The latest YALSA Snack Break is ready and waiting for you to take a look.
Along with including some great insights and ideas on how to support teen success, the video highlights YALSA’s September webinar. This webinar will be facilitated by a stellar group of people, Erica Compton (Program Manager, ID STEM Action Network), Audrey Hopkins (Teen Services Librarian at Rita & Truett Smith Public Library, Plano TX), and Shanna Miles (Library Media Specialist, South Atlanta (GA) High School) who are ready to talk about the topic and answer your questions.
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The YALSA Board of Directors is always looking for ways to incorporate innovation into our overall mission to expand and strengthen library services for teens and to build the capacity of libraries and librarians to engage, serve, and empower teens and young adults. One of our core functions is to provide continuing education to librarians and library workers who serve teens.
We are all aware that because of the rapidly changing nature of how information is created and delivered, librarians must constantly learn new skills to be effective in our daily work. In addition, we know that in today’s world, learning happens everywhere, and YALSA wants to help librarians and library workers get recognition for the skills they are acquiring outside traditional settings. In looking for ways to be innovative in our approach to CE, YALSA was fortunate enough to be able to partner with Mozilla, the Macarthur Foundation, and HASTAC in their Badges for Lifelong Learning Project.
In March, YALSA, in cooperation with Badgeville, was awarded a $75,000 grant to create a Badges for Learning project that will increase YALSA’s capacity to deliver professional development in an exciting, innovative way. Read More →
We have each experienced a time professionally during which we didn’t feel educated enough, engaged enough, cool enough for our duties as professionals who serve young adults.’ For some of us, our training in YA services has only be on-the-job training (and “training†might be an overstatement!)’ YALSA is committed, as demonstrated in its Strategic Plan, to continuous learning and professional development.’ But to successfully engage its members, we need your input — your Great Ideas – as to how YALSA can connect members with current information, deliver continuing education, provide more training at local and regional levels with regard to YA services and issues, and increase overall the number of library workers competent in teen and YA services.
Here’s how to help YALSA members and potentially win $250:
1. Review Goal #3 of YALSA’s strategic plan.
2. Review guidelines of YALSA’s Great Ideas Contest.
3. Submit your Great Idea by March 16, 2012
You know you’ve found yourself, at one time or another, thinking, “I wish YALSA would…”‘ Well, here’s your chance to propose your wish to YALSA, by giving the organization a practical how-to on the topic of continuing education and professional development.
If you have any questions about the application or the process, please feel free to direct them to Priscille Dando, Strategic Planning Committee Chair, at pdando@gmail.com.
I’m back with another month’s worth of interesting research and writing on scholarly and popular topics related to teen culture, literacy, and library services. I’ve decided to expand from just summarizing research to also linking you to fascinating articles, blog posts, or other more easily-accessed tidbits that might spark meaningful conversation, programming, or reference/advisory transactions. As always, if you have a topic you’d like to know about, or if there’s a journal you miss having access to, comment here and I’ll do some digging for you.
Have you had a recent success working with teens that you’re dying to share with your colleagues? YALSA just made it a whole lot easier! Read More →
Gagdets, and gizmos, and apps! Oh, my! ‘ Keeping up with technology trends and incorporating new tools into library programming and promotion can be daunting—but it doesn’t have to be.
Join us at the 2011 YALSA Preconference:’ The Nuts & Bolts of Serving Teens, where Jesse Vieau will share his experiences using technology in teen programming and library promotion.’ Jesse is the Teen Services Librarian at the Madison (WI) Public Library.’ Formerly a Teen Services Librarian in the Loft @ ImaginOn, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, Jesse’s work with teens includes collaborating with teen interns using Google Docs, facilitating digital projects in teen detention centers, and hosting a digital petting zoo in which teens mentor senior citizens as they explore new technology.
At’ The Nuts & Bolts of Serving Teens, Jesse will deliver ideas for practical, inexpensive ways you can use technology as you work with teens.’ You will discover new tools, gadgets, hardware, and software that are easy to use and appealing to teens.’ Jesse will also share his tips for using technology to manage your heavy workload and to promote library services to teens.’ You will leave the event with a list of user-friendly tools, and will be ready to implement new programs or services at your library.
The preconference will also include presentations on core competencies for teen librarians, collection management, teen behavior, and developing relationships between your library and teens, and is scheduled for 12:30-4:30 PM on June 24 in New Orleans.
To add’ The Nuts & Bolts of Serving Teens to your 2011 ALA Annual Conference Registration, visit’ http://www.alaannual.org/ or call’ 1-800-974-3084. Registration for 2011 ALA Annual Conference is not necessary to participate in the preconference. Tickets for the event cost $129 and include light refreshments.
Last week, Hillel Italie of the Associated Press profiled Walter Dean Myers, one of a few authors to win both the Printz and Edwards awards from YALSA, on his enduring popularity with teen readers. Read on to see why YALSA chose Myers to be a featured speaker at Give Them What They Want: Reaching Reluctant Readers, YALSA’s half-day Annual preconference in New Orleans on June 24, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Among the kids at the Promise Academy and around the country, Walter Dean Myers is a must-read whose books have sold millions of copies and have a special appeal for the toughest of people to reach, boys. He is able, like few writers, to relate to his readers as they live today.
And he is old enough to be their grandfather.
Myers, 73, has written dozens of novels, plays and biographies. He has received three National Book Award nominations and won many prizes, including a lifetime achievement honor from the American Library Association and five Coretta Scott King awards for African-American fiction. He is also the most engaged of writers, spending hours with young people at schools, libraries and prisons, giving talks and advice on life and work, his own rise from high-school dropout to best-selling author, a story that translates across generations.
As a teen library specialist you have insight on the needs of the teen patrons who walk into your library. But what happens outside the teen space? Do the circulation desk staff, the pages, the security personnel, and your administrator know how to provide a quality library experience for the teens in your community?
What can you do to enhance the whole library experience for your teen patrons?
Attend the all-day YALSA Midwinter Institute on Friday, January 7, 2011, in San Diego and receive tips and tools and talking points for working with the rest of the library staff in providing outstanding teen services. Speakers include Paige Battle, Linda Braun, Christie Gibrich, Penny Johnson, Jennifer Lawson, Teri Lesesne, Sara Ryan, and Ray Stark.
This fall YALSA is launching two brand new online courses! ‘ Monique Delatte, instructor for Growing, Managing and Defending the YA Budget, chatted with me about the course
Eve: You’re teaching a new class for YALSA that starts in October. Tell us about Growing, Managing and Defending the Young Adult Budget.
Monique: Times are tough, but librarians still want to provide patrons with exceptional library services. This course is about getting the support that you need, whether it is via grant money, Friends of the Library funding, or financial support from library management or boards. The class will also address developing a sustainable young adult services budget. Together, these skills help to build strong relationships with the funders who assist in providing the financial backing for much-needed services today and into the future.
YALSA is pleased to offer the following professional development opportunities in September. If you have questions about YALSA’s professional development, please contact Eve Gaus, YALSA’s program officer for continuing education, at egaus@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5293.
Now through September 27, YALSA Fall Online Course Registration: YALSA fall online course registration is now open!’ The fall session takes place October 4 to November 1, and we have two classes available: Growing, Managing and Defending the Young Adult Budget, taught by Monique Delatte, and Tapping Youth Participation to Strengthen Library Services, taught by Amy Alessio. Both classes last four weeks and cost $135 for YALSA members, $175 for ALA members, and $195 for nonmembers. For details on both classes and to register (after August 2), visit www.ala.org/yalsa/onlinecourses.
September 1, First Wednesdays with YALSA: YALSA’s First Wednesdays continue with an online chat this month at 8 p.m. Eastern. This month’s topic: Thinking Big with YALSA President Kim Patton. We will again be in Meebo and our room is http://www.meebo.com/room/yalsasept1chat. Password is yalsasept1.
September 9, Ready, Set, Go! 30 Ways to Reach Reluctant Readers in 60 Minutes Webinar Jen Hubert Swan, author of Reading Rants! the popular book review blog for teens offers up 30 quick tips for connecting with reluctant readers in 60 minutes. Get display, booktalk and contest ideas and find out what “Roaming Bookmarks” and “Brown Bag Books” are all about. Participants will come away with some great ideas to kick start their programs and collections and help brainstorm some more! This webinar will take place on Thursday, September 9, at 2 p.m. Eastern.’ Register today! Registration costs $39 for individual YALSA members, $49 for all other individuals. A group rate of $195 is available. Learn more at www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars.