YALSA offers librarians tools to promote Teen Read Week™
Stephanie Kuenn
YALSA Communications Specialist
312-280-2128
skuenn@ala.org
NEWS
For Immediate Release
September 30, 2008
CHICAGO — As Teen Read Week™ 2008 approaches, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers several tools aimed at helping librarians, booksellers, educators and others promote events in their libraries, stores, schools and communities. Teen Read Week will be celebrated Oct. 12–18 by nearly 5,000 libraries across the United States, with a theme of Books with Bite @ your library®.
Anyone planning an event in honor of Teen Read Week should visit the YALSA wiki and list their own events. They can do so at
http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Teen_Read_Week#Teen_Read_Week_Events_Across_the_U.S. Registration is required to edit the wiki, but it only takes a few minutes.
In addition, YALSA offers several publicity tools on the Teen Read Week Web site, including sample press releases, proclamations and letters to the editor to encourage support for Teen Read Week. YALSA also offers scripts for public service announcements (PSAs) in both Spanish and English, which can be read during school announcements or given to the community radio station to be read on air. In addition, Nancy Cartwright, who plays Bart on “The Simpsons,” recorded three PSAs, which can be downloaded. All of these excellent tools, plus a podcast on tips to use them, are available by visiting
www.ala.org/teenread and clicking “Get Publicity.”
“YALSA's PSAs and TRW publicity toolkit make it easy for even the most time-strapped librarian to create some buzz about his or her event,” said Sarah Cornish Debraski, YALSA president. “By simply customizing some of the promotional tools you can easily have something to submit to your local newspaper or radio station to get the word out about Teen Read Week.”
Teen Read Week is a national literacy initiative aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers and other concerned adults. The purpose of the event is to increase the number of teens who are regular readers and library users. It began in 1998 and is celebrated the third week in October. For more information or to register, visit the Teen Read Week Web site at
www.ala.org/teenread.
Mirrorstone Books, a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, is the 2008 Corporate Sponsor of Teen Read Week for the second year in a row. Promotional Partners include ALA Graphics, Evanced Solutions, Galaxy Press, Hachette Book Group USA/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Random House/Listening Library, Scholastic, School Library Journal and Zest Books. Nonprofit supporting organizations include Adlit.org, the American Association of School Administrators, American Booksellers Association, Cable in the Classroom, International Reading Association, Kidsnet, Kids Care, The N/Noggin, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Education Association, National School Boards Association, SmartGirl.org, Speak Up Press, Swept Away TV/The Rock Star Stories, and TeenInk.
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 by e-mail at
yalsa@ala.org.