YA Lit Symposium – Commercial Success and Diversity: Are Both Possible, or Are They A Contradiction in Terms?

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This week’s featured program for the Young Adult Literature Symposium’  is Commercial Success and Diversity: Are Both Possible, or Are They A Contradiction in Terms?

Presenter Neesha Meminger kindly answered my questions.

KH: Can you share one interesting or thought provoking fact from your presentation?

NM:’  According to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “There is no single definition of the term ‘multicultural literature’ as it is applied to books for children and young adults. At the CCBC, we use the term to mean books by and about people of color.” And according to their stats, in 2009, out of an estimated 5000 books published for children, less than 5% were authored by people of color.

KH: Who will be presenting with you?

NM:’  Cynthea Liu, Paula Chase Hyman, and Alisa Valdes

**The complete interview can be found at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

The YA Literature Symposium is November 5-7 in Albuquerque, NM. To give everyone a sneak peek into the presentations I be posting portions of interviews with program presenters weekly until the symposium. Full interviews will be available at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

The YALSA Update: We Are All About the Deadlines Today

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It’s a big week for YALSA deadlines! We have two major deadlines today and another one next Monday.

Symposium early bird pricing expires today! Today is the LAST DAY for you to take advantage of the lowest rates for the 2010 Young Adult Literature Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico.’  To get the early bird rate, you must register today at www.ala.org/yalitsymposium (if you’re sending in the downloadable registration form (PDF) by mail with a check, purchase order, or money order, it must be postmarked by today).

Teens’ Top Ten voting ends today Today is the last day for teens at your library to’  vote in the annual Teens’ Top Ten poll! They can vote online at www.ala.org/teenstopten. We’ll announce the winners during Teen Read Week, Oct. 17-23.

And Teen Read Week registration ends Monday Monday is the last day for you to register for YALSA’s Teen Read Week! Why register? When you register, you tell YALSA that it’s important to sponsor this initiative, which encourages teens to read something for fun and become regular library users. Plus, you’ll receive a free trial of TeenInk for a limited time, be entered to win books from Carolrhoda Lab, Cinco Puntos, and Viz Media, and get access to this year’s Books with Beat @ your library logo. Register today at www.ala.org/teenread !

Two weeks left for bundled conference registration Coming to ALA’s Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting in 2011? Take advantage of bundled pricing from ALA and register for both for $300! That’s a significant savings over registering for each event separately. But hurry: bundled registration is only available until September 30 at www.ala.org/midwinter.

That’s it for this week’s update! To stay up to date on the latest from the YALSA Office, sign up to follow YALSA on Twitter or become a fan of YALSA on Facebook!

YA Lit Symposium – On Beyond Stonewall: The Uphill Journey of Young Adult Fiction with Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2010

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This week’s featured program for the Young Adult Literature Symposium’  is On Beyond Stonewall: The Uphill Journey of Young Adult Fiction with Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2010.

Presenter Michael Cart kindly answered my questions on behalf of himself and co-presenter Christine Jenkins.

KH: Can you share one interesting or thought provoking fact from your presentation?

MC:’  The growth of the literature under discussion. From 1999-2000 a total of eighteen books were published. From 2008-2009 the total grew to 63!

KH: Who will be presenting with you?

MC:’  The program will include a panel of authors who write gay-themed work. The writers will be Malinda Lo, Lauren Bjorkman, and Kirstin Cronn-Mill.

**The complete interview can be found at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

The YA Literature Symposium is November 5-7 in Albuquerque, NM. To give everyone a sneak peek into the presentations I be posting portions of interviews with program presenters weekly until the symposium. Full interviews will be available at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

YALSA Update: Symposium Early Bird Extended, Teen Read Week reg, Webinars & More

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Symposium Early Bird Extended! YALSA has extended early bird registration for the YA Lit Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico through Sept. 17! If you register in the next two weeks, you’ll enjoy our lowest rates. Join us Nov. 5-7 to network with your fellow librarians and educators, meet 30+ YA authors, and earn 12 contact hours. Learn more about the symposium and register at www.ala.org/yalitsymposium.

Bundled Registration Now Open Planning to attend both ALA Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting in 2011? Take advantage of bundled pricing and save. YALSA members pay just $300 for both conferences if they register at www.ala.org/midwinter by Sept. 30.

Teen Read Week Registration Teen Read Week registration ends in less than a month! Register by Sept. 20 to be entered into a drawing for free books from Carolrhoda Lab, Cinco Puntos, and Viz Media. Plus you’ll help show YALSA that initiatives like Teen Read Week or worth supporting. Learn more and register at www.ala.org/teenread.

YALSA’s Reluctant Reader Webinar Looking for guidance to reach out to reluctant readers in your library? Sign up for YALSA’s Sept. 9 webinar, Ready, Set, Go: 30 Ways to Reach Reluctant Readers in 60 Minutes, presented by Jen Hubert Swan. The webinar takes place at 2 p.m. Eastern and costs $39 for YALSA members, $49 for all other individuals. Group registration costs $195. Learn more and register at www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars.

After the jump, we have news on the Teens’ Top Ten, Selection Committee Volunteer Forms, online course registration, the I Love My Librarian Award, the YALSA Dessert Cookbook we’re auctioning off at Midwinter, and a link to American Libraries’ interview with Rob Reiner, director of Flipped!

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YA Lit Symposium – Heroes in International Literature

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This week’s featured program from the Young Adult Literature Symposium is Heroes in International Literature!

This week’s featured presenter is Rosemary Chance.

KH: Can you share one interesting or thought provoking fact from your presentation?
RC:’  In a panel four American editors will address the joys and challenges of editing books from other countries. They are the editors of The Shadows of Ghadames, The Century: Ring of Fire, Winter’s End, and Tiger Moon.

KH: Who should come to your presentation?
RC:’  Anyone interested in stories with foreign settings, stories of heroes, and stories that will expand the worlds of young adults.

**The complete interview can be found at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

The YA Literature Symposium is November 5-7 in Albuquerque, NM. To give everyone a sneak peek into the presentations I be posting portions of interviews with program presenters weekly until the symposium. Full interviews will be available at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

YA Lit Symposium – Doomed to Repeat It: Diversity in Historical Fiction

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This week’s featured program from the Young Adult Literature Symposium is Doomed to Repeat It: Diversity in Historical Fiction!

This week’s featured presenter is Melissa Rabey.

KH: Who should come to your presentation?

MR: Hopefully, everyone!’  But I think this presentation will be most helpful to librarians who work in diverse communities, who would like to find works of historical fiction to recommend to multicultural teens or would like to learn more about the culture of their service area.

KH: Who will be presenting along with you?

MR: After I present on a variety of novels, two debut authors will be joining me to discuss their works of YA historical fiction.’  Christina Gonzalez, author of THE RED UMBRELLA, will talk about how she was inspired to write about Operation Pedro Pan, which brought many Cuban children to the US in the 1960s.’  Then, Ruta Sepetys will share how she wrote BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY, a novel set in the Ukraine during World War II.

**The complete interview can be found at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

The YA Literature Symposium is November 5-7 in Albuquerque, NM. To give everyone a sneak peek into the presentations I be posting portions of interviews with program presenters weekly until the symposium. Full interviews will be available at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

YA Lit Symposium — Celebramos Libros: Celebrating Latino Literature!

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This week’s featured program from the Young Adult Literature Symposium’  is Celebramos Libros: Celebrating Latino Literature!

This week’s featured presenter is Teri S. Lesesne, Professor of Library Science, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX.

KH: Who should come to your presentation?

TL: Anyone interested in learning more about adding diversity to their collections for tweens and teens, who wants to have the chance to hear authors (Ben Saenz and Margarita Engle), who wants to learn about why books about another culture are essential to the collection.

KH: How will people be able to use the information you share in their own practice?

TL: They will be able to identify the books that need to be a part of the collection so that patrons have both mirrors (books in which they can see themselves) and windows (books that open the world to them and show them other people and places).

**The complete interview can be found at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

The YA Literature Symposium is November 5-7 in Albuquerque, NM. To give everyone a sneak peek into the presentations I be posting portions of interviews with program presenters weekly until the symposium. Full interviews will be available at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community.

Notes from the YA Literature Symposium Task Force

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Have you registered for the Young Adult Literature Symposium yet? The 2nd YALSA YA Lit Symposium is going to be November 5-7 in Albuquerque, NM. Early Bird Registration for the Symposium is only available until September 10th – register soon to get the great early bird rates!

To give the YALSA Blog readers an idea of what to expect at the Symposium, I will be posting interviews with the symposium presenters from August until the Symposium. What a better way to decide which programs to attend?

Why wait until the symposium to get the discussions started? Join us in the discussion of diversity issues and YA literature that addresses them today at the YA Lit Symposium Online Community (http://yalsayalitsymp10.ning.com/).’  Booklists, discussions, and questions and answers about the symposium can all be found here!

Look for the first YA Lit Symposium presenter interview next week!

For additional information about the symposium, visit the symposium website (http://ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/yalitsymposium/symposium.cfm) or the symposium wiki (http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Young_Adult_Literature_Symposium%2C_2010).

The YALSA Update: Webinar Discount, WrestleMania, Great Ideas & More

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Save $10 on next Thursday’s webinar If you register for YALSA’s Risky Business webinar by July 14, , taking place next Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern, you’ll save $10 over normal registration rates. That means the webinar is just $29 for individual YALSA members and $39 for all other individuals. Register today at www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars.

WrestleMania: We’ve made the Challenge shorter and simple. The WrestleMania Reading Challenge has changed this year to take place during just one week, making it simpler for you and your teens and tweens to particpate. Registering automatically enters you into a drawing for one of five sets of books from Penguin — and it gives teens and tweens at your library the chance to win tickets to WrestleMania and $2,000 for your library. It’s a surefire way to get new YA readers into your library. Don’t believe us? Then find out what happened at Bambi Mansfield’s library.’  Register today at www.ala.org/wrestlemania.

Win cold, hard cash from YALSA. Do you have an idea to make YALSA’s awards and booklists into household names, ensure young adult and school librarians have access to important research, help YALSA better advocate for quality library services for every teen in every library, develop continuing education or career services that librarians need or engage YALSA’s current membership and recruit new members? Of course you do. Well, YALSA will pay you $250 for that great idea (and YALSA committees are eligible to submit an idea, too). But you have to submit your idea to the Great Ideas contest by July 15.

New Books from YALSA Now available in the ALA Online Store: Risky Business: Taking and Managing Risks in Library Services to Teens by Linda Braun, Hillias J. Martin, and Connie Urquhart and Multicultural Programs for Tweens and Teens, edited by Linda B. Alexander and Nahyun Kwon. Order your copy today!

After the jump, find out how you can win FREE BOOKS simply by registering for Teen Read Week, be a 2011 YALSA Emerging Leader, and more!

Read More →

Keeping Skills Fresh Between Jobs

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I recently received my MLS and a few weeks later relocated to a different part of the country where I’m now searching for a job. Many of my fellow graduates are still looking for full-time employment, and library cuts continue across the country, perhaps leaving some jobless. While I was still in library school, I was constantly ingesting new information and synthesizing what I was learning in the classroom with what I was learning on the job, but now that I’m finished with my degree and in a new city, I’m having to think about how to keep my skills fresh until I find a library where I can put those skills to work and continue to develop them. Here’s what I’ve been doing.

Reading lots of YA lit
A library’s collection is the backbone of its services, but it seems like there’s never enough time to read everything. Now that I’m unemployed, I’m able to spend a lot more time discovering new books and catching up on old titles I missed. I’ve also been working my way through the current contenders for my new state’s youth book awards. But to really take advantage of the extra reading time I have, I’m concentrating especially on genres I don’t normally read like romances. When I’m in interviews, I’ll have plenty of titles–books, audiobooks, manga, and graphic novels–to talk about when they ask what I’ve been reading lately, and once I land a position, I’ll have a broader knowledge to inform the readers’ advisory and collection development that I do.

Keeping up on listservs, blogs, and Twitter feeds
While I’ve lost my immediate library connection, I’m still plugged in to what’s going on in the library world by observing what other librarians are doing and thinking. Listservs are full of discussions about upcoming programs and recently published books. Bloggers write book reviews, postmortems for programs they’ve done, interviews with authors and other librarians, and their thoughts on the profession. Twitter feeds offer shorter bites of information but are a great source for links to more in-depth articles on relevant subjects–and Karl Siewert recently compiled a list of YALSA-bk members who tweet, so if you’re new to Twitter, that’s a great place to get started. Observing, reading, thinking, and commenting on all of this helps me stay connected to the profession.

Blogging
Nancy Bertolotti wrote earlier this spring about blogging as a professional development tool and while I’m not sure blogging has the scholarly heft of peer-reviewed writing, I agree that it’s a great way to practice writing, to develop a professional network and to pursue mutual interests, to develop our thoughts on the profession, and to become or stay comfortable with social networking tools. If you’re thinking about blogging, Blogger and WordPress make getting started easy.

Reading things I missed in library school
This is a little heavier than reading YA lit or blogs or short articles, but since I wasn’t able to take all of the electives that I wanted while I was working on my degree, I’m revisiting some of those topics by reading textbooks and longer discourses on library and information science topics. I’m currently working my way through Thomas Mann’s Library Research Models, will then read my former professor’s textbook on library ethics, and then am going to find something technology-oriented to read and maybe finally learn CSS. These reading assignments appeal to my nerdier side, and they’re introducing me to complex new ideas.

Participating in professional development
I’ve registered for the YA Lit Symposium in November and I’m so psyched about connecting with other librarians and hearing about the newest trends and thoughts in YA lit. In the mean time, I’ve also been attending Booklist’s free webinars. Stephanie Kuenn’s recent post on YALSA’s upcoming professional development opportunities is also full of ways to keep stretching yourself and learning new things. Some schools also offer LIS classes that are completely online and don’t require you to be pursuing a degree to take. The cost for these classes is higher than most webinars or conferences, but you’ll be going into more depth on the subject.

Volunteering
Okay, I’m still figuring out exactly where I’m going to do this, but volunteering is a great way to address the more practical, hands-on side of keeping your skills fresh. You might volunteer at your local library or give your time to a local youth organization to keep that connection with teens. A lot of the other things I’m doing tend toward the theoretical, so it’s important to me to address the practical side, too.

So that’s my plan to tide me over until I find a library for which I’m a good fit. Are you in between places of employment or freshly graduated from library school and looking for your first job? What are you doing to keep your skills and knowledge fresh?