Collaborate with teens for better library services in YALSA’s new Tapping Youth Participation course

CHICAGO — Incorporating teen input into library services offers challenges, but you can reap many rewards, including a collection that flies off the shelves, an active teen advisory board and packed programs that engage teens week after week. Want to know how you can make it work for your library? Find the answers in Tapping Youth Participation to Strengthen Library Services, a brand-new online course from the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).

Over four weeks, instructor Amy Alessio will show participants how to involve teens in collection development, program planning and designing virtual and physical teen library space. Participants will identify practical ways to increase youth participation, learn how to sell the benefits of teen participation to administrators and develop evaluative tools for programs and services that utilize teens in the planning process.

Alessio is a longtime YALSA member and expert on youth participation who co-wrote “A Year of Programs for Teens” (ALA Editions, 2006) and edited “Excellence in Library Services to Young Adults, 5^th Edition" (YALSA, 2008).

Tapping Youth Participation begins Oct. 4 and runs through Nov. 1. The course costs $135 for YALSA members, $175 for ALA members and $195 for nonmembers. Registration will close on Sept. 27.

Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more, and all YALSA e-courses are available for licensing; contact Eve Gaus at egaus@ala.org or 1 (800) 545-2433, ext. 5293, for more information. For more information on YALSA’s online courses and to register, please visit www.ala.org/yalsa/onlinecourses.

For more than 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.