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Teen Tech Week Registration Ends 2/16: Getting ready for Teen Tech Week? Be sure to register by Tuesday! Registration gets you access to this year’s theme logo. This year’s theme, Learn Create Share @ your library, fosters teen creativity and positions the library as a place to explore technology. Know what you’re doing? Tell us on our wiki. Teen Tech Week is March 3-7.

Last Day to Order TTW Products: Tuesday is also the last day to order Teen Tech Week products and have them arrive in time for your celebration, using standard shipping. Check out posters, graphics and more at the ALA Store. Purchases from ALA Graphics support the work of YALSA and ALA.

After the jump, find out how to register for YALSA’s preconferences at ALA Annual Conference in D.C.,  information on applying to be a Spectrum Scholar, deadlines to volunteer for a YALSA Committee, and more!

Join YALSA for Annual Preconferences: YALSA will offer two preconferences before the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.  (Early bird registration ends March 5, so sign up soon and save!) If you have already registered and would like to add a preconference or special event, you have two options: (1) By phone: Call ALA Registration at 1-800-974-3084 and ask to add a workshop to your existing registration.; (2) Online: Add an event to your existing registration by clicking on this link. Use your log in and password to access your existing Annual registration and add events in the “Your Events” section (screen 6). Then simply check out and pay for the events you’ve added.

YALSA  has plenty planned, in addition to preconferences. See everything we have planned at the YALSA Annual Conference Wiki.

It’s Perfectly Normal: Dealing with “Sensitive” Topics in Teen Services is a full-day workshop on  Friday, June 24 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Have you ever found yourself worrying about how best to address critical but sensitive adolescent topics through your teen services and collection? Topics like sexuality, abuse, privacy and others can be difficult for librarians to address with teens &/or their parents and caregivers. Hear from experts in the field of adolescent development, along with authors and librarians, about how they have managed to successfully maneuver this difficult landscape. Explore strategies for collection development, services and programming relating to these sensitive issues. Tickets cost $195 for YALSA members; ALA Members: $235; Non-Members: $285; Student/Retired Members: $195.

Promoting Teen Reading with Web 2.0 Tools (Ticketed Event-$99) Friday, June 24, 12:30-4:30. The participatory web has transformed adolescent literacy, as young

YALSA’s Online Courses Cooler temperatures, falling leaves … why not complete the picture by signing up for one of YALSA’s Online Courses this fall? YALSA is offering three courses  (including two brand-new ones!): AIMing at Tweens: Advising, Involving, Motivating (taught by Teri Lesesne); Graphic Novels and Teen Readers: The Basics and Beyond (taught by Francisca Goldsmith) and Reaching Teens with Gaming (taught by Beth Gallaway). Read descriptions and register at YALSA’s Online Courses page.

Bundled Registration Open If you’re planning to attend both ALA conferences this year (Midwinter Meeting in Boston, Jan. 15-19 and Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., June 24-29) , take advantage of bundled registration and save 20% off of advanced registration for each conference separately. You’ll be able to register for hotels now, too. Starting Oct. 1, you can add registration for YALSA’s Midwinter Institute, “Libraries 3.0: Teen Edition” and YALSA’s Midwinter Social Event, “Games, Gadgets & Gurus.”

After the jump, learn how you can propose a program or paper for the 2010 YA Lit Symposium, see how you can preorder YALSA’s newest book, tell YALSA your opinion on future continuing education topics, and find out deadlines for the Teens’ Top Ten and Teen Read Week.

YALSA’s YA Lit Symposium Needs You Think about joining YALSA in 2010 for the Young Adult Literature Symposium, Nov. 5-7, 2010, in Albuquerque, N.M, with a theme  of “Beyond Good Intentions: Teens, Literature and Diversity.” Proposals for programs, papers, and the preconference will be accepted at the symposium website through Oct. 1. We’re also giving away two stipends to offset travel costs, one for someone whose worked directly with teens in a library setting for ten years or less and one for a student in an ALA-accredited MLS program (you must be enrolled in an MLS program at the start of the symposium); stipend applications are due by Jan. 4, 2010. Details on both are available at www.ala.org/yalitsymposium.

Preorder Cool Teen Programs for under $100 YALSA’s newest book, Cool Teen Programs for under $100, edited by Jenine Lillian for YALSA (YALSA, 2009), is now available for preorders! Books will ship in late September. This essential guide offers creative, fun programming ideas at prices that won’t break your budget (plus it has helpful chapters on budgeting and marketing for teen librarians).

Talk to Us YALSA is currently surveying members on topics for future professional development offerings – tell us what you’d like to see addressed in our online courses, monthly chats, face-to-face institutes, and more. The survey will take less than ten minutes and you’ll be entered to win a free online course from YALSA, just for completing it.

Two Weeks That’s how long you have until two big YALSA deadlines: registration for Teen Read Week ends Sept. 18, as does voting for the Teens’ Top Ten. Make sure you’ve registered for Teen Read Week and then encourage your teens to vote for this year’s Teens’ Top Ten. We’ll be announcing the winners during Teen Read Week in a video featuring WWE Superstars and Divas (and maybe a couple authors, too).

That’s it for this week’s update! To stay up to date on the latest from the YALSA Office, sign up to follow YALSA on Twitter or become a fan of YALSA on Facebook!

Missed YALSA’s Happy Hour and Fashion Show at ALA Annual? Relive it in this video, created by YALSA’s intern extraordinaire, Thiru Selvanagayam.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard about the controversy surrounding one of YALSA’s best-known lists: the Best Books for Young Adults. Heck, you’d have to be ignoring Twitter, various journals, and this very blog to have not heard a peep about the kerfuffle.

But what really happened?

First, it’s important to realize that the board was considering two separate proposals that have been conflated in many places around the web. One, which the board heard on Saturday, was an action item (meaning the board had to vote on it as part of the meeting’s business) that would create a reader’s choice book list. That item passed. The other item, which was moved from an action item to a discussion item (meaning that the board did not necessarily have to take any action), would have phased out the Best Books for Young Adults committee and list. The board discussed this item on Monday, at what turned out to be YALSA’s attempt to fit a hundred librarians into a phone booth.

(Okay, it wasn’t a hundred librarians. And some publishers snuck in, too. But needless to say, it was a very well-attended board meeting.)

To really understand what happened—and what is happening—you should do a little reading. First, the board documents are available to all YALSA members. Log in with your ALA member ID and password, select board documents, and read both item 14 (it’s called Modernizing Selected List Portfolio; this covers the BBYA proposal) and item 15 (Readers’ Choice List). Please note that the fact that these two agenda items are next to each other doesn’t actually mean they’re linked in any way. On Saturday, the TV Task Force presented our final report, but we have absolutely nothing to do with the Mentoring Task Force, who presented their final report right after us. We rubbed shoulders on the agenda, but that’s really it—just like with items 14 and 15.

Next, consider taking the time to read about the current policies and procedures for the BBYA committee itself. These are available for anyone to read, not just YALSA members.

“But the board meeting!” you shout. “What happened at the board meeting?”

Okay, okay—the board meeting.

What happened was this: at then-president Sarah Debraski’s request for opening observations and remarks, each board member (including non-voting members) spoke. As someone who attended the meeting, I think I can safely characterize all of these remarks as very reasonable and diplomatic. Board members spoke briefly on a number of concerns: the workload for the BBYA committee members, the importance of the list to professionals, and the YALSA brand were just a few. It should be noted that not one board member spoke in favor of sunsetting the committee.

The floor was then opened to concerned observers. We were initially limited to two minutes for remarks, then one minute as the meeting progressed (and the item continued to eat up the allotted time). Observers ranged from publishers to members of other ALA divisions to current and past BBYA committee members and chairs. (Oh, and schmucks like me who just graduated from library school.)

The overwhelming theme of the comments from observers? BBYA needs some work, but shouldn’t be eliminated. Once again, not a single observer spoke in favor of eliminating the list or the committee. (It’s entirely possible that some people in the room did support that end, but apparently none of them wanted to face a phone booth full of angry librarians, and I don’t really blame them—I spoke in favor of increased youth participation and felt like that got a fairly icy response from some corners of the room).

So what happens now?

Here’s what I hope happens—and remember that I’m just some schmuck, but I’m also a schmuck with 900 teens to serve: I hope that YALSA members and the rest of the concerned public can keep their pitchforks in check and make some good come of all this. This is an opportunity to re-examine the way our lists and committees function (or don’t function). Who are we ultimately trying to serve? I heard many people—on the board and from the general public—speak on BBYA’s importance for professionals, but currently the target audience for the list is young adults. (Don’t believe me? Look again at Policies and Procedures, under “Target Audience.”) Whose voices should we be amplifying? Are we literature experts, or are we experts in what appeals to young adults?

Yesterday I was officially installed as YALSA’s President for 2009-2010. I am very excited about working with the Division and its members on an array of projects that will help support librarians working with teens.

One thing YALSA will be focusing on over the next year is my presidential theme which is Risky Business. I developed this theme with the support of the Presidential Advisory Task Force. (Thanks to Frances Jacobson Harris, Lisa Lindsay, Jack Martin, Becky Mazur, Jami Mayo, and Connie Urquhart for their hep in getting ready for this year.)

YALSA knows librarians take risks every day of the year when they purchase materials that might be controversial, when they have conversations with teens which might lead to topics that are sometimes difficult to discuss, when they advocate for the programs and services teens need. In order to support librarian risk-taking, during the year YALSA will collect stories about risk from librarians, teens, and those who work with teens. These will be posted on the YALSA blog in audio, video, and text format and help to provide librarians with ideas on how to be successful in their own library risk-taking. We’ll also use some of the risky stories in a book titled Risky Business (co-authored by myself, Jack Martin, and Connie Urquhart) that will be published by ALA Editions in 2010. If you have a story of taking risks in library services to teens or in your career you can submit it to YALSA by sending an email to [email protected]. No story is too big or too small.

Not only will YALSA be looking at ways to support librarian risk-taking, we will also take a look at the Division’s own risk-taking. This will include looking at ways in which YALSA can take risks in order to move forward and provide members with the services they need and require. Some of the items discussed by the YALSA Board during meetings at Annual Conference are going to give YALSA the opportunity to take risks in order to support members. These include:

• YALSA-TV - As Connie Urquhart mentioned in her post about YALSA-TV, the YALSA Board approved the development of a new blog that will act as a one-stop-shop for materials related to books and reading. The blog will make it easy to access YALSA’s selection lists and will embed book trailers and other audio and video related to books and reading.
• Reader’s Choice - This new list sponsored by YALSA will be compiled virtually and will give members the opportunity to nominate and vote for favorite titles published in a twelve-month period. Reader’s Choice is going to provide an excellent opportunity for YALSA members who can’t participate in the standing committees charged with selecting titles for YALSA’s various lists to get involved in the Division. As the Reader’s Choice proposal states, The list “aims to provide more members with the chance to get involved in development of the tools teens and adults use to select reading titles.” A small group of members will be appointed to a group to develop the policies, procedures, and guidelines for the workings of Reader’s Choice. The YALSA Board hopes to get the list up and running very soon, stay tuned for more details.
• Older Teens Interest Group - During YALSA’s Board meetings at Midwinter 2009, there was discussion of the needs of teens at the younger and older end of the teen age spectrum. One idea that came from that discussion was the creation of a YALSA Interest Group focusing on the needs of librarians serving older teens. A few Division members took on the task of going through the process of starting a new interest group and at Annual Conference the YALSA Board approved the Older Teens Interest Group. The group’s mission states, “The purpose of this Interest Group is to discuss issues relating to serving young adults in their late teens and early twenties. We seek to develop and exchange ideas on how libraries can continue to best serve these “new adults” as they navigate life after the high school years. Identifying the needs of this age group, compiling & sharing collection and programming guidelines to address those needs, and considering ways to provide participatory opportunities for them is a focus of this Interest Group.” If you are interested in getting involved contact Penny Johnson.
• Interest & Discussion Groups - Speaking of interest groups, during Annual Conference, the YALSA Board approved the requests of seven standing committees to transition to interest or discussion groups. Once each Committee’s transition is complete, as an interest or discussion group they will be able to have as many members as are interested in the work of the group. Membership can be completely virtual. And, the work of the group can be much more flexible than what is possible in a standing committee. You can read about interest and discussion groups on the YALSA web site.
• Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) - During Annual Conference there was discussion of YALSA’s BBYA list including how the list is selected and how it is used. Following these discussions the YALSA Board decided that it needs to consider all of the feedback provided by members during conference. Using feedback from the Board and members, the Executive Committee of YALSA will work to develop a new strategy for BBYA that will be ready for Board consideration at Midwinter 2010.

There is much more that the Board discussed, approved, and debated during meetings at Annual Conference. This includes a final report on mentoring, a set of teen space guidelines, and plans for including a virtual component to YALSA’s Literature Symposium. You can access the full set of documents and agendas on the YALSA web site in the For Members Only section.

Throughout the year YALSA will continue to work for its members in order to give them with the service and support needed to provide excellent services to teens. If you have questions or ideas feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Thanks to all for giving me the opportunity to serve as YALSA President. It’s going to be a great year!

If you offer me a choice between going to a conference program and observing the work of a committee or board…I’ll pick the committee  and board stuff almost every time. You’ll find debate, controversy, and loads of interesting discussions.

Yesterday, I observed the ALA Executive Board. They had a pretty interesting agenda, including a report on librarian demographics. It was fascinating stuff and merits discussion amongst a wider audience.

The demographers have not compiled their findings into a final report, and it will probably be a while before we see their interpretations. I’ll walk you through the slides, but keep in mind…while the numbers aren’t completely raw, you might consider them still medium-rare. As such I defer to the ALA Office for Research & Statistics when it comes to explaining all the charts and graphs. And keep in mind these caveats: this data represents particular snapshots and projections. It can be difficult to predict trends.

Slide 3: Credentialed Librarians by Age, 2005

These numbers are from census data, meaning this represents librarians throughout the US. There is an obvious bubble in the Baby Boomer age group, but interestingly, the numbers are concentrated in the first half of the Baby Boom. One of the demographers mentioned that the number of MLS degrees issued peaked in the 1970s. As the Boomers aged, they continued to join our profession, so the number of librarians in this age group continued to grow across the next thirty years. Note these numbers are for  2005, so projecting forward, 40% of librarians are age 54-63.

Slide 4: GM Auto Workers by Age and Sex, 2006

This is here as a comparison to other professions and industries. The same Baby Boom bubble is apparent, but you’ll also notice the steep decline around age 45. Seniority rules mean that workers under 45 are most likely to be laid off, so they’re simply not present in the GM workforce.

Slide 5: Credentialed Librarians by Gender and Age, 1980 & 1990

These are snapshots of the profession in 1980 and 1990. In 1980, the Boomer bubble occurs around age 30, and overall the profession appears fairly young. In 1990, the Boomer bubble has moved to age 40 and grown a bit in the meantime.

Slide 6: Credentialed Librarians by Gender and Age, 2000 & 2005

By 2000, the Boomer bubble has reached 50, and in 2005, it’s at 55. Since 1980, the profession has aged significantly.

Slide 8: Credentialed Librarians by Gender and Age, 1995

Same stuff we just saw, this is here to make the next couple of slides possible. Can you spot the Boomer bubble?

Slide 9: Credentialed Librarians Growth 1995-2005

Alrighty. The light blue represents the 1995 numbers aged forward 10 years.  The purple shows  people who have entered the profession since 1995. Remember, this represents a sample, so it doesn’t mean that there were no 39 year old males or 54 year old females who became librarians from 1995-2005, it just means there weren’t any in this sample. If you look past the choppiness, you can still get a general idea of what is going on…librarians enter the profession at many different ages.

Slide 10: 1995 Credentialed Librarians Aged to 2005

Once again, same data from slide 8 aged to 2005, but this time (represented in light green) we’re looking at individuals who have left the profession (through retirement, death, career change, etc). The demographers mentioned that men tend to enter the profession earlier, and they follow more traditional (i.e. earlier) retirement patterns than women.

Intermission. Switch gears, we’re blazing ahead to the future.

Slide 11: Number of Credentialed Librarians by Age 1980-2006

Once again, we’re looking at snapshots of the profession at particular moments in time. This chart shows quite clearly that young librarians were prevalent in 1980, and we can watch the Boomer bubble (and the profession overall) age as we progress to 2005.

Slide 13: Projected 2015 Data

There’s the 2005 data from the last slide, alongside three different versions of what 2015 might look like. The first is based on the changes that occurred from 1980 to 1990, the second on 1990-2000, and the third on 1995-2005. While the projections are generally similar, note the differences in the 65-70 and 70+ categories. (There’s a funny dip in the 50-54s for the set on the right. Yup, it’s weird, and nope, the demographers aren’t really sure what’s going on.)

Slide 14: Percent of Credentialed Librarians Age 60+

The left half of the graph represents actual numbers, the right half are all 2015 projections, based on different rates as in slide 13. From what the demographers said, I got the impression that the 1995-2005 scenario is mostly likely. You can see that from 1980-2000, the number of librarians aged 60+ was fairly constant at 10%. In 2005, it jumps to a little over 15%, but in 2015, we’re looking at 27-30% at age 60+.

Slide 15: Estimated and Projected Credentialed Librarian Retirements by Decade

This chart illustrates the impending wave of librarian retirements that we’ve been hearing about for a while. We’re already four years into the 2005-2015 projections. Of course, in recent years we’ve witnessed that Boomers are delaying retirement.

Slide 17: Projected Retirements of 2009 Domestic Working ALA Members

This slide represents just ALA members.

Slide 18: Anticipated Member Retirements 2009–2020

More ALA member-only data. The graph on the left is actual 2009 numbers, while the middle and right graphs are projections. Like slide 10, the projections show 2009 members aged forward to 2015 and 2020, with light green representing anticipated retirements (or people leaving the profession for other reasons). Notice the growth in the 70+ category.

Slide 19: Credentialed Librarians: Hours Worked by Age and Gender

I think we’re back to census data, but don’t quote me on that. This slide shows a general trend towards part-time work as librarians age. (Again, this is a sample, not everybody, so there’s potential for a certain choppiness. Yes, there are  probably 70+ year old males somewhere who worked 33 hours a week, it just happens that there weren’t any in this sample.)

Slide 20: Census Credentialed Librarian vs. ALA Membership Age Distributions

This might be one of the most interesting charts, but also the hardest to interpret. Here we compare total librarians compared to ALA members. My notes say that this is data for 2005. I think the member data used is from 2009, adjusted backwards for 2005. Note these are percentages; I’d like to see the actual numbers. At first glance, it looks like younger librarians are more likely to be ALA members. Of course, students enrolled in library degree programs aren’t credentialed, and therefore not included in the census numbers  (those are the blue bars). I’d like to see library school students included in this data somehow. The difference between ALA members and total librarians might also be affected by the definition of credentialed librarian. It looks like the turnaround point for ALA membership is age 40, but when asked about this, the demographers mentioned that ALA’s drop in market share with regards to membership begins around age 30. (I’d really like to see more data there.)

Alright, that’s a lot to digest. Interesting to consider it alongside discussions about how to make ALA more responsive to younger members. What do you think?

I have a feeling that my first stop in Chicago wasn’t one that many other librarians visited. I didn’t pick up my conference materials or check into my hotel. I didn’t wander through the new modern wing at the art museum or indulge in my first hot dog. I didn’t go anywhere near McCormick Plaza.

Instead, I went to a tattoo parlor.

For me, Chicago is all about improvisation. That’s how I first came to the city–as an improviser, a very overwhelmed 19 year old who tried to take in the wonderful performances at Second City and iO to hone my own craft. So it’s fitting that some six years later I’d return to this city and get a tattoo of one of my improv philosophies: yes, and.

Saying “Yes, and” in the improv world is about accepting the offers you’re given, always making your scene partner look good, and adding more information to advance the scene. Saying yes at conference is very much the same–it’s about embracing the opportunities provided (and the responsibilities that go along with them), supporting your colleagues, and keeping the momentum of the conference rolling.

I’ve said yes a lot in Chicago. Liveblog an event with a day’s notice? Sure. Attend a board meeting? No problem. Traipse all around the city looking for a Hyatt because I have zero innate sense of direction? I need the exercise!

Saying yes is also about letting your plans change at the drop of a hat, much the way they do when you walk onstage. This is what leads to life’s little happy accidents, like getting half price tickets to watch Paula Poundstone (and some other very funny women) knock your socks off, or meeting an author you didn’t know you loved, or realizing a speaker might be just perfect for your next event.

Onstage, saying no can derail a scene. It might be funny for a split second, but it can make your scene partner look bad in the long run. At conference, on the other hand, saying no just might be the secret to your survival.

It’s so easy to get swept up in the excitement of a great panel or productive committee session and feel like you’re ready to go change the world. And you are–trust me, you are going to change the world–but you’re also going to go home and pay your electrical bill and burn some cookies and have a bad meeting and get the flu.

Life gets in the way of good intentions. No matter how many hats you wear at conference, no doubt you wear at least half a dozen more at home and at work. It’s crucial for your own life and work–as well as the work of YALSA–that you prioritize and remember that saying no is also an option.

Particularly if you’re already someone who dives into tasks with enthusiasm and produces fantastic results, your fellow YALSA members are going to want you on their committees and task forces and panels. Often your interests and needs will overlap, everyone says “Yes, and,” and life rolls merrily along. But just as often the fit isn’t right. Saying no doesn’t mean you’ll never be asked again, it doesn’t make you a bad person, and it doesn’t mean the sky will fall. Saying “No, but” can be just as important as “Yes, and.”

What did you say yes (and no) to in Chicago?

Cathy De Rosa kicks off the OCLC Symposium on maintaining leadership and thinking about how to deliver great customer service.

People are thinking differently about their choices today--no longer trading up but trading off. Libraries have the opportunity to differentiate.

The future can't simply be "more of the same."

Joseph Michelli
How do we drive a change experience with sustainability? (If we increase our foot traffic, we have to increase the funding.)
When Fish Fly
The New Gold Standard
The Starbucks Experience

Example from the Pike Place Fish Market: if you approach it only as a transactional business, you will lose. The first act of love is to listen: Let's treat people who come up to the Fish Stand as being World Famous. (An experiential brand was born.)
They focused only on creating the experience that the customer was really something special. (They stopped worrying about selling fish.) The product is exactly the same as it was before...

It's not about being interesting, it's being interested in people. The relevance goes up. It's not about entertaining people, it's about being relevant.

Experiential Brand Statements:
Ritz-Carleton Hotels. "Create the home of a loving parent." Things magically pop-up and show up. Every employee from the first day is told that this is the brand experience. Everyone on staff is given $2,000 per day to increase people's experience. They put a process in to deliver this experience.

Starbucks. "Create a third place--the living room of the community."

What We Know from Consumer Behavior
*Even in difficult times 50% of consumers will pay more for a better experience. --2009 Harris Interactive
*50% of customers leave businesses because of bad experiences.--Accenture
*Companies ...successful in creating both functional and emotional bonding with customers are [much more successful].

Can we build experiences that reinforce the library as a transformative place?

We have to live the brand on the inside first. For employees--this is a place for you to personally transform and for you to help others. (Example of employee experience in a production only model--Finnish Tax man died in his office. No one knew for 2 days.)

Ritz-Carleton. Selection process for employees (not hiring--being selected, we're going to listen to you.) Day 21 check on employees. Day 365 birthday celebration of staff being with them. This is a designed touchpoint map.

What experiences can we drive to help make it clear: this place is where you go to have life-changing experiences.

Designing Different Experiences Based on Actual Customer value.
RBC Bank rates each of its 2 million customers. High value customers get special treatment. Customer attrition is down 50% in the last 5 years. Unprofitable customers down by 6%, too.

Questions to ponder:
Is your brand promise experiential? Does it reflect transformation? Infrastructure? Necessity? the future? ROI?

Have you created staff, user, politician, academic leadership, and community experience touchpoint maps?

Can your staff articulate an experience--or a transaction?

**It's all about Service.**
Service is a flawless product, Delivered exactly as a member wants, in an environment of caring.

Create an experience so people can't resist the urge to pull the lever for "Yes."

We're getting ready for the OCLC Symposium here in Chicago at the Hilton Grand Ballroom. The presentation is ready, movies queued and backups made. I'll be blogging/tweeting as much as I can, although there's no internet in the ballroom. (Hilton FAIL)

Later today I’ll be jetting my way to Chicago for what I expect will be a whirlwind week at Annual Conference. There’s a lot that I’m looking forward to. I thought about writing about all of it here, but then thought, readers can find out about all of the great programs on the YALSA wiki. There are, however, a couple of things I want to highlight about Annual Conference 2009, particularly to those that are new to Conference and perhaps to YALSA.

First, if you are new, YALSA Is made up of a great welcoming bunch of people. If you see someone wearing a YALSA pin or an orange ribbon on their name badge go right up and introduce yourself. I promise, you’ll get a friendly response. I know it can be a bit scary to walk into a meeting, program, or event and not know a soul. But, that’s one of the reasons we have those pins and badges so you can know, here’s a person I can talk to.

The Friday night Happy Hour and What TO Wear Fashion Show is a great way to meet people and connect with those you might not have seen for a long time. it’s going to be noisy no doubt, but ever since YALSA started the Friday Night Happy Hour tradition it seems that it’s the first stop to make when starting out at conference.

On Saturday morning, YALSA All Committee is a very good way to learn about the work of the Division and get a feel for what you might want to get involved in. This too can be intimidating, if you’ve never been before you’ll discover All Committee is held in a big room with many people milling around and sitting at tables. YALSA members will be stationed at the doors of All Committee to meet and greet so don’t hesitate to introduce yourself to one of us. When at All Committee, if you aren’t on a Committee, you should definitely feel free to sit at a few different tables in order to find out what Committees are working on and how you might get involved.

Saturday afternoon is the first of YALSA’s Board meetings. These meetings are open to anyone who wants to attend and learn about the work of the Division. It’s a very good way to get a sense of how things work in YALSA and learn about upcoming projects and priorities. YALSA members can access the Board agenda and materials in the For Members Only section of the YALSA web site.

On Monday afternoon YALSA sponsors the President’s Program and Membership Meeting. Not to sound like a broken record, but…. this is again a good opportunity to meet others and find out about what YALSA is up to. The bonus is that you’ll also get to learn about how librarians can support teen creativity through programs and services as that’s the topic of discussion following the Membership Meeting.

If you take a look at YALSA’s wiki page for Conference you’ll see that there is quite a lot going on that I haven’t mentioned. Programs, events, and more.

As always, when Conference rolls around I find that I’m looking forward to seeing people that I’ve been tweeting and emailing with over the past several months and having the chance to talk to them in person. I’m looking forward to working with my fellow Board members on helping to shape the programs and services of YALSA for the next several years. And, I’m also looking forward to getting a chance to find out what new members are up to and interested in. If you see me at Conference, definitely feel free to come up and introduce yourself. I’m the one dressed in black.

I am attending the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.

I will be signing my book, Pop Goes the Library.

I will be at the Printz Reception on July 13th.

Hope to see you!

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

YALSA’s Next Online Chat! Join YALSA on July 1 for our second online chat! President Sarah Debraski will lead a chat on summer reading programs in ALA Connect, starting at 8 p.m. on July 1. Details in this blog post. Can’t make it? Check the YALSA blog on July 2 to see a transcript.

YALSA Needs Usability Testers at ALA Annual Coming to ALA Annual Conference? Help YALSA and ALA improve website usability by signing up to be one of our usability testers! YALSA needs four usability testers to participate in a session on Sunday, July 12, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. in McCormick Place West W-472. Participants will receive a $50 gift card for the ALA Store. Interested? Contact Stevie Kuenn at [email protected] by Wednesday, July 1.

After the jump, read more about YALSA’s Ultimate Teen Bookshelf, the United We Serve Initiative, Quick and Popular Reads for Teens, and symposium deadlines!

The Ultimate Teen Bookshelf YALSA created a new document highlighting must-have teen materials, The Ultimate Teen Bookshelf, available both online and as a downloadable PDF. The list includes 50 books, five magazines and five audio books. Subscribers to the YALSA-BK electronic discussion list suggested titles for the Ultimate Teen Bookshelf, which were vetted by Pam Spencer Holley and Judy Sasges.

United We Serve YALSA is part of the White House’s summer service initiative, United We Serve, encouraging teens and others to volunteer their time this summer. Add your volunteer opportunities for teens at Serve.gov and find resources for participating in United We Serve at www.ala.org/unitedweserve.

New Book! YALSA is thrilled to announce that its latest book, Quick and Popular Reads for Teens, edited by Pam Spencer Holley for YALSA (ALA Editions, 2009) is now available in the ALA Online Store! This fully annotated guide to the Quick Picks and Popular Paperbacks lists also includes essays from top YA professionals on the lists’ history and using them in programming, displays, and readers’ advisory.  Interested in meeting the author? Pam Spencer Holley will appear at a meet-and-greet session in the YALSA Booth at ALA Annual (#3034) from 3 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 11. See you there!

Propose a Symposium Program or Apply for a Symposium Stipend YALSA is currently accepting proposals for full or half-day preconferences at the symposium, programs at the symposium, or paper presentations at the symposium. Applications, as well as guidelines, can all be downloaded at the symposium website. Proposals are due to the YALSA office by Oct. 1, 2009 and applicants will be notified of status by Jan. 15, 2010. In addition, YALSA will again provide two stipends to members to attend the symposium: one for a student who will be enrolled in an ALA-accredited MLIS program as of Nov. 5, 2010 and one for a library worker who has worked directly with teens for 1-10 years. Each will receive up to $1,000 to attend the symposium. Applications are available at the symposium website and are due to the YALSA office by Jan. 4, 2010.  The 2010 Young Adult Literature Symposium will take place Nov. 5-7, 2010, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is funded in part by the William C. Morris Foundation.

That’s it for this week’s update! To stay up to date on the latest from the YALSA Office, sign up to follow YALSA on Twitter or become a fan of YALSA on Facebook!

Congrats to our WrestleMania Reading Challenge Winners! The WrestleMania Reading Challenge took place last weekend at Houston Public Library! Stephanie Diaz (grades 7-8) and Christian Cervantes (grades 9-12) won ringside tickets for WrestleMania 25. Learn more about the event, and the other finalists, at the WrestleMania Reading Challenge webpage. 

Reminder! Applications to edit Young Adult Library Services are due today to [email protected]. Please see the requirements for this member position.

E-course Registraton Open! YALSA’s affordable online courses are back! Register today for our summer session of classes, including a brand-new class, Beyond Booklists: Serving Today’s Diverse Teens (taught by Jennifer Velasquez) or the very popular Pain in the Brain: Adolescent Development and Library Behavior (taught by Beth Gallaway). Classes are four-weeks and pricing starts at $135 for YALSA members and students.

Operation TBD 2 YALSA  will again team with readergirlz and Guys Lit Wire to distribute 8,000 books (donated by 18 publishers) to pediatric hospitals across the U.S. Learn how you can get involved on the YALSA Wiki or by visiting the readergirlz TBD page. Help us celebrate Support Teen Literature Day by participating in this special event.

After the jump, see where YALSA is this week on the 2009 YALSA Road Trip, find out how you can help YALSA with the Great Ideas contest, details on YALSA’s Annual preconferences and meet the winners from the 2009 YALSA membership drive.

YALSA Road Trip! This week, we’re at the Alabama Library Association conference and the Tennessee Library Association conference. Stop by and say hello. Thanks to volunteers Lynn Carpenter (Alabama) and Cindy Welch (Tennessee) for their hard work. Last weekend, YALSA was at the Texas Library Association and the Kansas Library Association/Mountain Plains Library association conferences. Thanks to Heidi Daniel & Shawn Lane in Texas and Angela Parks & Latasha Baker in Kansas!

Have a Great Idea? Tell YALSA! Brainstorm creative ways to achieve goals in YALSA’s Strategic Plan (PDF), and you can win books and YALSA swag. Enter the Great Ideas contest! Download the guidelines and entry form (PDF) to learn more. Entries due by May 1.

Coming to Chicago? Come to our preconferences! YALSA is offering two dynamite preconferences in Chicago on July 10. Our full-day preconference, Genre Galaxy: Explore the Universe of Teen Reading, offers young adult authors (including Cecil Castellucci, Holly Black, Dom Testa and David Lubar) and other experts giving their insights on connecting teens and books. Our half-day preconference, Moving Up the YA Career Ladder, will give both new and seasoned librarians professional tools that they need to further their careers. You don’t need to register for ALA Annual Conference to attend either of YALSA’s preconferences. Register today!

Congratulations to Donna Ko! Donna joined YALSA through the 2009 membership drive and was randomly selected to win a Flip Ultra camera. Her coworker, Deborah Christensen, recommended YALSA membership to her and also won a Flip Ultra. Beth McCracken, a new member, won a box of books from YALSA, as did her colleague Tara Glunz-Fries, who recommended membership. Thanks for joining YALSA!

That’s it for this week’s update! To stay up to date on the latest from the YALSA Office, sign up to follow YALSA on Twitter or become a fan of YALSA on Facebook!

True Story about a Horrible Business meeting where "we already do that" killed all innovation ideas.

*Intelligence is wildly overrated as a virtue.* What holds us back is not that we’re not smart enough. “Yeah yeah yeah, we do that”—self-delusion is a big obstacle. If we talked about it, it’s happening?

Internet designed to be a network of networks: exchange and share information (interoperable). Exchange, sharing and interoperability.

Real big potential win for libraries: on an organizational level: which partners, colleagues and peers should we interoperate with? For us as an organization (not just as a creator of technologies.)

The most important product of the Mines… (Obligatory Profound Design Quote) is the Miner.
(Not the stuff they did out of the ground. It’s the people. It’s the system. It’s the human capital.)

The most Important product of the network is the networker. The kinds of networks we build…depend on what kinds of networkers we really want people to be.

What’s the most Important Product of the Library?

Mission statements, public documents that answer this question.
(Readers) and (Research)
“A Scholar is a Library’s Way of Creating Another library.”
What SHOULD the most important Product of the Library be?

What institutional innovations and adaptations best boost your chances of getting there? (And who owns the keys?)

“Competition” –like “innovation"�is a means to an End.
Frenemies/Froes? Are people a competitor or a co-marketer?
Spectre of competition—Institutions seek protection, instead of rising to the challenge.

“Competition” is about Perceived Value from Choice.
Newspaper circulation has stayed flat since 1950. Average reader age: 56.
Newspapers don’t know how to compete. Reluctance to creatively compete.
Rupert Murdock always buys the 2nd best—he competes. It’s the perceived value.

Libraries as physical spaces that house books and artifacts= no competition. We’re great.
Libraries as information=huge space to compete in.
Libraries are creatures of subsidy rather than market forces.

How do your uses and user communities brand you as a competitor?
“Serving the community” “Serving the underserved”
Permit Competition
Or
Permit Subsidy
?

4 particular things as suggested actions
1. Learning from our Lead users. (What is the segment of users that we learn the most from? Not just segments—but segments we learn from.)
2. With Whom Do we want to collaborate to Create value? Why?
(Collaborative—who creates value…what are our organizational protocols?)
3. Nurturing our Best Internal Arguments/Disagreements (be transparent—make your user know what’s going on. Don’t seal off the complexity
4. Establishing “Liberatory” (a mash-up of library and laboratory) that best attract talent and inspire hypotheses.

What does the institution itself stand for? Provoke new thinking and new value.
Success comes not from taking the path of least resistance but the path of maximum advantage.

Alice's note: Once again, hotels are not willing to provide widespread wifi access without paying through the nose in the 4 digit range. So Beth Gallaway and a few other library bloggers sat on the sides and took notes to post later.
These are them...

Full house! Lots of people here. In fact, the hotel staff started bringing in more chairs…


Andrew Pace kicks off the Symposium
Creativity Exercise:
What is your Greatest Resource?
What is your Greatest Challenge?
What if…(dangerous ideas)
*We stopped cataloging?
*We participated fully with the FBI? (Sienfeld’s Library Cop)
*We mased up Connexion x WoW=WorldCat of Warcraft…

Michael Schrage (keynote)

The Content of the Audience is more important than the Content of the Talk.
The economics of innovation:
How do organizations use models and prototypes and manage risks and innovation?
Emphasis: Managing the challenge of institution innovation. (immovable bureacracies?)
Is it harder for a good library to be innovative than an entrepreneur?

Definition: Innovation is the Conversion of “Novelty” into “Value”
Whose novelty? Whose value?

Innovation is a means to an end. (Not an end unto itself.)
Is innovation a spice? Or the whole meal? Forces the organization to address what it really does.

*Innovation isn’t what innovators offer, it’s what customers, clients and users ADOPT.

Mobile phone: How many of us know how to use more than 20% of the features of our phones? (This isn’t being innovative for phone companies to create new, little used features…it’s being wasteful.)

We need a different paradigm: Move away from “creation of choice” and toward “Value from Use”
Make the center of gravity= Value for Use. Measure THAT.

Ask your users: “What’s the most Innovative thing you think we do?”