YSS Pride

Did you know that the Youth Services Section of the Wisconsin Library Association is one of the very few WLA units that always has a full slate of competitive elections for each of its open positions annually?

The results of our latest election (congratulations Jenny Wegener, YSS chair-elect; and Florence LeBeau, and Katherine Freund, YSS Directors at Large!) are remarkable not just in the new leaders we elected to the YSS board, but in the fact that members were given a choice between two candidates in each position. The YSS boards over the years have made member choice a priority.

YSS is also one of the few units of WLA that has a decades-long tradition of this. While other units - from the largest to the smallest - often scramble to find one candidate per position, YSS has made sure that this is a priority (I can think back over 40 years and know this has been true almost every year).. Our nominating committee works hard to make sure this happens. Sometimes people are reluctant to run...but the YSS member bench runs deep.

I've thought about why our unit has had this kind of success in recruiting. Here are a few reasons why I think we have success in this area over many, many years.

YSS:

• creates value for its members with content (programs in real time at conferences and meetups and online with the blog and webinars)
• creates a welcoming and very fun atmosphere for members
• welcomes into the fold members from all size libraries and educational backgrounds
• builds up and nurtures leaders 
• is transparent to its members through its blog and direct communications as well as making the board visible (look at the right hand side of the blog to see the list of current board members with links to their email)
• invites everyone to pitch in to make youth services in the state better

I bet there are alot more reasons out there. What do you think?

I am proud to be a member of a strong, vital unit that cares about library staff who work with youth and the youth and families in our state and communities. Giving members a choice in who to vote for is part of what makes YSS so special. I hope you consider stepping up to volunteer to run next summer - or when you get a call asking you, you step up to the plate to run. It is an amazing experience!