This AM when I opened my email I found a message from a student who wondered how I keep up with the world of books and the world of technology.  This is a question I get asked a lot, but today as I prepare to spend a week in Anaheim for ALA Annual, I realized how much the connections I’ve made through YALSA help me with that keeping up.  As I’ve served on committees and task forces, I’ve had the chance to get to know a variety of people who I know I can turn to if I have a question or want to brainstorm an idea.

To be honest, when I went to library school I thought I would never want to get involved in local or national organizations. It seemed to me that all I really wanted, and needed, was to serve the community in which I worked. Taking part in outside activities didn’t fit my plans. But, then I started to see that if I participated in local organizations I was even more a part of the community, and I found out things that other people didn’t know. I was in the know.  I had information that helped me to do my job better. I had information that I could exchange with other people. (more…)

Ypulse is offering a special rate for library attendees for their Books pre-conference at this year’s Mashup event in San Francisco. “The 2008 Ypulse National Mashup is the only conference that brings together youth media and marketing professionals from brands, agencies and the non-profit sector to share best practices for reaching today’s totally wired youth.”

The full agenda for the pre-conference is here with keynote speaker David Levithan. The conference (more…)

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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This is some of what I learned yesterday:

• College alumni magazines are looking for ways to re-invent themselves as a part of the Facebook, MySpace, social networking world.
• Muzicons is a web-based music sharing tool that I think teens will love.
• The search tool Mahalo has a plug-in (Mahalo Follow) that integrates web page reading and searching in interesting ways

If you think about it, probably every day there is something that you learn. It might happen while you are reading an article in a library journal or newspaper. It might happen while you are talking to a teen or a colleague. It might happen while listening to the radio or a podcast on your way to or from work. No doubt you are always doing some sort of learning. (more…)

If you’re free today, Wednesday, May 14 at 3:30pm EST, tune into ustream.tv for a presentation by Librarian Joseph Wilk on connecting with teens and music at your library. Go to www.ustream.tv, type in ‘plcmc’ in the upper right corner where it says ’search here’, choose the ‘PLCMC Teens 1′ channel when it says ‘live’ and you’re in! You’ll need headphones and the latest Adobe Flash Player to view it. Think of the possibilities for using such a tool-gaming with other libraries, teens giving hosting their own radio show, author talks, etc. For more ideas, check out a past post by Linda Braun on the YALSA blog about Ustream and some other ideas and similar software from School Library Journal. Feel free to share your own experiences.

I went to my first Computers in Libraries conference this week. It’s going to take more than one post to mention all the cool things I learned.

But first, let me say that CiL is a really fun conference. It felt a lot more low-key than ALA mid-winter to me; maybe that was because everyone who was there was pretty like-minded about technology and just excited to be talking about what’s new and innovative. Or maybe it was because I’m starting to feel less left out of things: I got to meet many friendly library professionals from all over the place. I’m definitely starting to feel like a genuine member of the greater library community (and I made some new Twitter friends).

CiL basically consists of three days of presentations, and each day is broken into five tracks. You can stick with the presentations in your track for the whole day, or you can bounce around, which is what I did. I tried to balance my schedule between sessions that I knew would apply specifically to my job and sessions that were about information that I thought I should know about as a new public librarian. For example, I attended “From WoePAC to WowPAC,” a double session on OPACs, since I know nothing about them beyond the very basics. I also tried to check out anything I could find about marketing, since that’s a major component of what I’ll be doing in building a new teen program from the ground up.

So here’s some information I got from some of the most useful and fascinating sessions.

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Over the past few weeks a couple of students tweeted about a video on Teacher Tube called Pay Attention. It’s a seemingly simple presentation that focuses on why educators need to actively integrate technology into teaching. With that focus, it’s really about engaging students of all ages in learning.

Engaging teens in library programs and services is something that’s been on my mind a lot lately. What does it take to engage 13 to 18 year olds so that they are interested in what librarians have to offer?
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Registration for “How We Read Now” the first-ever Young Adult Literature Symposium, Nov. 7 - 9 is now open. Early Bird registration is open through September 1st. For more information, housing, and registration rates check out http://www.ala.org/yalitsymposium.

Short on funds? Don’t forget to apply for one of the two $1,000 stipends. Stipend applications are due on May 1st.

Organizing work-related projects is something with which many YALSA blog readers might struggle. Time to plan and implement projects can be challenging. Sometimes it’s a struggle to get even one thing from a list of tasks accomplished, particularly when it’s important to interact with the teens as much as possible - and not hide away in an office making sure administrative tasks are taken care of.

There are several technologies that can help you get through your day. Three to get you started are:

Remember the Milk - is a web-based software that makes it really easy to keep track of tasks you need to accomplish. Sign-up for a free account and start creating lists of the things you need to do. You can integrate your lists into online calendars - such as Google Calendar - and access what you need to do on handheld devices, cell phones, etc. You can even setup Remember the Milk to send you reminders via Twitter. It’s also possible to collaborate with others using Remember the Milk. Maybe you and the teens in your TAG need to develop a list of tasks that need to be accomplished for an upcoming program. You could create that list together even when the teens aren’t in the library - just use Remember the Milk to make it happen.
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For many months I’ve been looking forward to the launch of YALSA’s new blogging platform and interface. Now that I can’t look forward to that anymore, I’m thinking about what’s next on my looking forward to list. Some items are:
ALA Annual Conference 2008
In Anaheim those interested in teen services can look forward to pre-conferences on serving younger teens and tweens, programs on topics like reaching teens outside the library and youth advocacy, technology poster sessions, and the President’s Program on Third Space. You can find more about what’s coming in Anaheim on the YALSA wiki.
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