For immediate release | October 30, 2012
Teen Read Week™ celebrated in libraries and online
CHICAGO — Thousands of school and public libraries throughout the country joined the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), in celebrating Teen Read Week 2012, Oct. 14-20. More than 3,000 libraries embraced the 2012 theme, “It Came from the Library,” by hosting an array of events and programs that encouraged teens to read for fun and become regular library users.
Programs ran the gamut from a Teen Book Fest at the Provo City Library in Utah, to a Maker Faire at the Ocean County Library in New Jersey. More than 1,200 teens also attended a Teen Read Week kick-off event on Oct. 15th at the main branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County where Teen Read Week spokesperson, John Green, talked about his New York Times best-selling book, The Fault in Our Stars.
YALSA President Jack Martin extended his thanks to everyone who participated in Teen Read Week this year. “We're thrilled that so many libraries across the country are able to inspire so many teens to use library resources to read for the fun of it.”
This year’s Teen Read Week also included a Tweet-a-thon where library and young adult literature supporters took to Twitter on October 17th to talk about what they were reading. Participants in the Tweet-a-thon included adlit.org, the National Council of Teachers of English and the New York Times Learning Network.
Teen Read Week, supported in part by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, 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. The 2013 theme will be “Seek the Unknown @ your library®,” with a focus on mysteries, science fiction and more. For more information, visit the Teen Read Week Web site at www.ala.org/teenread.
For more than 50 years, YALSA has worked to build the capacity of libraries and librarians to engage, serve and empower teens. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa, or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail, yalsa@ala.org.
Contact:
Nichole Gilbert
Program Officer
Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)
ngilbert@ala.org800-545-2433 ext.4387
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