Teen Read Week – Made of Awesome Contest

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Hello YALSA, it’s Thursday!

We’re getting closer to Teen Read Week 2012, and after the fantastic’ tweetup‘ yesterday,’ I thought I’d start celebrating early!
Are you ready for a contest that is made of awesome?

I had the honor’ of meeting our’ Teen Read Week spokesperson, John Green at the’ National Book Festival‘ in Washington, D.C. last month. He was kind enough to sign a couple of’ John Green – Reading is Awesome Posters‘ for me (in green sharpie, for those of you who are interested in that kind of information).

The awesome part: I am going to pass these on to two lucky Teen Read Week 2012 participants.

Here’s how you can enter to win:

Follow’ this link‘ to the Teen Read Week Ning. If you haven’t registered ‘ and signed up for the Ning yet- it’s not too late! Once you’ signup’ and login, look for the’ Teen Read Week – Made of Awesome Contest‘ and just comment on the post!

  • Tell me why you think Teen Read Week is awesome (one entry)
  • Double entries if your comment has a TRW related picture attached to it.
  • Triple entries if your comment has a TRW related youtube video attached to it.

Feel free to comment on the Ning post as much as you like, but’ only your first comment will count towards the drawing‘ (so make it count). If you have more questions about this contest please comment on my post here.’ ‘ I will pick the lucky winners during Teen Read Week, at noon on October 18th. Good luck everyone!

Best wishes,

Sarah Russo,‘ Howard County Library System, Teen Read Week 2012 Committee

September Eureka Moments

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Even if you don’t work in a school media center, I’m guessing your life still tends to run on an academic schedule when you work with teens. So welcome to the new school year! Here’s what I think might be interesting, useful, or intriguing to you and your patrons this month.

  • If your teens are interested in what’s new in the going green movement, have them look more globally to see what’s going on. In coastal Ecuador, young people from farming families are heading up efforts to save, cultivate, and redistribute heirloom seeds to revitalize the environment and help farmers prosper. Part of an organization called FOCCAHL, 20-year-old Cesar Guale Vasquez travels throughout nearby areas collecting seeds from farmers and also hosts swapping events so that farmers can trade seeds with each other in order to have more vibrant and diverse crops. Now take that for inspiration and add to it your own library’s resources on climate change, farming, and nutrition and plan an interesting program that combines science with activism and see what your advisory board wants to do with it. Many libraries now are creating their own seed libraries, and whether they’re for wildflowers or corn, they can be a great way to bring communities together, get young people to work with older people, and freshen up your local environment while doing your small part to keep the world cleaner and greener.
    Matthews, J. (2012). Ecuador’s seed savior. World Ark, May 2012: 10-15. Read More →

YALSA Seeks Member Manager for YALSAblog

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The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is seeking a Member Manager for its YALSAblog. The deadline for applications is Nov. 1, 2012. The Member Manager will be responsible for the content and look of the blog, and will work closely with the YALSAblog Advisory Board to recruit and oversee member and guest bloggers. The mission of the YALSAblog is to provide a virtual space for publishing information about time sensitive issues as well as a forum for members and the library community to explore matters relating to serving teens through libraries.

The Member Manager will be selected by the YALSA Executive Committee by Dec. 1, 2012. The term of the appointment is one year beginning January 1, 2013, with the option to renew for a second year based on satisfactory performance. The Member Manager will receive an honorarium of $500 per year plus $500 towards travel to each Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting while serving as Member Manager. Candidates should send a cover letter and resume, which includes project management, editing and web publishing experiences to: YALSA at yalsa@ala.org. All resumes, etc. must be submitted via email. For further information contact Beth Yoke by email or phone: 1-800-545-2433, x 4391. The deadline for submission is Nov. 1, 2012.’  Please note that this is not a salaried staff position. It is a member volunteer opportunity.

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30 Days of Innovation #30: Start Vlogging

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You know how, no matter how many hundred channels you have, there is nothing on TV? More and more, people are turning to webseries and vlogs for fresher kinds of humor and entertainment. So why not start a vlog series for your library website, or get a bunch of teens together to write a script for an original series? You could also take advantage of the short format of these videos and host a “festival” of screenings of the best series and vlogs out there. Now that so many computers come fully equipped with a basic webcam and editing software, this is an inexpensive way to get creative and to learn more about technology.

Here are some great vlogs and webisodes that should provide you with inspiration as they entertain you.

  • The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: This relatively new series transfers Jane Austen’s novel to the life of a grad student recording her angst. It’s funny and a great way to make classic literature applicable to our current times. If your patrons are having trouble getting ready for their AP English exam, use this to take off the stress. Read More →

Write for the YALSA Blog!

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Do you have a passion for teen services? Would you like to provide up-to-the-minute coverage of YALSA programs and events? Can you see yourself scouring the web for the best apps, games and websites for teens? The YALSA Blog wants YOU!

We’re looking to expand our ranks of regular bloggers. We need dedicated, talented writers with strong communication skills and a willingness to collaborate. You must be a current YALSA member who can commit to posting at least once a month, on topics of your choosing as well as on rotating themes and month-long projects. Podcast and video skills are a big plus.

Being a YALSA blogger helps your fellow librarians, by providing timely, cutting edge content on teen services and youth library resources, but it can also help you. Many of us who write for the blog have gone on to manage or edit YALSA publications, chair committees and task forces, and even serve as YALSA President. I started posting when I was still in grad school, and my work with the blog (both as an author and as a manager) has led to presenting at national conferences and writing a book for YALSA and Neal-Schuman.

For more information on blogging for YALSA, read the blogger guidelines and contact YB manager mk Eagle at eagle.mk@gmail.com.

30 Days of How-To

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The votes are in, and our winner is clear–September will be filled with 30 Days of How-To! The winning theme was submitted by Kate C.. Kate, you’ll be getting an email shortly about your prize.

This means that next month the blog will be featuring a wide variety of posts with tips on how to accomplish all kinds of teen library stuff, from programming to crafts and everything in between.

Thanks to Kate for a great theme, and thanks to the rest of you who submitted a theme and voted in our poll.

Vote for the 30 Days Theme!

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Voting is now open for the theme of our next month-long project! The winning theme will be our theme for 30 days in September, and the commenter who originally suggested that theme will also win some fun YALSA prizes.

(Note: because the poll is opening later than I’d originally promised, the poll will be open until Saturday, August 20th at 9 PM EST. Vote away!)

[poll id=”2″]

30 Days of…

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If you want to name the theme of our next month-long project, you have to act now! Nominations will close at 9 PM EST on Wednesday, August 10th.

You could name the theme of the next month-long YALSA Blog project! In September the blog will dedicate a post a day to a single topic. Unlike our previous month-long projects, where the themes have been determined in advance, this time you could decide our theme.

Any reader can suggest a theme by commenting on this post. On August 10th I’ll compile those suggestions into a poll, and readers will have one week to vote for the theme they like the most. The winning theme will be the topic for our 30 Days project in September. (The winner will also receive some other nifty prizes, so make sure you use a real email address when you comment!)

Previous topics have included Advocacy and Back to School, so suggestions that are too familiar may not receive as many votes. Be creative!

Keeping Current while Job Searching

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Many readers of YALSA’s blog, like me, are new librarians. I hope not as many, also like me, are unemployed, but I fear that the number of unemployed new librarians is higher than anyone would like it to be. Since my graduation in December of 2010, I have been searching for a job. The job search experience has been eye-opening and completely different from what I expected. I expected I would graduate, write and re-write my resume, apply for 20-30 jobs, and in less than six months I would proudly be telling my family about my new position as a librarian. It’s okay, I will wait for you to finish laughing. Instead, I graduated and several resume drafts, many job applications, and six months later I am still unemployed. Fortunately, unemployment does not have to mean stagnation. Here are some of the things I have been doing to keep current within the profession:
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The Hub: YALSA’s Teen Reads Blog

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I’m very excited to announce the launch of YALSA’s newest blog, The Hub. ‘ If you like to read teen books, talk about teen books, listen to things about teen books, this blog is for you. ‘ Sure, there are thousands of blogs out there chronicling what people read in teen literature (heck, I do one myself!), but this new blog is a bit different. ‘ We’ll include book reviews by member bloggers, but we’ll also be directing you all over the web to interesting, funny, relevant sites, posts, videos, podcasts and more. ‘ We hope you’ll visit The Hub daily for a peek into what the online world is saying about YA books. ‘  We’ll also be writing about YALSA’s awards and selected lists (2011 awards announced this coming Monday, January 10!).

Please stop by and see what we’re all about!

Sarah Debraski
Member Manager, The Hub
http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/