YALSA Election Information

2013 Election Results I 2014 Slate Information I How to Nominate I Tips & Testimonials I Further Resources

YALSA holds elections in conjunction with the ALA Elections each year. Each year YALSA elects a division President-Elect, Board members, certain award committee members and, depending on the year, a Division Councilor, Fiscal Officer and Secretary. YALSA's Nominating Committee starts building a slate of candidates 14 months prior to the election. If you are interested in running, please contact the Nominating Committee Chair or the YALSA Office for more information. For information on governance, visit the YALSA Handbook.

2014

From now through August 2013 YALSA is currently seeking candidates to run on the 2014 slate.  To learn more visit YALSA's Get Involved in Governance web pages.

2013 Election Results

Interviews with the YALSA candidates are posted on the YALSA Blog each January through March.

Read a sample ballot (PDF)

FINAL RESULTS:

President-Elect

Chris Shoemaker

Board of Directors

Maureen Hartman
Krista McKenzie

Edwards

Alicia Blowers
Sophie Brookover
Gail Zachariah

Nonfiction

Todd Krueger
Drue Wagner Mees
Joy Millam
Brenna Shanks

Printz

Robin Brenner
Diane Colson
Angela Frederick
Shelly McNerney

Visit ALA's web site for their election results.

Description of Each Position on the 2014 Slate

President-Elect

This is a three-year commitment. Beginning with the first year the President-Elect is available and prepared to interact with the media, keep in regular contact with the YALSA office and Board, make committee appointments, establish relationships within ALA, attend all meetings of the Executive Committee and Board (travel is not paid for by YALSA), and other responsibilities as needed.

Criteria to consider when nominating a potential candidate for President-Elect

  • Demonstrated leadership
  • Membership on variety of committees, ideally both selection and process
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, including mediating conflicts
  • Ability to speak and write clearly
  • Able to dedicate three years’ worth of his or her time to the position
  • Experience in dealing with the press and media
  • Enough free time away from work and family to dedicate to the extensive demands of this position
  • No conflicts of interest in accordance with YALSA’s Board Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest Policy

Board Directors-at-Large

This is a three-year commitment. Members must prepare for and attend all meetings of the Board of Directors (travel is not paid for by YALSA) as well as meetings or programs of committees for which member is a Board Liaison. Members have a liaison responsibility for selected YALSA committees and are expected to be in regular contact with the committee chairs. Between meetings, members are expected to communicate regularly via the Board’s electronic discussion list. Read a job description.

Some criteria to consider when nominating a potential candidate for the Board

  • Demonstrated leadership skills
  • Excellent interpersonal skills in order to serve as liaison to committee chairs
  • Works well in a team environment
  • Enough free time away from work and family to dedicate to the extensive demands of this position
  • No conflicts of interest in accordance with YALSA’s Board Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest Policy
  • Track record of excellent service on YALSA or other nonprofit or association committees/juries/taskforces

Fiscal Officer

This is a three-year commitment. The Fiscal Officer must prepare for and attend all meetings of the Board of Directors (travel is not paid for by YALSA) as well as meetings of the Executive Committee. Fiscal Officers have a liaison responsibility for selected YALSA committees and are expected to be in regular contact with the committee chairs. Between meetings, members are expected to communicate regularly via the Board’s electronic discussion list. Some criteria to consider when nominating a potential candidate for Secretary:

  • All criteria as mentioned above in the Directors-at-Large section
  • Excellent interpersonal skills in order to serve as liaison to committee chairs, work with ALA’s Budget Analysis and Review Committee (BARC), YALSA’s Financial Advancement Committee and the YALSA Office
  • Coursework and/or work experience relating to financial planning, planned giving, budget preparation, analysis of fiscal trends, fundraising, capacity building, etc.

Secretary

This is a three-year commitment.  The primary responsibility of the Secretary is ensuring that accurate and sufficient documentation exists to enable authorized persons to determine when, how, and by whom the board's business was conducted. The Secretary records minutes of Board and Executive Committee meetings, ensures their accuracy and availability, and performs other duties as requested by the President. Some criteria to consider when nominating a potential candidate for Secretary:

  • All criteria as mentioned above in the Directors-at-Large section
  • Excellent writing skills, attention to detail and the ability to juggle tasks
  • Familiarity with parliamentary procedure

Edwards, Nonfiction Award and Printz Committee Members

Much time is necessary to devote to seeking out books to nominate and to reading (hundreds of books). Committee members are expected to attend all meetings of the committee at Annual and Midwinter (travel is not paid for by YALSA) and to actively participate in all committee discussions throughout the year. Nonfiction, Printz and Edwards Committee Members may not serve simultaneously on a YALSA award or selection committee and other award or selection committees. For a job description check out the awards’ web pages and view the “polices and procedures” of each award to get an idea of the duties and responsibilities.

Criteria to consider when nominating a potential candidate for Nonfiction, Edwards and Printz

  • Demonstrated willingness and ability to work with others
  • Interest in and extensive experience with evaluating and selecting young adult literature
  • Enough free time away from work and family to dedicate to the extensive demands of this committee
  • Previous service on committees, preferably YALSA selection committees
  • No conflicts of interest in accordance with YALSA’s Conflict of Interest Policy
  • Highest ethical standards
  • Has good time management and organizational skills
  • For Edwards: this committee is being piloted as a virtual committee for 2014 & 2015, so it is crucial that candidates be confident users of online technologies such as ALA Connect, Google docs and more.

Nominating Someone to be a Candidate

Nominate other YALSA members or submit your own name for any of the positions appearing on the YALSA election ballot. YALSA’s Nominating Committee begins their work immediately following the ALA Midwinter Meeting and they must finalize the slate by August of each year.

YALSA asks those interested in running for office to fill out one of two forms, depending on their interests:

Make sure to read the Awards Committee Conflict of Interest Policy for selection and awards committees or the Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest Disclosure for board members.

To nominate yourself or others to be a candidate for one of these elected positions you must submit these forms.

Individuals who wish to run in the election, but who do not receive a nomination by either of the committees, may do so as a petition candidate.  Petition forms are due each October (date varies, depending on the actual election date).

Tips

Let the Nominating Committee know you are interested in running for office.

  • Submit the Governance Candidacy Form or the Awards Committee Candidacy Form to theappropriate nomination committee to let them know that you are interested in running for office. This form is different than the “Committee Volunteer Form,” so if you have filled out that one for Printz or Edwards, you would need to also submit the Awards Committee Candidacy Form to be considered as a candidate to run for an award selection committee.
  • Don’t be afraid to nominate yourself! As the membership gets bigger the Nominating Committee’s job gets harder. Make their job easier by not making them find you!

Testimonials

  • "Serving on the YALSA Board and as Fiscal Officer was a good fit for me, because I like to know what is going on and to help behind the scenes. I gained lots of experience with management skills and working with lots of different personalities. I got to work on many things I enjoy such as mentoring, marketing, training, developing new ideas and planning events. It taught me a great deal about the workings of ALA and YALSA’s place in that organization and outside of the library industry. My work at the Schaumburg Township Library grew to a focus as many of those skills translated to new community partnerships, new teen groups with different management styles, new services following the trends of those in other libraries across the country that I may never have learned about without this experience. Now I have taken that experience and begun working with other genre organizations and conferences, though I still enjoy volunteering on committees for YALSA." —Amy Alessio
  • "I’ve been lucky enough to have served YALSA in a variety of capacities ranging from committee work to chairing the Printz committee to serving as President in 1996-97. Each of these service opportunities has been among the most personally and professionally rewarding of my career – personally since they gave me an opportunity to meet wonderful people who have become some of my closest friends and professionally because each of them gave me an opportunity to make a difference both in the profession and also in the lives of young adults and the wonderful literature that can make such a difference in their lives. Do yourself a favor and become a YALSA candidate. It’ll make a difference in your life, too!" —Michael Cart
  • "At times in our library careers, we’re offered 'growth opportunities,' and serving as YALSA President is one of those opportunities. Yes, the three-year term involves a lot of work and yes, ALA can find you for those quotes or responses to reporters no matter where you are, but you’ll never have a more exciting or worthwhile opportunity than to serve YALSA in this capacity. If you love libraries, young people, and YALSA—serving as its President is a given. You, the Board with whom you work, and the policies enacted to move YALSA forward contribute to the betterment of library service to teens for a long time. And best of all, you remain a Past President forever." —Pam Spencer Holley
  • "I was the 2004 – 2005 YALSA President. During my tenure as vice president, president, and past president, I made great strides in the following skill areas: communicating effectively, exhibiting positive leadership traits, producing results, excelling in a 'team' environment, and successfully managing/guiding others. Thanks to YALSA, I’ve learned how to effectively advocate for teen services in public and school libraries in the United States and internationally."—David Mowery
  • "My years of service with YALSA always bring to mind the Beatles’ quote, 'The love you take is equal to the love you make' because there was a balance, an equitable give and take, between my opportunities to simultaneously learn and teach. I was able to share my experiences and viewpoints with others as I absorbed their knowledge and benefited from their experiences. YALSA grew me, professionally; I hope my contributions moved others forward as well." —Joel Shoemaker

Find Out More

  • Talk to someone who has held the position recently. To view a current list of Board members, which includes the President-Elect and the Division Councilor, go to the Board page on YALSA's web site.
  • Contact the Nominating Committee to ask any questions that you may have.
  • There are lots of issues for you to consider before you throw your hat in the ring.
  • Submitting a Nomination Form does not guarantee that you will be a candidate for an elected position.
  • Before determining the final slate of candidates, the Nomination Committee evaluates each nominee to determine who will be the best candidates for that year. Some factors the committee considers are: are you over-committed in YALSA, ALA or your state associations; do you have a good track record in your past YALSA volunteer work; do you need to gather more experience before running for an office?
  • If you are not selected as a candidate by the Nominating Committee, but still want to run, you can submit a petition to add your name to the ballot. The petition is available from the Handbook section of the YALSA web site. You may also be encouraged to submit a Committee Volunteer Form for now with encouragement to submit a Nomination Form again next year.

Questions? Find Answers

Here's who to contact to find out answers about running for office:

  • The Governance Nominating Chair, Sarah Flowers, at sarahflowers@charter.net.
  • The Awards Committee Nominating Chair, Pam Holley at pamsholley@aol.com.
  • The Current President-Elect, President or Past President- any one of these three individuals knows the process (because they’ve been through it) and can direct you to whom you need to contact. If you want information about a specific office, try contacting someone holding it presently. They’ll be glad to tell you what they know!
  • The YALSA Office will also direct you to whom you need to speak. Call 1.800.545.2433 x4390 or yalsa@ala.org.