.
• Membership Meeting: Monday, June 28, at 1:30 PM at the Washington Convention Center Room 140 A/B is the time and place for YALSA’s annual Membership Meeting. This meeting is an excellent time for current members of YALSA, and those interested in getting involved in the Association, to learn more. (more…)

YALSA is interested in starting a new Interest Group to discuss issues relating Advocacy. We aim to be a forum on exchanging ideas on how to advocate for young adult services (including collections, programs, staff and space) to other library staff, library administration, the local community, elected officials and other VIPs. An Advocacy Interest Group is a natural growth of the Advocacy Task Force established in 2007. Advocacy is an ongoing issue, and not one that can be completed in 3 years.

Members of a YALSA Interest Group can participate completely virtually using tools like ALA Connect. Interest groups can sponsor programs at conferences and submit articles for YALSA publications. To get the new group started, YALSA members need to show their interest by signing a petition. We need 15 signatures in order to submit a Request for Board Action to have the new group approved. If you are interested in participating in this new group send the following information: name, ALA member number, institution, email, address, and phone number to Beth Gallaway at informationgoddess29@gmail.com. Why an Advocacy Interest Group, now? Read on to find out.

(more…)

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Save Libraries campaign so I asked YALSA’s Blog Manager, and high school librarian, mk Eagle to chat with me on the topic. The following is the transcript of our conversation.

LWB: Hi mk, I wanted to ask you about something I’ve been thinking about a lot do you have a few minutes. (And beware I’m going to poke, prod, and play devil’s advocate.)

mk: Absolutely. (more…)

Are you new to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)? How can this ALA division help you?

Get the answers to these questions at YALSA 101, a mixer-style orientation where new members and those considering membership will get an overview of the division and its activities, and can learn more about the benefits of joining YALSA!

YALSA 101 will be held on Friday, June 25th, from 4-5 p.m. in Embassy Suites Convention Center, Capital D.

Guest speakers include:

• Linda Braun (YALSA President)
• Carrie Kausch (Local Arrangements Committee Chair)
• Eve Gaus (Webinar Instructor)
• Kristin Brand Heathcock (YA Literature Symposium Committee)
• Kelly Czarnecki (Teen Tech Week Chair)
• Sandra Hughes Hassell (YALSA Research Journal Advisory Board Member)
• mk Eagle (YALSA Blog Manager)

and more!

New and established members are welcome to attend this great networking opportunity!

Thank you everyone for taking the time to submit a Process Committee volunteer application to serve on a YALSA Process Committee, Taskforce or Jury. I am happy to announce that all Process Committee appointments have been finalized and the Process Committee appointment process is finished for this year. I would like to thank all of the wonderful and talented YALSA members who took the time to fill out volunteer forms and their willingness to give their time to these committees.

If you would still like get more involved, please don’t forget that YALSA hosts numerous Discussion and Interest Groups that any member may join. Discussion and Interest Groups are a great way to get involved in the organization and gain group work experience. You can find a list of YALSA interest groups here.

Kinberly A. Patton