I’ve been fortunate to teach “Pain in the Brain,” a class on teen behavior, for YALSA several times, and am always on the lookout for new information on how biology influences (undesirable!) actions. Last week,  U.S. News and World Report followed up on their 1999 article “Inside the Teen Brain” with a feature titled “Deploying the Amazing Power of the Teen Brain” that reports on a  Duke University program designed to empower teens to use their brains. The article covers basic brain changes, other factors for teen behavior and a quiz you can take to see how much you know about the adolescent brain. (more…)

Someone told me a few weeks ago that the average 16 year old was born the year I graduated high school. Then, I got a Facebook invitation reminding me that I have been out of graduate school for ten years. Wow! Where has all the time gone? And how do I keep up with today’s youth, and the chasm of years between myself and them continues to grow?

One great tool is the Beloit College Mindset List…

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We had a very low turnout for our Teen Gaming Interest Group meeting on Saturday afternoon, making a swap and share of resources difficult at best. One of the things we did was unanimously elect Jami Schwarzwalder as the new chair fo the Teen Gaming Interest Group. Congrats, Jami!

We also discussed creating a list of great games (tabletop and videogames) for teen programming. The list has been started on the YALSA wiki; please feel free to contribute annotations.

On Sunday morning, I counted over 125 at our Sunday Morning program, Beyond Gaming Tournaments. Slides and handouts are forthcoming.

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Since so many teen librarians are making the case for social networking still, I thought this OCLC session on Library Mashups would be of interest. I noticed they were taping; the session will probably be online soon at http://www.oclc.org/.
“Mashups on web are on the verge of replacing the PC as the dominant computing platform”
~Andrew K. Pace, OCLC

Andrew K. Pace defined mashup as something remixed to improve functionality and innovation as response to change under circumstance “hacking!”  He stressed that change is inevitable, and quoted Darwin reminding us that the successful species are the most adaptable ones. Pace referenced the 10 Dangerous Ideas presentation from PLA presentation , and invited attendees to jot down on notecards provided, their greatest resource and greatest challenge as we continued our discussion of innovation. (more…)

Someone left a blue leather diary at the Beyond Game Tournaments session at 8AM in the Marriott this morning - get in touch with me if it’s yours! informationgoddess29 AT gmail DOT com

I came out to CA two days early, to teach a full day gaming workshop for the Black Gold Library System at the Santa Barbara Public Library. I’ve just landed in Anaheim, but can’t check into my hotel yet, so I’m taking advantage of the free WiFi and A/C at the Euclid branch of the Anaheim Public Library.

Here’s some of the stuff I’m looking forward to this year. I’m really excited that there are a number of gaming events - almost enough for a whole track! There are a couple vendor-sponsored events that I’m throwing in for informational purposes only, and shouldn’t be taken as an endorsement of product.
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Library Journal has posted a webcast of their June 10 panel discussion on Best Practices in Teen Library services. This was very informative!  Michele Gorman discussed Developmental Assets and Teen Spaces, Jen Maneyand Christine Pearson showed model webpages that are library extensions (think online outreach!),  many of which incorporate web 2.0 tools, and Scott Nicholson spoke about creating gaming experiences, and shared data from two research studies on gaming in libraries. Together, the panel provided an excellent overview to teen trends and how to relates to space, services & programs that is of use to new librarians, experienced librarians, and most especially, libraries seeking grant funding. Much of the information provided makes a strong case for serving underserved users in ways that appeal to them, best.

Check out the archived presentation. You do need to register, but it’s free! And, this may be a recurring event - watch http://www.libraryjournal.com

Games, Learning, & Libraries Symposium
Registration is still open for the Gaming, Learning & Libraries Symposium (GLLS08) in Oak Brook, IL from November 2-4, 2008. This Monday, June 15th, marks the deadline for proposals for GLLS08. Topics of particular interest include game design, the gaming industry, accessibility, and assessment and evaluation of gaming programs. The Call for Presenters on the ALA TechSource wiki has details, or you can complete a form on Zoho Creator. Presenters will be notified by August 1, 2008. Details are online at: http://gaming.techsource.ala.org/index.php.

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Teen Read Week is just 6 months away! Don’t wait until the last minute - start nibbling away at the planning process now.

I had the pleasure of presenting at the Vermont Library Association Conference about Teen Read Week and program planning (slides from the session are posted on Slideshare). After the overview, participants broke into small groups to plan a program for Teen Read Week that utilized the Books with Bite theme. The result? TEN programs! These bare bones programs, posted under TRW 08 on the YALSA wiki, still need a bit of fleshing out - I just asked the librarians to consider description, justification (what assets are being built), marketing and evaluation. Please feel free to set up a FREE account, log in, and add content!
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Forwarded from Jenny Levine:

Want to present at the second annual ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium taking place on November 2-4 in the Chicago area? Find out more about submitting a proposal at http://gaming.techsource.ala.org/index.php/Call_for_Presenters. The deadline is June 15, 2008.

Help us make GLLS2008 even better than last year’s event! Questions? Email Jenny Levine at jlevine@ala.org.

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