Ever wanted to get to know the YALSA Board of Directors more? Here’s your chance! All month long, we’ll be posting fun mini-interviews with each board member so you can get to know them a little better.
Name: Colleen Seisser
Title & Library: Assistant Director, Westmont Public Library
Role on the Board: President-Elect
Year on the Board: 1st year
1. What does YALSA mean to me?
CS: I was a teen librarian for almost ten years and YALSA was a resource rich organization I could turn to when I needed help with things like collection development, programming, and reviewing standards and best practices for teen services in libraries. Now it is an organization that I want to give back to because it had such a huge impact during those years. I also really have found that volunteering for YALSA has allowed me close friendships that span the US, and I am so thankful for those.
2. What are your hopes for the future of teen services?
CS: I hope that the future of teen services continues to see library staff and services turn towards equity, diversity, and inclusion. We continue to embrace values that protect teens’ freedom to read and equitable access to information. I hope that today’s teen services in libraries can be just one of the pillars in a teen’s life that empowers the teens of today to become the leaders of future generations that embrace the values of equity.
3. What is your favorite YALSA Committee or Committee that you would love to be on again?
CS: I really loved being a blogger for the Hub Blog. I was a blogger before we had moved the Selected Lists to the Hub Blog and when I was blogging, I decided my goal or focus was going to be on creating mini-genre guide posts. They were so much fun to create and really helped me polish my reader’s advisory skills and forced me to keep reading outside my comfort zone. I know our new Hub Manager, Rachel Milburn, wants to start incorporating more posts on the Hub in addition to the Selected lists posts, and I am so looking forward to what she and her Hub Advisory Board will be able to accomplish this year (you can volunteer now for the Hub Advisory Board too–we still have spaces to fill, click here to apply via our Volunteer form)
4. What’s your ultimate comfort food?
CS: Garlic-stuffed olives
5. What TV show or Movie do you watch on repeat? Or a book that you love reading when you’re in between new books?
CS: Parks and Recreation
6. What would you do or where would you go if you won the lotto?
CS: Move somewhere in the woods by a lake and then travel the world
Want to run for YALSA Board? We’re looking for candidates for the 2024 ALA Election. If you will be at ALA Annual Conference in Chicago this summer, join us at YALSA 301 to learn more about YALSA Governance. Want to find out the duties and responsibilities of the YALSA President-Elect? Find them in the YALSA Handbook here. If you’ve been thinking about running, why not fill out the nomination form today? Just click here.
