Reading Spaces

YALSA's new research agenda

The YALSA Research Committee has put forward 4 priority areas for research:

Priority Area 1: Impact of Libraries on Young Adults

Priority Area 2: Young Adult Reading and Resources

Priority Area 3: Information Seeking Behaviors and Needs of Young Adults

Priority Area 4: Informal and Formal Learning Environments and Young Adults

For full details see: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/research/researchagenda.cfm

Patrick Ness wins Carnegie Medal for Monsters of Men

The Chaos Walking series by expat American YA author, Patrick Ness, is among my favourites. I don't have time right now to give all the reasons why I highly recommend it, and I'm still mulling over the conclusion, but I'm happy to see the books receive this kind of recognition. The writing is at times, truly, breath-taking. He can certainly turn a very nice phrase. The Carnegie medal is awarded by a committee of librarians, and Ness gives a quote-worthy defense of libraries in his acceptance speech. To read more about the Carnegie, library cuts and Patrick Ness see this article in the Bookseller, this BBC article, or this Guardian article.

YAAN: prototypical social media for ya librarians

I just came across this article by Cindy Welch, an LIS prof at the University of Tennessee. Welch illustrates how the Young Adult Alternative Newsletter (YAAN) provided a forum for youth advocates in North America in the 70s to share ideas, but importantly, it also provided a place for support, professional identity and political expression. We hear the voices of early advocates like Mary K. Chelton, Joni Bodart, Larry Amey (editor of a Canadian newsletter, Young Adult Hotline) among others. The histories of young adult library services are few and far between, so it was a pleasure to find this one. The host site for this article, In the Library with the Lead Pipe, is pretty interesting too and worth a closer look.

ReachOut Reads

I just read about Reach Out Reads over at Boing Boing where Cory Doctorow tells readers that it is a YALSA endorsed project that recommends YA fiction to help young adults who are experiencing "hard personal problems and mental health issues". May is Mental Health Month (Mental Health Week in Canada is 1-7 May 2011) and many public libraries make displays to support it -- this is in another way to do that without the hard work of selecting suitable books yourself. Also, Reach Out Reads supports live chats with a number of authors over the course of the month.

J of Research on Libraries and Young Adults: CFP

The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults is available online at http://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya. Manuscripts are currently being accepted for the Summer 2011 issue. Please submit your manuscript by May 16, 2011.

The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, the official research journal of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), is an online open-access, peer-reviewed journal.  The purpose of Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults is to enhance the development of theory, research, and practices to support young adult library services. Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults presents high quality original research concerning the informational and developmental needs of young adults; the management, implementation, and evaluation of library services for young adults; and other critical issues relevant to librarians who work with young adults. The journal also includes literary and cultural analyses of classic and contemporary writing for young adults.

Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults invites manuscripts based on original qualitative, quantitative, synthetic, or mixed method research; an innovative conceptual framework; or a substantial literature review that opens new areas of inquiry and investigation.  Case studies and works of literary analysis are also welcome. The journal’s editorial board recognizes the contributions that other disciplines make to expanding and enriching theory, research, and practice in young adult library services and encourages submissions from researchers, students, and practitioners in all fields.

The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults uses the Chicago Manual of Style endnotes.  For complete author guidelines including examples of citations, please visit the author guidelines.  While submissions average 4,000 to 7,000 words, manuscripts of all lengths will be considered.  Full color images, photos, and other media are all accepted.

Submissions

Please contact Editor Sandra Hughes-Hassell at yalsaresearch@gmail.com to discuss submissions and author guidelines.  All completed manuscripts should be submitted as email attachments to yalsaresearch@gmail.com.  Please attach each figure or graphic as a separate file.

Children's Services Benchmarks and Statistical Report 2009, Ontario Public Library Association

For Immediate Release

Increased focus on children’s programs and resources in Ontario’s public Libraries

TORONTO, March 16, 2011 --- The Ontario Public Library Association (OPLA), has published its’ Children’s Services Benchmarks and Statistical Report. The previous report on children’s services in public libraries was released in 2004. A comparison of survey results reveals an increased emphasis on children’s services in public libraries. For example:

-       Increased spending on children’s materials

-       Increased access to technology and electronic resources for children

-       Improved development of safety policies for children such as internet access and use and unattended children.

“The OPLA Child and Youth Services Committee conducts the survey every few years so that libraries can compare their services against other, similar library systems. The goal is to provide data that will help Ontario’s public libraries plan the best services possible for our young customers and their families,” comments Alicia Subnaik-Kilgour, committee chair.

The survey also looked at which agencies public libraries work with in deploying children’s services into the local community.  After schools, libraries serving populations fewer than 100,000 are more likely to partner with Ontario Early Years Centres, preschools, daycares, and colleges. In communities greater than 100,000, public libraries partner more often with preschools, daycares, social service agencies and health units.

Public libraries that participated have continued access to the online survey tool created by Counting Opinions. The tool enables one library to generate unique reports and compare its’ services against a similar library.

Electronic copies of the Children’s Services Benchmarks and Statistical Report are freely available from OPLA’s web site at:

www.accessola.com/opla/

 

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The Ontario Public Library Association (OPLA) is a division of the Ontario Library Association, and provides advocacy, networking, and professional development opportunities for more than 1,000 members who work in or with Ontario’s public libraries. The OPLA Child and Youth Services Committee promote excellence in library services for children and youth by developing programs and resources to support Ontario’s public libraries.

Contact: Alicia Subnaik-Kilgour, Chair, OPLA Child and Youth Services committee

askilgour@collingwoodpubliclibrary.ca

 

http://www.accessola.com/opla/bins/content_page.asp?cid=1071

Library Gaming Special Edition of Teen Librarian

take a look at this UK update on gaming in libraries in the context of youth services.

(by way of YA Library UK)

Canadian Libraries are Serving Youth looking for volunteers

CLASY, a grassroots advovacy group started by students who graduated with MLIS degrees from the Faculty of Information & Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario, is building an executive committee. For a list of volunteer positions and duties, see the link at the CLASY blog.

 

an LIS concept for young adults: new work from Anthony Bernier

Anthony Bernier presented a paper at the recent Library Research Seminar on the emergence of dominant discourses on youth used in LIS: the "storm and stress" model, the youth-in-crisis or youth-at-risk conception and the more recent youth in development (i.e. The Search Institute stuff). He makes a call for giving the extra-disciplinary discourses on youth a rest, in favour of allowing an LIS-derived conceptualization to emerge. Here's a link to the abstract: Download Bernier.

CLA and CLASY event in Ottawa: Libraries and Teens: January 14, 2011

A new date (January 14) with a schedule of events is posted at the CLASY site. Online registration available.

There is a new event sponsored by the Canadian Library Association and Canadian Libraries Are Serving Youth (a new advocacy group started by MLIS students at the University of Western Ontario). Libraries and Teens. There's a hefty price tag but should be well-worth the $$. For more information see the notice on the CLA site and the CLASY blog.