Tilley selected to present paper for YALSA’s 'Trends in YA Event' at ALA Midwinter

CHICAGO — A Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Jury chose Carol Tilley, assistant professor at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, to present a paper at YALSA’s Trends in YA Services session at the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting. Tilley’s paper is entitled “Comics: A Once-Missed Opportunity.” The Midwinter event, which is hosted by YALSA past presidents, will be held from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013.

Friends of YALSA funds one individual each year to come to ALA Midwinter to present a paper that in some way addresses a topic from YALSA’s Research Agenda. In addition to presenting the paper at the Trends in YA Services event, Tilley’s paper will also be published in a future issue of YALSA’s peer-reviewed, open source journal, The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults. Tilley will receive up to $1,500 to help defray travel, registration and hotel costs.

Of her paper, Tilley says, it will “trace the readership, publication, collection and promotion of comics in the United States from the mid-twentieth century to the present day.” Tilley went on to say that the paper will also “encourage today’s youth serving librarians and scholars to consider how we might apply important insights about key areas such as information seeking, civic engagement and pleasure reading to be gained from studying comics readership to enhancing the services and resources we provide young people in public and school libraries.”

Jack Martin, YALSA president, hailed Tilley’s selection. “Comics have always hooked the hearts and minds of teens. This is an exciting opportunity to learn more about the connection between teens, comics and libraries.”

For more than 50 years, YALSA has worked to build the capacity of libraries and librarians to engage, serve and empower teens. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa, or contact the YALSA office by phone, (800) 545-2433, ext. 4390, or e-mail, yalsa@ala.org.