From the YALSA Office

YALSA Celebrates New Direction

After more than twenty-five years of advocating basic library services for young adults, YALSA is taking the next step. Introduced in New Directions for Library Services to Young Adults, by YALSA and well-known consultant and librarian Patrick Jones, this philosophy zeroes in on youth participation as a way of enriching youth, libraries, and librarians. The energy for the shift comes from two very basic ideas: librarians should be working with teens as opposed to working for them; and libraries are part of a larger community network that should be supporting positive youth development. These two ideas have a major impact on how we think about and do the work of library service to teens.

YALSA will be reexamining its Competencies and Strategic Plan in view of this new philosophy, and librarians will see this initiative influence all the work of the association. It is also reflected in YALSA President Caryn Sipos’ theme for her presidential year (see From the President, page 3). A task force has been formed to help with the implementation, and its members are Daphne Daly (Tucson Public Library), Kay Bishop (State University of New York at Buffalo), Anthony Bernier (Oakland Public Library), and Renée Vaillancourt (freelance writer/consultant).

According to a press release for the book, “Eighteen real-life success stories show [school and public library] programs from around the country that have engaged their kids—in drama groups, in homework programs, in college planning programs—all with tangible outcomes. Packed with useful resources, the appendix includes YALSA’s key action areas and guidelines, adolescent developmental assets from the Search Institute, and standards for information literacy.” The book is available from ALA Editions and can be ordered at 1-866-SHOP ALA (1-866-746-7252), fax: (770) 442-9742, or ALA Order Fulfillment, P.O. Box 932501, Atlanta, GA 31193-2501. Be sure to include title and ISBN number (0-8389-0827-6). The price for ALA members is $28.80; nonmembers, $32.

The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts Centennial Reprint

The Margaret A. Edwards Trust has generously supported the reprinting of a centennial edition of The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts, to commemorate the one hundredth birthday of one of the pioneers in the field of young adult librarianship, Margaret “Alex” Edwards. With a foreword by noted YA expert Betty Carter, this update also features an annotated list of Alex Award winners. According to former YALSA deputy director Linda Waddle, “At a time when there is a renaissance in library service to young adults, when the nation is expecting a surge in the teen population, and when the numbers of librarians serving young adults in school and public libraries is declining, The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts can provide inspiration and motivation to those who already serve and those who may be thinking of serving young adults.”

To preorder The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts from ALA Editions, call 1-866-SHOP ALA (1-866-746-7252), fax (770) 442-9742, or write ALA Order Fulfillment, PO Box 117219, Atlanta, GA 30368-7219. Be sure to include title and ISBN number (0-8389-3533-8). The price for ALA members is $18; nonmembers, $20.

Resolutions

Linda Waddle

YALSA members and staff were very sad to say goodbye to Linda Waddle, deputy executive director of YALSA and AASL from 1991 until her retirement in March 2002. She was a vigilant advocate for library services to youth and the YALSA board of directors recognized her contributions in the following resolution, presented after the 2002 ALA Annual Conference:

Whereas, in her eleven years as Deputy Director, Linda Waddle was truly the Voice of YALSA through a period of change, challenge and growth; and

Whereas, Linda Waddle was innovative, professional and virtually unflappable in times of stress and strife; and

Whereas, Linda Waddle was superb at assisting the member leaders to cut through the red tape and get their jobs done; and

Whereas, Linda Waddle always had her eye on the big picture and where we fit within it—as Board, Division, Committee, and individual member; and

Whereas, Linda Waddle has served as the conscience and collective memory of YALSA; and

Whereas, Linda Waddle has diplomatically guided the Board to make sound and responsible decisions; and

Whereas, Linda Waddle has been an extraordinary and inspiring mentor to people at all levels of their career; and

Whereas, under her guidance, YALSA membership has grown from 1,787 personal members to 3,183, the largest increase in its history; and

Whereas, Linda Waddle faced the collective wrath of Dr. Laura’s minions and survived;

Therefore, be it resolved that the YALSA Board of Directors, representing the grateful membership of YALSA, which benefited for so many years and in so many ways from her guidance and expertise, takes this opportunity to thank her for everything she has done during her term as Deputy Director of the Young Adult Library Services Association.

David Mowery

Resolution of Appreciation for David Mowery Upon His Retirement from the YALSA Board

Whereas David Mowery has been “second to none” in YALSA Board history for seconding motions, and

Whereas David Mowery has served with distinction on the Alex Awards Task Force, enthusiastically reading, selecting and presenting great adult books that teens love to read, chairing and shepherding this project to its current prominence and impact as an official ALA Award, and

Whereas David Mowery, in his tenure on Publishers’ Liaison committee, has helped forge critical connections with these essential partners in teen literacy, and

Whereas David Mowery has ably and skillfully balanced a demanding career as Bureau Chief for Youth Services with the Brooklyn Public Library with is guidance and contributions to YALSA’s planning process, giving the organization a strategic plan that is a roadmap to growth, independence and impact, and

Whereas David Mowery has served as Board liaison and advocate for facilitating two-way leadership communication for committees and working on Key Action initiatives of the YALSA strategic plan, and

Whereas David Mowery can be relied on to clue us in to the essential free time “must see” in every conference city, be it zoo or art museum,

Therefore, be it resolved that the YALSA Board of Directors expresses gratitude and appreciation for his dedication during his term of office.

Teen Read Week Gets Published

YALSA announces the release of the first Teen Read Week manual. The manual is a compilation of programming ideas and marketing tips that can be used during Teen Read Week in both school and public libraries.

In celebration of Teen Read Week’s fifth year, all the programming ideas collected by the YALSA office over the years have been compiled into one easy-to-use manual by young adult librarians Amy Alessio and Kevin Scanlon. The manual includes an examination of why teens may not gravitate towards reading, ways to integrate the Web into strategies that encourage teens to read and write, read-alouds for teens that will inspire them to go to the shelves, program ideas from across the country from both school library media centers and public libraries, and tip sheets and a timeline to make planning for Teen Read Week easier than ever.

To order the Teen Read Week Manual for Participation, call 1-866-SHOP ALA, fax (770) 442-9742, or write ALA Order Fulfillment, P.O. Box 932501, Atlanta, GA 31193-2501. Be sure to include title and ISBN number (0-8389-8207-7). The price for ALA members is $16; nonmembers, $18.

Power Up with Print

YALSA recently completed its first regional institute in cooperation with the New Jersey Library Network, “Power Up with Print: Connecting Teens and Reading in a Digital Age.” More one hundred school and public librarians came together to explore ways to energize their collections and extend the lives of books on their shelves. Presented by Patrick Jones, Bonnie Kunzel, and Sarah Cornish, audience reaction was very positive. According to organizer Connie Paul, “We felt energized and motivated to try some of the tools and techniques we learned. What a great day!” The original institute was done as an American Association of School Librarians’s preconference in September 2001. If you are interested in arranging for an institute in your area, please call the YALSA office at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4391.

Serving the Underserved Trainer Update Planned

YALSA’s well-respected training corps, the Serving the Underserved (SUS) trainers, will be the first group of young adult librarians officially oriented to YALSA’s new philosophical approach to library service for teens. Based on YALSA’s collaboration with Patrick Jones, New Directions for Library Service to Young Adults, this philosophy places services for teens within the youth development context and encourages librarians to plan programs and services with teens rather than for them. It transforms the interaction between teens and adults from a single instance into a continuous collaboration. With this update, the SUS trainers will continue to provide local training for generalists and YA librarians. There will be future trainings to add trainers to this group. .

December Grants Deadline Approaching

YALSA is pleased to offer the following grants and awards to librarians who serve young adults. Applications are available online.

Baker and Taylor/YALSA Conference Grants

This grant is funded by Baker & Taylor. Two grants of $1,000 each are awarded to librarians who work directly with young adults in a public or school library, to enable them to attend the ALA Annual Conference for the first time. Deadline: December 1, 2002.

Book Wholesalers Inc./YALSA Collection Development Grant

This grant is funded by Book Wholesalers and awards $1,000 for collection development to YALSA members who represent a public library and who work directly with young adults ages twelve to eighteen. Deadline: December 1, 2002.

The Sagebrush Award for a Young Adult Reading or Literature Program

The Sagebrush Award is designed to honor a member or members of YALSA who has responsibility for developing an outstanding reading or literature program for young adults. The award provides a grant of $1,000 to support the winning member’s attendance at the ALA Annual Conference. The award is made possible through an annual grant from the Sagebrush Book Company, a division of the American Companies. Deadline: December 1, 2002.

Frances Henne/YALSA/VOYA Research Grant

This grant of $500–$1000 is to provide seed money for small-scale projects that will encourage research that responds to the YALSA research agenda.

Great Book Giveaway Competition VII.

Each year the YALSA office receives approximately 1,200 newly published children’s, young adult, and adult books, videos, CDs and audiocassettes for review. YALSA and the cooperating publishers are offering one year’s worth of review materials as a contribution to a library in need. The estimated value of this collection is $25,000. Deadline: December 1, 2002.

Fifth Annual Teen Read Week

By the time you receive this journal, Teen Read Week 2002 may be winding down. But it is never possible to have a continuing success like this without the support of corporate and nonprofit relationships. In the same way that local school and public libraries reach out to area businesses and organizations in their communities, YALSA does the same. The association’s community is made up of major (countrywide) content producers, national-level organizations and even individual members. Our returning sponsors this year included Barnes & Noble; New Line Cinema; Harcourt; Scholastic; and YALSA member Pamela Spencer Holley. Nonprofit organizations that maintained their involvement in this project are the American Association of School Administrators, American Booksellers Association, International Reading Association, KIDSNET, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Council of Teachers of English, National Education Association, National School Boards Association, SmartGirl, Speak Up Press and Teen Ink.

Teen Read Week has attracted new support this year with its “Get Graphic” theme. Comics producers and distributors Dark Horse Comics and Cross Gen Comics have signed on, along with cable content provider The N/OUCH! Comics.

Our thanks to all these partners and sponsors. Along with the librarians who make it work on a local level, we could never have done it without you! For a more complete description of each corporate or nonprofit contributor, along with links to their Web sites, visit the Teen Read Week Web site.

Preconference a Sell Out

The “Getting Graphic @ your library™” preconference held at ALA’s 2002 Annual Conference in Atlanta was a big success. More than 170 librarians, publishers, and fans crowded the room to hear comics heavyweights like Art Spiegelman (Maus), Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Jeff Smith (Bone) and Colleen Doran (Distant Soil) talk about creating, illustrating, and using comics and graphic novels with teens. There were sessions on cataloging, the history and language of the comic book, how comics have developed and grown in popularity in the United States, programming and promoting your collection, intellectual freedom issues, and an opportunity to hear from different comic and graphic novel publishers. Preconference chairperson Mike Pawuk described the experience in this way, “Graphic novels are very popular with teens, but many libraries are reluctant to start building a graphic novel collection. This preconference [featured] experts in the field to help educate librarians on the different aspects of graphic novels and to help them better understand this misunderstood medium.”

Would You Like to Join a YALSA Committee?

Getting involved in the association is as simple as filling out a short form, easily obtained by following this link. With more than twenty-five different committees, there is something there to interest everyone. If a vacancy does not exist on the committee in which you are interested, we’ll hold your volunteer form until something opens up. Appointments are generally made in the early spring but can occur at any point during the year. If you have questions about this, please call the YALSA office at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4390.

Major Motions of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Board of Directors Meeting

  • Voted to move Agenda Items #8 ( Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights on Privacy [2nd draft]), #14 (Preconference Committee Reports), and #20 (Diversity Proposal) from the consent portion of the agenda to the Discussion/Decision portion

  • Directed the YALSA councilor to support the “Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights on Privacy, 2nd Draft”

  • Approved the FY03 budget

  • Voted to have each year’s Printz Award-winning titles and honor book titles be automatically included on that year’s final Best Books for Young Adults list

  • Voted that the Printz reception be held on Monday evening at Annual Conference, that the name of the Saturday Awards Luncheon be changed to the Margaret A. Edwards Award Luncheon, and that the Margaret A. Edwards Award be the only award presented at this luncheon

  • Voted to designate the Teen Read Week Work Group as an official YALSA committee

  • Accepted the Program Planning Committee Report

  • Approved in concept the revised timeline for program planning

  • Extended the term of the Cultural Diversity Task Force to the end of the 2003 Annual Conference, with additional members to be appointed with the intention of selecting them from a pool of YALSA members who are concurrently members of: Black Caucus of the American Library Association; Asian/Pacific American Librarian Association; American Indian Library Association; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table, or REFORMA

  • Accepted the New Directions Task Force recommendations with this exception: The SUS training program planned for the 2003 Mid winter Meeting will be an update for existing SUS trainers, not a program for new trainers

  • Voted to thank Douglas Uhlmann for his work with the E-Book Project and requested his final report to complete the project

  • Extended the term of the Literacy Task Force to the end of the 2003 Mid winter Meeting and requested that the board’s recommendations to the task force to be incorporated into its final report

  • Established a New Directions Implementation Task Force to review the YALSA competencies and revise if necessary, provide direction as to the dissemination and implementation of the principles set forth in New Directions for Library Service to Young Adults, and report and make recommendations to the YALSA board by the 2003 Annual Conference

  • Established a YALSA Web Site Task Force

  • Directed the Organization and Bylaws Committee to re-write the charge for the Publications Committee to include referee duties and advisory responsibility for the new YALSA journal (YALS)

  • Voted to make YA-Galley a permanent YALSA project; and also voted to continue the YA-Galley Task Force until such time as it is superseded by a permanent body