YALSA honors Gretchen Kolderup, YA Literature Symposium Task Force with Volunteer of the Year Awards

CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA) awarded Gretchen Kolderup, member manager of The Hub, and the YA Literature Symposium Task Force with Volunteer of the Year Awards. The awards acknowledge the contributions of YALSA members who have demonstrated outstanding service to the mission, goals and work of YALSA during a given service year.

“Gretchen Kolderup is full of energy and ideas. Having worked with her on a number of blog posts promoting the Nonfiction Award, she was quick to respond and eager to help put out the word. She is a great example of a member who is increasing YALSA’s reach and impact,”says Angela Frederick, chair, 2013 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award committee and the person who nominated Kolderup for the award.

The Hub is the literature blog for YALSA and through Kolderup’s hard work receives more than 25,000 page views a month. The mission is to provide a one-stop shop for finding information about teen reads, including recommendations for great teen reads, information about YALSA lists and awards, book trailers and other book-related videos and best-of-the-best lists. Content is created by librarians and teens, with a particular focus on YALSA’s booklists and book awards, book-related projects, literacy and reading and authors.

“The YA Literature Symposium Planning Taskforce did an outstanding job of engaging members from across the country, providing continuous learning and professional development opportunities, and equipping members with the resources and tools they need to advocate for young adult librarians and services in their community,” stated Board Liaison Chris Shoemaker, who nominated the group for the award. “Attendees walked away refreshed and excited about building their collections, talking with teens and their communities about reading, and building a stronger profession.”

The 2012 YA Literature Symposium Planning Task Force assisted staff with the planning, marketing and implementation of YALSA's successful 2012 Young Adult Literature Symposium, Nov. 2 – 4, 2012. in St. Louis. They not only created and maintained the online social networking, which served as the primary marketing tool for the event, but also vetted papers and proposals, scholarship applications and more. Taskforce members built excitement for the event and ensured that high quality programs were offered to attendees.

Members of the 2012 YA Literature Symposium Task Force are: Kate Pickett, chair, Johnson County Library, Shawnee Mission, Kan.; Hannah Berry, Aurora Public Library, Aurora, Ill.; Patricia Ann Carleton, St. Louis Public Library, St. Louis; Carolyn A. Dietz, St. Louis Public Library, Saint Louis; Carla Riemer; and Tom E. Spicer, Arlington Heights Memorial Library, Arlington Heights, Ill.

The next symposium will be held Oct. 31 – Nov. 2, 2014 in Austin, Texas. YALSA is currently seeking volunteers to serve on a planning taskforce for this event. Interested individuals can contact Letitia Smith at lsmith@ala.org.

Any official YALSA group or individual appointed to an official YALSA group is eligible for consideration for contributions to YALSA during the current calendar year. All volunteer of the year award nomination forms are due to Letitia Smith at lsmith@ala.org no later than Dec. 1, 2013. For more information or to download the nomination form, visit the Awards and Grants section of the YALSA website.

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.