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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.