2019 YSS Annual Report

 

●12 Months of Coding launched officially in April! Library staff serving youth from all over our great state contributed program ideas and each offering includes detailed instructions, participant ages, approximate cost, tips & tricks, and materials needed.

●YSS Children’s Book Award Committee. The 2019 Burr Worzalla Award was awarded to Chad Sell, for The Cardboard Kingdom. The 2019 Wisconsin Notable Children's Author Award was awarded to Peg Kehret for her amazing body of work in children's literature.  This year, seven individuals from around the state applied for the committee, and with the support of the CBAC chair, the YSS chair selected two candidates to fill openings for 2020 from large and small, urban and rural libraries from around the state.

●WAPL & WLA Conferences - YSS fielded full schedules of programs at each conference and worked closely with the conference committees to coordinate them. Fifteen room monitors introduced YSS sponsored sessions at WLA, as well as many sessions at WAPL. YSS Socials at WLA and WAPL were well-attended. This year, the annual YSS membership meeting had an excellent member turnout, and we hope to continue this trend in 2020. Miranda Paul, the YSS Luncheon speaker, was an engaging and inspiring speaker, with a wonderful connection to Wisconsin.

●YSS Youth Services Shout-out Blog (Blogger) continues to be a cornerstone of the Youth Services Section mission and provides library staff serving youth with resources, news, programming ideas, and professional development opportunities. In 2019, nearly 200 posts were written and shared on the blog. The YSS Shout-Out Blog continues to bring in new guest authors, allowing YSS to get new people involved and create a pipeline for board leadership.

●Regional Meet-Ups took place Central Wisconsin, Southeastern Wisconsin and North West Wisconsin. Regional Meet-Ups continue to be a vital part of YSS and a great way for the YSS board to connect library staff who serve youth with resources, professional connections, and leadership opportunities.

 ●YSS Nominations Committee fielded a full, competitive ballot for 2019 and is already beginning the process for 2020. In 2019, more consideration and planning was given to the WLA Board Liaison position. This will continue as the 2020 ballot spot for that position fast approaches.

●YSS Marketing Committee.  In its first year of existence, the marketing committee sent almost 10 messages and created countless engaging social media posts to membership. The marketing committee also worked to streamline the process of communicating with members, whether that’s through Memberclicks, the WLA Facebook page, or Mailchimp. In our 2018 member and non-member survey, our board realized that many YSS members and non-members did not know about the resources YSS and WLA had to offer. The YSS Marketing Committee has made a huge difference in our ability to communicate with members and non-members, with one example being the great attendance we had at our YSS meeting at WLA. 

●YSS Web Page After a busy 2018, the YSS Web Page committed continued to make necessary updates to the webpage based on the needs of the board.

●YSS Powerhouse Presents After struggles in 2018, the YSS board committed to addressing and problem-solving past issues, as well as brainstorming ways to streamline the process. With the help of Hannah Bunting and the WLA offices, YSS will be offering two Powerhouse Presents webinars in 2020, one in April and one in September.

2019 Board Members:

●     Katie Kiekhaefer, Chair

●     Sarah Cournoyer, Past Chair

●     Katherine Schoofs, Chair-elect

●     Susie Menk, Secretary

●     Claire Parrish, Director at Large

●     Emily Sanders, Director at Large

●     Emily Zorea, Director at Large

●     Anne Hamland, Director at Large

●     Sue Abrahamson, WLA Board Liaison

●     Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Ex-Officio Member

Current and Ongoing YSS Committees:

●     YSS Membership Committee: Linda Jerome, Chair

●     YSS WAPL Committee: Anne Hamland & Emily Sanders, Co-chairs

●     YSS WLA Committee: Claire Parrish & Emily Zorea, Co-chairs

●     YSS Powerhouse Presents Webinar Committee, Katie Kiekhaefer, Chair

●     YSS Blog Committee: Aimee Schreiber, Chair

●     YSS Webpage Committee: Jeni Schomber, Webmaster

●     YSS Children’s Book Award Committee: Abby Bussen, Chair 2019; Aimee Schreiber, Chair 2020

●     YSS Nominations Committee: Sarah Cournoyer, Chair 2019; Katie Kiekhaefer, Chair 2020

●     YSS Marketing Committee: Anne Hamland, Katherine Schoofs, Sarah Cournoyer