Happy New Year to all! It’s hard to believe that we are gearing up for the board meetings in Atlanta during Midwinter! Read on to find out what the board has been up to.
Accomplishments
- The Board approved the Funder and Partner Development Standing Board Committee’s proposal about Planned Giving
- Led the December monthly chat with the YALSA Board about helping our members see the vision of the new organizational plan
- Filled vacancies on various strategic committees as they occurred
- Participated in many phone calls and email conversations with YALSA staff, board members, and committee members
- Initiated a member vote to choose a new YALSA logo (see today’s YALSA enews email)
- Led a discussion with the board about Board Fellow applications–announcement coming soon!
- Participated in a phone call with the 2018 Governance Nominating Chair, Sarah Sogigian.
- Planned a Chairs Chat on December 6, but Beth Yoke had to fill in and lead it due to my absence
Works in Progress
- Working on agenda and documents for board meetings at ALA Midwinter in Atlanta
- Recommended plan from the Selection List Transition Task Force is now in the hands of the Leading the Transformation of Teen Services Standing Board Committee. Look for a board document coming soon!
- Working with YALSA President-Elect Sandra Hughes-Hassell to select division representatives to serve on the ALA Executive Director search team
Stats and Data
- November member stats: 4,926 (down 4.9% from this time last year)
- November fundraising: $7,831 (donations include $3,000 raised on Giving Tuesday & $1,600 raised from the YALSA store at the symposium)
Don’t forget!
- The members’ webinar for January 26, 2017 is: Let’s Keep it Real: Library Staff Helping Teens Examine Issues of Race, Social Justice, and Equity
- Stay current with YALSA–check out the Current Projects page
- In January 2017 The Hub will be expanding with the addition of a Teen Book Finder database that will include all of YALSA’s book and media award winners and selected lists in a fully searchable format. Content on the Hub will continue to expand to include YA materials of all formats and genres. These screen shots of a preliminary mock-up the database can give you an idea of what the new resource will be like. These are just early drafts and not the final look or configuration.
- From now through Feb. 1st, YALSA is collecting volunteer forms from members who would like to serve on a 1 year strategic committee or 6 month taskforce.
THANK YOU to all our members for all that you do to support teens and teen library services in your communities!
I’m looking forward to seeing some of you in Atlanta later this month!
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Hill, YALSA President 2016-2017