Monthly President’s Report – January 2012

What a month! Midwinter was busy-busy-busy, but also a lot of fun. I had a fabulous time emceeing the Youth Media Awards and the Morris/Nonfiction Awards Event. It was great to see so many YALSA members: at the Midwinter Institute, at the Midwinter Trivia Night FUNdraiser, at meetings, at the YALSA Happy Hour, at the Youth Media Awards event, and at the AASL/ALSC/YALSA joint membership reception.

Below is a summary of activities that I have completed or am working on. (more…)

The YALSA Board of Directors had a jam-packed agenda at Midwinter. Minutes will be available soon, but meanwhile, here are some of the major decisions that we made.

Note that the Board voted to establish several new task forces. If you are interested in being on any of these task forces, please submit a volunteer form right away.  (more…)

Now that ALA Midwinter has come and gone, you’re probably itching to flip your calendar forward to June in anticipation of ALA Annual in Anaheim, June 21 – 26.

Ready to make the most of your conference experience? Network! Don’t be shy. If you can answer reference questions, you can talk to other librarians! Whether you’re a full fledged librarian or still in library school, you have been practicing your social skills by making presentations in class or to the public, (more…)

My colleague, YALSA member, ALA Emerging Leader, and first time conference attendee agreed for me to post her observations of Midwinter. I’ve no doubt we’ll be hearing from her more often! A warm welcome to Catherine Haydon! (more…)

ALA Council passed a resolution this morning in Support of Intellectual Freedom in Tucson Unified School District Mexican American Studies Program.
The full text of the WHEREAS clauses can be found on the Office of Intellectual Freedom site here.

The resolve clause reads:
1. Condemns the suppression of open inquiry and free expression caused by closure of ethnic and cultural studies programs on the basis of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
2. Condemns the restriction of access to educational materials associated with ethnic and cultural studies programs.
3. Urges the Arizona legislature to pass HB 2654, “An Act Repealing Sections 15-111 and 15-112, Arizona Revised Statutes: Relating to School Curriculum.

This resolution was moved by the Intellectual Freedom Committee and supported in principle by YALSA, among other divisions, committees and round tables.

The IFC also recommended that the resolution be sent to the Tucson Unified School District, the State of Arizona Department of Education Superintendent of Public Instruction, each member of the State of Arizona Legislature, the Governor of Arizona, United States Congressman Grijalva, and the United States Secretary of Education.

“What do you say to a Librarian that might not feel empowered to advocate for library services to their legislators or local community?” Rhonda Puntney Gould, ALSC Division Councilor who led the Youth Council Caucus meeting asked this difficult question this morning. (more…)

The Dallas Public Library was definitely the place to be last night. Starting with the reception that preceded his presentation, YA author/rock star John Green was swarmed by loyal readers who were anything but quiet!

In his introduction to John Green, Freedom to Read Foundation, (FTRF) President Kent Oliver shared a general overview of the kinds of cases the organization has been recently involved in; a harmful to minors statute to be applied to the Internet in Ohio, the removal of Vamos a Cuba in Florida, and video game bans in Illinois and Minnesota. FTRF is a legal arm of the American Library Association that John Green thanked several times throughout his presentation for their support to First Amendment Issues. (more…)

Are you new to Midwinter or the ALA conference scene? Wondering what the exhibits are really like? Check out Heather Botelho’s quick video from the exhibits floor here in Dallas.

(more…)

Join YALSA with LIVE streaming video of all the YMA announcement, presented jointly by the YALSA Blog and The Hub. Along with the video, we’ll also be offering quick polls and pulling Twitter hashtags like #printz and #alexawards. You can log in to the live session with your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or OpenID username (which will include your avatar), or just jump right in.

YALSA Blog manager mk Eagle (username pandanose) will be offering transcriptions of all the announcements, with live video from The Hub blogger Jessica Pryde. Coverage begins at 7:30 central on Monday, January 23.