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Hi all, I wanted to give you a quick update on some activities I’ve been up to as YALSA President for April and May. I’ll have one more update after this, to provide my President’s report from ALA Annual.

Activities

• Hosted YALSA member town hall to discuss how YALSA is aligning activities and resources with the Futures Report
• Met with YALSA’s Executive Committee to plan agenda for Annual Conference
• Attended National Library Legislative Day with Beth Yoke, Jenna Jaureguy and Vandy Pacetti-Tune, and met with policy makers and congressional staff to advocate for the importance of libraries
• Appointed members to fill vacancies on various committees.
• Submitted YALSA’s Annual Report to ALA Council
• Discussed library resources for LGBTQ with New York Times
• Spoke with Truthout.org to talk about library summer learning programs

Updates

• Thanks to all those who stood as candidates in the recent elections! Congratulations to Sarah Hill, YALSA President Elect, Todd Krueger, Division Councilor, and Diane Coulson and Kate McNair, Board Members at large
• See you in San Francisco! ALA Annual Conference starts June 24th. Find all the YALSA activities on the YALSA wiki

Stats

• April membership = 5,189; April fundraising = $50
• May membership = 5,153; May fundraising = $2,725

February President’s Report
Just a quick update from a short month! The Board has been having quite a number of conversations related to strategic planning, and I invite you to the next town hall – May 14th at 8pm EST to be part of the discussions!
Activities

• Hosted YALSA member town hall to discuss member implementation of the recommendations from the Futures report.
• Led a Board Planning Session which focused on outcomes training and ways to incorporate outcomes into YALSA’s strategic planning process.
• Prepared board standing committees for revised quarterly chair report review process
• Appointed members to fill vacancies on various committees.
• Facilitated online discussion and voting for student engagement taskforce, programming guidelines, and the president’s program.
• Spoke with Santa Rose Press about teens and library usage

Updates

• Elections begin March 24 and run through May 1.
• Congratulations to the winners of YALSA’s writing awards: Shari Lee, Sarah Ludwig, Jaina Shaw, and Anna Tschetter.
• See you in San Francisco, Lisa Castellano, Lauren Lancaster, and Alicia Tate, the winners of YALSA’s Conference Travel Grants.
• Happy collection development to Kay Hones, Christy James, and Joan Yarsa, whose libraries are receipts of materials from YALSA’s Great Books Giveaway
• Special shout out to Sarah Hashimoto and Robin Fogle Kurz, the winners of YALSA’s Volunteer of the Year award.
• Peggy Hendershot brought diversity to the forefront of her teen discussions and won the MAE award for best literature program
• Smooth ordering to Brandt Ensor, Jean Forness, Graig Henshaw, Carolann MacMaster, Emma McCandless, Brooke Nelson, Emily Otis, and LaRaie Zimm, the winners of the MAE collection development grants.

Stats

• Membership - 5,168 members in Jan, up 1% over this time last year
• Donations - $2,029.21

Thanks again to all who braved the snowy weather to be part of the 2015 Midwinter Meetings, as well as those who chose to participate virtually with the board and other activities. It was a busy January, and I'm thrilled with all the work that members and the YALSA Board accomplished. Here's a peek at what I've been doing:

Activities

• Currently appointing to the new Board Diversity Taskforce, which will look at and make recommendations regarding the selection and recruitment of YALSA leaders. If you’re interested in serving, please send me an e-mail and/or submit a volunteer form.
• With Executive Director Beth Yoke and the board, finalized agendas for Midwinter YALSA Executive Committee and Board meetings.
• Led discussions at YALSA Board meetings. Draft minutes of those discussions will be posted here.
• Led discussions during two YALSA Executive Committee meetings. Draft minutes of those discussions will be posted here.
• Led a Board Planning Session which focused on outcomes training and ways to incorporate outcomes into YALSA’s strategic planning process.
• Attended formal and informal meetings with Division and ALA leaders at the Midwinter conference.
• Highlighted the work of YALSA selection committees at the Youth Media Awards.
• Hosted and celebrated Nonfiction and Morris award winners and finalists at the Midwinter reception.
• Appointed members to fill vacancies on various committees.
• Spoke with CNN regarding the importance of the Morris Award and recognizing new authors.
• Spoke with U.S. News and World Report about teen library engagement.

Updates

• What are you making at your library as part of Teen Tech Week? Find great ideas at the TTW Ning!
• Abigail Philips was selected as the 2015-2016 Board Fellow. Thanks to all who applied!
• YALSA’s strategic planning process is ongoing. Join in on Feb 24th from 3 to 4 pm for a virtual town hall as we discuss what being futures focused means for the organization.

Gratitude

• Thank you to all the selection and award committee members and Chairs who have just completed a year's worth of hard work in recognizing great books to engage all teens (and the librarians who love them).
• Thank you to the YALSA liaisons for attending and reporting back from ALA meetings.
• Thank you to the YALSA Board for engaging in some mega discussions and your assistance in moving YALSA forward.
• Thank you to YALSA staff (Beth Yoke, Letitia Smith, Anna Lam, Nicole Munguia, and Nichole O'Connor) for all that you do, both behind the scenes at conference, and for your hard work throughout the year in the YALSA office.

Greetings YALSA members! I hope all your New Year activities have gone well, and that you’re in the swing of winter programming, test preparation, and Midwinter planning!
Here’s a quarterly report on the things that I’ve been doing as YALSA President!

Activities:

• Attended ALA Fall Exec meetings and participated in ALA strategic planning session.
• Met with YALSA Exec Board members to discuss strategic planning, Midwinter preparation, and other governance issues.
• Hosted Member Town Hall to explore the results of YALSA’s member survey.
• Completed strategic appointments due to resignations.
• Conducted YALSA’s Board September Conference Call.
• Conducted YALSA’s Board December Conference Call.
• With the YALSA Board, approved Amazing Audiobooks policy changes, as submitted by the Amazing Audibooks chair.

Outreach and Media:

• Discussed YA book to movie trends and the role libraries play in promoting popular literature with “The Daily Circuit” radio program for Minnesota Public Radio.
• Spoke with Multiversity Comics about graphic novels and comic books in libraries.
• Attended New England Library Association Conference in Boxborough, MA.

Thank yous:

• Thanks to all chairs for submitting their quarterly reports for the Board Standing Committees to review and discuss.
• Thanks to all the members who attended the YA Literature Symposium in Austin, Texas.
• An enormous thanks to Best Buy for their generous support of Teen tech Week 2015.
• Thanks to all members who donated to YALSA’s Giving Tuesday efforts, and YALSA’s year-end appeal.

Statistics:

• At the end of November, membership was at 5,203, an increase of 1.3% over last year.
• In November, YALSA raised $125, and $1,931 for Giving Tuesday.
• 491 symposium registrants, up from 488 in 2012.

Upcoming events:

• Midwinter Meeting is rapidly approaching – Jan 29 through Feb 2. Will you be in Chicago? Check out the YALSA wiki for activities and happy hours.
• Mark your calendars for the next YALSA Town Hall,, happening February 24th at 3 pm EST in Adobe Connect.
• Planning for Teen Tech Week? The theme this year is “Libraries are for Making”.

Greetings YALSA members! I hope all your back to school activities have gone well, and that you’re enjoying busy libraries and packed programs. I’m sending along a combined July / August President’s report this time around, but will be back to monthly reports after this.
Activities:

• Attended ALA inauguration brunch following Annual 2014 closing Session
• Conducted board orientation session for new board members
• Conducted Board Development conversation regarding activities and duties of board standing committees
• Finished appointments to 2016 Printz, Edwards, and Non-fiction committees
• With executive Director, identified YALSA members to serve as liaisons or representatives to ALA Committees and Affiliate groups.
• With YALSA Board, nominated YALSA representative for IFLA

Outreach and Media:

• Spoke with Booklist, Christian Science Monitor, and Forbes about YA literature and genre trends.
• Presented Future of Library services for and with Teens to Suffolk Cooperative Library System administrators .

Thank yous:

• Thanks to all the chairs, committee members, and board members who completed their terms on June 30th, 2014.
• Thanks to all the members who attended the “Deciding” what’s next for YALSA” program at ALA Annual and provided feedback to help shape the next strategic plan.
• An enormous thanks to Dollar General for funding the new Android Teen Book Finder app and additional literacy projects. See a video of the projects here.

Statistics:

• At the end of July, YALSA membership was at 5,130, up 0.9% over July 2013.
• In June, YALSA raised $7,306.50. In July, YALSA raised $180.

Upcoming events

• Bundled registration for ALA midwinter is now available. The last day to sign up for bundled registration is September 30th.
• Teen Read Week is nearly upon us. Join the Teen Read Week twitter chat on Sep 29th from 2 to 3 pm est, #trw14.
• YALSA’s Lit Symposium is fast approaching! Will you be in Austin November 14-16? I’ll see you there!

Monthly President’s Report – April 2012

April was a very interesting month for me on the YALSA front. I’m just back from a week in Washington, D.C. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week, YALSA Executive Director Beth Yoke and I, along with several hundred other library supporters, attended National Library Legislative Day. Beth and I had eight separate meetings over two days, with legislators’ staff members, and with representatives from other organizations that have similar interests to YALSA, such as the Afterschool Alliance, the Center for Excellent Education, and the International Reading Association. We talked about how we could support one another’s missions.

Then on Friday and Saturday of the same week, I staffed the YALSA booth at the USA Science and Engineering Festival at the Washington Convention Center. Along with DC-area YALSA members, I handed out bookmarks and flyers, showed the demo of the YALSA Teen Book Finder App (available in May—we hope—from Apple’s App Store), chatted with teens, parents, teachers, and librarians, and did some on-the-fly readers’ advisory. We encouraged teens to participate in this year’s Teens’ Top Ten, and there was a lot of interest and enthusiasm.

Below is a summary of activities that I have completed or am working on.

Committees

• Committee Chairs:
  • I had phone conversations with several YALSA committee chairs about the work of their committees.
• Committee/Jury/Taskforce Appointments:
  • I appointed members to fill vacancies on several committees.
  • I continued appointing members to fill new task forces created by Board action at Midwinter

Board Activities

• I participated, with other Board members, in an online chat about recruiting and engaging members.
• I worked with Board members on their self-assessments.
• I worked with Executive Committee members to create an agenda for the Spring Executive Conference Call, to be held on Thursday, May 3.
• Board members, for National Volunteer Week, wrote thank-you notes to YALSA committee members.

Partnerships.  

• Mary Fellows, ALSC President, and I, along with our Presidents’ Program co-chairs, have been making final arrangements for our combined Presidents’ Program at ALA Annual. I hope many of you will be able to join us bright and early Monday morning to hear Dr. Michelle Poris of SmartyPants and Stephen Abram of GaleCengage share their insights on the Digital Lives of Tweens and Young Teens.
• I continue to participate in the School Libraries Task Force with members of other ALA divisions.

Writing.

• I wrote a post for the YALSA Blog’s “30 Days of Innovation” series on YALSA’s new badges for lifelong learning grant project.

 Media & Outreach.

• Spoke with Jeff Rivera, for Entertainment Weekly, about trends in YA literature.
• Spoke with Carlie Geisinger, of the Gilroy (CA) Dispatch about teen spaces and the value of having teen rooms in libraries. The occasion of the article was the opening of a new library building in a community that had never had a separate teen room.
• For National Volunteer Week,
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Risky Business

Please feel free to forward this report to others whom you think are interested

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association is to advocate, promote and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who provide service to this population.

Mission Moment
How Recent YALSA Activities Support the Association’s Mission and Strategic Plan
Advocacy is the first goal listed in YALSA’s strategic plan and in May several activities of the Association supported this goal.

• Five YALSA members were selected to receive a stipend in order to make it possible for them to attend Library Advocacy Day on June 29 in Washington, DC. Thanks go to the Task Force (chaired by Chris Shoemaker) that reviewed applications and selected to whom the stipends would be awarded.
• YALSA held a webinar on advocacy which was facilitated by Karen Keyes. Association members can access the webinar on YALSA’s Members Only website.
• A packet of information was sent to faculty at library schools to highlight the importance of YA services in libraries, encourage expanded teen service oriented curriculum, and inform them of the resources and support YALSA can provide.

Accomplishments

• Each year ALA Division Presidents are asked to submit an annual report to ALA Council. YALSA’s report was submitted in May and is available in the Annual Reports area of the Governance section of the YALSA website.
• Incoming, outgoing, and continuing chairs of YALSA member groups participated in a chat that covered planning for Annual Conference, planning for Leadership Development and All Committee meetings at Conference, and the updated Job Description for YALSA Chairs and Job Description for Member Group Members, both recently approved by the YALSA Board. The updated job descriptions are designed to assist those planning on joining or chairing a YALSA member group, and those who have accepted member group appointments, understand expectations of service.
• As mentioned in the April President’s Report, the YALSA Board worked last month to develop a document that provides insight into the benefits of serving on the YALSA Board. That document is now available on the YALSA website.
• In order to continue to support members successfully, YALSA launched three new Task Forces in May. A Mentoring Task Force is charged with reading through mentor and protege applications submitted for YALSA’s new mentoring program and matching mentors to proteges. A Space Guidelines Task Force is charged with continuing the work of a previous Task Force in order to develop a set of teen space guidelines which will be presented to the YALSA Board at Midwinter 2011. And, the Table Talk Task Force is charged with planning and implementing a table talk session at Annual 201
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Risky Business

Please feel free to forward this report to others whom you think are interested

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association is to advocate, promote and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who provide service to this population.

Mission Moment
How Recent YALSA Activities Support the Association’s Mission and Strategic Plan
In April YALSA launched a mentoring initiative which seeks to match experienced librarians with library school students and/or new librarians. Those accepted into the program will work together as proteges and mentors in order to learn from each other about serving teens successfully in libraries. This new program supports the YALSA mission and strategic plan by engaging members in the Association and by supporting members in their service to teens.

Accomplishments

• YALSA leaders were a part of two separate blog series in April. Early in the month conveners of YALSA’s interest and discussion groups, and chairs of YALSA committees transitioning to interest or discussion group status, wrote about the work of their groups. Through the posts these leaders also solicited nominations for conveners of interest groups and discussion groups as elections for these positions will take place in late May. To learn more about the work of YALSA’s interest and discussion groups you can read all of the recent posts. Thank you to the current interest group and discussion group conveners and committee chairs that posted on this topic.

  In late April, YALSA Board members Sarah Debraski, Sara Ryan, Mary Hastler, and Francisca Goldsmith posted on the blog on the theme of life on the YALSA Board. These posts are meant to inform those considering running for a YALSA Board position about what Board work is really like. The week of posts ended with a podcast on the topic of Board service. You can read the posts and listen to the podcast on the YALSA Blog. Thanks to YALSA’s Board members for their work on this blog series.

• Each spring the YALSA Executive Committee (made up of the YALSA President, President-Elect, Immediate Past President, Secretary, Fiscal Officer, ALA Councillor, and Executive Director) meets via conference call in order to continue planning for ALA Annual, to look at upcoming and future work of the YALSA Board, and to consider possible Association initiatives. The 2010 spring Executive Committee meeting took place in late April and Committee members discussed a variety of topics including YALSA’s business plan, the Association’s finances, plans for Board member development prior to Annual Conference, and ways in which ALA youth Divisions can more successfully take part in the work of ALA Council. The full agenda for the meeting, along with meeting documents, is available in the governance section of the YALSA website.
• The deadline for applications for YALSA’s Library Advocacy Day travel stipend was April 30. It is now the work of a Task Force to evaluate the applications and select those who will be awarded the stipend. The formation of the Task Force was approved
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“Risky Business”

Please feel free to forward this email to others whom you think will be interested.

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association is to advocate, promote and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who provide service to this population.

Mission Moment
How Recent YALSA Activities Support the Association’s Mission and Strategic Plan
At YALSA’s Midwinter Meetings, the Board voted to create a member recognition award that will annually honor a committee chair, committee member, and/or member group for their work with and for YALSA during the previous year. YALSA Board member Stephanie Squicciarini has agreed to chair the ad hoc committee that will develop an award proposal to be presented to the Board at their Annual meetings in June. The creation of this Award directly supports YALSA’s mission to support those who provide service to teens and the member engagement and recruitment goal in the strategic plan. Thank you to Stephanie and her committee members for their work on this initiative.

Accomplishments
Following decisions made by the YALSA Board related to YALSA’s selected lists portfolio, I, and YALSA’s Executive Director, Beth Yoke, had a phone call with current chairs of the Association’s selection committees. The call provided the chairs with the opportunity to ask questions about the Board’s decisions and the work being done by the Association’s Organization & Bylaws Committee in order to create consistency in the policies and procedures of all of YALSA’s selected lists and awards.

As YALSA President I was invited to attend the Pew Research Center’s conference on Millennials. The conference focused on the just released Pew research report, Millennials: Confident, Connected, and Open to Change, which discusses the demographics and the political, social, technological, and religious life of 18 to 29 year olds. The data included in the report provides YALSA with information that is helpful in planning products and initiatives.

In 2010 seven YALSA Committees are transitioning to interest or discussion group status. In order to help chairs of the transitioning committees understand and plan for the transition, I held a conference call with them. During the call the chairs discussed the best way to elect conveners for, and get word out about, their groups. The chairs decided to sponsor a series of posts on the YALSA blog in order to help inform members about interest and discussion groups and to solicit convener nominations. It was also decided that all interest and discussion group conveners will be elected during the week of May 24. More information about these elections will be forthcoming this spring.

In February the YALSA Board held its winter meeting. The main focus of the meeting was to go over post-conference reports submitted by member group chairs following Midwinter Meetings in Boston. Along with the post-conference reports the Board also discussed:

• A request for Board action submitted by the Association’s Financial Advancement Committee. This request asked the Board to consider several financial initiatives for 2010. The Board voted to move forward in three areas: 1) Begin a fundraising campaign titled “Give $10 in 10″ 2) Integrate a silent auction into the Midwinter 2011 Happy Hour 3) Develop
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“Risky Business”

Please feel free to forward this report to others whom you think are interested

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association is to advocate, promote and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who provide service to this population.

Mission Moment

How Recent YALSA Activities Support the Association’s Mission and Strategic Plan
At their Midwinter Meetings, the YALSA Board voted to approve a proposal that expanded virtual participation in the Association’s process committees. This decision directly supports the Member Engagement goal in YALSA’s strategic plan as it provides more members opportunities to participate in the Association. And, by providing those opportunities, YALSA also meets its mission to support those who provide service to teens. The proposal that was approved by the Board at Midwinter is available on the YALSA web site.

Accomplishments
My focus during January was on YALSA’s Midwinter Meeting in Boston. Prior to the Meeting I worked with YALSA’s Executive Director, Executive Committee, and Board members to finalize Board meeting agendas and supporting documents for each item on the Board agenda. The YALSA Board made several key decisions during their Midwinter meetings and also began discussions on topics that will help shape the Association’s programs, services, and products over the next few years. Documents supporting Midwinter discussions of the Board remain available on the YALSA web site and the YALSA Blog provides an overview of Board discussions and decisions. (You can read the January 16 overview and the January 17 and 18 overview.)

The first William C. Morris/Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award program and reception took place at this year’s Midwinter Meeting. This successful event included the presentation of Awards to the winners and honorees and a video presentation by the winner of the William C. Morris Award, L. K. Madigan. Speeches by four of the five honorees for the Excellence in Nonfiction Award, including the winner of that Award, Deborah Heiligman, were also a part of the event. The Committees that selected the honorees and winners for these two awards worked diligently over the past year in order to make quality choices. I would like to thank Judy Nelson, the Chair of the William C. Morris Award; Angela Carstensen, Chair of the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award; and their committee members for their hard-work and dedication.

In order to answer questions from YALSA members about the Association’s selected lists, YALSA’s Immediate Past President, Sarah Debraski, and I developed a selected lists Frequently Asked Questions document. The document is availab

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association is to advocate, promote and strengthen service to young adults as part of the continuum of total library service, and to support those who provide service to this population.

Accomplishments

Over the last month YALSA’s Executive Director, Beth Yoke, and I have participated in several calls with committee chairs to discuss ongoing and upcoming projects. These include a call with the incoming chair, John Sexton, of the 2011 YALSA Nominating Committee to talk abou the process of developing a YALSA slate for election 2011; the current Chair of the Research Committee, Rebecca Hunt, to discuss Research Committee activities in support of YALSA’s strategic plan; and the current Chair of the Division Membership and Promotion Committee, Candice Mack, to discuss the YALSA 201 event planned for Midwinter in Boston and YALSA’s continued efforts to recruit and engage members. I want to thank John, Rebecca, and Candice for their leadership in YALSA.

The Advocacy Task Force and the Legislation Committee are working together to develop an advocacy training session for Annual 2010 in Washington, DC. I spoke with the Chairs of these two groups, Beth Gallaway (Advocacy) and Janet Hilburn (Legislation), to discuss plans for the training. Beth, Janet, and the members of their groups plan to develop an interactive session that will provide attendees with useful tips and skills for advocating at the legislative and community level. Thanks to Beth and Janet for leading this endeavor.

Recently ALA revised its policy related to virtual participation on committees. This revision gives YALSA the opportunity to re-think its committee structures and expand virtual membership beyond the 1/3 rule previously stipulated by ALA. The YALSA Board met by conference call in November to discuss this new policy and the implications for YALSA. The Board will continue to discuss this with an eye to voting on a proposal related to virtual committees and virtual committee membership during Midwinter 2010 Board meetings.

In its continued efforts to find effective ways to support members during the recession, over the past month the YALSA Board participated in brainstorming activities specifically focusing on how to recognize and assist members in difficult economic times. Ideas generated from the brainstorming will be discussed further at Midwinter 2010.

In Progress

Last year YALSA instituted a new format for the Leadership Development meeting held for chairs during each Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference. Feedback received on these changes was positive. As a result, the new format will continue in 2010. In order to prepare for Midwinter Leadership Development, a series of podcasts with YALSA Board members and committee chairs are being produced and the YALSA Executive Committee is planning for mini leadership training sessions which will be held during the Midwinter Leadership Development meeting.

Planning for Midwinter Board meetings began in earnest in November, with Board members providing feedback on a draft agenda for the meetings as well as brainstorming about the Board planning session that takes place on the Friday of each Midwinter meeting. The full agenda for Board meetings, along with supporting documents, will be available in the YALSA Members Only section of the Association web site in early January. Information about some of the topics the Board will discuss at Mi

There’s been a lot of activity at YALSA since Annual Conference. In my six weeks as the President, I’ve had the chance to speak with many members, work on projects with fellow Executive Committee and Board members, and plan for future events and programs.

Accomplishments

• Following discussions at Annual about BBYA in particular and modernizing YALSA’s selected lists in general, the YALSA Executive Committee discussed, via phone, next steps in developing a proposal, to be fine-tuned at Fall Executive Committee Meeting. An overview of the information from that conversation is available as a pdf file.
• The work of YALSA’s committees/juries/taskforces goes on year-round. Several committees including Strategic Planning, Membership Division & Promotion, and Research have a role to play in helping YALSA move forward with its strategic plan. In order to support the committees with their work and planning, I (and YALSA’s Executive Director Beth Yoke) had calls with each Committee Chair in order to discuss the work at hand. Thanks to the Chairs for the time and attention to the projects of their member groups. I also spoke with the Chair of the Teen Space Guidelines Task Force about next steps and to thank her for the work of the Task Force on the Guidelines.

Media

• Spoke with Philadelphia reporter, Natalie Hope McDonald about teen services in the 21st century
• Spoke with Lauren Barack from School Library Journal (SLJ) for three SLJ web articles on Maine’s school laptop program, on teen use of social media, and on a new project to bring science resources to students.
• Provided Stevie Kuenn, YALSA’s Communications Specialist, with quotes for press releases on Teens’ Top Ten Voting, the winner of YALSA’s Spectrum Award, YALS winning an Apex Award for the second year in a row, YALSA’s grants and awards, and the launching of YALSA’s web-based research journal.
• Scheduled radio interviews with WTFI-FM in St. Petersburg, FL and KISS-FM in Seattle to talk about Teen Read Week.

In Progress

• Following the resignation of the Chair of the Research Committee, I am in the process of appointing a new Chair to that group. The Research Committee has worked diligently over the last year to develop an updated research bibliography and plan for YALSA’s new research journal. I would like to thank them for the all for their work.
• Over the past several years the YALSA Board and Executive Committee has discussed ways to provide leadership development opportunities for Board members. Starting in September, Board members will be taking part in monthly chat sessions on topics related to Board leadership. Over the next year they will have the chance to participate in webinars and other online courses on topics related to leadership and board member engagement.
• YALSA is currently investigating possibilities for applying for an IMLS grant. The Association is looking at ways that a grant of this type can support leadership, mentoring, and/or training needs of members.

Additional Important YALSA News

• You can give your teens the chance to vote for their favorite books as a part of YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten project. Visit the Teens’ Top Ten section of the YALSA web site to learn more and to read about ways in which you can promote voting with the teens with whom you work.
• If you would like to get more involved in YALSA, committee/jury/taskforce work might be just right for you.  You can read about how to fill out a volunteer form and about the types of member groups or which you can volunteer on this bog. The deadline for Selection Committee Volunteer form submission is September 30.
• Registration is now open for Read Beyond Reality the theme of the 2009 Teen Read Week (TRW). You can register and learn more about TRW on the YALSA web site.
• Bundled registration for Midwinter Meeting 2010 in Boston and Annual Conference 2010 in Chicago began September 1. By using the bundled registration option you can save $75 on registration fees. Registration is available on the ALA web site. Registration for YALSA’s Friday Institute, “Libraries 3.0: Teen Edition” and Friday evening social event, “Games Gadgets & Gurus” is not available until October 1. We apologize for any convenience this might cause. You can learn more about what YALSA is planning for Midwinter and Annual 2010 on the YALSA wiki