Tag Archives: YALSA

General, Public, School Media Specialist

Are you reaching reluctant readers?

Its important to remember “that reluctant readers may be aliterate, not illiterate. There is a big difference between approaching a teen who can read, but chooses not to and a teen who cannot read.”

The above quote was from Jessica Lind, a blogger from YALSA, who recently attended a reluctant reader presentation, featuring Patrick Jones, at the 2014 YA Literature Symposium. In her post about the event, she breaks down the event into some of the bigger themes:

  • PatrickJones_150-760023Why They Aren’t Reading
  • Qualities of Books for Reluctant Readers
  • Ease In-Library Access
  • What Will Reluctant Readers Read?
  • Things to Do to Reach Reluctant Readers of Tomorrow

The entire presentation can be found here.

You might remember that CMLE held a reluctant reader event in 2013 featuring Minnesota’s own Patrick Jones as well. Clearly this is an issue that we will continue to talk about.

General, Public, School Media Specialist

Grants and Free Book Opportunity

217/365 August 5 - Found MoneyApply Now for the 2015 Bookapalooza Program

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is now accepting applications for this popular program, a way to infuse free books into your collection. You may remember our blog post from last year, highlighting the 2014 Bookapalooza award to Talahi Community School in St. Cloud! The award is a collection of books for kids from birth through 14 and includes newly published books, videos, audio books and recording from children’s trade publishers. Last year, this amounted to over 1,350 books valued at $24,000. Applicants must be personal members of ALSC, as well as American Library Association (ALA) members. Deadline for submissions is Feb. 1, 2015. Read the press release which contains needed links.

Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting applications for Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries. These grants are  small ($10,000 to $25,000) and  encourage libraries and archives to prototype and evaluate innovations that result in new tools, products, services, or organizational practices. They enable grantees to undertake activities that involve risk and require them to share project results–whether they succeed or fail–to provide valuable information to the library field and help improve the ways libraries serve their communities. Of special interest is that there are no matching requirements. Projects must begin on October 1, November 1, or December 1, 2015. The application deadline is February 2, 2015. For more details, start with the press release!

Adobe Software Grants

Educators at Title 1 schools are encouraged to apply for software and teacher development grants from Adobe. The program is designed to increase access to Adobe creative tools through the White House’s ConnectED initiative. In addition to software, educators also receive access to on-demand professional development, including webinars, workshops and collaborative courses to learn more about utilizing Adobe creative programs in the classroom. Prize: Schools receive access to a variety of Adobe tools, including Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premiere Elements. Educators also receive access to online PD courses. Deadline: Rolling. For more information.

Summer Reading Grants

Applications for the 2015 round of summer reading grants are due January 1, 2015. There are two types of grants, the Summer Reading Resources and the Summer Reading Teen Intern grant. Twenty of each grant are available for $1000 each.

To determine if you are eligible, you must answer yes to the following questions:

Learn more at the Summer Reading and Learning Site!

Did you know that CMLE has a grants page?

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Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Apply for a Free 3D Printer for your MakerLab!

PuzzleThe Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is teaming up with The MakerLab Club to offer free 3D printers to libraries and museums around the country.  The MakerLab Club, according to YALSA’s blog, “is a brand new community of thousands of U.S. libraries and museums committed to advancing 3D digital literacy via dedicated equipment, staff training and increased public access.”  Applications can be completed online here.  They’re due on Monday, November 17th, 2014!

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Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Booklist: 2014 Teens' Top Ten Titles

Top 10 YALSATeen Read Week has come and gone, and that means another booklist – YALSA’s (Young Adult Library Services Association) Teen’s Top Ten!  Teens from all over the country voted on these books between August 15th and October 18th this year.  Here’s what they loved:

  1. Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park
  2. A.G. Howard’s Splintered
  3. Brandon Sanderson’s The Rithmatist
  4. Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave
  5. Emmy Laybourne’s Monument 14: Sky on Fire
  6. Janet Edwards’ Earth Girl
  7. Joelle Charbonneau’s The Testing
  8. Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart
  9. Leigh Bardugo’s Siege and Storm
  10. James Dashner’s The Eye of Minds

Check out the Teen’s Top Ten website, where you can watch a video countdown of the list (featuring Willow Shields of ‘The Hunger Games’ movies), book trailers, and other videos.  You can also see previous winners and check out their toolkit to help you show off these books to your young readers!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Getting out of the Library Silo

2633122737_8d9bb5bd6b_zWhat do you do for professional development? Attend conferences? Read professional literature? Linda Braun on the YALSA blog would argue that you’re not doing enough! She points to a discussion that recently took place over Twitter related to going beyond just the library world and also learning at other education forums.

“If you think about it, getting out of the library silo for professional development is really another way of learning about the community.” – Linda Braun

Braun tells us to “seek out opportunities to connect digitally and face-to-face with those outside of your library community. Read about educational trends that go beyond Common Core. Try a conference that is not sponsored by a library organization.” All these are great ideas but you could also set aside time to learn a new technology. The Minnesota Multitype’s 23 Mobile Thing program is still available for self-paced learning so take a moment and step outside the library silo.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/mwwj5xc, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0