Upcoming Courses
NEW
A Place to Belong: Supporting Neurodiversity and Mental Health in Your Library
Dates: July 11-August 5, 2022
Attend this 4-week asynchronous e-course to have the knowledge and tools to provide programs that responsibly center mental health and neurodiversity.
Course Description:
Mental health is important, but it is even more critical during a global pandemic. Teens deal with major life changes and tremendous stress. Autistic teens face additional challenges - many of which have been exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic. Our teens need support, now more than ever, and our libraries can serve as essential safe spaces. People are talking more about the importance of mental health, but how can we keep this important conversation going? How can we update our collections to better represent our teens’ experiences? How can our programming promote empathy and compassion among all library patrons? In this course, two librarians will share insights from their own practices, plus a variety of resources that you can use to make your own library a better place for everyone.
Instructors:
Ashleigh Torres is a library branch supervisor with the Yolo County Library. She is at the joint-use Winters Community Library which is located on the campus of Winters High School. She is very passionate about library services for teens. She almost exclusively reads teen books and loves to talk about them just as much. She is the Northern California Representative for the California Library Association's Youth Services Interest Group.
Adriana White is an autistic librarian, former special education teacher, and children’s book writer. After being diagnosed with autism and anxiety in her 30s, Adriana now advocates for more inclusive schools and libraries. Her writing on neurodiversity and mental health in children’s books has appeared on KQED’s MindShift and We Need Diverse Books, and she advises educators and librarians about the importance of these books through workshops and presentations. Adriana has a Master’s in Education with a specialization in Special Education, and a Master’s in Library and Information Science with a certificate in Storytelling. She is a staff editor for the website A Novel Mind, and she was a 2021 recipient of the Walter Grant from We Need Diverse Books.
CEUs: At the conclusion of the course, you will earn a Certificate of Completion for all students who completed the reading and fully participated in the discussions. This will be the equivalent of 16 hours of work.
YALSA Members - $167.20
ALA Members - $188.10
Nonmembers - $209
Interested in a Course For Your Organization?
We provide two options:
- The curriculum of any online course from our Course Catalog offered by YALSA can be licensed for an in-person workshop at your organization.
- Online courses from our Course Catalog, where all seats are reserved exclusively for your staff or members, can also be licensed by an organization.
If you are interested in purchasing a course for your organization, please contact Program Officer (continuing education, sponsorships, partnerships, grant management)
800-545-2433 ext. 4387. YALSA's courses provide 10 contact hours, or the equivalent of a 1.5-day face-to-face workshop. A certificate of completion is issued when a successfully student completes the course.
YALSA works with institutions to develop the best course possible for each particular audience and need. We offer courses in a variety of topics including:
- Advocacy
- Building Leadership Skills
- Building Diverse Collections
- College Career Readiness
- Community and Family Engagement
- Competencies for Library Staff Serving Teens
- Informal Learning Experiences and Environments
- Outcomes and Assessment
- Teen Growth and Development
- Youth Engagement and Leadership
If there is a topic you are interested in but do not see listed here feel free to get in touch at yalsa@ala.org
If you have questions about YALSA’s online courses, please see our FAQ section.
Participant Testimonials
- "The instructor was really positive and knew her stuff. She was very helpful. The workload was manageable. I learned a lot about using different review sources and what makes a good diverse book. "
- Julie did a great job presenting the material and letting us come up with our interpretations and how to make the ideas work for our community."
- I loved all of the assigned reading and I could tell that the instructor was passionate about serving teens through diverse collections.
Further questions? Please contact yalsa@ala.org