Young Adults Deserve the Best: YALSA’s Competencies in Action
Presented by Sarah Flowers, Mary Hastler
PLA 2012
March 16 2-3:15
- YA librarians must present themselves as serious professionals.
- More libraries are housing YA materials separately from the adult or children’s collection.
- Teen services personnel should have a budget line. If not, it doesn’t exist as a service in the library.
- Collect statistics: circulation, holds, and missing items that are YA materials.
- All staff should know what the library is doing with and for teens. This approach helps with Word of Mouth publicity and makes teen services part of the whole library.
- Involve elected and appointed officials in the community. Make sure they know what the library is doing for teens and what teens are doing for the library and the community.
- Issue a proclamation at a city council meeting about Teen Read Week. YALSA’s website has the basic information libraries need to compose such proclamations: http://teenreadweek.ning.com/
- Invite board members and state representatives to teen programs.
- Teen librarians need to have knowledge of teen materials. There should be a separate collection policy. The YALSA site has a variety of topical book lists for teens: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklistsbook
- Walk into the library as if for the first time. What would catch the eye of a teen? There should be displays of interest, for example, a display of pink books—or a display of dystopian books for the Hunger Games fans.
Access YALSA's Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth: Young Adults Deserve the Best.
Check outYALSA Academy
And YALSA’s Teen Services Evaluation Tool: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines/yacompetencies/evaltool
Check out
for short educational, entertaining, and informative videos for the YA librarian.
YALSA White Papers about teens, trends, and teen services in the library:
Youth and Media: http://youthandmedia.org/videos/borndigital/
Two good library websites for teens:
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