Celebrate 50 years of YA lit expertise on Thursday, May 31 in New York City

1:15 - 2:30 YA Crossovers

How do editors and authors make the decision to market a book to adults or teens–or both?
Panelists: Angelina Benedetti; Farrin Jacobs; Barry Lyga; John Sherer; Victoria Stapleton

Free day of info on collection development in conjuntion with Book Expo America–no need to register for BEA to attend.

McGraw-Hill Conference Center
1221 6th Avenue (between 48th & 49th)

posted Mary Arnold, Chair
YALSA 50th Anniversary Committee

Be part of history–YALSA 50th Anniversary quilt raffle at Annual Conference

YALSA members are busy sewing squares for the red, white and blue zig zag quilt you’ll see on the YALSA website in May and on display in Washington DC, as YALSA celebrates turning 50 years young (adult) in 2007. Each square celebrates a great YA title, raffle tickets are $10, with only a limited number sold–so your chance to win is high!

Proceeds go to the Friends of YALSA account, so you’ll help your organization fund 50 more years of great programs and member initiatives.

YALSA is such a friendly association, and we need all the Friends of YALSA we can get!

posted by Mary Arnold
Chair YALSA50th and Financial Advancement Committees

We’re three months into our anniversary year!

Hope your first ever Teen Tech Week celebration was amazing–teens at my library dared me to try DDR and Guitar Hero at our Game Crazy day, and the results were predictably predictable–but fun! We’ve defaulted all the computers adjacent to or in our teen areas to the library’s TeenSpace page rather than the main library website, and we’re getting a lot more action that way. Our Tech guys put together a “Gadgets & Gizmos” goody bag for a staff workshop on Teens & Tech–how to make the match, so I was able to surprise Roderick the next day by recognizing his Playstation 2, and he eagerly showed us the games he’s got on his.

YALSA & technology make the match as we celebrate 50 great teen spaces in libraries, and the teens who enjoy using them at our flickr site–check it out, and add your own at http://www.flickr.com/groups/teenspaces/

Looking forward to April 19 and Support Teen Literature Day–we’ve got teens podcasting their favorite first paragraphs for books you just can’t put down after you’ve started, and library staff booktalking new reads from our local Best Books list.
What are your plans?

Keep up with the 50th Anniversary celebrations at our wiki
http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa50

Posted Mary Arnold
Co-Chair YALSA 50th Anniversary Committee

Carrie Bryniak, Steve Crowley, Kristine Mahood, Diane Monnier, Sharon Rawlins, and Stephanie Squicciarini are asking for your consideration as they run this spring for the 2009 Edwards Award committee.

Chairing the 2006 MAE honoring Jacqueline Woodson was one of the most exciting opportunities I’ve had in YALSA. Let’s ask our candidates a few questions so we can get to know them better!

What interested in you running for the Edwards Award committee?

What do you feel is the value to teens of an award that honors an author for titles that aren’t “new”?

How can YALSA give prominence to this prestigious award, especially outside the association?

Thanks for giving us your thoughts…

posted by Mary Arnold

YALSA kicks off our year long anniversary in Seattle during Midwinter Conference! The 50th Anniversary group has worked with committees and members to plan month by month activities that highlight why YALSA is THE organization for everyone who works with teens in libraries, schools and communities.

If you’ll be in Seattle in January, join us at the Joint Youth Division Reception on Monday night.

Watch for Past-President Pam Spencer Holley’s SLJ article in February. March, of course, kicks off the first ever Teen Tech Week, with great ideas for connecting with teens electronically on the YALSA website.

And that’s just the beginning of a fabulous year that shows why YALSA is still Young (Adult) at Heart at 50!

Posted by Mary Arnold, Chair YALSA50

The YALSA 50th Anniversary group really brainstormed with Judy Nelson, Beth Yoke and our great committee chairs, and we have something to celebrate for every month, and for every member, starting in January 2007.

YALSA plans to field a division book cart drill team for the fun, fun, fun competition in Washington DC in June! Team members? Why not you? And if you know some YA authors who’d be game, give them the word!

Going to Seattle for midwinter conference? We’ll kick off our birthday bash at the Monday night joint youth division get together–let them eat cake!

Watch this space for more news…

Posted by Mary Arnold, Co-chair YALSA 50

New Orleans is ready and waiting for librarians.

My husband and I haven’t missed a Mardi Gras in 15 years, and when we were there in February, we heard over and over from everyone how happy and grateful they were that the librarians would be back in June. Let’s show this gallant city what we know to be true, that libraries change lives.

This year, more than ever before, this most unique of American cities will welcome our support as we gather to share our strengths and as YALSA kicks off plans for celebrating our 50th anniversary as an organization. 2007 is going to be quite a party!

In the meantime…

• Read With Your Ears at YALSA’s audiobooks precon Friday
• Laugh with Jack Gantos, David Lubar, Mo Willems and Lisa Yee at Friday evening’s Booklist Forum
• Celebrate Jackie Woodson as the 2006 Margaret A. Edwards winner at Saturday’s luncheon
• Cheer for the 2006 Printz Award winners at Monday’s reception
• Take a second look at 21st century YA lit at Pam Spencer Holley’s President’s Program
• Meet with library partners in the exhibit hall, and
• Network with colleagues as you enrich yourself with excellent programs.

All in a very special location, New Orleans.

Too much to miss even one minute. See you there.

Mary Arnold
Co-Chair, YALSA 50th Anniversary Committee

Enter the WayBack Machine (with thanks to Mr. Peabody and Sherman!)

YALSA history nuggets– 1991

Young Adult Services Division of ALA changes name to
Young Adult Library Services Association, jump starting our acceleration toward the 21st century

We’re celebrating YALSA hitting the big 5-0 in 2007,

fifty years of serving young adults with excellence in libraries.

Your turn…the YALSA50 committee is looking for our luminaries–we’llcreate podcasts and interviews with YALSA leaders
to inspire and energize us all.

Suggest names here!

Your YALSA50 Committee

Posted by Mary Arnold

Posted by Mary Arnold, yalsa50 committee co-chair

You can never have too much birthday, so be sure to stop by the YALSA booth at annual conference in New Orleans June 22-28! The 50th birthday celebration group, YALSA Board and our great YALSA staff will kick-start the party early with 50th anniversary stickers for your conference badge to show all our colleagues that YALSA has been helping librarians serve teen customers well for a long time!

We are a creative bunch, so please post ideas for ways YALSA can get the word out — 50 and still young (adult) at heart! YALSA plans to celebrate it’s 50th Anniversary throughout 2007.