Tran to lead The Hub, YALSA’s YA lit blog

CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), named Allison Tran, teen services librarian at Mission Viejo (Calif.) Library, the newest member manager of The Hub, http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/, its young adult literature blog. Tran began her term last week as editor and will serve through August 2014.

“As a blogger for The Hub since June 2012, I have been honored to contribute to such an excellent resource that expands readers’ perceptions and understanding of young adult literature,” Tran said. “I have gained a solid understanding of The Hub's mission, goals, and operations and am eager to bring my enthusiasm for young adult literature, technical skills, and leadership abilities to the position of member manager.”

The mission of The Hub is to provide a one-stop-shop for teens and library workers that connects them to unbiased information about the latest news, issues and trends in young adult literature. More than 50 YALSA members contribute compelling and well-written posts for the Hub, which features new content almost daily. Content is entirely generated by member bloggers, who do not receive payment or other forms of compensation from YALSA, authors, publishers or their representatives. Since its launch in January 2011, The Hub has averaged 8,000 page views per month. Tran will lead an advisory board that will be responsible for the site, including recruiting bloggers and soliciting content submissions from the YALSA community.

Tran has served on the Hub Advisory Board, Capacity Building Taskforce and as the chair of YALSA’s 2012 Conference Marketing and Local Arrangements Taskforce. She leads a team of 50 teen bloggers in creating content for the Mission Viejo Library Voice and as the co-host of the young adult literature podcast, Authors are ROCKSTARS!

YALSA members interested in blogging for The Hub can contact Tran and The Hub’s advisory board at yalsahub@gmail.com for more information.

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.