ALA Annual is just around the corner in June. If you have not had a chance to check out the YALSA Wiki Annual Conference section, I encourage you to take a look. There are many great resources available. These include: Tips for Stretching your New Orleans Travel Dollars, Dining Options (divided into different categories including price and vegetarian options), Getting Around, Things to Do (including free activities), and Night Life options. (more…)

Welcome to YALSA”s first in an occasional series in which two bloggers debate a topic of current interest to librarians serving teens.

In this first post YALSA Blog Manager and High School Librarian, mk Eagle, and YALSA Immediate Past President and Educational Technology Consultant, Linda W. Braun, talk e-collections.

Linda Says, “Go Heavy into e – It will Be Freeing”

Think About the Time You’ll Have
A lot of what I hear when I work with librarians in schools and public libraries is “I don’t have the time.” People say, “ I don’t have the time to keep up with technology, books, programs, teen news and trends.” You name it, librarians are telling me they don’t have the time. Why not? (more…)

Title: Hipstamatic

Platform: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch (4th generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi, and iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G. Requires iOS 3.1 or later

Cost: $1.99+  (several “hipstapaks” come with the initial cost, but additional ones cost extra & it can add up, so choose wisely.)

You know those cool pics you’ve been seeing on Flickr and Facebook lately? The square ones with the grainy edges or shiny middles? The ones that look like they may have been taken by rock star photographer with an old holga camera? Chances are those photos were taken with this app. Hipstamatic can turn even the most mundane images interesting.

For example, here are a few pictures I took of simple things: my glasses, an owl. Which, I think, makes them look even cooler than usual.  No additional touch ups were done to the photos.

Great for taking photos at book clubs, library events, and other occasions, Hipstamatic spruces up the simple iPhone picture into something eye-catching, stylized, and mood creating. At a recent event, I took hipstapics of my students, and they LOVED  how the photos matched the feel of the night.

Photos can sorted into stacks (max of 9 shots sadly) where they can then be sent to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, or email. Photos can also be printed onto real live non-digital versions. For more info on their features, check their launch press release and this demo video: Hipstamatic User Interface Demo from Synthetic on Vimeo.

Do you use this app? How? Why not ask your teen advisory to use Hipstamatic to represent a book in one photo, since as they say a picture is worth a thousand words…

Good news! The ALA and YALSA wiki migration went off without a hitch and we finished a few days early. You can now access and edit the entire YALSA wiki at http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa. Logins and content were not affected by the migration.

If you have any questions about the YALSA wiki, please contact me at skuenn@ala.org.

Countdown to ALA Annual 2011: 65 days. Are you ready??

With only two months left to prepare for Annual, do you know what programs you will be attending?  Who you are rooming with?  What Twitter hash tag to follow?  What time Café du Monde closes?*

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For Episode #96 we talk to librarian and YALSA member Jesse Karp about the release of his first published novel, a Young Adult story entitled Those That Wake.

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.

For more information on Jesse, his novel and other upcoming projects please check out his website beyondwhereyoustand.com.

If  you prefer, you may go to the YALSA Podcast Site, download the Mp3 file and listen to it on the Mp3 player of your choice. To avoid missing future episodes, add the feed to Itunes or any other rss feed tracker.

Teen Tech Week kept us all busy in March as we explored and shared the joys of technology with our teens. Thank you to all the YALSA members who participated in Teen Tech Week activities with the teens in your libraries! …and speaking of YALSA members, have you ever wondered just who it is that makes up the YALSA membership? Here is a snapshot that shows just who your fellow members are:

Total membership: 5,416 (1.3% increase over this time last year)

11% are academics

24% are students

26% are school librarians

37% are public librarians

2% are other (retirees, friends, etc.) (more…)

Start Planning for Teen Read Week! The 2011 Teen Read Week website is now live! Visit and register today (the first 300 registrants will receive a free copy of The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds, who created the artwork for Teen Read Week this year, courtesy of Candlewick Press). Check out our program ideas, planning resources, and publicity tools and find out how you can win a $1,000 grant for TRW programming! Learn more and get ready to Picture It @ your library at www.ala.org/teenread.

Summer Reading Made Easy: The Teens’ Top Ten Planning for summer reading? Make sure to include the Teens’ Top Ten! This year’s list of 25 nominees was chosen by teens in sixteen book groups from across the country. Encourage teens to read the 25 titles by mid-August, when voting opens. We’ll announce the winners during Teen Read Week! See the full list and download annotations at www.ala.org/teenstopten.

Free Webinar for YALSA Members Next Thursday! Are you a YALSA member? Join us for Job Hunting Simplified next Thursday with Courtney Young! This webinar will take place April 21 at 2 p.m. EDT and is free for YALSA members. If you’re a YALSA member interested in attending this session, please contact Eve Gaus at egaus@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5293, to register by Tuesday, April 19.

Don’t Forget to Vote! The ALA/YALSA Election ends next Friday, April 22. All YALSA members who were paid up through Jan. 31 received ballots via email in March. Be sure to vote before the deadline — your input will help shape YALSA’s future!

After the jump, details on YALSA’s upcoming webinars, summer online courses, ALA Annual Conference, and more!

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I just found out about this Bullying resource today and I want to share. Bullying is such a big deal and many people do not realize how common it is and how harmful the effects are. This new website has resources for Kids, Teens, individuals over 18, educators and parents plus an entire section dedicated to LGBT bullying. (more…)

By now you know that the Flip Video is no more. The Flip has been a staple of the teen library program since its introduction in 2006. At its relatively low price point, a library could purchase multiple cameras and put them in teens’ hands. The argument here is that high-quality video is now available on most smart phones, rendering the Flip obsolete, but can we really hand out iPhones to our teens for them to make short films? Here are some options for librarians who still want to make video cameras available to their teens:

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