Membership Benefits

In addition to benefits from ALA, YALSA offers its members exclusive benefits, including discounts on products, publications, courses, and events; awards and grants; networking and professional development tools; publications; and more. Questions about member benefits can be directed to Letitia Smith, YALSA’s Membership Coordinator, at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4390, or lsmith@ala.org.

Invest in your career and join YALSA and ALA today! Learn more about membership, including pricing and how to join.

Discounts

Only YALSA members enjoy the following discounts:

• a 10 percent discount on ALA and YALSA products (including Teen Read Week and Teen Tech Week) and publications (including books)
• discounted registration prices for ALA's Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting and YALSA's Young Adult Literature Symposium
• discounted pricing for YALSA's online professional development, including online courses and webinars.

Awards, Contests, Grants, and Stipends

YALSA offers more than $90,000 in awards, contests, grants, stipends, and scholarships exclusively to its members each year:

• YALSA gives out more than $90,000 in annual member awards and grants each year for travel, research, collection development and more
• YALSA regularly offers contests and stipends for travel, advocacy efforts, strategic thinking, and more
• YALSA annually supports a Spectrum Scholar, to encourage members of a diverse background to enter the profession, and the Emerging Leaders program, which fast-tracks promising new ALA members into leadership positions
• ALA offers more than 60 grants and fellowships for which YALSA members can apply.

Networking and Professional Development

For career advancement and networking, YALSA members have an advantage over nonmembers through exclusive access to:

• ALA Connect, ALA's collaborative online community with lots of YALSA-only content, or by joining a YALSA Discussion or Interest Group
• Volunteer opportunities with YALSA's member groups, including advisory boards, book and media award committees, process committees, juries, and task forces.
• Leadership opportunities, including publishing and presenting programs and workshops
• A YALSA-sponsored mentoring program, pairing new and experienced librarians together so both can share their knowledge
• Free professional development resources created by YALSA, including monthly members-only discussion forums, archived webinars (a $228 value), free handouts, and information on jobs.
• Support and guidance, including intellectual freedom and book challenge issues

Publications and Resources

YALSA members receive free access to exclusive publications:

• All YALSA members receive Young Adult Library Services, YALSA’s award-winning quarterly print journal
• YALSA members who give ALA permission to email them receive YALSA E-News, YALSA's monthly email newsletter
• YALSA members also receive ALA's American Libraries magazine as a membership benefit
• In addition, YALSA publishes The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, an open-access, peer-reviewed quarterly research journal.