The YALSA Update: Travel stipends, Great Ideas, registration & more!

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Win up to $1K to attend Library Advocacy Day YALSA will offer travel stipends of up to $1,000 each to five YALSA members to participate in ALA’s Library Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. on June 29, 2010, held in conjunction with ALA Annual Conference. Applications are available as a PDF or Word document. They can also be downloaded at YALSA’s Awards and Grants page and must be sent to yalsa@ala.org. Applications are due one week from today, so be sure to get yours in!

William McKinley High School of Lima, Ohio, celebrates Teen Tech Week The kids on Glee went to the library last week. At about the sixteen-minute mark, you’ll see a familiar poster in the background.

Share your Great Idea You can win a prize from YALSA! Do you have a great idea to support YALSA’s goals in its strategic plan (PDF)? Share them with YALSA and you could win a prizes worth up to $250. Download an entry form (Word doc) today. Entries are due by May 1.

Register for our next webinar on advocacy Karen Keys will lead an hourlong webinar called VIPs: Why You Need Them for Advocacy on May 20 at 2 p.m. Eastern. Karen will explore how librarians and library workers can help grow their library program by improving communication and developing professional relationships with local town councilors, school board members, Chamber of Commerce members, and so on. Registration costs $39 for individual YALSA members, $49 for all other individuals and $195 for groups. Contact Eve Gaus at egaus@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5293 for more information.’  Mark your calendar for June 17, when Sarah Debraski will lead a webinar on YA classics.

After the jump, find out how you can save on early bird registration for YALSA’s YA Lit Symposium and ALA’s Annual Conference, sign up for YALSA’s Annual preconferences, register for Teen Read Week and the WrestleMania Reading Challenge, and more!

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Did you register yet?

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Early Bird Registration for the’  Young Adult Literature Symposium opened this week.’  Early Bird Pricing* is available for those that register before September 10!

The symposium will focus on literature for young adults and is being held November 5 -7 in Albuquerque, NM.

Two YA Lit Symposium Stipend recipients were selected to receive up to $1,000 each to support attendance at the symposium.’  The winners are: Jessica Levy, student at University of California-Los Angeles’ Department of Information Studies, and Emily Dezurick-Badran, enquiry assistant at the Southend Central Library in Southend on Sea, Essex, United Kingdom. Congratulations!

If you would like to know more about the symposium, Albuquerque, or want to join in the conversation, visit the symposium website, wiki, or Ning.

*Early Bird Rates:

$195 YALSA and NMLA Members
$245 ALA Personal Member
$300 Nonmember
$50 Student

Join YALSA in Albuquerque for the 2010 Young Adult Literature Symposium

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Registration is now open for YALSA’s Young Adult Literature Symposium, Nov. 5–7, at the Albuquerque Marriott in Albuquerque, N.M. Early bird pricing begins at $195 for YALSA members and is available until Sept. 10. Registration is available at www.ala.org/yalitsymposium.

The 2010 theme is “Diversity, Literature, and Teens: Beyond Good Intentions.” The Young Adult Literature Symposium is funded in part by the William C. Morris Endowment. Today’s generation of teens is the most diverse ever. Does today’s young adult literature reflect the many different faces, beliefs and identities of today’s teens? What impact is this generation having on young adult literature and vice versa?’ Join YALSA as we explore the depth and breadth of contemporary literature in search of an answer to these questions.

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Hot Air Balloon Rides!

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Registration for the YA Literature Symposium begins soon!

While I was looking over the list of fantastic preconferences for the YA Literature Symposium – I saw that we can sign up for Hot Air Balloon Rides on Friday morning ($135). This is super – as Albuquerque is the Ballooning Capital of the World.

There is also an excursion to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center ($40) on Saturday night. Here visitors will learn about the history of the Pueblo people, tour the museum and snack on light refreshments.

Don’t forget to check out the YA Literature Symposium Webpage and Wiki for more information about the Symposium.

The YALSA Update: YALSA Webinar, Volunteering, Precons and More

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YALSA’s First Webinar: Join YALSA on March 31 at 2 p.m. Eastern for a FREE webinar! Linda Braun, YALSA president, will lead the hour-long session on the topic of Getting Involved with YALSA. Topics include the various ways to participate in YALSA, and how doing so can help your daily work and career development. Registration is limited, so please contact Eve Gaus at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5293 or egaus@ala.org to reserve your space.

Process Volunteer Forms Due Today YALSA will begin appointing process committee, jury, task force, and advisory board members this spring! Be sure to fill out your Committee Volunteer Form by March 12 so that Kim Patton, YALSA’s president-elect, will know you’re interested. (Read Kim Patton’s post on the process to find out more about serving on YALSA’s committees).

After the jump, learn more about YALSA’s preconferences (including which authors will appear!), how to access YALSA’s newly revised competencies, details on YALSA’s upcoming mentoring program, how to enter the 2010 Great Ideas contest, and information on the 2010 Young Adult Literature Symposium.

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Diversity, Literature, & Teens — Programs Announced

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Have you started planning your trip to Albuquerque yet? The full list of programs for the YA Lit Symposium has been posted – and it looks like a great event!

Here’s a quick rundown of the programs that are planned:

  • Beyond Good Intentions and Chicken Soup: Young Adult Literature and Disability Diversity: How Far Have We Come?
  • Beyond Titillation: Sexuality and the Young Adult Novel
  • Celebramos Libros: Celebrating Mexican-American Literature!
  • Commercial Success and Diversity: Are Both Possible, or Are They a Contradiction in Terms?
  • Connecting Religious Teens with Literature
  • Doomed to Repeat It: Diversity in Historical Fiction
  • The Forms and Faces of Poetry for Teens
  • Heroes in International Literature
  • Images and Issues Beyond the Dominant: Including Diversity in Your Graphic Novel Collection
  • Looking for Diversity? Start with Your Own Teens
  • The New Gay Teen: Moving Beyond the “Issue” Novel
  • Talk the Walk: Learning New Booktalking Skills Designed to Reach a Variety of Diverse Teen Populations
  • readergirlz Special Ops: Reaching Underserved Teens

In addition to these programs, there will be four paper presentations.

  • Out of the Ghetto and into the Cape: The Changing Face of Graphic Literature
  • Pushing the Envelope: Exploring Sexuality in Teen Literature
  • Teens Today Don’t Read Books Anymore: A Study of Differences in Comprehension, Interest, and Engagement in Print Reading, E-book Reading, and Audiobook Listening
  • Cultural Inquiry, A Literature Based Model for Engaging Youth of Color

Keep watching the blog for additional information about the programs. Interviews with the presenters and sneak-peeks of the programs will be posted before the symposium!

For more information about the YA Literature Symposium – visit the YA Lit Symposium Webpage or the YA Lit Symposium Wiki.

The YALSA Update: TTW 2010, Annual in DC, and More

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Ready for Teen Tech Week? Teen Tech Week starts this Sunday! Tell us what you have planned at your library at the YALSA Wiki. Looking for last-minute inspiration or publicity tools? Visit the Teen Tech Week website. Have your teens help chose next year’s theme by taking the Teen Tech Week Survey.

Early Bird Ends Today! Today is the last day to get the Early Bird rate for Annual 2010 in Washington, D.C. Registration is also open for YALSA’s preconferences (and remember, you don’t need to register for Annual to attend either preconference). Learn more about our preconferences (there’s info after the jump, too) and see what YALSA has planned for DC at http://tinyurl.com/yalsaac10.’  Remember, you don’t need to register for Annual to attend either of YALSA’s preconferences.

Process Volunteer Forms Due March 12 YALSA will begin appointing process committee, jury, task force, and advisory board members this spring! Be sure to fill out your Committee Volunteer Form by March 12 so that Kim Patton, YALSA’s president-elect, will know you’re interested. (Read Kim Patton’s post on the process to find out more about serving on YALSA’s committees).

After the jump, find out more about YALSA’s preconferences before ALA Annual, how to register for YALSA’s first webinar (it’s free!), and what’s on tap for the 2010 YA Literature Symposium

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Promote YALSA’s Literary Award Winners @ your library

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In January, YALSA and ALA announced the winners of the 2010 Youth Media Awards. As you begin highlighting the award winners at your library, be sure to take advantage of promotional tools from YALSA:

  • Downloadable bookmarks. These bookmarks (PDF) include all of YALSA’s literary award winners, including the Alex, Edwards, Morris, Nonfiction, Odyssey, and Printz awards. Each bookmark lists the winner and honor books. They also allow you to add the location of the titles in your library and to customize the back of the bookmarks with your library’s logo and contact information.
  • Customizable press releases. You can also spread the word on your library’s website or blog, your school or public library newsletter, or even in your local newspaper. Just download a customizable Word template for each of our awards — the Alex, Edwards, Morris, Nonfiction, Odyssey, and Printz.

How do you promote award-winning books at your library? Tell us in the comments.

YALSA Board Update

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Even though Midwinter Meeting ended over a week ago, the YALSA Board continues to actively work on Association decision-making and projects. Some of what the Board has worked on in the past week includes:

  • Discussing the 2015 ALA Strategic Plan. These discussions are taking place on the YALSA Board’s ALA Connect space and Board members are conversing about questions they have about the plan, how the new plan supports the work of YALSA, and how YALSA can support the work of the ALA plan. ALA is asking for Division feedback on the draft plan by February 15, YALSA will submit their comments to ALA by that deadline.
  • Answering questions about YALSA’s selected lists. Last week Frequently Asked Questions related to these lists were posted on the YALSA web site. Over the past several days YALSA Board members have continued to answer questions about the lists. The FAQs have now been updated to reflect the conversations Board members are having. To read an updated version of the FAQs visit the YALSA web site. Read More →

The YALSA Update: Shortlists, Midwinter Registration & More

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Promote the Morris Award shortlist @ your library‘® The Morris shortlist is out! You can promote it to teens in your library with a downloadable bookmark (PDF) that allows you to put each book’s location at your library and customize the back with your logo and contact information. Congrats to this year’s five nominees!

Nonfiction Award shortlist next week Watch YALSA’s website and this blog to see the shortlist for YALSA’s 2010 Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award! The shortlist will be announced next week. This new award honors the best fiction written for young adults in a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year. Learn more at www.ala.org/yalsa/nonfiction.

Register for YALSA’s Midwinter events Even though today is the last day to receive the advanced registration discount, prices won’t change for either of YALSA’s pre-Midwinter ticketed events:’  Libraries 3.0: Teen Edition and Games, Gadgets and Gurus. You don’t need to register for Midwinter to attend either one.’  Details and how to register for them after the jump (you can read about everything we have planned for Midwinter Meeting, including a free program and reception honoring the 2010 Morris and Nonfiction Award honorees, at the YALSA Midwinter Wiki).

Read on for details on YALSA’s pre-Midwinter events, the Young Adult Literature Symposium Stipend, Teen Tech Week registration, and YALSA’s winter online courses.

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