Taskforce Members for YALSA President’s Initiative

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YALSA President 2021-2022, Kelly Czarnecki, seeks member volunteers to serve on the Presidential Taskforce! This role is for a one-year virtual appointment where the taskforce will focus on developing activities that support the President’s theme; giving library staff tools to re-building youth social capital and honoring collective care to help support the new YALSA Strategic Plan.

Outcomes that will guide the taskforce work include:

    • Work with YALSA staff to develop and provide membership with continuing education in the form of podcast recordings with vetted speakers that align with YALSA’s work with Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
    • Connect with relevant individuals and groups within YALSA to support the creation of theme-related resources.
    • Connect with “non-members” who work with youth in libraries.
    • Develop a President’s Program at ALA Annual 2022 in Washington DC.

Thank you for your interest! This is a great way to develop your network, experience in working with others virtually and nationally, and to continue to move the YALSA organization forward. We all have something to contribute so don’t hesitate to apply! All members-including new and LIS students are welcome.

Interested members should contact Letitia Smith, Membership Marketing Manager, (lsmith@ala.org) by September 24. If you have any questions regarding this taskforce, please reach out to YALSA President, Kelly Czarnecki via email at kellyczarnecki1@gmail.com.

2020-2021 YALSA President-Elect Kelly Czarnecki

 

 

 

Kelly Czarnecki (she/her)
YALSA President
2021-2022

Photo credit: “Approaching White Mill Bridge” by crapatdarts

Presidential Theme for 2018-2019

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It is energizing to begin my presidential work by building on the work of past-president Sandra Hughes-Hassell’s presidential theme and to collaborate with other division presidents’ creating presidential themes that compliment each other.

I have chosen Supporting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion through Outcomes and Assessment as my presidential theme for 2018-2019. This theme furthers YALSA’s work of supporting library staff who serve teens in several ways. It highlights the need for a paradigm shift highlighted in YALSA’s Future’s Report that indicates the importance assessing programs for outcomes and not attendance. As well as, creating assessments that answer larger questions about teens interaction with your programming other than did they like it. This theme also supports the infographic Reimagined Library Services for and with Teens, which highlight the types of outcomes that can have impact on teens lives, and will help you figure out how to measure those outcomes. The theme also speaks directly to the Teen Services Competencies for Library Staff, which includes assessment as part of Content Areas 3, 4, 6, 9, and 10. All of this speaks to the needs of members who are looking for guidance on impactful outcomes and assessment, and moves YALSA closer to reaching the goals it laid out in its implementation plan.
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Amplified: Speaking Up for Teens and Libraries

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Hello YALSA land,

It’s been an exciting year getting to know more of you through the appointments process and I’m thrilled, honored, and to be frank, in a little disbelief that I will begin my term as your President on July 1st. Did you know that the incoming President actually gets a gavel? I can’t wait to cross-purpose it at Teen Advisory Board meetings.

Current President Jack Martin’s theme of Connect, Create, Collaborate has led to exciting partnerships, rich discussions, and forward thinking ideas about what it means to serve teens in the 21st century. I hope to carry some of that amazing momentum forward into my term with a theme which will focus solely on something that I know I’ve struggled with as a librarian, advocacy and activism.

I’ve been lucky enough to schedule some time with a few of YALSA’s advocacy experts (Heather Gruenthal, Jenna Nemec Loise, and Linda W. Braun) via the Google Hangout below to share the story of their respective journeys to becoming successful youth advocates and to inspire us, wherever we may be in our own.

According to the most recent PLDS survey, there was an almost 20% drop in the number of full-time staff dedicated to teen services in public libraries in the past four years. There was also an almost 7% drop in the number of school librarians from 2004-2011. We all know, deep into our cores, that teens need libraries and the holistic range of programs and services that teen librarians provide. A 20% and 7% drop? Read More →

Connect. Create. Collaborate.

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Every day librarians and library workers who serve teens connect, create and collaborate with schools, community-based organizations, teen advisory groups, fellow library workers and more to improve services to teens. That’s why my Presidential Advisory Task Force and I chose the theme, connect, create, collaborate, for my Presidential year. It’s a theme that hones in on the important work library staff serving teens do every day in school and public libraries.

Over the next several months on the YALSAblog you’ll get to read how others are connecting, creating, and collaborating with teens in libraries. These posts will give you what you need to try new things, extend what you already do, and maybe even ramp up services for teens in your library. Every Thursday, starting next week through June 2013, a team of YALSA bloggers will write posts on a wide variety of topics related to this theme. I’m really excited to read, see, hear and watch what they cook up. Next Thursday will be the first of these posts. Stay tuned!