Get ready to vote! The YALSA election runs from March 19 through April 25, and to help you be an informed voter, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2014 candidates for YALSA Award Committees.
This week we are focusing on the Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee, which honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.
Candidates, who will be presented in alphabetical order, were asked to craft “Twitter-length” responses (i.e. around 140 characters). Full biographical information on all of the candidates can be found on the sample ballot.
Today we have an interview with Lisa Goldstein.
Name and current position: Lisa Goldstein, Division Chief, Central Youth Wing, Brooklyn Public Library.
Why did you decide to run for a YALSA selection committee?
Selection committee work makes me better at everything professionally, including readers advisory, collection development, networking, and time management. Personally, it might be another story!
In a nutshell, what will you bring to the committee?
Experience working on selection committees and on a virtual committee, having just finished Chairing PPYA in its first virtual incarnation. I also have a sense of humor and a sense of the big picture.
What experience do you have with materials selection and evaluation?
I currently order new and replacement materials for the children’s and teen collection of Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library. I’ve also created countless booklists and pathfinders for kids and teens.
What makes you a good fit for this committee in particular?
I’ve worked in YA services for 10 years, and have worked on YALSA selection committees since ’09. My experience and knowledge should serve me well on a committee that requires a broad view of YA lit.
How do you plan to manage the reading load required by selection committee participation?
I try to approach mass reading the way I approach dishwashing – clean each dish as you need to, and there won’t be a mess. I do my best to read nominations as they come in. I’m also a fast reader.
What have been some of your favorite past winners of this particular award?
Francesca Lia Block and Ursula Le Guin.
What books should have won the award, but didn’t?
I’ll just list a few great young adult authors who have not won the Margaret A. Edwards Award: Daniel Pinkwater, M.T. Anderson, Jane Yolen and Angela Johnson.
What else do voters need to know about you?
I play drums, as of this year have been vegetarian for half of my life, and wrote my own young adult novel one November for National Novel Writing Month.
This interview was cross-posted on The Hub and The YALSAblog.
