In April the YALSA Board adopted a new and ambitious organizational plan with three goal areas:
Leading the transformation of teen library services
Advocacy to policy makers at all levels to increase support for teen library services
Funder and partner development
In the past, YALSA has relied on members volunteering to work on committees for one or two years to accomplish our goals. Every quarter, committee chairs are are required to submit a chair report to inform YALSA about the work they have accomplished and what they are working toward on the horizon. The Board is excited that as we have moved the new plan forward, we have started to change the way members can work with YALSA, developing new volunteering opportunities that include more short-term projects. With a new organizational plan, and a new way of working, it has become clear that we also need a new way to measure the impact of YALSA volunteers.
At Midwinter, the Board will explore what outcomes of volunteer work are the most important to measure, and what methods are needed to best measure our performance.
- What are our biggest needs and priorities around outcomes measurement that should be tackled first?
- What measurements would best help the Board monitor and assess our progress toward fulfilling the goals of the Organizational Plan?
- How can we best monitor the progress of and measure the impact of different groups, including:
- The Board
- Appointed groups (committees, juries, advisory boards and taskforces)
- How can the Quarterly Reporting Form be leveraged to monitor progress? Should there be an annual report from a chair at the end of the committee term to identify outcomes and accomplishments of the committee over the past year? (as suggested by committee chairs at the November Strategic Committee Chair Chat)
- Bloggers and the content experts on the Hub
- New volunteer activities, especially those that are short-term and opt-in
- The members’ front line activities that directly support YALSA’s work, such as participation in District Days, National Library Legislative Day, Teen Tech Week, etc.?
- What sort of trend analysis related to volunteer work and impact, if any, is needed? What pieces of data? And how often?
If you have any ideas or thoughts about the questions above, please leave them in the comments! Or send them directly to me.
If you are wondering what the board is up to at Midwinter, you can see the schedule of board meetings and agenda. If you are attending ALA Midwinter and you see a board member (look for our YALSA Board Member ribbons) please come up and say hello! We would love to hear from you!
Kate McNair is a YALSA Board Member. Come see her at the YALSA booth #709 on Saturday, January 21 9-10:30am.
