Earlier today the Senate voted to pass a new federal education bill, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This bill was approved last week by the House. ESSA is important for our nation’s youth because it includes key wording acknowledging the important role school libraries play in helping students succeed and prepare for 21st century careers. Please take a moment to thank your members of Congress who voted in favor of ESSA, and encourage others to do so as well. YALSA has ready-to-use messages for Tweets, emails and letters to the editor on the wiki, as well as links to the voting record for members of Congress. Thank you for standing up for youth and school libraries!
It’s time to volunteer for YALSA committees again! During the Spring, we’ll be appointing YALSA members to serve on virtual strategic committees. We are currently looking for members to serve on the following:
To find out more about the committees, juries, and advisory task forces, click on this link. To learn more about the responsibilities of committee members, check out the Committee FAQ and visit YALSA’s Handbook. If you decide that you have the necessary time to devote to an appointed group and want to use your skills to give back to the organization, consider filling out a volunteer form.
The online volunteer form opens today! The work of most of these strategic groups is done virtually–no conference attendance required! The deadline for strategic committee applications is March 1, 2016, and I will be making those appointments in the spring.
If you have any questions, please contact me at gsarahthelibrarian @ gmail.com.
Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed a new federal education bill, the Every Student Succeeds Act. This is good news for youth and libraries, but the process isn’t over yet. The next step is for the Senate to discuss it and vote on it on Wed. Dec. 9th. We need library staff, advocates, EVERYBODY to contact their Senators by Wed. morning and ask them to vote yes on this bill.
How you can help
- Call, email or Tweet your Senators to let them know how essential this bill is to our children’s education and futures. To find out who your rep is & what their contact information is, visit this ALA page & type in your zip code in the box on the right side of the page
- Contact absolutely everyone you know, ask them to do the same thing and share the above link and these sample messages with them:
The final language of the federal education bill (the Every Student Succeeds Act) was released today and school libraries are included in many important ways. But, since the bill is not final until it’s voted on, it’s imperative that library staff and advocates contact their Representative in the House before the House vote happens, most likely on Wed., Dec. 2nd.
How you can help
- Call, email or Tweet your Representative to let them know how essential this bill is to our children’s education and futures. To find out who your rep is & what their contact information is, visit this ALA page & type in your zip code in the box on the right side of the page
- Contact absolutely everyone you know, ask them to do the same thing and share the above link and these sample messages with them:
Congress is poised to act definitively on the federal education bill, ESEA, very soon. This is the first new education bill in 14 years! The last time Congress passed an education bill, school libraries were left out. This resulted in widespread cuts for school libraries, and nearly an entire generation of our youth have suffered from a lack of access to experts and materials they need to succeed in the 21st century workforce. So, at this moment, we are at a very critical juncture, and it’s up to all of us to speak up for youth now!
Congress’s goal is to have a draft bill by Nov. 30th, but it could be out as early as next week. Once the bill is out, Congress will move very quickly, and will most likely vote on a final bill by mid-December. There are two steps that will happen in the next couple of weeks: first the House votes on the bill, and then the Senate. These next few weeks are a window of opportunity for us and our advocates to help youth through support of school libraries.
Happy Veterans’ Day and Native American Heritage Month!
I’ve just returned from YALSA’s inaugural YA Services Symposium and Fall Executive Committee Meeting and I am so pumped and inspired by the incredible work that all of our members are doing!
I’m looking forward to expanding on my experiences at both events in some other blog posts, but in the meantime, here is what I’ve been working on since September 2015:
Accomplishments
- Called for YALSA Board to vote on location for YALSA’s 2017 YA Services Symposium
- The 2017 YA Services Symposium will be held in Louisville, KY
- Called for YALSA Board to vote on Rachel McDonald’s Board Member-at-Large vacancy
- Due to the time frame of her term, the Board voted to leave the position vacant until the upcoming ALA/YALSA elections in Spring 2016
- Completed and submitted welcome for 2015 YA Services Symposium program
- Completed and submitted President’s column for Winter 2016 issue of YALS
- Worked with YALSA Executive Board Members Linda Braun, Sarah Hill and Todd Krueger to facilitate October 2015 Board Development Chat
- Discussed and debriefed with YALSA Standing Board Committees regarding YALSA Quarterly Chair reports during October 2015 Board Development Chat
- Submitted and posted September 2015 President’s Report
- Worked with YALSA President-Elect Sarah Hill to determine YALSA Board Development Chat topic for November 2015
- Completed planning, agenda and documents for YALSA’s 2015 Fall Executive Committee Meeting
- Discussed Libraries Transforming Communities campaign with ALA President Sari Feldman, who will be interviewed for the YALSAblog
- Found coordinator for Summer Learning pre-conference at ALA Midwinter
Works in Progress
- Preparing for YALSA Strategic Planning at ALA Midwinter
- Seeking out partnerships with ALA ethnic caucuses, ALA GLBT Round Table, ASCLA, and more
- Working with colleagues at Wattpad, National Writing Project, Connected Learning Alliance, and DeviantArt on possible design challenge partnership in conjunction with Teen Tech Week 2016’s theme: Create It @ Your Library
Important YALSA Dates & Reminders
- November 15 – Quarterly Chair Reports Due
- November 30 – YALSA Town Hall Tweet-up: YALSA Strategic Planning & Midwinter Preview, 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, use hashtag #yalsachat
- December 1 – Award & Grant Applications for Members due, including YALSA Conference Grants, Baker & Taylor/YALSA Collection Development Grant, Service to Young Adults Outstanding Achievement Award, among others.
- December 1 – Applications due for YALSA Board Fellow Program
- December 1 – Strategic Committee Volunteer Form Opens; More information about YALSA’s Strategic Committees may be found here
Relevant Stats & Data
- Friends of YALSA raised $1,025 in September 2015
- Membership: 5,110 (-1.4% over this time last year)
Last, but certainly not least –
THANK YOU
- Amanda F. Barnhart, Caroline E. Aversano, Kristyn Dorfman, Aimee Haslam, Samantha Millsap, Gretchen Smither, and Melissa Patrice West for all for their hard work on this year’s Teen Read Week Committee
- YALSA Board Members, especially the members of YALSA’s Executive Committee, for great discussion and support of our members, committees and association
- All of our members for all that you do to support teens and teen library services in your communities, every day!
Until next time!
Respectfully submitted,
A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered by the Oct. 1 deadline to serve on YALSA selection, award, and strategic committees and task forces! I’m still busy reading through hundreds of committee volunteer forms and hope to have the process finalized by the end of the month.
In the meantime, don’t forget that as YALSA members, you’re also a member of ALA! And that means that you can apply to be on an ALA or Council committee. Serving on an ALA or Council committee provides members with leadership training, networking opportunities and experience in working on specific association topics. Additionally, your service on ALA committees strengthens YALSA by ensuring that the Division is well-represented throughout the organization.
Express your interest in ALA committee service by filling out a volunteer form. When you click “submit” at the end, your completed form will be sent to ALA President-Elect Julie Todaro for consideration by either the Committee on Appointments (for ALA and Joint Committees) or the Committee on Committees (for Council Committees). The committees will carefully review your completed form and consider your requests and preferences. This form closes on Friday, November 6, 2015, and appointments are made throughout the spring of 2016, with terms starting July 1, 2016. To volunteer, please complete and submit the form electronically (be sure to select ALA in the drop-down menu on the main form to volunteer for both ALA and Council committees). Read More →
A short list of tweets from the past week of interest to teens and the library staff that work with them.
Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between October 9 and October 15 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the Week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
Read More →
Want to offer more hands-on learning opportunities for and with the teens in your community? 3D Systems Corp., in partnership with YALSA, is giving away up to 250 3D printers to members of YALSA. Learn more and apply online by Oct. 30th. Are you not a YALSA/ALA member yet? Membership starts at $60 per year. Contact Letitia Smith at lsmith at ala dot org, or 312.280.4390, to get the best rate and to learn about paying in installments. And don’t forget to check out all of the great maker and connected learning resources on YALSA’s wiki!
A short list of tweets from the past week of interest to teens and the library staff that work with them.
Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between September 25 and October 1 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the Week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
Read More →