Posted by Linda W. Braun

In my post on the Institute I said I would upload the PowerPoint files from the presenters. I have some of them, and will post the rest when they arrive in my email box.

Frances Jacobson Harris – ethics
Robin Brenner – graphic novels
Beth Gallaway – gaming

At the end of their presentation, Robin Brenner and Beth Gallaway asked participants to come up with a new program based on what they heard during the day. The program ideas included:

  • Skokie pod people (a library podcast)
  • Forget the books srp (counting audio, podcasting, blogging, etc for
    “reading” credit)
  • podcasting
  • br;semtp[aom[paomb (just talked – didn’t formulate an idea)
  • 24 hours of gaming (marathon gaming session)
  • big screen game night
  • circulating games (collection development)
  • game tournament
  • share a media wiki (teens use wiki to make recommendations for
    purchase or to recommend podcasts, blogs, etc.

  • xbox and beyond – (teens sign a contract to waive liability and bring
    in games, consoles)
  • imix soundtrack to a book (using iTunes, create a playlist to set tone
    of a book)

To read more about the day and to get to the link to my presentation you can read the first post.

Posted by Linda W. Braun

This morning bright and early YALSA committee chairs and board members met at leadership development. This meeting happens at each conference and gives chairs and Board the chance to talk about what’s up and what’s new. Two things were different this time around. First, there was breakfast (with giveaways) sponsored by Listening Library – thanks to YALSA staff for organizing that. And, the meeting included time for small groups to talk about how to manage difficult committee situations.

The small groups happened at the end of the meeting and it was great for two reasons. First, because it meant that we got to talk and not be talked at for the full meeting. And, we got to talk about something that was useful – how to better manage committees. Time ran short so we didn’t really get lots of opportunity to reflect on the discussions but Pam is going to collate the info. and send it out on the committee chair list and I’ll post it on the blog.

Actually, as I think about it the meeting was different in another way too. The agenda included lots of people talking about specific things. But, no person talked for more than 3 minutes I would say. That was great. Each person said what they needed to say and then we moved out. There wasn’t anything that needed lots of discussion but we still got to find out about lots of stuff.

Amy Alessio, YALSA’s fiscal officer, discussed how important it is for YALSA to be aware of our finances. Since YALSA is just striking out on its own as a non-subsidized division of ALA we have to be sure to spend money very wisely. Two things to remember within this context. First, Amy says she’s going to be always asking – do we have the money for that? And second, YALSA can only keep up with the needs of its members if the dues increase which will be on the ballot this spring is approved.

The dues increase is important so that we can continue to provide great programs and conferences, regional institutes, publications, staff, and lots more. It’s a small increase we are going to be asked to approve – $10 – but that money will go quite a long way.

Another topic addressed during the meeting was YALSA publications. I thought it was great that this conversation didn’t focus just on writing books but also on other types of publications YALSA can and does produce – this blog, booklists, journal articles, web content, and more. YALSA publications is interested in working with people on their ideas and will try to help match the idea with the best publications format. So, anyone with ideas should contact the publications committee.

YALSA Executive Director, Beth Yoke, told us about ALA’s Online Communities which is a place that committees will be able to use to conduct business. Committees can have real-time chats, upload documents, archive documents, and more using the Online Communities. Not all of YALSA’s Committees are included on the site yet but members can check it out.

Beth also gave a good rundown/overview of who does what in the YALSA Office. A good thing to remember is that if not sure who to contact the first point person is Esther Murphy.

Before we broke into small groups Pam Spencer Holley gave us her list of the top 10 responsibilities of committee chairs. The list is:

  1. communicate with committee members
  2. delegate committee members

  3. start and end on time
  4. always have an agenda – circulate in advance
  5. circulate an attendance sheet
  6. have someone else take notes
  7. read your charge – make sure know what are supposed to do
  8. be sure to submit pre and post conference reports – board pays attention to them – can email liaison with sensitive info. – it’s OK to resign from a committee
  9. contact board lisiason with questions, concerns, etc.
  10. have a good time and accept the Board’s thanks

Living la vida ALA last night was fun. Now, it is time to get down to work. Welcome to the YALSA All Committee Meeting. It is Saturday morning about 10 am. YALSA President Pam Spencer Holley brought the meeting to order thanking Listening Library for sponsoring the breakfast and providing the cool lunch boxes with audiobooks inside. A brief moment of silence for Gerald Hodges and James Cook brought a few of us to tears and then we were underway.

All Committee is the heart and soul of YALSA’s operations at conference. Dozens of committees meet here to conduct their business. Groups as disparate as Research, Teen Read Week, Publisher’s Liaison, Teens and Technology, and Publications have the chance to meet in person at annual and midwinter during this All Committee time. It is a great way for new folks to see the various committee opportunities available, to introduce themselves as volunteers, to get involved. Old hands like me can hug friends we see twice a year at ALA and catch up on the latest gossip.

Terry Young brought greetings from New Orleans as the local arrangements chair and assured us that all would be ready for us in June. A few god tips for those planning to come to annual included: book your rooms as early as possible and please remember to register soon as well.

Pam gave a report on YALSA’s activities this past year including Teen Read Week, increased membership in YALSA (we are nearing 5000 members), responses to the hurricane affected areas, a new Graphic Novel Committee, an Advisory Board for publications (YALS and YAttitudes), task forces, and many other projects. GET ACTIVE AT YOUR LIBRARY is the theme for next year’s Teen Read Week.

The members of the YALSA Board and Executive Committee were introduced. Karlan Sick asked for help in conducting the work of the Nominating Committee. Judy Nelson, President Elect talked about her appointments to the selection committees and other positions. She urged anyone interested to go to the web site and complete the committee volunteer form and return it to HQ as soon as possible.

The 50th anniversary celebration committee members presented some of their ideas for our 50th anniversary in 2007. Think 50!

ALA President Keith Michael Fiels talked about the proposed dues increase and the plan for ALA’s continued growth, “Ahead to 2010.”

Beth Yoke, YALSA’S Executive Director, mentioned some of the handout materials available for committee members and chairs.

After the various reports, Pam dismissed us to begin meeting with our committees.

Teri Lesesne

Posted by Meg Canada

The All Committee Meeting was aflutter with activity. Among the many important announcements and introductions, Terry Young, a member of the Local Arrangements Committee for the Annual Meeting in New Orleans gave us an update on conventions in the city. He is sending his comments to be posted here- so stay tuned! Terry encoraged everyone to register and book hotels as soon as possible.

Pam Holley shared highlights of the year including the fact that YALSA is the fastest growing division in ALA. with over 5,000 members! Want to get involved or stay involved? Don’t forget to fill out the Committee Volunteer Form.

So the Popular Paperbacks Committe was in rare form–but then it usually is!–during our first Midwinter session.

Here are some of the reasons why this is such a fun committee:
*the discussion is always EXTREMELY lively–there is absolutely NO danger of nodding off, no matter how late you were up carousing last night
*committee members seem to truly like and respect one another, no matter how much opinions might differ (see below) and how much name-calling there might be. In a good way, of course!
*everyone respects the groundrules–like no throwing things at each other, at least inside
*the snacks are excellent
*everyone cares passionately about coming up with the best possible lists to reflect our charge of popular books promoting pleasure reading for teens

After introductions and overviews, there were two hot issues today. First does Uglies belong on the Criminal Elements list or the Books That Don’t Make You Blush list? After hearfelt debate, the Blush list got to keep Uglies (Hurray!) and the decision was made to avoid setting a precedent of having a book on two lists simultaneously.
And secondly, one of the lists next year will be books about Religion in Our Lives.

And a meeting highpoint was when a certain Blush Sub-Chair burst out with a certain F word prompting deafening applause.

Stay tuned for more PPYA news!

Sally Leahey

I drove in from Houston yesterday afternoon witht the sun shining and the temps hovering near 80. Last night my roommate and I made the rounds of some of the publisher receptions. It was a relaxing way to meet and greet colleagues from across the country. The Riverwalk was ablaze with lights and alive with ALA members strolling, asking for directions, laughing, and flat out enjoying our balmy weather.

YALSA meetings begin in a few hours, so I thought I would take a couple of minutes to go online before heading out the door. Next stop is YALSA All Committee meeting.

Posted by Linda W. Braun

OK, I’ve had a full day. The Institute was jam-packed, as I just wrote in my blog, and then so too was the gaming night. (Although it was a different kind of jam-packedness.)

Game Crazy brought an amazing number of games and amount of equipment for those attending the gaming night to play. There were large monitors for playing games like Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, Karaoke, Madden Football, Congo Bongo, and more. Upper Deck brought trading card games. People were playing, singing, dancing, fighting, laughing, and more. It was really amazing. At one point you could hear librarians singing Material Girl – what a sight!

Game Crazy and Upper Deck were incredibly generous. Not only did they bring games to play and staff to help in the play, they also brought an array of giveaways including tote bags, t-shirts, wrist bands, backpacks, and more.

Alliance Games was also able to give us several role playing games to give away. While not everyone won a prize in our raffles, everyone did go home with lots of “parting gifts” from our sponsors.

I know of a few librarians who are addicted to DDR and others who are ready to duke it out with John Madden football.

By the way, 90 people signed-up for the gaming night. That’s incredible. To those of you who participated – what was your favorite game? Why?

My brain is spinning after a full day of great speakers and interesting ideas. There was an amazing amount of content presented today and I think for anyone who was there that if they are able to take at least one idea back to their home library and start working on that idea progress will be made. We are going to link to the presentations on the blog but not all of them are available yet. So, check back for those links. For now here’s a brief recap with a link to my presentation.

  • Anthony Bernier from San Jose State University started things off with an inspirational overview of the teen literacy landscape. A primary concept within Anthony’s presentation was that teen’s can find joy in their literacy practices and he gave some specific examples of how we see that in the reading, writing, and community building that they do. Within his presentation Anthony discussed the writing that teens do in the print world in a variety of teen-driven magazines and newspapers and he also showed participants examples of radio and TV production that teens take part in.

    At the end of his presentation Anthony posed a variety of questions for participants to consider. Each was incredibly thought provoking.
    They included a asking that we question how we define YA literature. With the explosion of teen produced content Anthony suggested that we start recognizing not just the literature that adults produce for teens but also the literature, podcasts, blogs, and so on that teens produce themselves.

    Anthony also asked participants to consider how libraries and librarians are going to use space in order to work with teens within the new literacy environment filled with needs to build community, collaborate, and create. He talked about inverting library spaces so that what we present to teens first is comfortable space for community building and collaboration and that the collections are on the periphery of that space. Beth Gallaway blogged about Anthony’s presentation on the PLA blog.

  • I spoke next about what I call the teen 3Cs – community, collaboration, and creation. I put together a website to go along with my presentation and it’s available now. In my presentation I focused on how teens are using blogs, wikis, and podcasting to create content that helps them not only expand their literacy but also helps them understand who they are. I talked about Charlotte a 15-year-old in southeastern MA who publishes a blog and her blog postings demonstrate how teens write/produce thoughtful well-written content via their blogs. I also showed Charlotte’s end of 2005 recap in which she discusses her past year month by month and reflects on how she changed over the year.

    We also looked at how teens are creating podcasts in order to talk about things that are important to them as a part of their personal and global experience. I played a clip from the Pod Princess podcast that is produced by a 15-year-old in New Jersey. The podcast is well developed with content that is obviously outlined and well-thought-out. I contrasted the podcast with Emo Girl Talk which is not as well thought out but is a perfect example of a young teenage girl just having fun with the technology. Mariana Butler who is the host of Emo Girl Talk was the first teen podcaster to acquire a sponsor.

    The podcasting environment is making it possible for teens to express their literacy skills in different ways including writing and outlining content, presenting that content to a specific audience, and marketing the content to the world. We then talked about how schools and libraries are using wikis as a way to help teens write books about a variety of topics.

    I talked about how wiki software gives teens the chance to collaborate with their peers in writing. I also mentioned that podcasters can use wikis as a place to have listeners write about what the podcaster talked about on the show. That way some teens can produce and perform the podcast and others can write about it after it’s over.

    As a final part of the presentation I talked about My Own Cafe a website for teens that provides several opportunities for reading and writing including very active discussion boards. Teens are able to talk about topics of interest to them – movies, books, games, local news, and politics. They are active participants in the discussion boards thereby producing content and creating community on a regular basis. I ended by outlining for participants the important features of the things talked about previously that support and enhance literacy including writing, reading, building, thinking, and making choices.

  • After lunch Frances Jacobson Harris talked about the ethical issues related to teen’s use of technology. Frances broke down the ethical issues into a series of mind-size-bites and discussed how teens sometimes intentionally do unethical things via technology but also are unethical in unintentionally. What really stood out in Frances’ presentation, at least to me, was how open she is with teens about ethical behaviors in an online world.

    Frances went over the scenarios she uses with her students in order to help them understand technology ethics. She showed that there is no one right answer when it comes to figuring out how to behave in various technology situations. For example, she showed clearly how a teen’s viewpoint when it comes to downloading MP3s illegally is rationale and reasoned from the teen perspective. She showed how teens think through situations related to linking to pornography on a teen site that is not hosted by the school. She talked about issues of privacy and freedom of speech when a school-wide email list is involved. The specific examples she was able to use along with quotes straight from the students with whom she works were wonderful.

    One story Frances told keeps coming back to me. She told of a student who had gone through the ethics lessons with her. He then went off and did something unethical and asked Frances, “Am I now going to be a scenario.” The student obviously knew that his behavior wasn’t ethical but he did it anyway. In other words we can do our jobs to help teens understand right and wrong behaviors but we do have to then let them go, make their own choices, and learn from their mistakes.

  • Next were Robin Brenner and Beth Gallaway who talked about graphic novels and games and the connections between the two. Robin went first and talked about several things that I could tell the audience was going “wow” or “cool.” At one point she dissected what illustrations in manga really mean and that was obviously enlightening to lots of people.

    Robin brought up some interesting points about how teen interest in manga has actually had an impact on their interest in international news, culture, and so on. She mentioned that as teens read Manga and watch anime they become interested in Japanese culture. That was interesting to me as we had earlier talked in the day about teens on the My Own Cafe website talking about real-world issues and perhaps part of their interest in those issues comes from their reading of manga and graphic novels.

    As a part of her presentation Robin also talked about how teens create content related to manga and graphic novels on the web. She showed some examples of fan art, fan movies, and fan fiction that teens have posted on the web. Teens are obviously creating content as a part of their interest in manga and graphic novels and as a result are improving their literacy skills.

    After Robin’s presentation Beth spoke about the games teens play, why they play, and who teen gamers are. One thing she talked about was how gaming encompasses Role Playing Games, Video Games, Online Games, Card Games, Board Games, Handheld Games, etc. Games come in a variety of styles as do the teens that play them. Beth also mentioned that there are a lot of gamers that you don’t see in the library and that librarians need to be aware of the number of teen gamers that there are in the world.

    Beth talked about the fan fiction that teens write related to the games that they play. She said that teens develop game histories based on their play as well as stories around the characters, setting, and events in games. That’s is definitely an example of teen literacy practices.

    In Beth’s presentation she talked about how teens are influencing the creators of games through the modifications and enhancements they make to game play. Producers of games work with teens who have modified games and incorporate those modifications in future versions of the game. The manufacturers also hire those modifiers. Soon the teens will be the owners of the gaming companies and we will see quite interesting product coming out of those companies.

  • Anthony Bernier brought us back together at the end of the day to recap some of the ideas discussed and to facilitate a question and answer period. In Anthony’s recap comments he talked about how what he heard during the day reminded him of important movements in our history including the civil rights movement and the feminist movement. He connected the ideas we’d discussed related to community, collaboration, and creation to some of the foundational elements of those movements.

    Anthony also talked about how the topics and discussions of the day made him realize that we were talking about a new type of YA librarianship. He said the YA librarians we talked about during the day didn’t fit any of the job descriptions he’d ever seen/read.

    Another important idea Anthony highlighted was that we need to start thinking beyond summer reading clubs and book awards to awards and such for those teens that are creating and producing in the electronic world. It’s a world beyond books now and YALSA, librarians, educators, etc. have to recognize that and move in some new directions.

At the end of the day I think lots of people were feeling stuffed. But, I also think that everyone was able to leave with at least one new idea with which to work. It would be great to know what ideas, inspiration, and so on participants left with. Comments to this blog related to that would be great.

At today’s Teens and Technology Institute someone came up with the idea to have participants at the program post links to their My Space and/or blogging sites. So, if you have a My Space site or a blog that would be of interest to librarians serving teens add a comment here with the URL and any info. that you think would be of interest to those looking at the site. If there’s something from today’s programs that you think connects to your blog or My Space site mention it in your comment.

Thanks.

Posted by Meg Canada

Wondering what is happening during the All-Committee Meeting? Here is a first look at the agenda:

ALL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA
For YALSA Committee Members

2006 Midwinter Meeting, San Antonio

Saturday January 21st, 9:30am – 12:30 am

Marriott Rivercenter (MAR) Salon E

9:30 – 10:00: Continental breakfast sponsored by Listening Library.
Have a bite to eat and mingle with your fellow YALSA members!

10:00: Meeting Begins.

1. Welcome, Introductions & YALSA Highlights– Pam Spencer Holley, President

2. Board Liaison Introductions – Christine Allen, YALSA Councilor

3. YALSA Nominating Committee Message – Jennifer Hubert, Chair

4. Committee Appointment Process – Judy Nelson, President-Elect

5. YALSA’s 50th Anniversary Taskforce – Mary Arnold, Co-Chair

6. Marketing Your Committee’s Accomplishments – Beth Yoke

7. YALSA Periodicals –

  • YAttitudes: Amy Alessio, Editor
  • Young Adult Library Services: Valerie Ott, Editor

8. Building YALSA’s Assets – Amy Alessio, Fiscal Officer

9. Questions and Answers – David Mowery, Immediate Past President

10. Breakout into Committee Work Sessions