YSS: Support In Numbers - 2018 in Review

2018 was another great year for YSS!  Take a gander at these fine lookin' stats!

           127 Responses!
           71 YSS Members                                                               

          56 Non-members     
                                                                            

 16 WLA conference room monitors!

  Author Luncheon: Chris Grabenstein

New York Times Best Selling Author!

 

  246 ideas & resources shared!

                                              

"I find the YSS resources and group to be invaluable to my work. I love the opportunity to travel to different parts of the state for the regional meet-ups, the blog gives me and my staff a ton of ideas, and the social times at conferences are always a blast. It's definitely an awesome resource to have in our state!" -survey feedback

Completed Projects:

●     YSS Member and Non-member Surveys - a multi-year effort culminated in rich information this year. The survey was conducted, assessed and analyzed after surveys were finalized in late spring. Data will be used to strategically plan YSS annual and long-term goals in accordance with WLA priorities and member needs. This project was launched several years ago and will inform YSS leadership plan and execute efforts.

●     WAPL & WLA Conferences - YSS fielded full schedules of programs at each and worked closely with the conference committees to coordinate them. YSS Social at WLA was well-attended with several groups participating in the escape room. Chris Grabenstein, the YSS Luncheon speaker, drew attendees and was hailed as an excellent choice.

●     12 Months of Coding in final stages before launch somewhat behind deadline. Several rounds of soliciting content providers was necessary to achieve 3 levels of programming for each month.

●     Regional Meet-ups took place in Waupaca and in Northwest WI (Rice Lake and Bloomer) took place last year. YSS aims to provide opportunities for professional development and networking at these face to face events open to members and potential members.

●     YSS Youth Services Shout-out Blog continues to offer value and news to readers with content posted generally five days per week.

●     YSS Powerhouse Presents struggled in 2018. Two webinars were presented last year, one in February on Teen Outreach Dos and Don’ts and one in December on Breaking Down Barriers: Girls Who Code. The 2019 Board will be discussing ways to improve the brand and the offerings this year with mentorship for its committee members from previous successful committee chairs.

●     YSS Web Page committee met twice in 2018 by GoToMeeting and formalized plan for current and archived content. Page was edited to essentials, will reference out to the YSS Blog, and archive content in the WLA Dropbox.

●     YSS Children’s Book Award Committee selected three candidates to fill openings for 2019 from large and small, urban and rural libraries from around the state. Emphasis on improving the ability of authors and illustrators to nominate their work for consideration and on the committee member application via online forms is a priority for 2019.

●     YSS Nominations Committee fielded a competitive ballot for 2018 and is already beginning the process for 2019, as well as planning for the election of a WLA Board Liaison in the 2020 ballot.

●     YSS Marketing Committee was formed at the WLA Conference. The marketing committee will assess and utilize various channels of communication, promotion, and strategic marketing to advance the goals of YSS and WLA; such as value to members, resources available, professional development, conference attendance and offerings, volunteer opportunities and email blasts.

2018 Board Members:

●     Sarah Cournoyer, Chair

●     Terry Ehle, Past Chair

●     Katie Kiekhaefer, Chair-elect

●     Julie Kinney, Secretary

●     Caitlin Shaffer, Director at Large

●     Elizabeth Timmins, Director at Large

●     Claire Parrish, Director at Large

●     Emily Sanders, Director at Large

●     Sue Abrahamson, WLA Board Liaison

Current and Ongoing YSS Committees:

●     YSS Membership Committee: Linda Jerome, Chair

●     YSS WAPL Committee: Elizabeth Timmins & Emily Sanders, Co-chairs

●     YSS WLA Committee: Claire Parrish & Caitlin Shaffer, Co-chairs

●     YSS 12 Months of Coding Resource Committee: Julie Kinney & Caitlin Shaffer, Co-chairs

●     YSS Powerhouse Presents Webinar Committee, Julie Kinney, Chair 2018

●     YSS Blog Committee: Aimee Schreiber, Chair

●     YSS Webpage Committee: Jeni Schomber, Webmaster

●     YSS Children’s Book Award Committee: Judy Jones, Chair 2018; Abby Bussen, Chair 2019

●     YSS Nominations Committee: Terry Ehle, Chair 2018, Sarah Cournoyer, Chair 2019

●     YSS Marketing Committee (newly formed in October 2018), members include Anne Hamland, Sarah Cournoyer, Terry Ehle

**Shout out to the ever-rad Anne Hamland 

for compiling and creating this Year in Review report!**

Want to join in the fun for 2019?  

Click HERE to take the 2019 YSS Volunteer Survey and we'll connect you with an assortment of fabulous volunteer opportunities, ranging from a one-time commitment to serving a term on a committee!

Share your skills, learn some new ones,
and make professional connections around the state!

Book Lists Galore!

'Tis the season for oodles of book lists, fa la la la, la la la la

Best of, notable, can't miss book lists, fa la la la la, la la la la



The New York Times Book Review recently announced their Notable Children's Books of 2018.

Paste Magazine shared their picks for the 30 Best Young Adult Novels of 2018.

Chicago Public Library, rockin' out oodles of book lists with their Best of the Best Books, 2018 edition.

The annual Goodreads Choice Awards 2018 winners have also been announced!

Holy guacamole, that's a lot of fabulous books!  (and the lists are still coming, believe you me!)

Happy perusing!

2018 National Book Award Winners

Debut author Elizabeth Acevedo's novel The Poet X has won the 2018 National Book Award for Young People's Literature!  The Poet X follows Xiomara Batista as she find her voice through slam poetry, against the wishes of her family.  Find out more about The Poet X and the other National Book Award winners and nominees HERE.

Volunteering with YSS at WLA!

Greetings!

Looking for a way to get involve with YSS at the WLA conference?

We have two volunteer opportunities for members:

YSS Room Monitor

Time: Throughout WLA

Check-in with speakers, sit through the presentation, count how many people attend the session, report attendance to the WLA registration table and if need be, alert speakers if they are reaching their time limit.  

YSS Booth
Time: Throughout WLA
Sit at the YSS booth, greet those who stop by, answer questions, encourage membership and volunteering opportunities and meet great people! The YSS booth is located in the exhibit hall next to the CCBC.

If you are attending WLA, are a YSS member AND would like to help out please sign up for a spot!

Link to Google Doc sign up sheet:   https://tinyurl.com/ybch6wb2  

Questions? Email Claire Parrish at claireparrish@ricelakegov.org

WLA Conference 2018 - YSS WEDNESDAY Highlights

The WLA Conference is just around the corner and the youth services offerings are abundant!  Check out what is coming your way at WLA on Wednesday:

Wednesday

Keynote Address: Igniting Interest in Every Child at Every Level

La Crosse Center South Hall - Ballroom

Sybil Madison-Boyd, Ph.D.

How do we ensure that everyone is supported in their journey to discover their passions and abilities?  This keynote address identifies and generates ideas, tools and design approaches to impacting youth from our realms of influence in libraries. This collective conversation focuses on libraries as public spaces that have a unique power to ignite and propel interest and development at every level.

Bringing Teens to the Library Through Volunteering

Ashlee Kunkel, Milton Public Library
They say if you feed them, they will come. But what else brings teens to the library? Volunteer opportunities! Teens are constantly looking for volunteer hours, but libraries only have so many books to shelve and crafts to cut out. Ashlee from the Milton Public Library will talk about the ways she has encouraged teens to volunteer at the library, and, in doing so, has created some lasting and unique programs.

YSS Luncheon: Saying Yes All the Way to Mr. Lemoncello's Library: One Author’s ‘yes…and’ Life
Radisson Hotel La Crosse - Ballroom

Christopher Grabenstein, Author 
Chris demonstrates how obeying the cardinal rule of improv comedy (always saying, “Yes! And…”) has guided him from being a kid with a big imagination to becoming an award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author. Be prepared to laugh.

An Unexpected Partnership: Adult and Youth Programmers Teaming Up to Improve Early Literacy Rates

Phil Schomber, Hedberg Public Library, Janesville; Julie Westby, Hedberg Public Library, Janesville, Jeni Schomber, Beloit Public Library
Approximately one-third of children start school without the early literacy skills they’re going to need to succeed. The problem is even more acute in low income families. Sounds like a problem for the Youth Services department, right? Wrong. Find out why the Adult and Youth Services programmers at the Hedberg Public Library and Beloit Public Library teamed up to provide early literacy training for parents in their community’s Early Head Start program.

Makerspace Confidential

Josh Cowles, Fond du Lac Public Library
It’s not all 3D printers and rainbows but it’s a beautiful thing when it works. The Idea Studio at the Fond du Lac Public Library opened in 2016 and has been a place of continuous change since: from staffing to equipment to policy, staff buy-in and more. Join Josh for a candid discussion of successes, lessons learned and guiding principles that have seen us through all of it.

Existence and Resistance in Recent Young Adult Literature

Morgan Foster, UW-Milwaukee
In the 1960s, a growing spate of Black writers began writing books specifically for teens that spoke to their lived experiences; writers, including Walter Dean Myers, Julius Lester and illustrator Tom Feelings, wrote about contemporary issues facing urban Black teens. However, much of that literature was focused on the lives of Black males. Today, there is a growing number of young adult novels written by women of color that speak to the authentic, complex experiences of young women of color in the 21st century. Young adult books by Angie Thomas, Kekla Magoon and Erika Sanchez are a tool for resistance and a means of refusing dominant white power structures and standards. Even more importantly, these books, written in first person, also give voices to young women. These writers, and their characters, are more important now than ever, and indicate a refusal to stay silent about violence inflicted on them and their communities.

Youth Services Coding Collective

Caitlin Schaffer, Oconomowoc Public Library; Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Department of Public Instruction, Madison
Learn more about coding with your trusted youth services peeps! Hear about the Youth Services Sections ʺ12 Months of Codingʺ resources and DPIs Coding Initiative for Public Libraries. Get your hands on some coding materials and wrap your head around doing coding events for kids/teens on any budget. This informal and fun session will transition to a youth services escape room experience with a coding theme. Newbies and coding pros equally welcome!

Youth Services Section (YSS) Social - Escape

Participate in an escape room experience similar to that of Mr. Lemoncello's Library! Team up with other youth services librarians from across the state and flex your puzzle-solving muscles, or simply take the opportunity to socialize and network.

 Early bird registration for the amazing conference continues through September 28

2018 Eisner Awards

The Eisner Awards recognize and highlight creative achievement in American comic books.  Categories include: Best Writer/Artist, Best New Series, Best Digital Comic, and Best Publication for Teens.

The theme for the Eisner winners this year seemed to be . . . monsters.  Marjorie Liu's Monstress and Emil Ferris' My Favorite Thing is Monsters, each earned several awards and recognitions.  Find a complete list of the 2018 Eisner Award Winners HERE.