à YALSA names winners of BWI/YALSA Collection Development Grant
Contact: Stephanie Kuenn
YALSA Communications Specialist
(312) 280-5041
NEWS
For Immediate Release
February 3, 2009
CHICAGO — Lexie Robinson and Wini Ashooh won the 2009 BWI/YALSA Collection Development Grant, administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association (ALA).
Each receives a grant of $1,000, donated by BWI, for collection development. The grant recipient is a YALSA member who represents a public library and works directly with young adults ages 12–18.
Robinson works for the the Huntsville-Madison County (Ala.) Public Library, where she will use the grant to enhance collections at two branches as a part of their Teen Rural Outreach program.
“The teens in our rural communities struggle with many issues: illiteracy and high dropout rates are a major concern,” Robinson said. “We are very proud of the current progress our rural teen outreach programs have made with these local teens. However, we need to enforce these programs with high quality, interesting teen materials on the library shelves. Our libraries can offer amazing teen programs, but if we don’t have a collection to support these programs our cause for teen literacy is lost.”
Ashooh works at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library Central Rappahannock in Stafford, Va. She will use the grant as a part of her library’s outreach to teens at the Central Rappahannock Juvenile Detention Center. Currently the collection at the Juvenile Detention Center draws on the collection of the library system. These funds will allow them to develop a core collection of high interest and engaging materials specifically tailored to the needs of this unique community.Â
“The goal of our outreach program there is to win these teens as library users and to cultivate an interest in reading and lifelong learning,” Ashooh said. “For many of the teens at the detention center, this is their first experience with a public library collection. Our goal is to encourage them to continue to use their library upon their release. The grant will allow us to replace many well-read copies of popular books and to add new exciting titles to the existing collection.”
The 2009 BWI Collection Development Grant Jury members are: Catherine Schaeffer, King County Library System, Bothell, Wash.; Denise Byers, Texas Woman’s University School of Library and Information Science, Denton; Yolanda Hood, University of Northern Iowa Rod Library, Cedar Falls; Judy Sasges, Sno-Isle Libraries, Marysville, Wash.; and Daisy Porter, San Jose (Calif.) Public Library.
The application form and information for next year’s BWI/YALSA Collection Development Grant are available on the YALSA Web site,
www.ala.org/yalsa. Applications must be received in the YALSA office by Dec. 1. For more information contact the YALSA office, (800) 545-2433, ext. 4390, or e-mail:
YALSA@ala.org.Â
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.
