From the Editor

Sarah Flowers

One of the things I love about editing YALS is the way it gives me the opportunity to keep up with what is going on in YA-land, and the chance to interact with lots of YALSA members who are doing and thinking interesting things. For one thing, it gives me the excuse to go around to all the tables at YALSA All- Committee meeting at both the Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting, and talk to committees about what they are doing and what might be worth sharing with YALSA members. For another, I hear regularly from YALSA members who want to share their experiences by writing about them in YALS. For a third, YALSAmembers frequently refer me to other YALSA members who might have something intriguing to share in YALS.However, even when I come up with topics and solicit articles from members, the pieces I get back often amaze me by bringing up ideas and issues that never occurred to me. I am sure many of you have great ideas for articles, so don’t hesitate to share them with me. The spring 2011 issue will be focused on YALSA’s awards and booklists, and the summer 2011 issue will focus on Teen Read Week, so start thinking about those articles now.

In addition, if you have experience in writing and editing, you might want to be aware that YALSA will be recruiting for a new member editor for YALS sometime in the spring. Because you, the YALSA membership, generously elected me to be your President, I will be taking on that role at Annual 2011, and sadly leaving YALS to someone else’s capable hands. Watch the YALSA blog for an announcement and feel free to ask me any questions at yalseditor@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, I am sure you will enjoy this issue of YALS. Its primary theme is collaboration. Penny Johnson shares with us four steps to effective collaboration that we can all use in all kinds of situations. Dawn Rutherford, Mary Ann Rogers, Natasha Benway, and Angela Craig describe collaborative projects that they have worked on in their communities. Stephanie Squicciarini, Maureen Hartman, and Erica Cuyugan give some tips and tricks about collaboration that have worked for them. Robyn Vittek is back with part two of her Emerging Leaders diary, and also contributes a practical article on how to use local collaboration to advocate for teens and teen library services. Five YALSA members who won stipends from the Friends of YALSA to attend ALA Advocacy Day in June share their experiences, and Steve Matthews, YALSA member and ALA executive board member, shares some advice about collaborating with our “big ALA” colleagues. Linda Braun, YALSA’s immediate past-president, fills us in on YALSA’s new virtual committees, and Mark Flowers poses some interesting questions about downloadable music as a part of library collections.

Plus, there’s the YALSA update, reviews of professional resources, and a brand-new feature: an excerpt of a new book, Risky Business, written for YALSA by Linda W. Braun, Jack Martin, and Connie Urquhart and published by ALA Editions. Therefore, with all that great content, don’t stay on this page any longer—start reading and enjoying the issue!