There’s a YALSA initiative that tends to regularly bubble up in conversation with notable nostalgia and fondness: the 2008 YALSA Road Trip. Well, fear not dear members, I’m happy to report that it’s back. With 2013 sensibilities.

The YALSA Board voted unanimously at the Mdiwinter meeting to create a taskforce that will identify ten state or regional public and school library conferences to visit in the next year. Once identified, the task force will recruit local YALSA members to staff a booth, present a program, and/or host a suitably YALSA-tastic event armed with a toolkit packed with suggestions, guidelines, and strategies.
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As President-elect I’ll be making appointments to YALSA’s *virtual* juries and process committees in the very near future. Help move the organization forward, learn something new, and work with amazing people by serving on one of these:

Books for Teens Jury
BWI/YALSA Collection Development Grant Jury
Conference Travel Scholarships Jury
Frances Henne/VOYA/YALSA Research Grant Jury
Great Books Giveaway Jury
MAE Award for Best Literature Program for Teens
Continuing Education Advisory Board
Division and Membership Promotion
Editorial Advisory Board
Executive Committee
The Hub Advisory Board
Financial Advancement
Joint School/Public Library Cooperation
Legislation
Annual Conference Marketing (Las Vegas, 2014)
Nominating
Organization and Bylaws (conference travel is required)
Publications Advisory Board
Research
Research Journal Advisory Board
Strategic Planning (conference travel is required)
Teen Read Week
Teen Tech Week
Teens’Top Ten
Website Advisory 

Not sure which one to volunteer for? Just fill our the volunteer form as completely as possible and I’ll do my best to find the right fit for you. Appointments will be made through March. Questions? You can find me at shannon.peterson@gmail.com.  Please note: book award & selection committee appointments are made in the fall, and the volunteer form for those will not open until June.
Thanks!

Each spring, the YALSA President-elect appoints members to serve on process committees and juries. These groups are the backbone of the organization, making sure that core initiatives like Teen Read Week and Teen Tech Week happen in a suitably dynamic YALSA fashion and select recipients of awards and grants. They also find ways to engage new members, support our amazing blogs, plan conference programs, maintain our wikis, and implement genius plans to support the organization, its members, and initiatives financially.  And… much much much more.

In my own experience, these groups provide a perfect opportunity to get your feet wet, learn something new about the division, develop your professional chops, and of course, work with genuinely awesome people. Plus, they’re entirely virtual, so conference travel (though welcomed) is not mandatory.  Volunteer forms will be collected through the beginning of February and appointments will be made in March. A list of committees and juries as well as the volunteer form, can be found here: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/workingwithyalsa/yalsacommittee.

Please feel free to get in touch with current Chairs with questions http://www.ala.org/yalsa/workingwithyalsa/committees/committeechair or contact me at shannon.peterson@gmail.com.

Thanks, and I look forward to serving with you!

Happily, my appointments taskforce and I are swimming in applications for this fall’s selection and award committees as well as several important taskforces. For those of you that submitted a form, thank you for being willing to share your time and expertise with YALSA in this way.

Throughout the month, we’ll be filling slots with an eye toward creating strong and diverse committees. We hope to have all our work completed by the end of the October.

 And please remember, if we are unable to place you at this time or if you weren’t able to meet the September 30^th deadline for these committees, there are a myriad of ways to be an engaged member in YALSA including:

• Tweet-Ups and E-Chats
• Participating in virtual Process Committees
• Nominating titles for a Selection List or Award
• Heading to St. Louis for the YA Literature Symposium!

 Of course, these aren’t your only options. For more information and ideas, take a few minutes to watch a Get Involved webinar.

There’s just one week left to submit volunteer forms for the following YALSA committees and taskforces:

Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
Best Fiction for Young Adults
Fabulous Films for Young Adults
Great Graphic Novels for Teens
Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
Alex Award
Morris Award
Odyssey Award
Outstanding Books for the College Bound
2014 Midwinter Marketing & Local Arrangements Taskforce
2014 Midwinter Paper Presentation Planning Taskforce
Readers’ Choice List Taskforce

Please see my previous post for the nitty gritty (http://bit.ly/SngekL) and feel free to contact me with any questions at shannon.peterson@gmail.com.

Thank you!

This fall, with the help of a stalwart taskforce, I’ll be making appointments to the following selection list and award committees, which will begin their work on 2/1/13:

Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
Best Fiction for Young Adults
Fabulous Films for Young Adults
Great Graphic Novels for Teens
Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults
Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
Great Graphic Novels for Teens
Alex Award
Morris Award
Odyssey Award

Outstanding Books for the College Bound

I’ll also be appointing to these other awesome groups
2014 Midwinter Marketing & Local Arrangements Taskforce
2014 Midwinter Paper Presentation Planning Taskforce
Readers’ Choice List Taskforce

The 2014 Midwinter Meeting is in Philadelphia, Jan. 24 – 28

What do you need to bring to the table?
Experience in selecting and evaluating Young Adult materials as well as the time to volunteer your skills. We look for broad representation of our diverse YALSA members on all of our committees.

Below is some of the fine print to help both new and seasoned members get started in this year’s process.

How does the appointments process work?
To serve on a committee, you must be officially appointed by YALSA’s President-Elect. YALSA is collecting volunteer forms from now through Sept. 30 for members who would like to serve on selection and award committees that begin work on Feb. 1, 2013. If you are currently serving on a selection or award committee and you are eligible to and interested in serving for another term, you must fill out a volunteer form. This is the only way that I’ll know for certain that you’re interested in continuing on the committee. Also, please note that except for the 2013 and 2014 Popular Paperback for Young Adults committees, these selection and award committee members are required to attend both Midwinter and Annual conferences. Please ensure that you can travel to both conferences before you volunteer.

What do volunteers need to know?
Before you volunteer to serve on a committee or taskforce, you’ll want to learn what the group does and what your responsibilities will be. YALSA has created a free webinar with information about what it’s like to serve on a selection or award committee. Be sure to take the time to view it. You can also contact the chair directly to let him/her know you’re interested in serving and to ask questions about what your involvement will entail. Names and contact information for all the committee chairs are available from the Governance page on YALSA’s website. From the Get Involved page on YALSA’s website you’ll also find information about each of the committees’ functions, size, etc. Lastly, be sure to read through YALSA’s Handbook, especially the sections that list responsibilities for committee members.

In order to be considered for a selection or award committee, you need to fill out a Selection Committee Volunteer Form by Sept. 30.

What else? What’s next?
To learn more about volunteering for committees and taskforces, as well as the appointments process, visit the Get Involved section of the YALSA website. You can also feel free to get in touch with me with any lingering questions at smpeterwork@gmail.com.

Are you awesome for reading through to the end of this detailed post? Definitely.