You’ve read about them. Maybe you learned about them at Midwinter 2013. Now you can even see how they work on Sunday, January 26 from 8:30 to 10AM in room 108B at the Philadelphia Convention Center. What am I talking about? YALSA’s badges for learning.
YALSA’s badge program focuses on helping library staff working with teens gain skills in areas related to YALSA’s Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth. The badges are for any school or public library staff member working with teens. Currently three badges (Access to Information; Communications, Marketing, and Outreach; and Leadership and Professionalism) are available to testers. For each badge-earning process there is a lesson that takes badge earners through a set of steps in order to gain skills and understanding about the topic covered. Badge earners create content that they post on the badge earning site and others in the badge earning community view the content and provide feedback and support.
When a badge is earned they can be used on resumes, in social spaces and to show colleagues, administrators and current and potential employers what a staff member knows about teens and libraries.
Learn more at ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia, get a chance to see how the badges work, and sign-up to help beta test the badge-earning process. Don’t miss this chance to gain new skills and become a part of a learning community.