A weekly short list of tweets that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting.

Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between November 30 and December 6 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the Week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
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In this video interview with YALSA President Jack Martin you’ll learn about MozFest an annual conference sponsored by the Mozilla Foundation.

You can learn more about MozFest on the conference website.You can view projects created at the conference (scroll down to the What We Made at MozFext section). To learn more about YALS, the winter 2013 issue is mentioned in the video, vist the journal website.

Title: MangaCamera
Platform: iOS
Cost: Free

Purists may scoff at a point-and-click way to ape the Japanese art form, but this free app makes rendering black-and-white scenes with drama and romance nearly foolproof. The app includes thirty-two backgrounds, most of them with manga-style captions or actions suggested, taking your photo to entirely new places.

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Thanksgiving is a time to take a moment to reflect on the things that enrich our lives. This year I thought about how lucky I was to have such a wonderful profession with such supportive colleagues. My entire professional life I have been surrounded by coworkers who have pushed me to be the best librarian I can be. They have given me countless opportunities to try something new, to (sometimes) fail, and to learn. I can’t imagine what my life would look like without their support (actually I would probably be working in bookstore somewhere spending half my income on merchandise with my employee discount, which is where I was before I found the library).

Think about all the people that have supported you along the way, to help you become the best librarian you can be. Now is the time to pay it forward. Today is #GivingTuesday, and Friends of YALSA is asking for your help to support future librarians. We are raising $6,500 to support a Spectrum Scholar between now and December 31st.

I am giving to Friends of YALSA because of how much others have given to me. Donate today and help Friends of YALSA support our profession. Take a picture of yourself with why you are giving, tag it #GivingTuesday and post it on our Facebook or tweet us! Happy #GivingTuesday!

-Kate McNair, Financial Advancement Committee Chair

Teen librarianship isn’t always the most glamourous of positions in the library world. Fortunately, the back-up we have available to us through YALSA and the many awards they offer feel priceless to the winners. As Katie George, winner of the 2011 MAE Award for Best Literature Program for Teens, puts it, “Receiving recognition like this from teen-serving peers… at this level… is a shot in the arm. It reminds you, ‘Yes! You are making a difference! Keep going!’”

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A weekly short list of tweets that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting.

Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between November 23 and November 29 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the Week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
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Have you heard? YALSA received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to facilitate a year-long project. What’s the project about? It brings together library staff that work with teens, educators, library educators, youth development experts, technology experts, and stakeholders to talk about the future of YA services. All leading to a white paper that will outline where teen services should go in the future and how best to support teens in libraries and communities.

There are two key pieces to the Forum that lead to the white paper: (more…)

Title: CloudOn
Cost: Free
Platform: iPad and Android tablet (iPhone app in development)

CloudOn is an app that allows you to create Microsoft Office-like documents and save those either to your CloudOn account or your Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box accounts. It brings almost all of the functionality of Microsoft Office to your mobile device and makes it easy to edit and create documents in the cloud no matter where you are. Check out the video below to see how it works.

For more apps for teen reviews on the YALSAblog see the App of the Week Archive

The deadline is quickly approaching  to apply for to be the next YALSA Board Fellow – December 1st is two weeks away! Many people have asked me what exactly I have been doing as the Board Fellow thus far. I’m doing several things:

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Have you been looking for a creative and engaging way to help older teens develop important information literacy skills to read the news with a critical eye? This $50,000 opportunity might be just want you need!

From the ALA Press Release: “Public libraries and library consortia are invited to apply for more than $50,000 in training and support, in the News Know-how initiative that helps students, grades 10-12, learn skills that will help them distinguish fact from opinion, check news and information sources and distinguish between propaganda and news.

Students work with librarians, journalists and news ethicists in the program funded by the Open Society Foundations and administered by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF). Proposals must be submitted by Dec. 8, 2012. To apply, go to www.newsknowhow.org/apply.”

Three public libraries will be chosen. Will yours be one of them?