YALSA’s Board of Directors will meet via conference call on Friday August 26th from 3:00pm to 4:30pm, eastern, to review and discuss Quarterly Chair Reports. Any YALSA member who would like to sit in on the call may do so. Please contact Letitia Smith, YALSA’s Membership Coordinator, for the phone number and access code.

Also, draft minutes from the YALSA Board of Directors meetings held at ALA Annual in New Orleans are now posted on the YALSA website. You can view them at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/boardandcommittees/minutes/minutes_AN11_DRAFT.pdf

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

• Americans and their Cell Phones: A new report by @aaron_w_smith about the joys and woes of mobile life. http://t.co/lOTZ5pw – @pewinternet
• YAY for iPads instead of desktop computers! My kids will LOVE this! http://ow.ly/63xwZ – @eclasper
• Teenage girls’ raunchy Facebook photos are Constitutionally protected speech: http://t.co/c546Rcq – @arstechnica
• New web-search formulas have huge implications for students and society http://t.co/TWXuwWD – @sassy_librarian
• Back to School: 42 Digital Resources for Students & Parents – http://t.co/l3QTWmM – @mashable
• Comic Books as Journalism: 10 Masterpieces of Graphic Nonfiction – The Atlantic http://t.co/hwQHwoO – @jamieadoff
• Does your school struggle with girls bullying each other? Check out this article: “What Makes Mean Girls Tick” http://t.co/i8PG3xv – @dcinc66 (more…)

Title: Doodle Jump Deluxe

Platform: Nook Color, Android (iOS 1.5 or later), iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad (iOS 3.0 or later), Blackberry (iOS 4.20 or later), Windows Phone 7

Cost: $2.99 (Nook Color, Windows Phone 7), $0.99 (Android, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Blackberry)

App developer Lima Sky warns gamers that Doodle Jump Deluxe “is insanely addictive.” As just one of over ten million downloaders, I quickly became hooked. The concept is simple: bounce the Doodler up and earn points.  Tilting the tablet or smart phone left or right helps the user propel the Doodler toward springy platforms to avoid “themed baddies.” Check out the official trailer to see the game in action.

Doodle Jump’s teen appeal exists on multiple levels. Doodle-like illustrations on graph paper add charm, and the different themes (e.g. space, jungle, winter, etc.) and levels keeps the app fresh even after hours of play.  The ability to compete against up to seven other players also adds a social component.

Unfortunately, the multi-player option is only available “locally” on most platforms. To compete with other gamers, the challengers must pass the tablet or smart phone back and forth. The option to race competitors through simultaneous play is available via Game Center for Apple devices.

Despite the limited multi-player functionality, libraries could easily host Doodle Jump competitions or tournaments. The fact that Doodle Jump will soon be available for Xbox Kinect makes this fun game even more accessible for libraries. Doodle Jump projected on a screen will undoubtedly increase friendly competition and work well with existing teen programs and game days.

This summer, I took a risk. I told myself if I didn’t achieve that particular goal, I was going to switch goals and train for a triathlon. I’ve been swimming, biking, and running each week ever since. The more I train, the more I find the parallels in working with teens at the library. (more…)

Gretchen came up with the idea of visiting Erin when we found out that our libraries (in southern Connecticut and southwestern Massachusetts respectively) are not terribly far from one another. We were looking for a cultural exchange: to see what was new and exciting in each other’s libraries and teen programs. It’s also just fun to meet Internet friends in real life. (Thanks for introducing us, YALSA and Twitter!) Here’s what we found.

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For this episode we talk to Thomas Knowlton, librarian for the New York Public Library and Convener for YALSA’s Serving New Adults Interest Group, about new adults: who they are, how to reach them and some of the unique programs they might be looking for.

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 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.

For further information please check out these links mentioned in the episode:

YALSA’s Serving New Adults Interest Group: bit.ly/newadults-yalsa

New York Public Libraries Sci-Fi Summmer Program: bit.ly/scifisummer

Voting is now open for the theme of our next month-long project! The winning theme will be our theme for 30 days in September, and the commenter who originally suggested that theme will also win some fun YALSA prizes.

(Note: because the poll is opening later than I’d originally promised, the poll will be open until Saturday, August 20th at 9 PM EST. Vote away!)

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I’ve heard some talk lately about how teens seem completely ambivalent to the world around them. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that teens care about nothing but their own self-interests. Simply put, I don’t believe that. I believe the real problem may very well be the lack of a forum to express their ideas. It seems to me that as youth advocates, this may be something we want to provide. You could simply give them a time and space (and snacks) for discussion and only act as a facilitator, or you could have a full-out debate. Let them decide what they want to talk about, and encourage deeper subjects than TV, music, movies, and the opposite sex. Ask them questions. Be interested in what they say. Show them how to find more information. Show them how to research and find materials that support their arguments.

They may not be interested in the things that we as adults think they should be interested in or have the views that we think they should have, but teens should be given the opportunity to freely express their opinions. If they don’t get that at home, and they don’t get that at school, that can be something we provide at the library. It might seem like an uphill battle, but if we’re not trying to connect with them, what reason do they have to trust and connect with us?

And since it’s District Days, is there any reason not to encourage teens to talk to their representatives? Many of them are only a few years away from voting, after all. While we’re trying to get our elected officials to recognize the importance of libraries, what better success story to hit them with than an ambivant-turned-advocate group of teens?

How are you giving your teens a forum? Leave your answers in the comments!

The big day is here! Your teens have been reading the 2011 Teens’ Top Ten nominations since April, and now they can tell us which books are their favorites. Voting for the 2011 Teens’ Top Ten opened today and is available through Sept. 15  — and we’ve made it even easier for your teens to vote by embedding the TTT survey right on the Teens’ Top Ten homepage at www.ala.org/teenstopten! (If you still want to use a separate link, that’s available at www.surveymonkey.com/s/teenstopten11.)

We’ll announce the winners at www.ala.org/teenstopten during Teen Read Week, Oct. 16-22.

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Social media has altered the information landscape by expanding the flow of information from books, newspapers and journals to instant reports from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. How can librarians help teens navigate these information streams and learn to separate the wheat from the chaff? Join YALSA for “From 140 Characters to 10 Pages: Teens, Social Media and Information Literacy.” This webinar will be presented by Laura Pearle on Aug. 18 at 2 p.m. EDT.

Pearle will discuss how school and public librarians can help their teens use social media for research projects. She’ll explore ways to help teens locate appropriate material in social media streams as well as determine the validity of the source material. Participants will learn how to create research-focused Twitter hashtag lists for students and how to assist students in citing information from social media sources. She will also discuss how librarians can help teens become good digital citizens when contributing to social media streams.

Registration is now open at www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars. Webinars cost $29 for students, $39 for individual YALSA members, $49 for all other individuals and $195 for groups (all participants watch in the same location).  Questions can be sent to Eve Gaus, YALSA’s program officer for continuing education, at egaus@ala.org or 1 (800) 545-2433, ext. 5293.