In a podcast during the 2011 elections, Sarajo Wentling urged YALSA members to get involved.  Having been with YALSA for 13 years and serving on various boards and committees, our 2012 secretary certainly practices what she preaches.  I had an opportunity to talk with Sarajo about her experiences with YALSA and her plans for her term as secretary.  Here’s what she had to say.

What was your reaction when you found out that you’d won the election?

When I got the call from Beth Yoke telling me I’d won, I was super-excited.  I’ve been serving on the Board in an ex-officio capacity for the last two years, and I’m really looking forward to having a more active role in both the Board and Executive Committee over the next three years.

How long have you been involved with YALSA, and what made you want to get involved?

I’ve been a member of YALSA since I was a grad student about 13 years ago. Time flies!  I started on my first committee, YALSA’s Division and Membership Promotion in 2000.   I knew that I wanted to work with youth, but it was the teen end of the spectrum that I was really drawn to.  It seemed a natural fit, joining YALSA, to make connections and use the resources available to me.
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Title: Bluefire Reader
Platform:
iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch with OS 3.0 or higher
Android app is coming soon!! According to MediaBistro AND Bluefire Facebook page   
Cost: Free!

As a school librarian, summer is one of my favorite times to catch up on professional development and read as much as possible. This year I was lucky enough to attend ALA Annual (post on this coming soon) where I was showered with galley after galley of upcoming summer, fall and even winter titles. I left New Orleans with an entire extra suitcase full of finds.

Only occasionally during my rounds through the exhibit hall was I reminded of the great service NetGalley, which allows “professional readers”  (i.e. librarians and other eligible persons) access to DRM and DRM-free Galleys of upcoming titles.

The list of publishers in NetGalley’s arsenal is long, and I’ve found out about many great titles through this service.  I turned a few books down when I discovered they were on NetGalley…less to carry.

Upon my return from ALA, I learned that the iPads we ordered for the coming school year were in, so I picked one up with plans to try it out. I’ve put several different reading devices on the iPad; Kindle, Copia, Stanza, Bluefire have all been added, to name a few.

All are free apps, and all have their benefits,* but I’m highlighting Bluefire for a few reasons: (more…)

When I heard about the ALA Executive Board during a conference, I was curious to know what kind of youth representation they had and what that actually meant. While there are several members on the current ALA Executive Board that are also youth division members, Dora Ho (Lost Angeles Public Library), YALSA and ALSC member and newly elected ALA Executive Board member, agreed to answer a few questions for the YALSA blog. Her term officially started after this past annual conference in New Orleans. (more…)

Here’s a short list of tweets posted over the last week that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting:

• Should we shrink wrap our libraries? http://bit.ly/pjXHqT (Voices from the learning revolution) – @whatedsaid
• Is a Bookless Library Still a Library? – TIME http://ti.me/o5ea4D – @janholmquist
• Mobile Phones and America’s Learning Divide | The Young and The Digital http://bit.ly/pfAy5H – @librarianbyday
• Burlington MA HS going 1-1 ipad this fall. Nice post from principal here re “embracing failure” http://tinyurl.com/6b2yjbn – @alixinbeverly
• New report: Smartphone adoption and usage http://pewrsr.ch/rrwFue – @pewinternet (more…)

Title: Tumblr
Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android running 2.1 & higher
Cost: Free

Tumblr is a blogging software that works well for sharing all kinds of media.  It’s been around for awhile, but some of the teens I know have been using it, so I thought I would check out the free app.

When you open up the Tumblr app there are five options across the bottom of the app screen. “Dashboard” is where you can see the posts of other tumblogs you follow.  “Likes” takes you to a list of posts that you have clicked the like button on.  “Post” takes you to the options for posting: text, photo, link, quote, audio and video.  These different post types for different media are in my opinion, Tumblr’s strongest feature. You can have multiple blogs on Tumblr, and the “Blogs” tab lets  you access these blogs and statistics about them.  Under the “Account” option, you can see the blogs you follow and search tumblr for new blogs to follow. (more…)

Like 20,000 other people, I attended Annual this year. It was only the second time I’ve been, so before I left, I sat down to think about how I wanted this experience to be similar to and different from my last/first time (Chicago 2009). I knew I wanted to be bolder in approaching people I didn’t know so that I could meet and talk with more people, and I definitely feel like I succeeded in that! Another one of my goals for my Annual experience this year was to learn more about YALSA as an organization and to find out more about what YALSA does beyond what I’ve experienced so far.

And what better way to do that, I thought, than to sit in on a Board meeting? ALA has an open meeting policy, which means that almost all of the business ALA and its divisions conduct are open to members with the exception of “matters affecting the privacy of individuals or institutions.” Thus, while you can’t sit in on the Printz committee’s deliberations, you can attend Board meetings and hear what issues YALSA’s governing body discusses and the decisions that they come to. (more…)

Here’s a short list of tweets posted over the last week that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting:

• RT @kevcreutz Why “I Don’t Do Technology” Isn’t Acceptable http://bit.ly/q5ID80 – @kishizuka
• Data Hounds! @pewinternet’s brand new teens data source is up & includes new spreadsheet w basic data 4 teens since ’00 http://t.co/kfgRxlV – @Amanda_Lenhart
• RT @GalleyCat: From author visits to video book clubs–how publishers & writers could use Google+ http://mbist.ro/j4mFLj - @LJSzaro
• Google Plus: Is This the Social Tool Schools Have Been Waiting For? by @audreywatters http://t.co/vwAUSEj via @RWW – @alixinbeverly
• Texting Teens: Typing Replaces Talking [INFOGRAPHIC] – http://on.mash.to/mr4o5s – @mashable (more…)

This panel could be called, A Fun Time Was Had By All. Not only did audience members learn a lot about teens and mobile devices, but it looked like most of the audience members were fully engaged and entertained. The panel was made up of a group of energetic speakers that included two teens from the Patrick F. Taylor Science Academy in Jefferson Parish, LA, who let panelists and audience members know exactly what teens are looking for from mobile devices and from libraries working in the mobile world.

The panel got started with a presentation from Jennifer Velasquez, Coordinator of Teen Services for the San Antonio Public Library System. Jennifer focused on the “lay of the land” when it comes to teens and mobile device use. She provided audience members with some very compelling statistics about how teens are using devices for texting, talking, and viewing. (more…)

Name:Boopsie BookCheck CCPL mobile

Platform: Android, iPhone,iPad, J2ME, Palm OS, Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry.

Cost: Requires access to a library using Boopsie for mobile access.

You may be wondering why the App of the Week is BookCheck, but the actual app link is to the  CCPL  (Cuyahoga County Public Library) app.  I’ve set up the review this way because BookCheck is a new app in a suite of mobile library apps  powered by Boopsie.  CCPL in Ohio is the first library to offer the app, which allows patrons to check out library books via their smart phones. (more…)

YALSA’s new strategic plan is on its way to taking shape after two very important sessions that took place during Annual Conference.  On Friday, facilitator Alan Brickman led a YALSA Board workshop during which he guided conversations around the current mission statement asking how it should be updated. Then the group examined the current strategic plan, evaluating how YALSA has progressed towards accomplishing each goal in the time since the plan was developed. Board members prioritized the objectives and determined the lessons learned based on a pre-conference conversation about the member survey results and the perception of what goals and objectives should be YALSA’s focus for the next three to five years. (more…)