Purpleharp's Blog

YALSA: A YA blog for real people by real people

The Young Adult Library Services Association blog is not a monolithic blog of notices and statements issued forth by YALSA Central Offices. The blog is actually a compilation of a hundred bloggers. And a number of these blogs are not individuals – they’re groups: libraries and committees. YALSA allows participating bloggers to blog for no more than two years in order to keep the content fresh and up-to-date. In the blog instructions, words like “original” and “fresh” recur. Bloggers are encouraged to read other postings so they don’t repeat information and are asked to write original and current material. A hundred plus bloggers contributing to the YALSA Blog form a sort of ‘meta-blog’ of interesting materials. Topics include extensive discussion about the interface with technology in the YA library world. Invariably there are links to other interesting blogs.

The archives go back as far as January 2006 and include items about awards, conferences, ALA news, Teen Tech Week, and ideas and services relevant to the world of YA materials. It appears that the number one topic of discussion is technology, and in particular the phenomenon of social networking.  One thing that’s clear after going through this blog, is that anyone who wants to be involved in YA librarianship needs to have a strong grasp of social networking tools and be able to use these to interface with and have access to the teen universe.

Because of the nature of the authorship of this ‘meta’-blog, the material that appears is both unpredictable and original in nature. It’s written by real people: librarians and library professionals who are participating in the blog because they’re obviously enthusiastic and passionate about YA materials. That passion from grass roots YA’ers makes this blog a must-read for YA librarians. I would definitely continue to keep up with this blog.

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