Monthly President’s Report – March 2012
Below is a summary of activities that I have completed or am working on.
Completed Tasks
- Committee Chairs:’ I had phone conversations with several YALSA committee chairs about the work of their committees.
- Committee/Jury/Taskforce Appointments: ‘ I ‘ appointed members to fill vacancies on several committees and continued appointing members to fill new task forces created by Board action at Midwinter.
‘ Partnerships. ‘
- YALSA is working with the American Camp Association and ALSC to create nature-focused lists of recommended reading for tweens and teens.
- YALSA teamed up with the Miami Dade Public Library to co-host the Wrestle Mania Reading Challenge Championships on March 31.
- YALSA received $75,000 from the Digital Media Learning Competition to implement a new effort to create badges for continuing education, so we’ll be working closely with HASTAC, Mozilla, MacArthur and Badgeville. You’ll be hearing much more about this in the months to come!
‘ Media & Outreach.
- I attended a meeting of BAYA (Bay Area Young Adult librarians) on March 27, to discuss YALSA and writing for the profession. It was great to hear them talk about their creative Hunger Games programs, too!
- I spoke with Cristina Merrill of the International Business Times about YA books.
- I attended the Public Library Association conference, where Mary Hastler and I presented a program on YALSA’s competencies and Evaluation Tool. I also spent some time helping to staff the ALA booth, along with other YALSA members and members and staff of other ALA divisions. It was a great opportunity to visit with members and get feedback about YALSA’s services.
- Also at PLA, I had a great time at the YALSA Happy Hour, where I had a chance to meet and chat with YALSA members.
- I contributed statements for YALSA news releases about Teen Tech Week, Support Teen Literature Day, and Summer Reading Program Grants.
‘ Important YALSA News & Reminders
- Don’t forget to vote! ALA (and YALSA) elections are from March 19-April 27. You will be receiving an email from ALA with a link to the online ballot. Information on all the candidates appeared in the blog during February.
- If you’re looking for continuing education, check out YALSA’s Webinars-on-demand, free to YALSA members.
- The Hub is sponsoring a Best of the Best Reading Challenge during the month of April. Read great YA lit and win a badge, and possibly a prize as well!
- Registration is now open for YALSA’s YA Lit Symposium, to be held in St. Louis November 2-4. This is a much-anticipated event for fans of teen literature. In talking with librarians at PLA, several told me that the Lit Symposium is their favorite conference!
- Support Teen Literature Day is April 12. Are you hosting/attending an event to raise money for Books for Teens?
- ‘ The April 19 webinar, Managing the Swarm: Teen Behavior in the Library and Strategies for Success‘ with Erin Downey Howerton, is sold out, so it will be repeated on April 24. Register now!
- National Library Legislative Days are April 23-24. I’ll be in Washington, D.C. to talk with legislators and others, but you can do your own bit right at home: check out the ALA Legislative Scorecard to find out how your legislators have voted on library-related issues.
Thank Yous and Congratulations
- Congratulations to the 20 libraries who are receiving $1000 each to fund summer reading programs, and thanks to the Dollar General Foundation for providing the funds and to Charli Osborne and her task force for vetting the applications and choosing the winners.
- Thank you to Gretchen Kolderup, blog manager of The Hub, and all her bloggers for a spectacular month. The Hub had an average of 651 pageviews per day in March, a 26% increase over the previous monthly high. The Hub also received its 1000th comment in March.
- April is National Volunteer Month. Take a moment to thank your teen volunteers, your Friends of the Library, and other volunteers who support what you do. And thanks to all of you YALSA members who volunteer your time in various ways to support teens and libraries!
- Thanks to everyone who made the 5th annual Teen Tech Week a success. Nearly 1,400 libraries embraced the 2012 theme, Geek Out @ your library‘®, by hosting an array of events and programs that encouraged teens to take advantage of the many free technological resources available at the library. ‘ Congratulations to Debby Carrico, branch manager and teen librarian at the Elmwood Branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, who won a Skype visit from author’ J.J.Johnson, courtesy of Teen Tech Week Promotional Partner Peachtree Publishers. And thanks to Sarah Ludwig and the Teen Tech Week Committee for all their hard work!
YALSA Membership: 5,222 ‘ (Up slightly from last month, but down 3.6% over last year): don’t forget to renew!
Friends of YALSA February donations: $280
‘ Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Flowers
YALSA President
