2013! It’s a big year for YALSA and for the future of libraries and teens. Why? Because not only did YALSA receive funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to figure out what that future is, the association partnered with Connected Learning.TV for a month-long series of events on the very same topic topic. (Obviously the future of libraries and teens is something worth talking about.) The Connected Learning.TV series fits perfectly with all of the other activities YALSA has going on as a part of the National Forum on Libraries and Teens. As a matter of fact, the two projects come together in late May when a YALSA & Connected Learning TV event on May 21 at 1PM Eastern provides a lead in into the next and final virtual town hall that will take place at 2PM (that same day) in YALSA’s Adobe Connect Space.
This final virtual town hall is another excellent opportunity for library staff serving teens, educators, library administrators, and stakeholders to come together and make their voices heard. The topic for this town hall is the future of libraries and teens. Participants will be asked to consider ideas such as:
- Imagine that you have the power to create the ideal library services for teens.’ What would they look like?
- What do you think is exciting about the future you imagine for library services to teens?
- What do you think it will take to get to this imagined future?
Before, during, and after the virtual event, everyone is invited to post their thoughts and ideas on Twitter, using the #yalsaforum hashtag. Or, via comments on this blog post. To find out about previous virtual town halls you can check out the recordings and blog posts for each:
- Partnerships – March 19, 2013
- Informal and Formal Learning Environments for Teens – April 16, 2013
The goal of this final virtual town hall, and the overall goal of the activities YALSA sponsored this year, is to gather data and learn about teens and libraries so to best help staff serving teens succeed into the future. Following this final virtual town hall event, using the information gathered over the last five months, YALSA will develop a white paper that outlines the future of library teen services. A draft of the paper will be available in the summer for member feedback and will be published and disseminated in the fall.
Don’t miss the chance to get your voice heard in this final virtual town hall. If you have any questions about the event, or the National Forum on Libraries and Teens, you can visit the project website – http://ala.org/yaforum or contact YALSA’s Executive Director, Beth Yoke, byoke@ala.org, or Linda W. Braun, lbraun@leonline.com, the facilitator of the virtual town halls.
