30 Days of…
If you want to name the theme of our next month-long project, you have to act now! Nominations will close at 9 PM EST on Wednesday, August 10th.
You could name the theme of the next month-long YALSA Blog project! In September the blog will dedicate a post a day to a single topic. Unlike our previous month-long projects, where the themes have been determined in advance, this time you could decide our theme.
Any reader can suggest a theme by commenting on this post. On August 10th I’ll compile those suggestions into a poll, and readers will have one week to vote for the theme they like the most. The winning theme will be the topic for our 30 Days project in September. (The winner will also receive some other nifty prizes, so make sure you use a real email address when you comment!)
Previous topics have included Advocacy and Back to School, so suggestions that are too familiar may not receive as many votes. Be creative!
Creating community connections.
How about 30 different ways to promote books to teens. I am always looking for fun and new ways to spread the word about good books.
If I could pick a theme it would be -
Fact or Fiction:how to help teens learn the difference between reel life and real life.
Just because they see something on the Internet/Facebook or in a movie/tvshow doesn’t mean it’s true or even real, but try telling that to a 14 yo and see what kind of response you get. Topics could be either very broad like addressing the misconception of military life, (it’s not Call of Duty:Black Ops for a reason) or specific like brainstorming program ideas that help deal with a current trending topic like obesity.
Just trying to think outside the box :0)
Tips for avoiding burnout/being stretched too thin as one of very few in one’s organization working with teens. With budget cuts everywhere and the economy isn’t getting better.
How about 30 days of posts related to technology programming for teens?!
How about programming inspiration (or inspiration as part of the burnout strategies, which I totally second)?
Hi everyone!
How about 30 days of outreach and community partnership ideas. I’m really interested in seeing how many different ways the public library can collaborate with community organizations such as non-profits, schools of course, church groups, special interest groups, etc.
30 Days of Social Media? There could be posts about tips, trends, best practices, privacy, safety, etc.
Engagement? How to get reluctant readers in, how to make avid readers read even more/above grade level/out of the box, how to make libraries and library programming more appealing to teens who wouldn’t already go?
I also love the outreach idea!
I’d like to see 30 days of How-to’s. The How-to’s could be for a variety of things, but they would essentially be recipes for new ideas and new ways of doing things–that wouldn’t be too overly complicated, and could take a YA librarian through a step by step process on something. With pictures and instructions. Yeah!
Examples: How-to make Hunger Games puppets. How-to organize (catalog) eReader devices in your library. How-to avoid burnout. How to meet your library neighbors. How-to create fake tattoos. How-to aggregate your library social media sites. How-to train teen volunteers. How-to teach critical thinking. How-to make wrist warmers. etc…
I really love the how-to idea. Along those lines, what about a “New…” theme? These could be new ways of looking at “old” services, or they could be brand-new things like using Google+ hangouts. I think this could lend a lot of variety to the posts. (I’m not sure if I can make suggestions since I’m technically a blogger!)
How about 30 days of using photography as a promotion/teaching/communication tool? I feel like teens have a better grasp of the power of photography than many adults. There must be many creative, low cost ways we can use photography to extend/improve our programs.
These are all great ideas — I think everyone’s thoughts could fuel a year’s worth of blog topics!
After seeing save the dates for the 2012 Symposium and pondering the theme of Teen Trends and the Crystal Ball…what about The Future? September is not only a great time with it being the official start of accepting conference proposals, but it is also the time of the year when our teens and students are coming back (hopefully refreshed) and with new outlooks for the months, and even years to come. How-to’s could easily be incorporated, as well as the notion of “new” or “what’s old is new again”. There would certainly be no limit to the discussion, as anything from advocacy, to practical tips, to postulating on philosophy and more esoteric “libraries, literacy, and society” issues could be addressed from this angle.
Thanks YALSA blog for always keeping the mind wheels turning!