Young Adult Library Services Association Archives | Page 2 of 2

Getting Teens “Real Ready” for the Future

By Terra Dankowski | June 27, 2017

The case studies that were shared with YALSA membership at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 26 were sterling examples of the impact young adults can have—on their neighborhoods, their futures, themselves—when libraries and local organizations support their needs, interests, careers, and visions. The library projects profiled spanned the … Continue reading Getting Teens “Real Ready” for the Future →

Alchemy of Audiobooks

By Dawn Abron | June 25, 2017

When asked about the origin of Anna, Savit recalled a conversation between his niece and his brother-in-law. When his niece asked her father if Peter Pan could really fly, her father said no. Gavit felt this question expressed a state of human being and needed further exploration. Orli Moscowitz explained the interesting process that leads from novel to … Continue reading Alchemy of Audiobooks →

Members of the Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Committee worked their way through a pile of audiobooks in order to create a final list by Sunday.

An Enthusiastic Earful

By Erika L. Jenns | January 13, 2016

Before this session, I had given little thought to the intricacies of the voices I hear when listening to audiobooks, but now my ears will prick up at the sound of the reader taking a breath. My appreciation for sound effects has grown, and my admiration for vocal imitation has spiked. For each clip, the … Continue reading An Enthusiastic Earful →

Making Decisions and Cutting Ties

By Krystal Corbray | July 1, 2015

On Monday afternoon, Maureen Hartmann, division manager for strategic services at the Hennepin County (Minn.) Library, led a YALSA session titled, “What I Stopped Doing: Improving Services By Giving Things Up.” During the session, Hartmann spoke about the evolving face of teen services and emphasized the need for libraries and youth librarians to evaluate current … Continue reading Making Decisions and Cutting Ties →

The Future of Library Services to Teens

By Linda W. Braun | May 22, 2015

Not only can students learn from these presentations but so can professors who develop LIS courses and help students gain the necessary skills to succeed in 21st-century libraries. This need to bring the real and the academic worlds together underscores the importance of the work that the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has done … Continue reading The Future of Library Services to Teens →

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Katie Gaddini writes: “Book bans may have mushroomed in the Trump era of reactionary politics, but they have a well-established history in America. One woman in particular, Norma Gabler, redefined the current strategy and logic behind modern book bans. Called ‘education’s public enemy number one,’ by critics in 1980, Gabler led the crusade against the so-called secular trend in school textbooks throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Even though Norma and her husband Mel worked together, Norma was the public face of their efforts for decades.”

Time: Made By History, Nov. 13
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Many members know Bill Ladewski as executive director of the Reference and User Services Association, an ALA position he has held since 2019. In early September, Ladewski added another title to his CV: director of Member Relations and Services. In this role, he and his team are charged with providing service and information to the Association’s nearly 50,000 members. Ladewski answered our 11 Questions to reintroduce himself to the ALA community.

AL: The Scoop, Nov. 19
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John Warner writes: “I understand what people mean when they invoke the term ‘institutional neutrality,’ but I don’t know how it’s workable in today’s world. Higher education institutions are built upon a foundation of actual values, values that are, by definition, not neutral. The Kalven report, the Rosetta Stone of institutional neutrality produced by a faculty committee at the University of Chicago in 1967, is not a call to make all work emanating from an institution ‘neutral,’ but is instead a call to make the atmosphere for scholarly inquiry and debate as free as possible.”

Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 15
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Angela Hursh writes: “Ever wondered how your library’s email performance compares to others? Benchmarks help you understand how well your emails perform in key areas and identify opportunities for improvement. They also allow you to compare your email marketing performance, set goals, and stay on top of trends. However, the lack of industry benchmarks for email marketing metrics specific to libraries has been bugging me. Metrics from similar industries don’t fully capture the unique aspects of promoting a library. To help libraries accurately measure their email effectiveness, we’ve created the first-ever library email benchmark report.”

NoveList, Oct. 22
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Rachel Hendrick writes: “Students and library vendors are pushing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in higher education, but there are very few resources that help librarians and scholars separate the wheat from the chaff. Luckily, we here at Choice love a good assessment rubric. (In fact, we made a PDF of our assessment rubric.) Even the least tech-savvy of us can use a very simple AI literacy framework to think critically about whether an AI application is worth your time.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, Nov. 13
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Rowana Miller writes: “In my experience, many young library-goers identify as storytellers but not writers. These are the kids who draw Captain-Underpants-style cartoons, who craft meticulous Minecraft universes, and who plot elaborate Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, but who believe that ‘writing’ is limited to five-paragraph essays. But when children draw the connections between their natural storytelling proclivities and the written word, they can become self-motivated to develop the communication skills that will help them for the rest of their lives. Libraries, I believe, are uniquely positioned to help children make this connection.”

ALSC Blog, Nov. 15
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ALA has reopened its search for an executive director in partnership with executive search firm Isaacson, Miller. A committee of ALA member leaders will oversee the search. The selected candidate will succeed Interim Executive Director Leslie Burger, who was appointed in November 2023. “We are excited to embark on our search for a new executive director,” said ALA President Cindy Hohl. “This leadership position is critical as we navigate the years ahead. We seek candidates who have knowledge of the library community and the urgent issues we face.”

ALA Communications, Marketing, and Media Relations Office, Nov. 14

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