Virtual ALSC 101

I'm serving on ALSC's Membership Committee and I'd like to formally invite you to Virtual ALSC 101 on Saturday, August 1 from 7:00pm-8:00pm ET (4:00pm-5:00pm PT). Whether you are a new ALSC member, an experienced ALSC member looking to get more involved, or not an ALSC member yet at all, I think this is going to be a really fun event.

Check out Tanya Prax's post on the ALSC Blog to learn more about it and register now for this free, virtual event!  

A Step Towards Inclusion, but the Journey's Not Complete

This year, for the first time, the recipients of the winners of youth literature awards from ALA's affiliate organizations were announced at the Youth Media Awards announcements. This includes the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA)'s Literary Award, the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book Award, and the American Indian Library Association's American Indian Youth Literature Award (which is announced in even years, so there were no winners to announce this year).

Due to time constraints, only the winners of these awards were announced and that resulted in some justifiable indignation that the honor books were left out. I want to focus first on the books here, so here are the winners AND honorees of the APALA Literary Award and the Sydney Taylor Book Award. Then keep reading for more thoughts.

2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature:
Full press release here.

 

Young Adult Winner: Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram (Dial)

Young Adult Honor: The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan (Little, Brown)

 

Children's Winner: Front Desk by Kelly Yang (Scholastic)

Children's Honor: The House That Lou Built by Mae Respicio (Wendy Lamb)

 

Picture Book Winner: Drawn Together by Minh Lê, illustrated by Dan Santat (Disney-Hyperion)

Picture Book Honor: Grandmother's Visit by Betty Quan, illustrated by Carmen Mok (Groundwood Books)

Sydney Taylor Book Award (Association of Jewish Libraries):
Full press release here.

  

Younger Readers Gold Medalist:
All of a Kind Family Hanukkah by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (Schwartz & Wade)

Younger Readers Silver Medalists:
A Moon for Moe and Mo by Jane Breskin Zalben, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini (Charlesbridge)
Through the Window: Views of Marc Chagall's Life and Art by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary GrandPré  (Knopf)

  

Older Readers Gold Medalist:
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier (Puffin)

Older Reader Silver Medalists:
All Three Stooges by Erica S. Perl (Knopf)
The Length of a String by Elissa Brent Weissman (Dial)

 

Teen Gold Medalist:
What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper (Knopf)

Teen Silver Medalist:
You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon (Simon Pulse)

The American Indian Youth Literature Award is presented in even years, so there were no awards announced for 2019.

During the announcements, ALA President Loida Garcia-Febo did mention that there were honor books that could be found on the organizations' websites, but they were still difficult to track down. Twitter erupted with justified indignation that the honor books for these awards were not announced (only the winners proper). Jody Gray, director of the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services, offered this response, which has not been as widely shared on social media. Go and read it, I'll wait.

I think it's important to note that this is the first year of adding these awards to the announcements and there are many moving pieces to the scheduling puzzle that are really difficult to navigate. I regret that anyone felt left out and excluded when I know the intent of this change was to be more inclusive. I think it's important that we continue to work towards a better solution. I myself would have loved to hear about the honor books at the announcements. Many of them I haven't read and I am so glad to be exposed to them now (my holds list at the library has grown so long!). I believe that ALA is listening and I also believe that we can do better and that ALA wants to work towards that.

ALA Midwinter Bound!

Today I'm headed West to Seattle for the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting. I am super excited to attend some great programs, reconnect with colleagues from all over the country, and learn about all the great new books coming out this spring.

I will be live-blogging for the ALSC Blog, so make sure you jump over there to see my posts and the posts from the other live-bloggers throughout the conference! And follow me on Twitter @abbylibrarian for more frequent updates about the conference.

Here are some things I'll be doing at the conference:

• I'm looking forward to learning a lot from the PLA preconference Advancing Racial Equity in Public Libraries: Normalizing, Organizing, and Operationalizing on Friday. 
• I am so excited to hear Sylvia Acevedo speak (as you will remember, I LOVED HER BOOK). 
• I was invited to a celebration of Kwame Alexander's new imprint with Houghton Mifflin, Versify. As you know, I am a huge fan of Kwame Alexander ;) and I am super excited for this new imprint. 
• I can't wait to see what titles will be honored this year at the Youth Media Awards and this is the first year that titles selected for awards by the American Indian Library Association, Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, and the Association of Jewish Libraries will be shared at the YMAs! I am so glad I get to be there in person! But you can also watch a livestream of the awards on Monday, January 28 starting at 8am Pacific. 

And tons more. :) 

If you'll be at ALA Midwinter, I hope to see you! If you're left behind this year, don't forget to follow the hashtag #alamw19 to stay up to date on all the conference goings-on. 

Diversity Within ALSC Survey

Friends, the Diversity Within ALSC Task Force needs your help. In order to figure out what steps need to be taken to increase the diversity within our organization, they need to get a sense of what the current organization looks like.

I'm posting their message below. The survey literally takes only a few minutes. If you're a member of ASLC, have ever been a member of ALSC, or have thought about joining ALSC, please fill it out! 

~*~*~*~

The Diversity within ALSC Task Force is conducting a survey to gain a better understanding of the current ALSC membership as well as other youth services providers outside the membership.

The purpose of this survey is to discern where we stand with diversity within the children’s library services profession, and to determine barriers to joining ALSC. It is our hope that by discovering barriers we can work to break them down to create a more inclusive, diverse membership, and eventually, profession.

This survey is voluntary, confidential, and anonymous. No personally identifiable information is captured and all responses will be aggregated and summarized into a report.

We would like to compile as much information as possible, and we hope that you will consider participating in the survey.

Please feel free to share with colleagues in order to help us reach the greatest possible audience. The survey will be live until Tuesday, December 20th.

Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/alscdiversity

Thank you,
Kendra Jones and Zareen Jaffery, on behalf of the Diversity within ALSC Task Force

2017 Newbery Committee Candidate Sarah Wethern

ALA (including ALSC and YALSA) elections are happening NOW! I urge you to go forth and VOTE! This is your chance to make your voice heard in your organization, so do it!

I know that the ballots can be a little overwhelming, so allow me to introduce a fabulous candidate for the 2017 Newbery Committee: Sarah Wethern. Sarah was kind enough to stop by and answer a few questions for me and you will see her on your ALSC ballot, so please give her your vote!

Sarah Wethern is the Youth Librarian at the Douglas County Library in Minnesota. She has been there five years. Previous positions include being a teen librarian in Colorado. She is currently serving on ALCS's Quicklists Consulting Committee and recently finished up a term on YALSA's Morris award committee. Sarah has three cats, one dog, and loves to read, watch TV, and bake in her spare time.

Abby: Sarah, recently you were accepted for and attended ALSC's Morris Seminar. Tell us a little bit about your experiences there. 

Sarah: The Morris Seminar was a really positive experience for me. I was nervous because I felt like I was among the “elite” of the kidlit reviewing world but I did not have to worry. Everyone was gracious and more than willing to answer questions AND help us better explore how to talk about books, particularly with removing personal feelings from the equation. This is so very difficult to do and even after a few different committee experiences; when you love books, you want to tell people why and of course, feelings come into that. The Morris Seminar was really helpful in getting me to better articulate the positives and challenges about books. And perhaps the best thing of all, it was so great meeting librarians from across the country and getting the chance to learn and be inspired by them.

The past couple of years have been particularly exciting for the Newbery Award as books in different formats (graphic novels and a picture book) have won Newbery Honors and the 2016 Newbery Medal. What do you think about these different formats being recognized?

I am so excited that the Newbery Committee has been looking beyond the traditional chapter book format for its medalist and honor titles. It seems a natural extension of the different way kids are reading and learning now. The Newbery guidelines are just that, guidelines. The committees in recent years are clearly finding the guidelines open to interpretation and I think that will benefit this award now and in years to come. It opens the door for a wider array of authors and formats to be honored and put into the hands of kids.

You served as a member of the 2014 Printz Committee; how do you feel that this experience has prepared you to serve on the Newbery Committee? 

YALSA’s Printz committee was my first professional committee work and it was daunting. It proved to be such a positive experience which I feel lucky to have had. I learned how to work within a committee to discuss books in a professional setting. It can be difficult to listen to that book you just love SO MUCH being put in a more negative light. But this is a necessary and important part of committee work. There is no hiding the challenges a book may present and if you ignore that, you are not fulfilling the work of the committee. I also feel like my Printz experience helped me better see the positives in books that I personally was not enjoying. And the fact is, whether I “like” a book or not plays no role in the committee process and figuring that out was quite the learning curve.

What are some of your very favorite Newbery-winning books? Tell us why you like them. 

I have three Newbery books that are unforgettable to me. These are in no particular order because well, I just can’t choose a true number one.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly is one of my favorite honor titles. I love the science and nature aspects combined with the growth of Calpurnia. Her mind is alive on every page of the book and her questioning nature is exactly what I was like as a kid. This book breaks stereotypes and is just so well-written and lovely.

I love historical fiction and Al Capone Does my Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (Puffin, 2004) is just amazing. I love handseling this series to kids. The setting drew me into the story. I’ve always been curious about Alcatraz and Choldenko does such a fabulous job of combining historical fact with an interesting plot and great characters. Every scene played out in my head like a movie (in fact, I’d love to see this book as a movie!). This is a fabulous honor book that truly embraces everything Newbery stands for.

Lois Lowry’s The Giver (Dell Laurel-Leaf, 1994) is one of my most memorable reading experiences. I remember the first time I read the book, back in fifth grade, and being absolutely blown away by everything about it. It was so, so different than anything I had read at that point in my life. It felt revolutionary and to this day, I attach those feelings to The Giver. The decisions Jonas made and how it played out, and THE ENDING and how open it was. That was breathtaking for me as a young reader. And while nostalgia plays a large part in how much I love this book, it is still one I re-read every year. Reading experiences like The Giver do not come along all that often in life!

Some of my other favorite Newbery titles include From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg, Bomb: the Race to Build--and Steal--the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin, and The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden.

Sarah, thanks so much for stopping by today and sharing with us!

Many thanks to Abby for hosting me on her blog! I hope you will consider voting for me in the upcoming ALA elections.

An ALA 2015 Recap

My friends, the 2015 ALA Annual Conference was such an amazing experience! I am really grateful for all the connections I have made through ALA, for my awesome 2015 Newbery Committee and our honored authors, for the education I received at conference, and for all the FUN this conference brought!

You definitely want to check out the live blogging posts on the ALSC Blog for lots of detail about sessions and goings-on at conference. But I also wanted to share a little bit about what I was up to at this conference:

PS: I am going to use the word "amazing" about 100 times in this post. Deal.

• Learning from other amazing youth services librarians at Guerrilla Storytime. 

• Celebrating our amazing Newbery Honor authors, Cece Bell and Jacqueline Woodson, at a fancy dinner with our committee. 

• Doing the Dumplin' pose at a HarperCollins breakfast. You do not want to miss this book. I promise. It comes out in September and I have a review coming soon.
  
• Presenting on an AWESOME panel about managing youth services (check out hashtag #futureYS for take-aways!)

Photo by Dan Bolstrom, ALSC

• Meeting up with the ALSC live bloggers and our ALSC Blog manager Mary Voors.
  
• Sitting in on the Children's Notable Recordings meeting and learning a lot about evaluating and discussing audio recordings. 

• Celebrating our 2015 Newbery Medal winner, Kwame Alexander!!!!!

• Picking up some highly anticipated books at the Exhibit Hall. (These are not all, but I didn't actually take that many books home this time around!)

• Drinking wine on the 46th floor before my FIRST Newbery Caldecott Wilder Banquet and...

• Hanging out with this guy in my fancy Newbery dress. 

• My first Newbery Caldecott Wilder Banquet. I was completely star-struck the entire time and just sat at my table with wide eyes taking in all the famous authors whirling around me. (Also, Jacqueline Woodson's son was at my table and engrossed in a Babymouse book for the later part of the evening!)

• Being with my people. Love. 

If I don't get to go to an ALA Conference for awhile, this was a GREAT one to go out on. I had a blast and learned a lot. I already miss my magical world of ALA Conference. BUT I know this guy is happy I'm home: 

Live Blogging at #alaac15

Today, I am headed out West to San Francisco for the 2015 American Library Association Annual Conference.

I am SUPER excited about this conference (which will probably be my last national conference for awhile). I'm excited to see my amazing 2015 Newbery Committee again without the stress of committee work to worry about. I am thrilled to join our Newbery honor and medal winners for dinner over the weekend, and, of course, to attend the 2015 Newbery/Caldecott Banquet.

I will also be speaking on a panel Saturday morning: Managing the Future: Supporting Your Youth Services Innovators with the amazing Cory Eckert, Justin Hoenke, and Kendra Jones!

If you are left behind, NEVER FEAR! The ALSC Blog is stepping up to keep you in the loop. A great group of ALSC Bloggers will be live-blogging and posting short, frequent updates throughout the conference, so you won't miss a thing.

Make sure you're following the ALSC Blog and the Twitter hashtag #alaac15 to see all the great stuff happening at Conference!

Vegas, Baby! (For a Professional Librarian Conference!)

Yes, I'm headed to Las Vegas for the next several days, attending the American Library Association's Annual Conference! To be completely honest with you, my brain is fried between READING and summer and SUMMER READING. I feel like I need an aide to take my hand and lead me to all the fun and educational things. But I am hoping to tweet, so follow @abbylibrarian for conference goings-on. 

Luckily, the lovely folks at the ALSC Blog will be live blogging, so if you're playing along at home, don't forget to check them out! 

And I'll be back to blogging sometime after the conference.

Reflections from ALA Midwinter

Maybe it's because I'm serving on an awards committee this year, but I feel like I've finally figured out the ALA Conference this time around. I learned so much, connected with my colleagues, and had no session regrets.

Of course, I'm lucky to have been selected for the Bill Morris Seminar on Book Evaluation Training, which was a completely amazing day. We split up the day between guest speakers and small group discussions on preselected books. Topics included how to evaluate books, how to discuss books in a group, and what the experience of serving on an ALA awards committee is like. In our small group discussions, we were able to practice what we learned as we discussed the books we had read. I came away feeling much more confident about evaluating and discussing books.

On Saturday, I met my 2015 Newbery Committee for the first time (a few of us had met previously, but this was the first time the entire group got together). At our open meeting, we got to know each other a little, went over the criteria and process for the Newbery committee work, and had an opportunity to discuss any concerns or questions we might have. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, but it's going to be such worthwhile work and I'm really excited.

On Sunday, I attended my very first Guerrilla Storytime, which was an amazing grassroots training and sharing opportunity. Watch out, ILF Conference! Soon there will be Guerrilla Storytime at you! I also attended the Preschool Services Group Discussion, where we talked about the importance of play and how to incorporate play into our programs and our libraries.

Monday was the Youth Media Awards announcements, which were very emotional for me at this juncture (my friends kept leaning over and saying "Next year, that will be you!"). I loved finding out which books the committees chose to honor this year, and I especially found it interesting the wide range of ages this year's Newbery and Printz Awards covered.

Monday afternoon, I sat in on one of the Notable Children's Books discussions, which was illuminating and interesting. This is definitely a session I would recommend sitting in on (their meetings are open) if you're interested in book evaluation and/or serving on an awards committee. Again, I was able to see some of the elements of book discussion put into practice while watching the committee go through their process to select the year's notable books.

And Monday night, I attended the joint ALSC/YALSA reception, which is a great opportunity to connect with colleagues and get to know new people. I have been to enough conferences and involved in enough ALA activities now that I know people at these events and it's always fun to see everyone. I've learned, too, that everyone gets really excited when you tell them you're on the Newbery Committee and it's a great conversation starter.

My only regret is that I did not have a chance to sit in on the Notable Children's Recordings session, but there's always next time!

All in all, it was a GREAT conference and I'd like to thank the ALA staff and volunteers for a great learning opportunity. I'd also like the thank all the ALA awards committees for their hard work this year in selecting the year's most distinguished books for children and teens. It is NOT easy work and so much thought goes into every choice.

Although I am super exhausted (I'm writing this at the Philadelphia Airport), I'm also refreshed, in a way. I'm excited to bring some of the things I learned back to my staff. I'm excited to put the things I learned into practice. And I'm excited to start my Newbery year.

It's going to be an amazing year, folks!!

And I'm Off!

Philadelphia City Hall by angelo

I'm off today for the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia! Make sure to tune in to the ALSC Blog over the next few days because several fabulous people are liveblogging the conference! If there is anything in particular you'd like to hear about, be sure to let us know!

You will find me at the Morris Seminar on Friday, the introductory Newbery Committee meeting on Saturday (!!), Guerrilla Storytime on Sunday, and the Youth Media Awards ceremony on Monday (watch it live!!!). And I will be around other places, too.

When I get back, it will be time to read, read, read, read, read, read... ;)

Headed to #ALA2013

I'm headed to the ALA Annual Conference this weekend to learn from tons of awesome librarians and get a sneak peak at some of this fall and winter's upcoming books. You can follow along at the ALSC Blog where a team of fifteen bloggers will be micro-blogging throughout the conference. Also, don't forget to follow the Twitter hashtag #ala2013!

I'm particularly excited to attend the Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) Teen Input Session, get my unprogramming on, talk about "new adult" fiction, and attend the Odyssey Award and the Printz Award ceremonies. 

And, of course, I'm thrilled to reconnect with my dear librarian friends from all over the county - and make many more! If you see me at the Conference, please say hi! I'd love to meet you if I haven't already. 

2015 Newbery Committee, Here I Come!

The Newbery Award is administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Newbery Medal image copyright ©2013 and used with permission of ALSC/ALA.

Well, the ALA Election results were announced last Friday and I am thrilled to announce that I have been elected to the 2015 Newbery Committee!! I'd like to thank everyone who voted in the election. It is so important for ALA members to make our voices heard within the organization. And congratulations to my fellow Newbery committee members and the elected members of all the other ALSC and YALSA selection committees! 2015, here we come!!

(And if you're wondering what that means for this blog, well, I'm not entirely sure yet. I will certainly refrain from reviewing anything eligible for the award here, but I hope to continue blogging about library programs and services during 2014!)

Oh hey, ALA Elections

Oh hey, it's ALA Election time again! Voting begins TODAY and continues through April 26, 2013.  You can find more info on ALA's website (and I believe that ballots will be emailed out).

I really, really, really, really, really, really encourage all ALA members to vote.

I know that the ballots are long and it can be a time-consuming process, but I truly believe it's an important process. Every vote counts and we need every voice. Please set aside the time and make your voice heard.

Also, ahem, you will find me on your ballot this year, running for the 2015 Newbery Commitee. I personally would appreciate your vote, but even if you don't want to vote for me (or if you are not an ALSC member), I still want you to VOTE!!!

ALA Youth Media Awards Announced!!!

This morning in Seattle, WA, the 2013 Youth Media Awards were announced by the American Library Association! Dozens of committee members worked their butts off reading and debating about books all year to decide on the best of the best.

My staff and I tuned in for the live webcast this morning. It's the first time we've done that as a department and we will definitely be doing it again! After holding our Mock Caldecott party last weekend, my librarians were particularly invested in the Caldecott winner and honor books, but everyone enjoyed seeing all the awards.

You can find the full list of award-winners on the ALA Youth Media Awards Press Kit.

The 2013 Newbery Medal went to The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate!

And the 2013 Caldecott Medal went to This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen! 

And the 2013 Printz Medal went to In Darkness by Nick Lake! (Which I have not read, but just bought for my Kindle.)

And the 2013 Sibert Medal AND the 2013 ENYA went to Bomb by Steve Sheinkin! (A Newbery honor, too! Hooray!) I'm particularly excited to see this book get so much attention because it was definitely one of my favorite 2012 books (maybe even my VERY favorite)!

And there were lots of other awesome books honored today. Another I immediately put on my Kindle to read is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, which was littered with several honor medals today. 

It was a great experience to watch the webcast and I'm happy I could arrange for my staff to join me (we are generally pretty quiet in the mornings while school is in session and someone from Circ was able to cover our desk for an hour). I think my staff came away from the awards a bit more excited about children's and teen literature and adding some books to their TBR piles, too! (We'll be fighting over them now, but that's okay!)

Did anyone else watch the webcast this morning? Were some of your favorites recognized this year? 

ALA: Why I'm Renewing

CC: Emily Laurel

My ALA membership expires at the end of January. And yes, it'll be a chunk of change to renew it (over $200 for ALA and my two divisions, ALSC and YALSA). But here's why it's worth it to me:

• The connections. I have made some REALLY GOOD FRIENDS through attending ALA conferences. These are friends with whom I brainstorm for work, celebrate achievements, commiserate when we've had hard days, present with at conferences, and more. I've met people with whom I've connected on Twitter and blogs. These librarians are constant sources of inspiration and problem-solving to me! 
• The education. Of course you can still attend ALA conferences if you're not an ALA member, but the lower the price and the more involved I am in the organization, the more likely I am to request to go (and get approved!). This year's ALSC Institute was one of the best conferences I have ever been to. I came home feeling totally exhilarated and inspired to do more than ever before at my library!
• The professional opportunities. Over the course of my ALA membership, I've volunteered for committees, become a regular contributor to the ALSC Blog, and been asked to write for American Libraries (due to connections made through my work for the ALSC Blog). Not only has this been fun work, but it has helped me develop my skills and it looks great on a resume. (I'm not job hunting, but you never know!)

Of course, ALA's not the only way to get these things. If you don't feel you can afford ALA membership, you might want to look into membership in your state library association or seek out and join library listservs like PUBYAC or PubLib. Or check out this handout from my presentation on blogs, Pinterest accounts, and Twitter folks for programming ideas to get your own social media network started. 

ALA works for me because I work for ALA. Only by getting involved do I truly get out of ALA everything I want to get out of it. I've written before that ALA is Not Your Mom and I still think that's absolutely true. Nope, it's not a magic organization that's going to get you a raise, send you free books, or provide free conferences or trainings (you can access some archived webinars for free, but I do wish they'd provide more free trainings... guess I need to figure out how to make that happen!). But it is a group of people who care greatly about what we do and who are willing to help others to make America's libraries awesome. And I want to be a part of that. 

And that's why I'm writing that check to ALA. 

Full disclosure: I've been an ALA member since 2010 (plus one year as a student member in grad school). This post contains only my personal opinions. ALA did not ask me to write this post. 

Got an Awesome Teen Program?

Submit it for the Excellence in Library Services to Young Adults program! Thanks to Justin Hoenke for bringing this program to my attention. Best of luck to anyone applying!

From ALA.org:
YALSA will select up to twenty-five innovative teen programs from all types of libraries to feature at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference and to include in a sixth edition of Excellence in Library Service to Young Adults. Successful applications will focus on programs that address new teen needs or interests, or that address ongoing teen needs or interests in an innovative or unique way. The top five programs will receive cash awards of $1000 each. Up to twenty “best of the rest” programs will receive cash awards of $250. Each award will be presented to the applicant’s institution for use with future teen programs and/or for the applicant’s travel to the 2013 conference to participate in the YALSA President’s Program.

EligibilityThe program described in the application must be a library-sponsored event, inside or outside the library, which appeals to a group rather than an individual. A program can be informational, recreational, educational, or all three.

• The program described must have taken place in 2012 or be ongoing.
• The program must be targeted at teens within the 12 – 18 age range.
• All personal members of YALSA whose membership is current as of 12/17/12 are eligible to submit an application.
• Only one application per YALSA member may be submitted.

CriteriaEach application will be judged on the basis of the:

• Degree to which the program meets the needs of the teens in the community. (20 points)
• Originality of the program (creative, innovative, unique). (30 points)
• Degree to which the program reflects the ideals identified in YALSA’s national guidelines and competencies (at www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines). (20 points)
• Overall quality of the program (well planned, promoted, organized, implemented, and evaluated). (20 points)
• Clarity of the application (10 points)

Instructions1. The application must include a statement of support from the director of the public library, school principal, or the building-level administrator which is emailed to lsmith@ala.org.

2. Entries must be models of clarity and completeness.

3. The application must be submitted electronically via the online form at http://ow.ly/eKh40.

4. All online forms and statements of support must be received no later than midnight (eastern) Dec. 17, 2012.

5. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

AnnouncementThe libraries selected with exemplary programs will be announced via press release the week of Feb. 4, 2013.

All of the selected programs will be invited to participate in YALSA’s President’s Program: Innovations in Teen Programming at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference. Prize money may be used to support travel and conference expenses.

All of the selected exemplary programs/services will be included in YALSA’s Excellence in Library Services to Young Adults, 6th edition, to be published in the fall of 2013.
Libraries receiving the cash awards will be recognized via press release and on the YALSA web site. A list of winning applicants will be included in the forthcoming book.

For questions contact: Letitia Smith, YALSA Membership Marketing Specialist, at lsmith@ala.org or 1.800.545.2433 x4390

Get Real: Contemporary YA Lit is the Next Big Thing

My body is here in Southern Indiana this weekend, but my heart is in St. Louis with my fabulous colleagues at the 2012 YALSA YA Lit Symposium. Indeed, I had been working on a presentation with four of my very favorite teen librarians - Angie Manfredi, Katie Salo, Drea Sowers, and Kelly Jensen - but life happened and I was unable to attend the conference this weekend.

If you visit your local chain bookstore, chances are that the teen section is inundated with paranormal and fantasy titles. There's nothing wrong with that; those titles are certainly popular with teens. But know that teens are craving realistic fiction, too. Paranormal may be hot right now, but it's contemporary stories that are, have been, and will be the meat of the YA genre. Teens need books that reflect their experiences and allow them to experience other situations in a safe way. Teens need to see themselves in books, need books that talk about relationships and tough situations.

Our panel, Get Real: Contemporary YA Lit is "The Next Big Thing" talks about the importance of contemporary fiction and gives TONS of suggestions in a variety of genres. If you couldn't make it to the Symposium this year or if you're just looking for the handouts, I've got 'em here.

Here's the Prezi that the panel presented this morning:

Contemporary YA Lit is "The Next Big Thing" on Prezi

And our epic handout with tons and tons of book suggestions:

Ya Lit Symposium Hand Out

If you're not sure where to start, check out this awesome Contemporary YA flowchart made by Kelly Jensen of STACKED.

Contemporary YA lit is something our teens need and something they're asking for! Hopefully these resources we've put together will help you in your quest to put the right book in the right hands.

A Fresh Look at Storytime

My storytime looked different this morning. Thanks to the 2012 ALSC Institute (and, in particular, sessions by Melissa Depper & Lori Romero on storytime training and evaluation and by Sarah Mackie on the Columbus Metropolitan Library's Ready to Read Corps), I'm thinking about storytime a little differently this morning. 

When I returned to work on Sunday, I spent some time checking out the Indiana Department of Education's Kindergarten Readiness Matrices. After hearing about how the Columbus Metropolitan Library took early literacy training to the streets in order to improve scores on Ohio's kindergarten readiness assessment, I wanted to see what skills we might reinforce in our storytimes. I'm not sure (yet!) what assessment our local schools use, but this gave me a great start to thinking critically about what activities we offer in our storytimes and what skills they are developing. 

As I prepared for this morning's storytime, I thought about transition between the elements and what activities and books might lead into our next activities. I remembered that fingerplays are important because they develop fine motor skills and puppets are important because they engage kids and encourage creative play. I included a nonfiction book to get at some of those Tier 2 words that kids are not hearing every day. I remembered that learning through play is vital, so I got some related toys ready to put out for the kids after storytime. 

As I did storytime, I noticed how some of the parents were involved and engaged and some spent the entire time on their cell phones. I'm sure this was the case before, but now I'm noticing and I'm going to change some things about my storytimes to try to engage parents more. 

I thought about places where I could insert early literacy messages. We include them in our take-home craft packets, but we could certainly do more. I thought about our Memory Box and whether switching to a Mystery Bag or being more purposeful about what items we're including in the Memory Box might benefit children more. 

All of that on my first program after the ALSC Institute and there's much more to come. I spent some time brainstorming about what training I need to offer my staff and we'll spend more time over the coming weeks thinking critically about what we're offering to our patrons and why. 

There will be another storytime post this week with the materials I used (we talked about cows this week!). As I wrote up that post, I kept coming across small elements I had changed because of the Institute or activities I included specifically because of Institute sessions and I knew I had to write this post first. 

@YALSA is Not Your Mom Either

YALSA (the Young Adult Library Services Association) has a firm position on the right to open access to information. One of the points in the YALSA Vision Statement reads that YALSA "supports equality of access to the full range of library materials and services... for young adults". So, I was a little surprised to discover last night that YALSA is now requiring members to log in and non-members to fill out information before accessing the YALSA book award pages and book lists. 

Here's where I tell you that I'm a YALSA member, but I'm not on any YALSA committees and I was not part of making the decision to change access to the book lists. I didn't know that this was happening before last night. If they announced the change, it was in something that I skimmed or didn't read. Which is annoying, for sure. If only they'd announced the change was coming and explained the reasons behind it, I might not be writing this post.

As I discussed this change on Twitter with some librarian friends, I know I came across as defending the change (and, perhaps by extension, YALSA and/or ALA). 

Really? I know it's a pain. I'm the only YALSA member at my library (and I'm not the teen librarian) and it pains me to have an added barrier to getting other staff members at the library to utilize YALSA's selection lists. I want our library service to teens to be awesome and the YALSA book lists can help make that happen... but not if access to them is restricted. And yes, it only takes a minute to fill out the information they're looking for. And yes, access to the lists is still free. And yes, once you submit that information you can get the direct links to the lists and bookmark them so you don't have to enter your info again. But how many people are going to actually do all that? My guess is not many. And let's not even think about any teens who might want to use the book lists (although I'd guess the number of teens accessing these lists through YALSA's web site is small at best). 

But I can see where YALSA is coming from. Membership is down. I imagine they're trying to emphasize what a valuable resource the YALSA selection lists are. Maybe some people who use these lists have never stopped to think "Hmm... It costs money to facilitate the creation of these lists. I would like to help support them." Maybe some people who use these lists have never even stopped to think about what YALSA really is and what it does. Getting an email address from people who use the lists could feasibly be a way to target non-members who might be interested in joining YALSA. 

And maybe it's not something that's going to work and things will go back to the way they used to be. I imagine YALSA's trying it out. (And I also imagine that the response to this move will be overwhelmingly negative.)

This issue brings me back to thinking about the value of ALA membership, what ALA is and what it isn't. Several people piped up on Twitter last night to say that having access to book lists would not encourage them to join ALA, but having barriers to accessing book lists would stop them from using YALSA's resources. 

It was pointed out (as always) that ALA membership is too expensive. You know the only way that's going to change? If ALA members vote for it to change. (In 2011, YALSA members actually voted to increase the YALSA dues from $50 to $60 for librarians. That is a thing that happened.) If you don't like what ALA is doing, get involved and change it. The people making these decisions are people just like you. Committee members, ALA Council, and ALA members who are voting (and only 20% of ALA members voted in the 2011 election. What is up with THAT?). 

I get that it's not possible for everyone to join YALSA that might want to. It is expensive and if your library can't or won't cover some of the costs of joining a professional organization or attending conferences, the costs can be prohibitive. But the fact remains that the only way to change the organization is to get involved and make that change happen*. 

You can't afford to join a professional organization? I can't afford not to. 

(Wondering about the title of this post? It's a reference to a previous post of mine: ALA is Not Your Mom.)

Edited to add (2/25/12): YALSA President Sarah Flowers has posted about the rationale behind the changes to the website on the YALSA Blog. I urge you to click through to read what she has to say and leave a comment to let YALSA know your thoughts! I won't quote the post here, although I will note that Ms. Flowers said that the change "is not expected to be temporary".

* Or. You could just not use the YALSA book lists and when they find that their site traffic has dropped dramatically, they'll eventually lift the barrier. Maybe? 

ALA Midwinter Recap

Dallas at night!

The day I got home from ALA Midwinter 2012, I slept for 15 hours.

Maybe some people make sure they get decent amounts of sleep during Conference, but I (apparently) am not one of them. And that kinda shows you what kind of a magical land the ALA Conference is: a place where networking, discovering new books, comparing library programs, meeting authors, finding solutions to your library problems... all of those are more important than sleep.

I know joining ALA is expensive and attending conference is expensive and not everyone can afford it on our librarian salaries and not everyone's library can or will pay for them. My dues are coming up at the end of January and I've been putting it off. But after that fabulous conference, I suddenly find that I don't mind writing that check. What I'm saying is that it is so worth it.

If you're not going to get involved, if you're not going to take advantage of the opportunities that ALA can offer (networking, committee work, conferences, etc.), then you're right - ALA membership might not be worth the dues you're paying. But a lot of the youth librarians I know are the only librarians in their department. Joining and being active in a professional organization offers you the opportunity to find people to share ideas, ask for solutions to problems, and possibly become lifelong friends. Of course you can do those things online, but there's something about meeting face to face, about talking books over a couple of margaritas (or Diet Cokes)...

We saw the van! 

Even though conference totally exhausted me, it also completely refreshed me. I returned, ready to dive back in to my work.

In other news, there's been a bunch of blogger drama surrounding this conference and I don't really want to get into all of it, except to say that I second what Kelly said and what Jennie said and I'm so heartened to hear a friendly publisher rep weighing in and saying just what I'd like to say, but in a much kinder way.

Instead, I'd like to tell you how fabulous it was to sit in a ballroom and hear many, many teens repeatedly coming up to the mic to talk about their favorite (and least favorite) books on the Best Fiction for Young Adults nominees. Check out the #BFYA Twitter stream for more details about what teens said.

Theater for the YMA announcements

It was amazing it was to sit in a theater with hundreds of librarians, holding our breath as the Youth Media Awards were announced. The screams of joy and occasional hushed silences as favorite books were recognized or other favorite books were seemingly overlooked. (The selection committees put their heart and soul into their choices, so even if some of my favorites didn't get stickers, I appreciate the difficult decisions the committees had to make!)

It was wonderful to connect with publishers on the exhibit floor and find out what books they're excited about. They were just as interested to hear what the kids at my library are excited about. I attended several of the publishers' preview events and it's always nice to hear pub reps talk about the books they've got coming up. I can read a jacket flap, but hearing someone close to the book talking about it is a completely different experience.

It was four days of talking books with awesome people nonstop. It was four days of meeting new friends, putting faces to names I'd only seen online. It was four days with My People. And I'm already looking forward to the time that I might get to be back with My People again.

Thanks, ALA, for a great conference!