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Last weekend I attended PAX East in Boston. It was a lot of fun to play games with friends and talk about gaming and the culture and issues surrounding it, but there was one thing in particular that really got me excited about bringing back to the library world: interactive fiction.
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A short list of tweets posted over the last week that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting:
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WE NEED YOU!
As you might have been seeing via emails, listervs, and in blog postings, YALSA is embarking on creating a new Strategic Plan to guide the organization and to better serve all its members.
However, in order to begin this process, YALSA needs your input! Take a few minutes to participate in the survey and share what you think YALSA’s priorities, goals, and interests for the future should be.
Every activity, initiative, resource, and service that YALSA develops is determined by the goals and objectives of the Plan. Take a look at all the wonderful initiatives that have been created to meet the organization’s Research goal, and more importantly, the research needs of its members: (more…)
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Name: StoryCorps
Platform: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later
Cost: Free!!
Since 2003, the nonprofit organization StoryCorps has been traveling around the United States collecting digital recordings of the stories of regular people. According to their website, their “mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. …StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 30,000 interviews from more than 60,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind.” You may have seen their silver airstream parked at a public building near you as they continue to collect new stories.
The organization has partnered with National Public Radio so that portions of recordings can be heard on Morning Edition weekly. They also maintain a podcast. Thus far, they have published two anthologies of interviews: Listening is an act of love and Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps. Perhaps your library has these titles. Perhaps you have already incorporated their oral history initiative into your teen programming.
If not, showcasing their App may be just the entry point you’ve been looking for. (more…)
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About a dozen years ago I was a part of a presentation in which my co-presenter told audience members about her discussions with the college students with whom she worked in which she would say, “The internet IS NOT a toaster.” By that she meant that at that time using the Internet was not as simple and easy as putting a piece of toast into a toaster, pushing the button, and then having a perfect piece of toast pop out in just a few minutes.
After 12 years I’d say that for most of the teens with whom we work, the internet IS a toaster. Why? Because it’s a part of day-to-day life and has been for the entire lifespan of anyone who is currently a teen, or younger. The internet to a teen is no different than a toaster, or a refrigerator, or any other appliance that gets used every day. And, it’s not just the internet, technology, web 2.0, ereaders, Twitter, Facebook, etc. is a toaster for the teens with whom librarians work.
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This week’s episode concludes the podcast’s coverage of the YALSA 2011 election. This week’s guest are Molly Krichten and Gail Tobin, who are both running this year for spots on the YALSA Board of Directors.
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.
If you prefer, you may download the podcast at the YALSA Podcast site and transfer the file to the mp3 player of your choice.
Voting this year will open up on March 16. You can prepare your votes ahead of time by checking out the sample ballot and some of the previous coverage on the YALSA blog and YALSA Podcast.
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Are you a new to working with teens? Are you struggling to find easy but effective programs? Do you feel that you are not meeting the need of teens in your library? Would you like to meet others who work with teens? If so, come to the YALSA preconference “The Nuts & Bolts of Serving Teens: Practical Tips for the Library Generalist or New YA Librarian” on Friday, June 24, from 12:30 to 4:30 P.M. in New Orleans.
Simple strategies for providing programs and services for teens will be discussed as well as collection development, YALSA competencies, incorporating technology into library services and teen programming, and why teens and libraries need each other. Tips for dealing with teen behavior (good and bad) during programs and in the general library setting will also be covered. Featured speakers include Angelina Manfredi (Los Alamos County Library System), Erin Helmrich (Ann Arbor District Library), Mari Hardacre (Allen County Public Library) and Jesse Vieau (Madison Public Library).
This program has all the tools that you need to fill your library toolbox and more! The half-day preconference covers the all the essentials for exemplary teen services. Tickets for the event cost $129 and include light refreshments. Registration for 2011 ALA Annual Conference is not necessary to participate in the preconference.
If you wish to register for this event without registering for Annual, you can download the form to mail or fax in (go to page 12 and ignore part I). If you haven’t registered for Annual, you can do so at www.alaannual.org and add this special event onto your registration.
If you have already registered and would like to add this special event to your registration, you have two options: (1) By phone: Call ALA Registration at 1 (800) 974-3084 and ask to add a workshop to your existing registration; (2) Online: To add an event to your existing registration use your log in and password to access your existing Annual registration and add events in the “Your Events” section (screen 6). Then simply check out and pay for the events you have added.
We hope to see you there!
Posted on behalf of Carrie Wuensch-Harden.
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I had the opportunity to chat with a group of School Library Teacher students from Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science on Twitter recently. These students, from various parts of Massachusetts, are all working on practicum experiences in school libraries. They meet up once a week on Twitter to support each other, compare notes, puzzle out questions of teaching in libraries, and help each other accurately document their experiences in their required binder. They use the hashtag #prakchat, for practicum chat, when they have these tweetups, as well as throughout the week to share their trials and triumphs on the front lines of their school libraries.
I was impressed by their initiative in using Twitter and the way they articulated its impact on their library school experiences. The support of colleagues is so important in library school and in the profession in general. Professional Learning Networks need not rely on proximity. A simple agreement about how to communicate can go a long way. Check out the transcripts from our two part conversation. (more…)
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Over the past several weeks I’ve been teaching an online course for YALSA called Connect, Create, Collaborate. The focus of the course is on technology in teen services with a strong focus on how to integrate technology into traditional programs and services for teens – collection development, programming, outreach, readers’ advisory, and so on. Over the past five weeks students in the class have been creating lots of content in order to explore the possibilities.
Here’s a rundown on some of the topics covered in the course and what was discussed about and/or developed each week:
During the week that focused on how to create great teen services using tech, one of the topics discussed was QR codes. The QR code conversation brought out a lot of great ideas including ideas about adding codes to: (more…)
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The title of this blog post is from a slide that was part of a presentation by John Palfrey that I was fortunate enough to attend. The topic of the talk was Born Digital and Palfrey covered a number of areas that should be of interest to librarians serving teens. Some of Palfrey’s big ideas are:
