When it comes to the Internet, how many lives do you lead? Yesterday I read Ellyssa Kroski’s article in School Library Journal, about libraries creating policies for staff social media use. Some of the recommendations include showing respect for your colleagues, not spilling organizational secrets, and adhering to your library manual’s code of conduct. Wow, I thought, we could really use something like this. But then I thought about it some more, and I wonder: to what extent can we enforce such a policy? It’s reasonable to monitor library accounts, but what about personal accounts? Here’s where it gets fuzzy.

So, how many lives do you lead? Do you have a personal Twitter account and a professional one? What about Facebook? I’ve been struggling with the split-personality thing for a long time. I’ve chosen to have one account for both work and play. It’s just too hard to separate the two. We spend at least 40 hours a week at work, and a lot more than that thinking about work–it’s natural we want to talk about it with our peers. And, I feel like I’ve made solid connections with colleagues I might not have made if it weren’t for Twitter or Facebook. There’s nothing better than bonding over Glee or getting a photographic glimpse into the rich lives of your YALSA committee members.  But there’s always a trade off. Had a bad day at work? Need to let off steam? Maybe it feels right to vent in your Facebook status or make jokes about it on Twitter, but you never know who will see it. Even private profiles have a way of making it to very person you’d hoped would never see it.

But isn’t that the point of a social media policy–to discourage staff from such faux pas? I’m all for that, but don’t we deserve to have a private Web life (i.e. access by approved friends only) that also includes friends from work? And how would a social media policy fit into that? I like the idea of guidelines, and I hope that everyone would behave professionally. But one person’s idea of good judgment would make another person gasp in horror.

What to do?

Yesterday I, along with my fellow task force members, presented our final proposal to the YALSA board. Over the last year, the YALSA-TV Task force has been charged with finding a way to host a video site with books as the star.

Here’s what we proposed: that a sister site to this very blog be created with a focus on books. We’d highlight awards and selection lists, and create booklists based on librarians’ suggestions. But even more exciting to me is that we would gather book videos from other places such as YouTube and Teacher Tube, and get book trailers directly from publishers. Other book-related videos too: everything from award ceremonies to your local Battle of the Books competition. Imagine, a definitive source for finding all you need about books — and it’s sponsored by YALSA!

So, the Board approved the proposal, with some minor changes. And here’s something you all can help with: we need a name. A really great name that encapsulates everything I’ve said here. Someplace librarians and teens would want to visit, contribute to, and refer to their friends.

Any ideas?

Last month I described the charge of the YALSA-TV Task Force and also mentioned that we’d be disseminating a survey for teens in the coming months. The survey is ready and, to coordinate with Teen Tech Week, will be available on the Teen Tech Week site starting Sunday.

Please encourage the teens in your life to take this survey. The results will help shape the direction of our video-based book site for teens. Participation in this survey is a great, low-budget way to participate in Teen Tech Week too!

Thanks in advance. I’ll remind everyone again next week.

For years, my library’s relationship with street lit has been tentative. Supporting & providing street lit isn’t necessarily the issue: the issue is, does it belong in the teen or adult section? Or both? Along with this question comes a slew of potential implications.

My personal take on it is that in an ideal world, street lit would be available in both collections. But we all know that, especially with so many budgets being slashed, this is not an ideal world. When I proposed to my library’s Teen Selection Committee that we purchase street lit for the teen section (currently being housed in adult), the consensus from the teen librarians was that if it’s in adult, they’ll still be able to find it, and plenty of adults ask for those titles too. I got the sense from most of them that while they fully supported the books in the library, they felt uncomfortable with the idea that they’d be the ones left to justify their existence in their teen sections to unhappy patrons. What we decided from there was to continue to supplement the street lit collection with our funds but assign them to the adult collection, along with creating a booklist to lead teens there.

This compromise was working out ok until the Adult Services Manager stepped in. She had several valid points. The most striking was this: if she wanted to purchase items because they seemed better in the teen collection, she would automatically hand the matter over to me and my team of selectors. Hmmm, she’s got me there.

Back to the drawing board. Adult Services still buys street lit, but how do we serve our teens who want this genre? It’s easy to fall back on the many books that are being published for teens that feature African Americans in urban settings. But, that’s not street lit, and in some cases can even be a form of racism. In the recent School Library Journal article A Dirty Little Secret: Self-Censorship (Debra Lau Whelan, 2/1/2009), author Coe Booth speaks to the danger of incorrectly defining a book street lit:

“‘It seems that any book with an African-American character on the cover is quickly being labeled street lit, regardless of the subject matter or the setting of the book.’ Meanwhile, books about Caucasian characters in urban settings don’t get lumped into that genre. ‘It’s a form of racism,’ she says, because the street-lit category is an ‘easy way for some librarians to label a book that they can quickly dismiss as being inferior’—and for that reason, choose not to buy.”

Two things about this statement: 1)We aren’t filling a need by simply offering titles that appear to be “street-lit light” and 2)We cannot dismiss books on account of perceived inferiority, because we have an obligation to meet that need. If you have a moment, I urge you to read that article.

But still…more questions, like how do we take the theoretical and put it into practice in our libraries? I’m willing to take a risk and stand behind having real, gritty street-lit in our teen collections. If it backfires, I’ll take the heat. If it doesn’t, we’ll have provided something relevant in our teen areas for fans of the genre.

A colleague said to me on this issue, “It’s easy to forget that ‘community standards’ are a label we’ve made up on our own.” We may still have lots of questions, but I think that’s one answer right there.

Now, I’d love to hear your take on it. How many libraries are shelving street lit in their teen collections? What has been the fallout from that decision? How about those of you who don’t shelve it in teen? What led to your decision process? Thanks.

As chair of the YALSA-TV Task Force I’m often asked, what exactly is YALSA-TV? A great question, and one that our task force is trying to answer. It’s our charge to present to the YALSA Board a fully-outlined proposal to  create and facilitate a web-based, book-focused, video site for teens. Like YouTube, but all about books (for now, anyway!).

Right now, the idea is like Play-doh: we sculpt it into one form, then change it into another. Many factors will be determined by cost, ease of use, and appeal to teens. We are really excited about this venture and hope that you will be, too.

Some of the TV “channels” we’re toying with: sneak peeks of galleys from YALSA’s teen galley groups; booktalks; book trailers; and first-time authors. The more we can involve teens in our decision-making process, the better.

To that extent, we’re working on a survey that we’ll send to teens (with your help!). Their input will be invaluable to us, with questions ranging from “how do you find videos online?” to “what should we call this site?”.

While we’re working on the survey, we’d love to hear from you. What would you like to see in a book-based, video-sharing site? How could we meet the needs of teens in your community?

Thanks for the input, and look for that survey to be disseminated soon.

As librarians, one of our most basic goals is to get people reading. Here in Fresno County we have statistics thrown at us daily reminding us of what a challenge this basic goal can be. High school graduation rates? Some of the lowest in the state. Poverty levels? Some of the lowest in the country. And yes, we have more than your average number of teens incarcerated.

One place where incarcerated young men are sent is the Elkhorn Correctional Facility Boot Camp. The cadets there must embrace a traditional military lifestyle, including physical training, discipline and drill; but it also acts as a school, featuring stress education, leadership building courses, positive decision making and self-accountability. We also have a library there.

So, here’s the chicken soup for the librarian’s soul part. The Elkhorn library applied and became a recipient for the ALA/YALSA’s Great Stories CLUB (Connecting Libraries, Underserved teens and Books). While the Elkhorn cadets have taken part in our summer reading programs and poetry contests, never before have we seen such response and camaraderie when it came to reading. The first book up for discussion was Tyrell by Coe Booth. That was by far the favorite, so much so that a second group was necessary. The books were passed from cadet to cadet with nary an adult in sight. Only 8 copies were given out but it’s estimated that about 60 teens read Tyrell as a result of the grant. 60 incarcerated young men, discussing a book about a young man who is trying to beat the odds. Chills!

With our state in budget crisis, the boot camp has been in danger of closing several times. Success stories like these keep it going. Though such stories are not entirely uncommon, it feels good to share them.

Anyone else?

Going to conferences inspire me. Hearing about the fantastic things other libraries are doing, then getting together with my colleagues to exchange these tidbits over dinner is one of my favorite parts about the conference experience.

“How awesome is this?”

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could do that?”

While I’m always flooded with new ideas, it seems like every year there’s a stand-out message or theme that sticks with me…one that inspires me enough to become my mission. Last year it was gaming (flash forward one year later: we offer video game programs in most of our 34 branches and will—fingers crossed—be implementing our circulating collection this fall).

This year, it’s a little loftier, a little harder to measure. The word that kept resonating with me this conference was innovation. Burned brightest into my brain: innovation happens in times of crisis. I know that many libraries right now are experiencing crisis due to budget woes, and we are no exception: while we’re more fortunate than some, we are feeling the familiar belt-tightening that I’m sure many of you are.

So, this is my thing. Innovation. It’s time to get creative, find ways to get things done in unorthodox ways. Open my mind to outlandish suggestions and abandon those tired practices that just aren’t working. I’m thinking this will keep me busy for a while.

What’s your thing?