Author Archives: Yalsa Board

Hi everyone!

We are in need of members to volunteer for the Book Award and Selected List Oversight committees. Traditionally we have appointed one oversight committee for all of our book awards and selected lists, but in 2020 the YALSA Board approved the creation of a Selected List Oversight committees. We need members for both a book award and a selected list oversight committee to be separate from the Book Award Oversight committee. However, with our current volunteer shortage, we are aware that we may need to return to one committee to serve both types of committees. If that is the case for this year, I promise to work with the YALSA Board to make sure we do so.

Here’s a little bit about the committees:

Selection List Oversight Committee

The Selection Lists Oversight Committee stems from the responsibilities of the manager of The HUB having to maintain that site along with being the sole liaison to the chairs and members of the four YALSA Selection Lists (Best Fiction, Amazing Audiobooks, Great Graphic Novels, and Quick Picks). This committee assists the The Hub Manager and allows the selection lists to be stronger and will allow for responses to the needs of selection list members in a timely manner.

Charge:
To ensure efficient functioning of YALSA’s selection list committees. To help interpret existing policy for committee operations based on a thorough knowledge of YALSA policy, committee operation, background, and experience. To collect, analyze and respond to quarterly chair reports. To summarize, analyze and evaluate periodically for the YALSA Board the progress and concerns of the selection list committees. To facilitate communication among selection list committees and to identify common areas of concern and identify solutions. To coordinate training and orientation for in-coming committee members. To note particular abilities of committee members in the work of the organization and to share this information with the Board and nominating committees.

5-7 members, including a chair

One year term with members have the opportunity of renewing for one second term.

Book Award Oversight Committee

Charge

To ensure efficient functioning of YALSA’s award committees. To advise committee chairs on recommended procedures for committee operations based on a thorough knowledge of YALSA policy, committee operation, background, and experience. To collect, analyze and respond to quarterly chair reports.  To summarize, analyze and evaluate periodically for the YALSA Board the progress and concerns of the award committees. To facilitate communication among award committees and to identify common areas of concern and identify solutions. To coordinate training and orientation for in-coming committee members.  To note particular abilities of committee members in the work of the organization and to share this information with the Board and nominating committees.

5 – 7  virtual members

One year term with members have the opportunity of renewing for one second term.

If you think either of these opportunities is a good fit for you, please access our Volunteer Form (https://www.ala.org/CFApps/volunteer/form.cfm) and complete it. Please make sure to indicate on the form that you are interested in the Book Award or the Selected List oversight committee, or you can also select both! I will be appointing members as I am able to review applications, and hope to have the committees appointed by the end of February. When you do apply, your application review will be expedited if you email me, President-Elect Colleen Seisser, directly.

If you have any issues accessing the volunteer form, please try to clear your cookies first and then try another web browser. If that does not work, please contact a YALSA Staff person.

Respectively submitted by

Colleen Seisser

YALSA President-Elect

As President-Elect of YALSA, it is my role to make this year’s YALSA volunteer appointments. As I mentioned in my last post about volunteers, we have been experiencing volunteer shortages recently. I am happy to report that I have worked with YALSA Staff, Letitia Smith, to fill all of our selected list and book award committees this month of December. We have reached out to a majority of members at this point and are working to get the final appointments accepted. We also have a good list of alternates in case there is a conflict and one of our appointed members cannot accept the position. For those of you that have applied, if you don’t hear from YALSA in the coming weeks, please do apply next fall when our next round of appointments for book and selected lists open up (usually September).

A note: the Pura Belpré YALSA committee members have yet to be finalized, as it is a joint committee it is taking a little more time that we had expected.

For those of you that have been appointed we do plan to have some training for you all mid-January. I will be working with our book award and selection list oversight committee chairs to coordinate this training and I will also make sure we get some chair training scheduled in January as well. We plan to have the training recorded for easy access by members at any time.

Some good first steps for those of you who have accepted an appointment is to get familiar with your committee’s manual or policies/procedures. You can access selected lists pages that list the manuals/polices from this site: https://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklists and you can access the book award lists pages from this site: https://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards. All you need to do is click on the link with your committee name to find the list of resources. Once we get rosters finalized in the coming weeks, you will hear from your committee chair for next steps.

I also want to take the opportunity to address how the YALSA Board is working to address some of the challenges we are facing from a shortage of volunteers. Here’s what we have accomplished so far:

1. The only member award jury that has convened this year is the Joann Sweetland Lum Memorial Grant jury. All other juried awards have been compiled into a blind review for our YALSA Board members. They will be reviewing applications and selecting winners by the end of January. Just like volunteer positions, our member awards also did not receive as many applications as in the past. Please make sure you apply next fall for one of our member awards! If not you might be missing out on a great opportunity to provide more resources to yourself and/or your library.
2. The following committees are on hiatus until July 1 due to lack of committee members: Organization and Bylaws, Division Membership and Promotion
3. We are currently looking to create a conference committee that would work across all conferences (LibLearnX, Annual, YALSA Symposium) for planning and coordination of events, among other duties. This doesn’t mean that the Local Arrangements and Symposium Task Forces will go away, just the way they operate will be different. We still need the volunteers on the ground at the conferences but how each of those teams are coordinated might look different. More details will come as the committee is formed
4. Our Teen Programming HQ task force was also never convened. This task force was to take a look at the Teen Programming HQ Site (a site that will have to be moved to an ALA domain) and how to improve functionality and also how to create content, as in years past it was the former Teen Programming HQ manager that would crowdsource and create a majority of the content for the site. We hope to try again at convening the task force for next year, and in the meantime the Board will plan to also take a look at the Teen Programming HQ site as it connects with our strategic plan, and what might be able to be done at the Board level to keep the site moving forward.
5. We are also looking at some of our strategic committees alongside our current strategic plan, and have a long range goal of combining any strategic committees that are doing similar work and/or ceasing and strategic committees that do not align with our current goals

These strategies are only in effect for this year (until July 1, 2023), and will be re-evaluated by each new President-Elect to determine, with the Board of Directors, if these strategies should continue, return to their previous iteration, or if there are new strategies that can be used.

Please be on the lookout here at the YALSA Blog and in our YALSA Connect spaces for more updates about all things volunteering! In the new year we already are planning to look for members to volunteer for the next Outstanding Books for the College Bound Selection committee, as well as new member managers for our HUB and YALSA Blogs. More information to come on those opportunities in January.

Respectfully submitted by Colleen Seisser, YALSA President-Elect

UPDATE 12/8/2022

Well dang, YALSA members you really stepped up! After I put out the call for volunteers two days ago, I got an influx of interest from members. I was able to get the volunteers needed for the Book Award and Selected List committees with plenty of alternates, but if you would still like to apply I will save your name as an alternate in case something doesn’t work out with one of the appointees.

If you do decide to apply and don’t hear from us by the end of December (when I anticipate all the book awards and selected list appointments to be finalized), please do apply again next Fall when we will appoint the next round of book and selected list committees.

A few things from reading all of your wonderful emails–you all are so talented!:

• For Book Awards you have to apply each year, because the form changes each year and the President-Elect cannot see the previous year’s applications
• Book and Selected list awards applications open up in September
• Strategic Committees open up in January
• For Book Awards and Selected lists, YALSA has a conflict of interest policy that is helpful to review when you are considering to apply
• For everyone that is appointed, you should hear from Letitia Smith first who will send you a form that you need to complete to accept the appointment. There will be some limbo time as Letitia works to compile the rosters
• Once the rosters are compiled and sent out, your Chair will be in touch as will I to share training information

We still need to fill out our 2023 Election Slate, so if you have ever been interested in governance work please reach out to YALSA Past-President Kelly Czarnecki via email.

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As President-Elect of YALSA, it is my role to make this year’s appointments. As I transitioned into my President-Elect role this summer, I observed what my fellow Board members were already noticing and sharing: we are experiencing a volunteer shortage.

At this time, I have completed the first round of our Book Award and Selected Lists appointments. Selected Lists volunteers have been contacted last week (11/28), and Book Award volunteers will be contacted next week (12/12). However, we still need the following positions filled as I have appointed everyone who has applied this year and we have no alternates:

• Odyssey committee: 1 member
• Amazing Audiobooks: 2 members
• Morris Award: 2 members

If you are interested in any of these positions, please fill out our volunteer form and also please email me (President-elect, Colleen Seisser) with your interest as that will expedite the review of your application and ensure I have eyes on it. You must be a current YALSA member and you must not already have three ALA volunteer commitments.

Additionally, we are also looking for members for the Pura Belpré committee. For this committee you must be a current YALSA member, you must not already have three ALA volunteer commitments, and Committee members should possess a self-declared fluent reading knowledge of Spanish. If you are interested in serving on the Pura Belpré committee please email YALSA President Franklin Escobedo and President-Elect Colleen Seisser.

• Pura Belpré: 2 members

Finally, we do not have enough volunteers to complete our 2023 Election Slate. If you are interested in serving as YALSA President-Elect, Fiscal Officer, or a Board Director at Large, please email YALSA Past-President Kelly Czarnecki immediately. We are past due on our slate and only have two volunteers so far. Without a complete slate, we will not be able to govern effectively next year.

I hope to have more information to you in the coming weeks about short term strategies we are beginning to employ to deal with our current volunteer shortage.

Respectfully submitted by Colleen Seisser, YALSA President-Elect