The Roadtripping Librarian: Northeast Ohio

by

I haven’t left for my road trip yet, but I did do a little pre-roadtrip library-browsing in Ohio, while visiting my brother who lives in Oberlin. While there, I visited four local libraries: the Oberlin Public Library, the Lorain Public Library, the Avon Lake Public Library, and the Herrick Public Library in Wellington. As outlined before, I’m checking out their teen rooms, seeing what types of programming they were offering, and reviewing their titles to determine how their collection represented LGBT teens. I’m not looking in these libraries’ OPACs to see if these books might be checked out, or checking to see if they are part of a larger consortium of libraries that might contain these titles; I’m only looking at books that are currently on the shelf.

Oberlin Public Library

Oberlin Public Library


I’m approaching this project as if I were a teen going into my local town library searching for these titles, without any knowledge of how to find them besides looking on the shelf. Obviously, some teens would employ other strategies if they were unable to find certain titles (Interlibrary Loan etc.), but I wanted to experience what most teens would encounter when seeking books for immediate availability.
Read More →

Join the Conversation about Teen Reading!

by

On October 17, 2012, help YALSA celebrate Teen Read Weekâ„¢ by joining the conversation about teen reading and young adult literature via a Tweet-a-thon!’  YALSA wants to know: what’s on your YA lit reading list right now? ‘ Steampunk? Audiobooks? ‘ Horror? Graphic Novels?’  Nonfiction?’  Something else?

We’re encouraging people of all ages to Tweet their YA lit reading lists, recommendations, thoughts and ideas with the hashtag #TRW12 any time on Oct. 17.’  We’ll be following and re-tweeting our favorites.’  We want to hear from teens, librarians, library workers, educators, authors, editors and more!’  What might you Tweet on Oct. 17? Here are just a few ideas:

  • What you are reading, or want you want to read
  • Your opinions on who the contenders are for the Printz or other YA lit awards
  • Innovative ways that libraries are bringing reading to teens
  • Quotes about YA lit, or about reading in general
  • Book recommendations for others
  • Tips for getting more teens reading
  • Links to booklists, contests and other resources
  • What trends you’re seeing in YA lit right now
  • Visuals! Show us what you have going on for Teen Read Week by Tweeting a photo
  • Whatever else you’d like to share about teen reading and YA literature

So, librarians, library workers and educators please alert your teens — and encourage all the adults you know to participate, too. ‘ ‘ To learn more about Teen Read Week, please visit www.ala.org/teenread.

YALSA Podcast #88: Best Fiction For Young Adults

by

Our guest for episode 88 is Terri Snethen, Chair for ‘ the 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults selection committee. Hear how it all came together for the committee in it’s inaugural year.

YALSA Podcast#88

If you prefer, you may download the podcast at the’ YALSA Podcast site and transfer the file to the mp3 player of your choice.

After listening to the podcast, you can check out the committee’s work by seeing what made’ this year’s list.

YALSA Podcast #87: Interview with Katie Robbins of Figment.com

by

This episode’s guest is Katie Robbins of Figment, a new website devoted to Young Adult literature and creative writing for teens.

krobbins_figment.mp3

If you prefer, you may download the podcast at the YALSA Podcast site and transfer the file to the mp3 player of your choice.

If you have a chance to check out Figment’s site, come back and let us know what you think in the comments field of this post. You may follow the links below to find Figment’s site as well as other resources mentioned in the episode.

Figment

Figment News Blog

Figment Review Blog

NY Times Article on Figment’s launch