Updated by the YALSA Board of Directors, March 2011.
Blogger Guidelines
The following outlines the practices YALSA bloggers must follow when agreeing to participate in the association as a blogger.
Bloggers should:
- Commit to writing at least one original blog posting once a month.
- Regularly read the postings and comments on the blog in order to help guarantee that posts are fresh and do not repeat one another.
- Follow common standards of English spelling and grammar unless it is important to the post to stray from those standards.
- Follow best practices as they relate to confidentiality of information. For example, information about YALSA books, articles, reports, awards, etc. that are not yet available for public consumption must not be posted to the blog.
- Focus on news, trends, and information of current interest to library workers who serve teens.
- Write about topics that are of interest to a group of readers and which do not exist in order to promote personal projects or a personal agenda.
- Know and comply with YALSA’s blog policy.
- Communicate with the Blog’s Member Manager as necessary or requested. Inform the blog’s Member Manager if you are no longer able to participate as a Division blogger.
- The only person who can speak on behalf of an official YALSA member group, such as a committee, is the Chair. If you are blogging about something committee related and are not the Chair (but have been assigned blogging responsibilities by the Chair), please be sure to share your content with your Committee Chair and get his or her approval before posting it on YALSA’s blog.
- Please be aware of issues relating to the integrity of the association. Posting your personal top ten best YA books of the year on the YALSA blog could undermine YALSA’s BFYA Top Ten list and the work of that committee. These types of postings are appropriate for personal blogs, but not YALSA’s blog.
- Those who agree to be a YALSA blogger should consider their blogging term to last no longer than 2 years. In order to keep the blog and the voice of the Division fresh, new bloggers will be added on a regular basis and those who have blogged for the Division for a 2-year period of time will be replaced by new writers. (Please note: Term limits may be waived based on the needs of the blog and at the discretion of the Blog Manager and YALSA staff.)
Blog Manager Guidelines
It is the overall responsibility of the Blog Manager to set the scope and tone of the blog both textually and visually. To accomplish this, the Blog Manager is expected to:
- Identify timely topics and recruit and schedule bloggers to create posts relating to those topics.
- Maintain a high standard of quality on the blog through editorial controls.
- Comply with all aspects of YALSA’s Blog Policy and ensure that bloggers do the same.
- Manage the work of official YALSA bloggers and communicate with them regularly through email or other means (at least monthly).
- Work with YALSA’s Web Services Manager to determine association news to be included on the blog.
- Work with YALSA’s Web Services Manager as needed to prevent and/or resolve any technical problems.
- Communicate with the editors of YALS, YALSA e-News, The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, YALSA Podcast, the other blog’s Member Manager and the chair of the Web Advisory Committee and collaborate when appropriate.
- Communicate and/or collaborate with YALSA member groups to gather content for the blog.
- Prepare an annual report for YALSA’s Board of Directors, to be turned in before ALA’s Midwinter Meeting.
- Answer questions and inquiries about the blog in a timely manner.
- Perform other relevant duties as needed.