YALSA is seeking a Member Manager for the YALSA blog. The deadline for applications is April 15, 2023. The Member Manager will be responsible for the content and look of the blog and will work closely to recruit and oversee designated bloggers. The mission of the YALSA Blog is to provide a virtual space for publishing information about time-sensitive issues and to provide a forum for members and the library community to discuss matters relating to serving teens through libraries.

List of Qualifications:

  1. Excellent verbal and written communications skills
  2. Experience in web publishing, either in editing or writing, sufficient to enable the individual to recruit and manage bloggers, with responsibilities including but not limited to identifying timely topics, maintaining a high standard of writing, and ensuring compliance with YALSA’s Blog Policy
  3. HTML proficiency
  4. Familiarity with content management software including WordPress for the administration of blog sites
  5. Dynamic, self-motivated individual
  6. Ability to delegate.
  7. Strong organizational skills
  8. Ability to set and meet deadlines.
  9. Experience in library services to young adults
  10. Membership in YALSA

General Responsibilities:

  • Communicate with bloggers and the YALSA Office on a regular basis in order to generate ideas for content, assign posting topics, and discuss blog management.
  • Review and edit audio and video content submitted to the blog to make sure the quality is acceptable and that it includes YALSA branding prior to posting.
  • Manage blog postings daily to guarantee the quality of content and appropriate tagging and category identification.
  • Manage comments and spam daily in order to guarantee that the blog content is appropriate.
  • Recruit bloggers on a regular basis
  • Meet with and provide any necessary training to bloggers via Zoom or another online meeting tool
  • Attend the YA Symposium and Annual to recruit bloggers and inform committees about the blog
  • Write reports prior to the Summer and Winter virtual meetings for submission to the YALSA Board.
  • Work with YALSA and ALA Office staff as appropriate to update and manage blog software.
  • Keep track of add-ons and plug-ins to blog software to make sure they are up to date and to add to the blog as necessary.
  • Work with the YALS, JRYLA editors, and The HUB Blog manager as appropriate to coordinate the dissemination of information to members and the library community.
  • Co-Chair the YALS and YALSA Blog Advisory Board
  • Answer questions and inquiries about the blog.
  • Follow all established blog policies and guidelines, enforce them as necessary, and periodically conduct a review of them to ensure currency.

The Member Manager will be selected by the YALSA Executive Committee by April 28, 2023. The term of the appointment is two years beginning in May 2023. The Member Manager will receive an honorarium of $500 per year plus $500 towards travel to each Annual Conference and YA Symposium while serving as Member Manager. Candidates should send a cover letter and resume, which includes writing and web publishing experiences to:

LaMoya Burks, Interim Executive Director at lburks@ala.org

All resumes, etc. must be submitted via email. For further information contact Franklin Escobedo, YALSA President at franklin.yalsa@gmail.com.  The deadline for submission is April 15, 2023.

Image: Flyer for Under Scrutiny: Helping Staff Feel Safe and Empowered in the Face of Book Challenges
Presenter: Darcy Lipp-Acord
April 11, 2023 2 PM CDT
Under Scrutiny April 11 2 PM CDT

This YALSA webinar is co-sponsored by AASL (American Association of School Librarians), PLA (Public Library Association), and ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children).

All around the country, politically motivated challenges to library patrons’ freedom to read and library staff members’ ability to do their jobs are increasing. Many of these challenges have moved from simple complaints and removal requests to abusive, sometimes dangerous behavior.

In this new webinar, you’ll hear from Darcy Lipp-Acord, the Youth Services Librarian at Campbell County Public Library in Gillette, WY. As someone who has been on the front lines of this harassment, she will present information linking strategies of book challenging groups with abusive behaviors typically found in domestic relationships and offer strategies for dealing with those behaviors as front-facing library staff.

You’ll learn about common strategies used by political groups in their efforts to censor youth materials, how to identify and name these behaviors, and how doing so can empower library staff to develop proactive strategies for responding in ways that protect their safety and integrity.

After participating in this event, learners will:

  • Be able to identify common abusive behaviors being used by book challenging groups
  • Be able to recognize the patterns utilized by these groups
  • Understand how to adapt strategies taught to domestic abuse victims to library situations, and to utilize these strategies to help staff cope with abusive behaviors

Darcy Lipp-Acord is the Youth Services Librarian at Campbell County Public Library in Gillette, WY. Since July 2021, she has been directly involved in dealing with a local group attempting to move youth materials out of children’s and teen areas of her library. The group, like many such challengers nationwide, has resorted to abusive techniques that demoralize staff. Lipp-Acord has researched the links between these techniques and abusive strategies often used in domestic situations and presented her findings at the 2022 YALSA Symposium in Baltimore.

This event will be hosted in Zoom. Registration is limited to 1000 individuals. Automatic captions will be enabled for this event. This event will be recorded, and the recording will be freely available to all, including those who did not register for the live event or were not able to attend.

Register today space is limited. Register by clicking here.

Get ready to vote in this year’s YALSA election! To help you make informed decisions, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2022 YALSA Governance candidates. Voting will take place from March 13 through April 5, 2022.

Serving three-year terms, YALSA Board members are responsible for jointly determining YALSA’s current and future programs, policies, and serving as liaisons to YALSA’s committees, juries, taskforces, and advisory boards. Members work year-round and attend in-person meetings at ALA’s LibLearnX and Annual Conferences. A full description of Board duties and responsibilities can be found here. You can learn more about ALA elections here.

Photo of YALSA Board of Director candidate Rachel Milburn, Candidate for Director at Large.
Rachel Milburn, Candidate for Director-At Large

Name and current position:  Rachel Milburn, Youth Services Manager, Frankfort Community Public Library, Frankfort, IN

  1. What best qualifies you for being on the Board of Directors?

I have loads of experience working with young adults/teens/tweens even before becoming a librarian. Previously, I worked in schools, youth programming, and literature clubs. I originally went back to school to become a teacher. However, I switched my major to English with a plan of becoming a librarian. I chose this path after working in the schools in order to share my love of learning in a more creative manner. As the Teen Services Manager at the Frankfort Community Public Library, I created several new programs including Adulting 101, Self-Care Programming, Homework Help, and a Teen Advisory Board to name a few. I am always instituting new ideas that allow young adults to explore information and learning in unique and creative ways. Also, I am an extremely hard-working person with a passion for library services, specifically library services for young people. They are, arguably, our most important patrons and bridging their library usage from children’s programming to adult programming ensures we create life-long learners. My passion, determination, and hard work would be a wonderful asset to YALSA, with me on the Board of the Directors.

2. How do you envision furthering YALSA’s mission if elected to this position?

I would promote the need for outreach. More than ever, I believe that since Covid restrictions are lifting it is time for Y.A. Librarians to reach outside our walls. We need to find and serve the young people that are not yet experiencing the library. 

3. What would be the most exciting aspect of this position? The most challenging?

The most exciting aspect of this position would be meeting and learning from librarians from all over the country. I greatly hope to increase my network and continue to learn from the wonderful and diverse individuals that serve in this profession. The most challenging aspect would be planning travel and arranging my schedule for conferences. However, I believe that going to these conferences is important in achieving my goal of increasing my network. That is why I am committed to making travel and conference attendance happen.

4.  Please share a recent example(s) where you made a shift to better focus on the current needs of teens in the wake of the pandemic.

I was the first librarian in my library system to begin virtual programming. The minute that we closed our doors, I went straight into virtual mode. I shared blog posts and press releases with online resources and advice for young people working on e-learning. I also completed a course on well-being and began virtual self-care programming for our youth.  The previous fall, I had “inducted” the first Teen Advisory Board at our library. Then without having met often, the library closed. I did not allow that to prevent us from communicating. I regularly reached out to our T.A.B. members and their families throughout the stay-at-home order and while the library was closed. Each of our T.A.B. members agreed to do four hours of volunteer service at the library a year. When the library reopened following the pandemic, all of our T.A.B. members returned to their volunteering. Some of these young people eventually took jobs working in our library system. Retaining these members is evidence of the success of our service to them thru the pandemic.

Following the pandemic, I have been working to get young people back in the library. As the head of our Summer Reading program, I planned our program with the goal of getting people back in our building. This includes weekly incentives, collaborations with several community organizations, and a hefty social media marketing campaign. Likewise, one of my roles is the head of our county’s Youth Theatre. For our 2022 Summer Musical, our first back on the stage, I generated promotions that led to 5 sold out performances (we only planned on 4). Our Winter Show, saw all our social media numbers increase to the highest they had ever been, which led to the highest sponsorships. Finally, as we plan for our Summer Musical we were able to conduct over 80 youth auditioning for our the show. This success is a result of continued work on outreach, disseminating the information that these programs are here, and harnessing the power of social media.

5. What is the most pressing issue facing YALSA today?

The threat of censorship is a huge issue facing YALSA and all areas of librarianship. The fact that so many librarians must fear criminal prosecution when sharing books with young people is terrifying. I believe our only hope is to work together to develop new ideas on how to protect the freedom to read.

Your donation to the Friends of YALSA can make all the difference, as it can truly impact the lives of library staff and the communities they serve. Each year, FOY donations are used to support member awards, grants, scholarships, and stipends, and we are grateful for your generous support.

One of the programs funded by the FOY is the YALSA Board Fellow Program. This program allows a YALSA member to serve on the board for a 1-year period. This is an excellent opportunity for a YALSA member interested in taking on a more significant role within YALSA. In addition, the board fellow receives a $500 stipend to attend Annual Conference and LibLearnX.

Those interested in donating can visit the Friends of YALSA page. Your donation will help YALSA meet its goal of supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion for all members. 

Respectively submitted by Celeste Swanson on behalf of YALSA’s Financial Advancement Committee

Get ready to vote in this year’s YALSA election! To help you make informed decisions, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2022 YALSA Governance candidates. Voting will take place from March 13 through April 5, 2022.

Serving three-year terms, YALSA Board members are responsible for jointly determining YALSA’s current and future programs, policies, and serving as liaisons to YALSA’s committees, juries, taskforces, and advisory boards. Members work year-round and attend in-person meetings at ALA’s LibLearnX and Annual Conferences. A full description of Board duties and responsibilities can be found here. You can learn more about ALA elections here.

Photo of YALSA Board Candidate Katrina Ortega for the 2023 YALSA Election for Director at Large.
Katrina Ortega, Candidate for Director-at-Large

Name and current position: Katrina Ortega, Manager, College and Career Pathways, The New York Public Library, New York, NY

What best qualifies you for being on the Board of Directors?

My experiences as a Young Adult Librarian and program manager have allowed me to acquire a breadth of knowledge, skills, and capabilities that would make me an excellent addition to the YALSA Board. I have learned how to cooperate and compromise with others in order to effectively move forward with a task. I have learned how to be an efficient arbitrator among colleagues and patrons who are having difficulty with others. In the past, I actively mentored other YA staff members around the Library system, and I regularly act as a sounding board for others to discuss ideas or hurdles in their work. I have assisted many of my colleagues in developing new, system-wide initiatives and best practices, and I regularly encourage collaboration among my colleagues when putting together conference presentations and papers. Finally, I have had the opportunity to implement strategic plans for an annually growing program. I’ve learned to budget a branch budget, as well as a multi-million dollar program budget. I have learned how to measure the effectiveness of programs and events across multiple branches to establish best practices and strategies. All in all, I feel that I am an incredibly well-rounded candidate for this board and that I can effectively address the YALSA community’s comprehensive needs.

How do you envision furthering YALSA’s mission if elected to this position?

I have been fortunate enough to work in two different aspects of librarianship – on the front lines, assisting teens in what was, at the time, the largest teen space in the New York Public Library system, and also on the administrative side, offering support and assistance in the forms of budget, materials, and curricula to those who are serving teens in the branches. I plan on bringing the expertise gained through my experience to this organization, with the intention of looking to the professionals who belong to YALSA to determine ways in which we can best support them in their everyday professions. I intend to implement methods of communication and feedback between YALSA and its constituents that will help us gain a better understanding of where the organization can improve its support systems.

What would be the most exciting aspect of this position? The most challenging?

I am most looking forward to helping form the strategic plan to accomplish YALSA’s mission. I hope that the organization can re-focus its efforts as an organization to supporting the professionals who provide equitable, diverse, and inclusive team services to all of the young adult communities (and adults that support them) that we serve. I also believe that this might be the most challenging aspect of this position. The constituents that YALSA serves come from vastly different areas, and the needs of their patrons can vary immensely. My goal in serving on this board is to strive to establish an open and accessible method of communicating with professionals from around the country to hear what their concerns are and where they feel they could best use the support, and then to work with other members of the organization to determine how we can best offer that support.

Please share a recent example(s) where you made a shift to better focus on the current needs of teens in the wake of the pandemic.

As the manager of NYPL’s College and Career Pathways program, I have focused a lot of my efforts over the past few years trying to best support teens who are preparing to exit high school and enter whatever pathway they’ve decided fits them best. This has been especially challenging with all of the complexities that the pandemic introduced to the postsecondary landscape. Supporting teens who had suddenly lost access to their school guidance or college counselor, who could no longer take the in-person test prep course, who could not do the internship or the volunteering that they’d planned to do because of the pandemic was an enormous set of hurdles (particularly because we were also navigating our own unforeseen challenges). My goal was to try and meet teens in any way that we could to get their college and career readiness needs met, and this inevitably meant turning to virtual programs and services. I put together a plan where teens from all over NYC could request a 1-on-1 session with one of our trained librarians to discuss their college/career readiness needs (a service that is still being used today!). Under my direction, branch staff recorded dozens of different workshops that live on the College and Career Pathways webpage, so that teens can access these program-style workshops at any time it is convenient for them. Lastly, I’ve advocated for the continuation of virtual or hybrid programs even as we’ve returned to nearly entirely in-person programs, because it has been made clear by both YA patrons and the staff who serve them that virtual programs are often the most accessible to teens, and allow them the freedom to access support from the Library that they simply wouldn’t have if the programs were no longer held virtually.

What is the most pressing issue facing YALSA today?

Staff burnout – not only are patron-facing staff still faced with the possibility of getting sick at work; but they must also contend with the never-ending staff shortages, and the toll that providing social services can take. Add to that the recent wars being waged on library collections and programs that many communities across the country have taken up, and it’s a perfect storm. Library staff deserves as much appreciation and support as we can give them, and right now we simply cannot give them enough. I am aware that my inclusion on this board will not be a solution to all of the ills that plague YA-serving staff at our libraries, but I certainly intend to try my best to do all that I can!

YALSA is currently looking for volunteers for the Presidential Initiatives Implementation Task Force.

I am happy to announce that my President year them will center on the freedom to read.

I need YALSA member volunteers who are passionate about protecting the freedom to read and the right to intellectual freedom to volunteer for my Presidential Initiatives Implementation Task Force.

Together we will work on the following:

  • Taking the freedom to read theme and develop a theme slogan for the presidential year
  • Planning a year of projects and outcomes aligned with the freedom to read theme
  • Setting goals and activities for the year centered on the freedom to read theme
  • Collaborating with other ALA entities and other organizations or groups to bring resources to members centered on this freedom to read theme
  • Working within YALSA members and leaders to create resources for YALSA members by YALSA members centered on the freedom to read theme
  • Plan the 2024 Annual Conference President Program

If you are interested in volunteering, you can access our YALSA Volunteer form with this link: https://www.ala.org/CFApps/volunteer/form.cfm 

As you fill out the nomination form, please refer to my post from last fall: How to Fill Out YALSA’s Volunteer Form.  Please email me (President-elect, Colleen Seisser) with your interest as that will expedite the review of your application and ensure I have eyes on it. You must be a current YALSA member and you must not already have three ALA volunteer commitments.

Respectfully submitted by YALSA President-Elect, Colleen Seisser

Get ready to vote in this year’s YALSA election! To help you make informed decisions, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2023 YALSA Governance candidates. Voting will take place from March 13 through April 5, 2022.

Serving three-year terms, YALSA Board members are responsible for jointly determining YALSA’s current and future programs, policies, and serving as liaisons to YALSA’s committees, juries, taskforces and advisory boards. Members work year-round, and attend in-person meetings at ALA’s LibLearnX and Annual Conferences. A full description of Board duties and responsibilities can be found here. You can learn more about ALA elections here.

Photograph of Kim Dare, Candidate for YALSA Director at Large in the 2023 YALSA Election.
Kim Dare, Candidate for YALSA Director at Large

Name and current position:  Kim Dare, Teacher-Librarian, Herndon High School, Herndon, VA

What best qualifies you for being on the Board of Directors?

I have been a member of YALSA throughout my library career, and have served in various capacities, including book award committees, selection committees, and process committees. I had just begun chairing the YALSA Book Awards Oversight Committee when the pandemic shut things down. I worked closely with the Board that year to support award committee chairs in their new world of virtual meetings and to help plan YALSA’s part in the annual Youth Media Awards. I am excited to support YALSA members—and the teens we all serve—in this new capacity.

How do you envision furthering YALSA’s mission if elected to this position?

I love that YALSA’s mission statement is all about empowerment—empowering all in our profession to provide equitable, diverse, and inclusive teen services. There are challenges to that empowerment these days, as various groups seek to limit the work we do to support teen learning and enrichment and to foster healthy communities. As a high school librarian, I work closely with teens on a daily basis, and the library is a safe haven for so many of them. I am passionate about ensuring that every teen can see themselves—and discover more about themselves—in libraries, and will work to implement practical support for librarians in all parts of the country who are facing roadblocks to YALSA’s mission.

What would be the most exciting aspect of this position? The most challenging?

I am most excited about the opportunity to work collaboratively with a group of professionals who are committed to providing practical support for librarians as they meet their teens’ needs. I have learned so much from each of my past YALSA appointments and look forward to gaining a deeper understanding of the issues our profession faces, and ways we can continue to thrive.

I anticipate that one of the most challenging aspects will be to encourage more of our members to take the next step in their membership journey. I think that the pandemic left us all with such a sense of fatigue, and I have seen a decline in volunteerism in other organizations to which I belong. We can do so much together and need to figure out a more effective way to bring members in from the sidelines of the organization to the committees, juries, task forces, and advisory boards that will further YALSA’s mission of equitable, diverse, and inclusive teen services. 

Please share a recent example(s) where you made a shift to better focus on the current needs of teens in the wake of the pandemic.

Our high school library has tried to meet students where they are over these past several years. While students were learning remotely, we offered curbside book checkouts and drove books to students’ homes if they couldn’t make it to school. We offered a virtual student book club and (since snacks were always a popular part of the book club), delivered a brown bag of snacks on book club days. The return to in-person learning has been wonderful in a lot of ways, but we are all changed, and the ways that we teach and interact with students have changed, too. Recently, we implemented a Student Library Advisory Board, which meets monthly. The student members reflect our very diverse school, and we have been so appreciative of their suggestions for little things we can put in place to increase accessibility and use.

What is the most pressing issue facing YALSA today?

Membership, and member involvement, are our most pressing issues right now. It is essential that librarians who serve youth are able to see YALSA’s relevance and value. YALSA can be a strong advocate for librarians who are committed to teen services, but we are only as strong as our members and our member involvement. There are so many exciting ways to get involved—committees, juries, task forces, advisory boards—and members have the option of participating in many of these opportunities virtually rather than in person. I have made friends from all over the country through my YALSA work and am a better librarian for it.

YALSA is currently looking for volunteers for our Outstanding Books for the College Bound committee. Here’s some more information about the committee:

Charge
To support lifelong learning by preparing a revised and updated edition of the annotated Outstanding Books for the College Bound booklist to guide students of all ages planning to continue their education beyond high school. The booklist is updated every five years.

Purpose
To provide reading recommendations to students of all ages who plan to continue their education beyond high school.

Audience
The lists are primarily intended for students in grades 9-12 who wish to enrich and strengthen their knowledge of various subject areas in both classic and contemporary literature.

The lists can be used both by students wishing to round out their reading before entering college and by those taking college entrance examinations such as the ACT and SAT.

The lists can also be used by young adults and adults who are lifelong learners wishing to increase or update their knowledge of literature in areas covered by the lists.

Committee Members
The committee will consist of 15 members who are appointed by the YALSA President-Elect for a one year term beginning May 1 through April 30 the following year

The committee size is 15 members, and an administrative assistant, if requested. Up to five members from ACRL may be appointed.

Selection Criteria

  • Standard selection criteria consonant with the ALA Library Bill of Rights shall be applied.
  • Although copyright is not a consideration, all titles should be widely available.
  • Each category may have a special set of criteria.
  • Books can be in print or out of print, in hardcover or paperback.
  • Books that have appeared on earlier Outstanding Books lists or are available in revised editions are eligible.

Categories
The committee may select up to five (5) categories. The traditional categories for Outstanding Books are: The Arts, Biography, Fiction, and Nonfiction. Poetry has sometimes been a separate category, sometimes not. A Now/Current category was used for a time. Plays have been a subcategory of The Arts. There may be some variance in selected categories depending on the trends in society and in publishing. There may be subcategories, as well.

If you are interested in volunteering, you can access our YALSA Volunteer form with this link: https://www.ala.org/CFApps/volunteer/form.cfm 

As you fill out the nomination form, please refer to my post from last fall: How to Fill Out YALSA’s Volunteer Form.  Please email me (President-elect, Colleen Seisser) with your interest as that will expedite the review of your application and ensure I have eyes on it. You must be a current YALSA member and you must not already have three ALA volunteer commitments.

Respectfully submitted by YALSA President-Elect, Colleen Seisser

YALSA is currently looking for volunteers for our Strategic Committees. The purpose of a strategic committee is to help carry out the business of the association by handling matters such as membership recruitment, fundraising, and much more.  If you have not served on a committee before and would like to help YALSA carry out the work of the association, strategic committees are where you can get your start. All Strategic Committees are 100% virtual. 

We are looking for volunteers for the following Strategic Committees:

  • Board Development Committee
    • To develop in conjunction with the board activities and materials for: board orientation, on-going board training, and annual board member self-assessments, board assessments, and board roles and responsibilities.
    • To pay attention to board composition and needs and assess board effectiveness. 
    • To identify and cultivate members for leadership positions, and to annually develop a slate of candidates for board positions. When building the slate, seek out the most qualified individuals and provide for broad representation, as outlined in YALSA’s Statement on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
    • To educate members about governance and service on the YALSA Board, including conducting necessary outreach via an array of avenues to ensure diverse representation.
    • To assist members in preparing for the election such as through a candidates’ forum or candidate interviews.
    • To review the process after each election and make recommendations for the next cycle.  
    • Membership: 5-7 virtual members, who have governance experience, including the chair.  At least one member will have served on a recent Board Development Committee, and no more than two may be current members of the Board.  The immediate past president will serve as chair during their term.
    • Term: July 1 through June 30.
  • Division & Membership Promotion
    • To work with staff to develop and pursue an aggressive and continuous campaign to recruit and retain members for YALSA
    • To promote the association to colleagues and to key partners as defined in the YALSA Implementation Plan
    • To promote and maintain good relations with existing members through activities such as the member booth at conferences, recognition of member anniversaries, and outreach to lapsed members.
    • Committee Size: 5-7 virtual members, including chair
    • Term:  July 1, through June 30
  • Financial Advancement
    • Provide oversight and continued enhancement of the Friends of YALSA program, including promotion, fundraising and donor recognition.  
    • Work with the Board year-round to create and implement virtual fundraising campaigns and fundraising efforts at conferences, aimed at both members and nonmembers, to support the $195,000  worth of scholarships and stipends YALSA gives out annually. 
    • Periodically review YALSA’s Fundraising Toolkit and make updates, as needed. 
    • Size – 1 chair, who sits ex-officio on the YALSA board, and 6 virtual members 
    • Term:  July 1, through June 30
  • Interdivisional Committee on School/Public Library Cooperation
    • Charge: This joint committee will identify, develop, promote and disseminate information on effective cooperative or collaborative projects that link schools and public libraries.
    • Function:
      • Maintain and update the resources that have been compiled on the ALSC website
      • Develop training workshops and/or programs on cooperative or collaborative projects and present them at conferences, institutes, online, and for other organizations serving youth
      • Detail findings in articles, books, blogs, etc. for division publications
      • Update the School/Public Library Collaboration Toolkit as needed
      • Term: 1 year
  • Organization & Bylaws
    • To periodically review the Bylaws and, when necessary, to recommend revision and amendment to improve them for the effective management of the Division, for the achievement of its stated objectives, and to keep them in harmony with ALA Constitution and Bylaws
    • To study and review committee functions, recommending changes in committee structure
    • To regularly review and when necessary recommend and draft revision of content for the YALSA Handbook
    • To make recommendations on other appropriate policy and process matters. 
    • Size: 1 chair, who sits ex-officio on the YALSA board, and 6 virtual members including at least two members from the previous year. 
    • Term:  July 1, through June 30
  • Outstanding Books for the College Bound
    • To support lifelong learning by preparing a revised and updated edition of the annotated Outstanding Books for the College Bound booklist to guide students of all ages planning to continue their education beyond high school. The booklist is updated every five years.
    • Size: 15 members, and an administrative assistant, if requested. Up to five members from ACRL may be appointed.
    • Term: May 1 through April 30 the following year
  • Social Media Marketing
    • Widely market YALSA selection lists (Amazing Audiobooks, Best Fiction for Young Adults, Great Graphic Novels, and Quick Picks) for the current and previous years and the Teens’ Top Ten list.
    • Share member recognition of volunteer efforts, and support for the YALSA Symposium and the Youth Media Awards events.
    • Members complete weekly assignments, for which volume can vary based on the output and needs of the Chairs of the YALSA selection lists. 
    • Term: 14-month term from November 1, 2023 to the following December 31, 2024. 
    • Size: 3-4 committee members and one chair.
  • Teens’ Top Ten
    • To facilitate the exchange of information and galleys of books published within the current and previous publishing years among the voting teen group members as well as the non-voting members
    • To annually prepare the “Teens’ Top 10” list for Teen Tober
    • To coordinate the public electronic vote. 
    • To assist with the collection and vetting of applications from libraries who wish to host an official reading group. 
    • Committee size: 7 virtual members including the Chair and at least two members from the previous year.  
    • Term: July 1 through June30

If you are interested in volunteering, you can access our YALSA Volunteer form with this link: https://www.ala.org/CFApps/volunteer/form.cfm 

As you fill out the nomination form, please refer to my post from last fall: How to Fill Out YALSA’s Volunteer Form.  Please email me (President-elect, Colleen Seisser) with your interest as that will expedite the review of your application and ensure I have eyes on it. You must be a current YALSA member and you must not already have three ALA volunteer commitments.

Respectfully submitted by YALSA President-Elect, Colleen Seisser

YALSA is currently looking for volunteers for our Advisory Boards. An Advisory Board serves in an advisory capacity to the Member Managers and Editors of the YALSA Blog, YALSA’s Young Adult Library Services eJournal (YALS), YALSA’s Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults (JRYLA), and the YALSA Hub Blog.

We are looking for volunteers for the following Advisory Boards:

  • Editorial Advisory Board (for YALS & the YALSAblog)
    • To serve as advisor to the co-chairs of the Advisory Board, the editor of YALS and the YALSAblog Member Manager, on the overall content of the journal and blog.
    • To take an active role in determining content for both publications and an annual editorial calendar that identifies timely topics as well as authors for articles and blog posts.
    • To create messages and content to promote the blog and the journal and to cross-populate each to highlight the content and focus of each publication.
    • To work to ensure that key YALSA guidelines, resources, initiatives, etc. are integrated into the blog and the journal.
    • To assist with the search process for a new editor or member manager, when appropriate.
    • Term:  July 1, through June 30.
    • Committee Size: 5 virtual members including at least two members from the previous year, plus the co-chairs
  • Hub Advisory Board
    • The Hub Advisory Board participates in the development and maintenance of the Hub and follows the guidelines for the site as set out by the YALSA Board of Directors.
    • The Advisory Board also serves in an advisory capacity to the Member Manager, who also acts as Chair, of the site and assists with the collection of content for the site, generates ideas for content, works on getting teen and library staff input and feedback, facilitates marketing and PR as needed, and writes for the site as needed.
    • Size: 7 virtual members including Member Manager, who is the chair, and two members from the previous year.
    • Term: July 1, through June 30
  • Research Journal Advisory Board & Research Committee
    • For 2023-24 we will combine the Research Journal Advisory Board and the Research committee to see how the work goes.
    • Oversee the peer reviewing process as outlined in the Refereeing Process Guidelines as approved by the YALSA Board of Directors.
    • Serves in an advisory capacity to the Member Editor of the journal by assisting with the solicitation of contributors and articles as well as generating ideas for topical articles or themes, when requested from the Member Editor.
    • To stimulate, encourage, guide, and direct the research needs of the field of young adult library services, and to regularly compile abstracts, disseminate research findings, update YALSA’s Research Agenda as needed and to liaise with ALA’s Committee on Research & Statistics.
    • Size: 7 virtual members, including Chair and at least two members from the previous year.
    • Term: July 1 through June 30
    • The Chair will be the Liaison to ALA’s Committee on Research & Statistics.

If you are interested in volunteering, you can access our YALSA Volunteer form with this link: https://www.ala.org/CFApps/volunteer/form.cfm 

As you fill out the nomination form, please refer to my post from last fall: How to Fill Out YALSA’s Volunteer Form.  Please email me (President-elect, Colleen Seisser) with your interest as that will expedite the review of your application and ensure I have eyes on it. You must be a current YALSA member and you must not already have three ALA volunteer commitments.

Respectfully submitted by YALSA President-Elect, Colleen Seisser