The YALSA Board of Directors had a jam-packed agenda at Midwinter. Minutes will be available soon, but meanwhile, here are some of the major decisions that we made.

Note that the Board voted to establish several new task forces. If you are interested in being on any of these task forces, please submit a volunteer form right away.’  Read More →

Are you new to Midwinter or the ALA conference scene? Wondering what the exhibits are really like? Check out Heather Botelho’s quick video from the exhibits floor here in Dallas.

Join YALSA with LIVE streaming video of all the YMA announcement, presented jointly by the YALSA Blog and The Hub. Along with the video, we’ll also be offering quick polls and pulling Twitter hashtags like #printz and #alexawards. You can log in to the live session with your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or OpenID username (which will include your avatar), or just jump right in.

YALSA Blog manager mk Eagle (username pandanose) will be offering transcriptions of all the announcements, with live video from The Hub blogger Jessica Pryde. Coverage begins at 7:30 central on Monday, January 23.

Replay the live session from YALSA’s Midwinter Institute, Innovations in Essential Teen Services. The replay includes links to the video we streamed of each presenter.

You’ve already heard about several of the YALSA events coming to Midwinter this weekend, but here they are all in one place. You’ll notice that this blog and The Hub will be covering a lot of these events–both live and shortly after–so even if you’re not in Dallas you’ll have a chance to participate.

Friday, January 20

Innovations in Essential Teen Services
12:30 to 4:30pm, Omni, Dallas C Room
This year’s Midwinter Institute offers tips on programming, reader’s advisory, evaluation, homework help and more. This is a ticketed event. The YALSA Blog will be covering this event live!

YA Lit Trivia Night FUNdraiser
8:00 to 10:00pm, Omni, Dallas B Room
Think you know all there is to know about young adult literature and YALSA’s book awards and book lists? Then come show off your knowledge at this event! Cash bar and light refreshments. Donations will be collected at the event for YALSA’s Leadership Endowment, which will fund future leadership-focused efforts, such as student scholarships, mentoring programs, leadership institutes and more. You do not need to register for ALA’s Midwinter Meeting to attend this event. Sign up your team at the YALSA Wiki (teams of ten will have reserved seating).

Read More →

Get a pair of x-ray goggles that really work! While these may not see through a steel plate, they can see right through the Internet!

YALSA is pleased to host a demonstration of one of the Mozilla Foundation’s newest tools: the Hackasaurus web x-ray goggles. This javascript app gives teens – and anybody else – the tools to discover the rich world of code hiding just beneath the surface and gives them the ability to remix the web. Read More →

I was so excited when I saw the press release from ALA announcing the return of the Fun Run 5K and Walk at Midwinter in Dallas on Saturday, January 21 to encourage both personal and environmental health. When I found out one of my colleagues was going to Midwinter as well, I made immediate plans to participate in this race together! That might sound all fine and good for me, but what, if anything does this mean for you? Read More →