Marketing Basics for YALSA Member Groups

Be sure you share your accomplishments with members, prospective members and the public.

Committees/juries/taskforces do wonderful things for both the association and the profession, such as publish articles, offer programs and administer awards. Doing these things is great, but it isn’t enough: be sure you share your accomplishments with members, prospective members and the public. For any questions regarding any information below, please contact YALSA Communications at yalsaprojects@ala.org. YALSA has many tools to help you get recognition for the work of your group:

Internal Resources



YALS: Member Editor ( yalseditor@gmail.com)

Good for best practices and in-depth articles on teen services. A section called “The Update” is just for news of the association, such as committee accomplishments. Remember the issue themes: Winter is Teen Tech Week, Spring is Awards, Summer is Teen Read Week, and Fall changes yearly. You can also request submission guidelines from YALSA Communications.

The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults: Member Editor (yalsaresearch@gmail.com)

JRLYA is an open-access, peer-reviewed research journal launched by YALSA in 2010. Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults promotes and publishes high quality original research concerning the informational and developmental needs of young adults; the management, implementation, and evaluation of library services for young adults; and other critical issues relevant to librarians who work with young adults. The journal also includes literary and cultural analysis of classic and contemporary writing for young adults. Learn more at http://yalsa.ala.org/jrlya.

YALSA E-News: YALSA's weekly e-newsletter. Contact: YALSA Projects yalsaprojects@ala.org.

Good for short blurbs (100 words) about the latest YALSA initiatives, news, resources, opportunities, etc.

YALSAblog: accessible at http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/. Contact the Member Manager for the blog at yalsablogmanager@gmail.com.

The Hub: YALSA's YA curation blog, available at http://yalsa.ala.org/thehub.

YALSA Book Publishing: YALSA publishes a few books a year. If your member group has an idea for a book, please submit it to YALSA at yalsaprojects@ala.org.

Discussion lists: YALSA has several -- learn more on YALSA's web site. The largest are:

  • yalsa-bk, for YA lit and teen reading (more than 3000 subscribers)
  • ya-yaac for all things YA librarianship other than YA lit (more than 1500 subscribers)
  • Other ALA lists, like AASL Forum.

YALSA Academy: brief, instructional or promotional videos via YALSA's You Tube channel. For information, contact yalsa@ala.org.

YALSA web site: to update committee information on the YALSA site, contact yalsaprojects@ala.org.

YALSA Wiki: To request a space on the YALSA wiki for your committee, download the wiki application (doc). Contact yalsaprojects@ala.org or the current Web Advisory Committee chair with questions.

ALA Press Releases: to request a press release about a particular event or accomplishment, contact yalsaprojects@ala.org.

ALA Publications, such as American Libraries, Public Libraries, and Knowledge Quest. Visit their individual web sites for publishing guidelines.

I Love Libraries is ALA’s Web site for the public and it actively seeks articles from YALSA members. Contact yalsaprojects@ala.org to find out how to pitch articles or ideas from your committee.

External Resources

External Publications: Contact yalsaprojects@ala.org with your article idea and they can help you get it placed in the appropriate journal.

  • YA librarianship publications like School Library Journal, Library Journal, MultiMedia & Internet in Schools, Learning & Leading and VOYA.
  • Literacy and education publications like English Journal and Reading Today

Discussion lists: (a search engine will turn up the URL & info on how to subscribe to these)

  • LM_NET, an open list for K-12 school librarians with more than 10,000 subscribers (YALSA has an account EL-Announce, an advertising arm of LM_Net and may be able to promote your committee’s event/initiative/etc. using this service; contact YALSA Projects with questions or ideas).
  • PUBYAC, an open list for children’s and YA librarians with more than 4,000 subscribers
  • JESSE, an open list for professors and students in the field of library science
  • Web Junction Forums, a collection of discussion lists from OCLC (incl. YA ones)
  • State and regional library association discussion lists you may belong to

Blogs: for a list of library related blogs, go here: www.libdex.com/weblogs.html

Facebook: Post a message on YALSA’s Facebook wall.

Twitter:

  • Getting the word out: staff manage the YALSA Twitter account, but committee, jury, etc. members can send a Tweet from their own accounts, and include @yalsa in the Tweet. Doing that will ensure that staff get the Tweet and they can reTweet it out to all of YALSA's Twitter followers. Leveraging YALSA's existing Twitter account with its 30,000+ followers is better than creating a new one. Additionally, leveraging existing hashtags, instead of making up new ones, will also ensure your information reaches a broad audience. Members can also create messages for staff to schedule and post on the YALSA twitter account.
  • Sparking conversation: Twitter Chats can be scheduled and used to connect with individuals interested in a certain topic. If you'd like to schedule a Twitter chat, contact YALSA Projects so she can work with you to 1) identify a date and time that doesn't conflict with anything and 2) publicize the chat.

Tips

  • Choose one individual to handle PR for your member group. Anytime that individual wants to create a press release, add something to YALSA’s web site, suggest a story idea, please contact yalsaprojects@ala.org, as she can facilitate PR and media outreach.
  • If your member group wants to get an article or book published, please remember that YALSA has the “right of first refusal.” That means you must submit your article or book to YALSA for publishing consideration before you may take it to another publisher.
  • If your member group is charged with administering an event or something that has a time element (e.g., Teen Tech Week, Teens’ Top Ten, etc.) begin coordinating with the YALSA office about marketing and PR efforts nine months before your event. We will create marketing and PR materials leading up to events and need to have most of our efforts finalized months ahead of time.
  • Remember that no one can speak on behalf of the entire member group but the chair.
  • Consider who you want to reach with your message, then choose internal or external resources that will reach your desired audience. Again, consult YALSA Projects – they maintains a list of library and education publications and can assist you in best targeting your message.
  • Consider the message, then choose internal or external resources that are the best fit. For example, discussion lists and blogs are great for brief announcements, while journals are good for more in-depth information about a particular topic.
  • If you have questions about a particular resource mentioned above or about how to get more publicity for your committee’s programs, publications, etc., please don’t hesitate to contact us at yalsaprojects@ala.org.