Contact: Stephanie Kuenn
YALSA Communications Specialist
(312) 280-2128
skuenn@ala.org
NEWS
For Immediate Release
July 15, 2008
YALSA establishes Leadership Endowment
CHICAGO —The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), established a Leadership Endowment during the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif. The YALSA Leadership Endowment will support the development of future leaders both within the association and throughout the profession to ensure the future growth of YALSA and the field of young adult librarianship.
The endowment began at the ALA Annual Conference in 2007 when YALSA Past Presidents Jennifer Gallant and Pam Spencer Holley announced their plans to donate funds to establish a leadership endowment for YALSA. The Board of Directors supported this effort. In August, a letter from Gallant and Holley went out to all of YALSA’s past presidents, encouraging them to donate to this new fund, and just more than $11,000 was raised. In February 2008 YALSA’s Board of Directors voted to move $25,000 into this fund.
“This endowment allows us to give YALSA's future leaders the tools they need to succeed, and it helps make sure that YALSA remains the dynamic, growing organization it is now,” said Sarah Debraski, YALSA president. “We appreciate the efforts of our past presidents, particularly Jennifer Gallant and Pam Spencer Holley, and our donors in establishing this important fund.”
To learn more about the endowment, including a donor list, please visit
www.ala.org/yalsa and click on “Give to YALSA.”
For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos and audio books for teens. For more information about YALSA or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to
www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists, or contact the YALSA office by phone, (800) 545-2433, ext. 4390, or e-mail:
yalsa@ala.org.