It’s been another busy month in YALSA land. Here’s what’s been going on!

Key Activities:

Collaborated with the Digital Media and Learning team to build out a month-long series about Teens and the Future of Libraries for connectedlearning.tv. Each episode is hosted every Tuesday in May with a different topic. The full schedule is:

May 2: Kick-off: Teens and the Future of Libraries

May 7: The Importance of Youth Access to Technology in Libraries

May 14: Effectively Leveraging Social Media in Library Programs

May 21: Getting Library & IT Administrators On-Board with Leveraging Social Media

May 28: Teens and the Future of Libraries: Sharing Best Practices (more…)

YALSA and Connected Learning TV go live next month! Next week, even!

Please join moi, YALSA President, and Crystle Martin, Postdoctoral Researcher for the Connected Learning Research Network, next month for a series of free virtual chats which will explore the roles social media and teens play in the future of public and school libraries. We’ll be facilitating discussions with Renee Hobbs, Mimi Ito, Craig Watkins, Chris Shoemaker, Wendy Stephens, Joyce Valenza and many more about the challenges surrounding leveraging social media in library programs. YALSA members are invited to participate and to share what has or has not been working in their own libraries. You all will be hearing about best practices from around the globe you can  implement in your library.

Participants can watch in real time, connect via Chat with others, and ask questions on Livestream join the Connected Learning Community Google+ Page, and contribute to the #futureoflibraries conversation on Twitter. Be sure to check the YALSAblog the month of May, where discussions will continue there as well.

You can find out more here, including a nifty intro video!

Each virtual chat will begin at 1pm, eastern, and you can find out more on each individual series by clicking on the titles below.  Please check the pages below regularly for updates as we add more speakers.

·         May 2: Kick-off: Teens and the Future of Libraries

·         May 7: The Importance of Youth Access to Technology in Libraries

·         May 14: Effectively Leveraging Social Media in Library Programs

·         May 21: Getting Library & IT Administrators On-Board with Leveraging Social Media

·         May 28: Teens and the Future of Libraries: Sharing Best Practices

After the last session, connectedlearning.tv and YALSA will put together a free summary report with tools and resources for librarians and library workers to use in their library.

Tune in all month! I can promise plenty of awesomeness!

What’s been happening at YALSA? Tons of cool stuff! From the Common Core to Connected Learning to Taskforces, Teen Tech Week and more! It’s all here…

Key Activities:

Collaborated with ALSC and AASL to create and appoint the inter-divisional Common Core Task Force, a team tasked with developing materials to educate members of all three divisions on the Common Core.

Chaired the March YALSA Board meeting via conference call. Draft minutes from the call are online at http://ow.ly/jHX4c

Attended the Digital Media & Learning Conference and met with the Connected Learning team to plan YALSA’s partnership with Connected Learning TV in May.  More information is online at www.ala.org/yalsa/issues-current-projects

Convened a key discussion with YALSA members serving on various research-focused committees around the future of YALSA’s research agenda.

Represented YALSA at the Children’s Book Council Meeting on March 22 to share YALSA’s new resources and initiatives.

Appointed several new taskforces, including the Teen Tech Week and Teen Read Week Evaluation taskforces, the Programming Guidelines taskforce and more.

Outreach & Media:

Interviewed by New Jersey Public Radio on Teen Tech Week.
(more…)

What in the world have I been up to lately? It’s all here.

Key Activities:

Worked with the Board to appoint the fabulous Carla Land as the 2013-14 YALSA Board Fellow. We are thrilled to have her as part of the team!

Worked with the Board to appoint Pam Spencer Holley to fill the vacant position of Fiscal Officer. Pam will be working closely with the Board, the Executive Committee and the FInancial Advancement Committee Chair to help YALSA members and the public better understand YALSA’s finances. Thank you, Pam!

Had an inspiring, eye-opening, amazing time at the Summit on Teens & Libraries. We learned about teens, technology, Connected Learning and so much more. Save the date for March 19 so you can participate in the first virtual town hall on leveraging partnerships between libraries and other organizations: www.ala.org/yaforum & on Twitter: #yalsaforum.
(more…)

Wanna get involved in YALSA right now? YALSA needs your help! We’re looking for expert programmers, Teen Read Week gurus, Teen Tech Week geniuses, Road Trip afficionados, Common Core Standards experts and more!

Based on Board decisions at the 2013 Midwinter Conference, I’ll be making appointments to the following Super! Awesome! Taskforces! All you have to do is complete the volunteer form.
(more…)

Midwinter was only a week ago, but so much of it is still fresh in my mind. Not just all the ballyhoos and love bombs, but all the really important work the YALSA Board did during the conference.

First, over the next few weeks I’ll be making appointments. Lots of appointments to lots of awesome new taskforces. Just like our Teen Space Guidelines, we’re looking for some ace teen librarians to help YALSA create some Programming Guidelines to help members and non-members alike ramp up, fundraise or create some library programs for teens. (more…)

I’m en route to Seattle even as I type this! What will the board and I be up to at the 2013 Midwinter conference? Keep reading to find out.

It’s going to be an awesome conference. We’ve got programs, meetings and activities everywhere. We’ll be talking about advocacy, collaborations, books and reading, the future of teen services in libraries and more.

First, I’ll be helping YALSA host the first National Forum on Teens & Libraries on January 23 and 24. This is the first summit of its kind, and we’ll be bringing leaders on youth development, libraries, technology, publishing, everything. The goal is figure out where teen services is going and where it needs to be in the 21st Century. ALA President Maureen Sullivan will be the lead moderator, and we’ve got some amazing special guest stars, including Lee Rainey, head of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, Mizuko Ito, Professor in Residence and MacArthur Foundation Chair in Digital Media and Learning at the University of California, Irvine, Renee Hobbs, Director of the Harrington School of Communications & Media at the University of Rhode Island and George Needham, Vice President for Global and Regional Councils at the Online Computer Library Center. We’ll be talking lots of teens, literacy, library, technology and more. I’ll even be leading the Youth Panel portion of the forum with special awesome teens from YALSA President-Elect Shannon Peterson. We’ll be tweeting, blogging and posting the entire time, so check out our social media channels to find out what’s going on.
(more…)

Hey Everyone,

As you can guess it’s been another super-duper busy month in the YALSA world. Here’s what we’ve been up to!

Key Activities:

Worked with the Capacity Building Taskforce to initiate plans for implementing YALSA’s new goal in the Strategic Plan.

Hosted two online trainings for Selection and Award committee chairs and members. Thanks to everyone who was able to participate!

Worked with the YALSA Executive Director to appoint YALSA’s new Blog Manager, Wendy Stephens. Congratulations, Wendy!

Worked with YALSA’s Executive Committee and the Executive Director to plan and create the agenda for the 2012 Midwinter conference.

YALSA is finalizing an exciting new partnership with a national retailer that will expand programs and improve digital services for teens in libraries across the country! Stay tuned for the official announcement in late January!

Outreach and Media:

Interviewed by About.com for a story on trends in teen reading and literature.

Statistics & Data:

December donations received were $1,775.00 for Friends of YALSA and $250.00 for YALSA’s Leadership Endowment.

The most recent membership stats are from November 2012. YALSA currently has 5,218 members, down .9% from last year.

Thank you!

A big shout-out to the Morris and Non-fiction committees for choosing their finalists!

Thank you also to the Teen Tech Week committee for launching the 2013 website: www.ala.org/teentechweek.

Congratulations to The Hub for having its best month ever in terms of the number of visits to the site: www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub

Thanks again for all that you do for our association,

Jack

November President’s Report:

Key Activities:

Attended the 2012 YA Lit Symposium in St. Louis, Missouri and had a blast meeting all of the amazing attendees and authors! I’m really looking forward to 2014’s event, October 31-November 2 in Austin, Texas!

Worked closely with the YALSA Office, Linda Braun and the Forum Advisory Council to hone the details for the upcoming National Forum on Libraries and Teens summit in Seattle this January. Thanks to all of our members who applied! Learn more at www/ala.org/yaforum.

Participated in Giving Tuesday, a special after-Thanksgiving national fundraising effort to help YALSA build support for our Spectrum Scholarship.

Worked with the YALSA office to develop a new training module for Selection Committee Chairs. I’m looking forward to chatting with chairs and committee members on December 6 and 13!

Chaired the November board conference call. It was great hearing about all of the exciting work that YALSA’s committees, juries and taskforces are doing. Minutes will be posted in the governance section of the website.

Worked with the Executive Committee to review applications for the YALSAblog Member Manager position and set up phone interviews.
(more…)

Friends! What with Fall Exec, the YA Lit Symposium a whole lot more, the past few weeks have been super duper busy for me and all of YALSA. Here’s what we’ve been up to, but if you want to read about all of YALSA’s activities, be sure to read our eNewsletter, emailed directly to your inbox the second Tuesday of every month:

Key Activities:

Coordinated with Valerie Davis, chair of the Virtual Selection/Awards Manual Committee, to build out the first draft of the the manual which will launch after Midwinter 2013.

Attended the first meeting of the National Forum on Youth Services in Libraries Advisory Board meeting.

Met with ALA President Maureen Sullivan, Beth Yoke and Linda Braun to plan out the agenda for the upcoming National Forum on Youth Services in Libraries in Seattle.

Along with Shannon Peterson, led the 2012 ALA Fall Executive Committee meeting with the YALSA Executive Committee. You can find our agenda items and notes here.
(more…)