YALSA President’s Report – May 2012

Monthly President’s Report – May 2012

May is all about getting ready for ALA Annual. Also, I’m very excited that YALSA’s free Teen Book Finder iPhone/iPad app is now available in Apple’s App Store. (An Android version will be coming later this year.) If you have an iPhone or iPad, download it and check it out!

Below is a summary of activities that I have completed or am working on.

Committees

• 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.
  • I continued appointing members to fill new task forces created by Board action at Midwinter

‘ Board Activities

• I participated, with other Board members, in an online chat about YALSA’s relationship with “Big ALA.”
• I worked with Board members on their self-assessments.
• I worked with Executive Committee members to create an agenda for the ALA Annual and for the Board Meeting by Conference call on June 1.

Partnerships. ‘ 

• Mary Fellows, ALSC President, and I, along with our Presidents’ Program co-chairs, Sarah Couri and Tessa Michaelson, had a conference call to make the final arrangements for our combined Presidents’ Program at ALA Annual. ‘ I hope many of you will be able to join us bright and early Monday morning to hear Dr. Michelle Poris of SmartyPants and Stephen Abram of GaleCengage share their insights on the Digital Lives of Tweens and Young Teens. If you can’t be there, follow us on Twitter by following the hashtag #tweentech.
• I continue to participate in the School Libraries Task Force with members of other ALA divisions.
• I am working with Carl Harvey, AASL President, and Mary Fellows, ALSC President, to plan for the joint AASL/ALSC/YALSA Executive Committee meeting to be held at ALA Annual.

Writing.

• I wrote a post for the YALSA Blog on access to YALSA’s selected lists and awards.
• I wrote my final President’s Column for YALS, which will appear in the Summer issue.

‘ Media & Outreach.

• I spoke with Linda Jacobsen, a freelance writer who is working on a piece for the Greatschools.org about boys and reading.
• I contributed statements for YALSA press releases.

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Important YALSA News & Reminders

• If you are going to Anaheim for ALA Annual, don’t forget to register for special events. If you did “bundled registration” last fall, you will need to go back in to your registration for to add special events, such as:
• Two great half-day preconferences: Books We’ll Still Talk about 45 Years from Now and Source Code: Digital Youth Participation.
• The Margaret Edwards Award luncheon, featuring author Susan Cooper.
• The YA Author Coffee Klatch—your chance to get up close and personal with 35 YA authors, including Printz award and honor authors Corey Whaley, Maggie Stiefvater, Craig Silvey, Daniel Handler, Christine Hinwood, and more!
• The Printz Award Program and Reception, with speeches from all of the honored authors.
• To add these events if you’ve already registered through ALA registration: (1) By phone: Call ALA Registration at 1-800-974-3084 and ask to add a workshop or special event to your existing registration; (2) Online: Add an event to your existing registration by clicking this Annual Conference Registration link. Use your log in and password to access your existing registration and add events in the “Your Events” section (screen 6). Then simply check out and pay for the events you’ve added.
• YALSA’s summer online course will be’ Making the Match: Finding the Right Book for the Right Teen at the Right Time. This six week course will take place in July 2 – August 13 2012.
• Don’t miss June’s webinar: 10 Social Tools to Connect with Teens at your Library, with Joe Murphy.

Thank Yous and Congratulations

• Thank you to all the YALSA members who ran for office or for awards committees. Congratulations to Shannon Peterson, who will become Vice President/President-Elect, and Vicki Emery, who will be our new Division Councilor; their terms start at the end of Annual. And congratulations to all the new members of YALSA award committees.
• And also, thanks to the 2012 Nominating Committee for coming up with such a great slate of candidates!
• Thanks to Katherine Trouern-Trend and her task force for developing the Teen Space Guidelines, which were just approved by the Board.
• Thanks to Dollar General for funding the development of the Teen Book Finder app.

 

YALSA Membership: 5,228 ‘ (down 3.7% from last year): don’t forget to renew!

Friends of YALSA April donations: $300

Books for Teens/Booze for Books April donations: $1,164

Respectfully Submitted,

Sarah Flowers

YALSA President