Book Wholesalers, Inc./YALSA Collection Development Grant winners announced

Contact: Nichole Gilbert

YALSA

312-280-4387

For Immediate Release

January 29, 2007

Book Wholesalers, Inc./YALSA Collection Development Grant winners announced

CHICAGO—Carrie Wuensch-Harden, youth services librarian of Lake Wales Public Library, (Lake Wales, Fla.) and Karen Odom, head librarian at Centerville Public Library (Houston County Public Libraries, Ga.) have been named winners of the Book Wholesalers Inc./Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Collection Development Grant, administered by the YALSA, the fastest growing division of the American Library Association (ALA).

The grant, $1000 donated by Book Wholesalers, Inc., is for collection development and is given to YALSA members who represent a public library and who work directly with young adults ages 12-18. The grant winners were announced at the ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 19-24, 2007, in Seattle.

Carrie Wuensch-Harden is the youth services librarian at Lake Wales (Fla.) Public Library. The library’s recently created Teen Room doubled the circulation of teen materials. It offers a wide variety of teen programming, and utilizes a suggestion box for teen input into collection development. Wuensch-Harden plans to use the grant to purchase non-fiction, manga, and other award-winning books. As she states in her application, “The money will…allow us to strengthen our collection…and offer the young adults of Lake Wales a wider range of materials which better meet their needs.”

Karen Odom is the head librarian at the Centerville Library, a branch of Houston County Public Libraries in Georgia. The library’s current young adult collection has less than 650 books and only 7 media items. Odom is beginning a Teen Advisory Board (TAB) this month and will solicit input from the TAB on what titles to purchase with the grant monies. She writes, “Specifically, I want to know what graphic novels and manga titles they are interested in; what anime they crave.” She plans on expanding the teen recreational reading collection and introducing graphic novels to the library.

BWI Collection Development Grant Jury members agreed this year’s large pool of applicants made selection challenging. This year’s jury members are: Jennifer Duffy, chair, King County Library System (Wash.); Nancy Cope, Heron Creek Middle School (Fla.); Roxy Ekstrom, Schaumburg Township District Library (Ill.); Theresa Stanley, Pima County Public Library (Ariz.); Kerry Sutherland, Akron Summit CPL (Ohio).

For 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos, and audiobooks for teens. For more information about these awards or for additional lists of recommended reading, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists. For more information about YALSA, please contact us via e-mail, yalsa@ala.org; or by phone at 1-800-545-2433 ext. 4390.