Please join YALSA at ALA's Midwinter Meeting

Philadelphia, Jan. 11-16, 2008

YALSA has some great meetings and events planned this year. To register for Midwinter (advanced registration ends November 30) or to sign up for our special events (Midwinter registration not required), visit the ALA Midwinter Website. To get the latest updates onYALSA at Midwinter, visit the YALSA Midwinter Wiki!

Want to know where your meetings are? Download YALSA's Midwinter 2008 Schedule (PDF).

Taking Teen Services to the Next Level | Gaming Night | Youth Media Awards | YALSA Exhibit Booth

Here are YALSA's Midwinter highlights:

Taking Teen Services to the Next Level! To kick off YALSA’s 3-year advocacy campaign, YALSA is offering this full day institute on January 11 at a special price! Did you know that the current generation of teens is the largest generation ever? This institute will give you the tools you need to advocate for the teens in your community. Get ideas on how to collaborate with community organizations to maximize outreach to teens, learn how to gain more support from administrators and library trustees, find out how to take advantage of funding opportunities, and sharpen your skills to show others in your library and community how to turn a challenge into an opportunity. Lunch is included. You do not need to register for Midwinter to attend this event. The Institute takes place 9-5 p.m. in the Marriott Philadelphia Liberty BRC Room.

Fees to attend this institute are:

YALSA Members, Students and Retirees: $100
ALA Members: $125
Nonmembers: $150

YALSA's Gaming Extravaganza. YALSA's 3rd Annual Gaming Night (January 11, 8-10 pm in Philadelphia Loew's Millennium Room), sponsored by Teen Tech Week and Dungeons & Dragons, is bigger and better than ever! Experienced gamers, beginners, as well as everyone in between will find something new in the world of online, video, and tabletop games. Thanks to Game Crazy for providing games! Participants will:

Network with other young adult librarians over refreshments
See demonstrations and play video and tabletop games currently popular with teens
Hear from teens about what's hot and what's not in gaming
Learn about machinima and how to get it started in your library
Take part in a video game contest

Tickets cost $40, but you do not need to register for Midwinter to attend this event.

Youth Media Awards. First thing Monday morning, January 14, ALA will announce all of the 2008 award winners, including the 9th winner of YALSA's Printz Award for excellence in YA lit, the 20th winner of YALSA's Edwards award for lifetime contribution to YA lit, and the 11th group of winners of YALSA's Alex Awards (top 10 adult books w/ teen appeal).

YALSA Exhibits Booth. YALSA will host a booth at Midwinter Meeting this year! Stop by Booth #435 in the Exhibits Hall to:

Grab a copy of Ghostgirl: Rest in Popularity by Tonya Hurley (the YALSA booth is the only place to get this special advanced reading copy, compliments of Little Brown Books for Young Readers)
Enjoy a book signing with Holly Black, author of The Spiderwick Chronicles and a Modern Tale of Faerie series. Holly will be signing books from 1-2 p.m. on Saturday, January 12, courtesy Simon & Schuster. The first 60 visitors will get a free copy of one of Holly's books!
Pick up great YALSA swag, including our gaming in libraries core collection poster and Teen Tech Week cups, and find out more about Teen Tech Week, March 2-8, 2008, as well as YALSA
Enter raffles to win $50 in Teen Tech Week products, courtesy TTW Promotional Partner ALA Graphics OR a basket of goodies from TTW Corporate Sponsor Dungeons & Dragons!