Keeping Up--In General!

One of the biggest issues raised at a recent Youth Services Idea Swap was the perennial issue of TIME, and the lack thereof. We discussed the challenges of keeping up with newer media (blogs, facebook pages, flickr, websites), while still staying true to other key youth services (programs, reference, knowing your collection so you can put the right book into the right hands at the right time, creating face-to-face relationships).

It seems we keep adding things, but forget that our time isn't infinitely expandable. How do you manage to balance everything out?

Here are some strategies I've tried:

• Prioritizing, with the help of feedback from the people I serve
• Making a schedule for myself (which can get completely skewed by what comes in the door, I know, but somehow this helps me stay calm and sometimes keeps me from obsessively checking my email)
• Looking at our long range plan to see if there are some guides there to help me decide what is most important

What do you do?? Please comment so everyone can learn from each other.

Spread the Word on MORE

Part of the IFLS Long Range Plan is to produce some MORE-related materials for youth. This sounds pretty vague, doesn't it? That's because we wanted to make sure to leave room for people working with youth to help us decide what format and contentyou would find most useful for this sort of thing, and what age you'd like to target.

So...what do you want kids to know about MORE? How can we help you convey that information? Do you need a Power Point? A bookmark? A podcast? A video? Or something so cool we can't imagine it ourselves yet?

What age is the priority for you? Should we tackle something for teens first? Fourth graders? Kindergarteners? Who do you want us to start with?

If you have ideas or suggestions, feel free to post them in the comments OR send an email to Lori Roholt, who is heading up this project: roholt@ifls.lib.wi.us

THANKS for your feedback! We can't work in a vaccuum here, so we love to hear what you want.

Teens Evaluating Books!

Two book-related announcements today:



The big day is here! Your teens have been reading the 2010 Teens' TopTen nominations since last April, and now they can tell us which books are their favorites. Voting for the 2010 Teens' Top Ten is available -and this year, it's even easier for your teens to vote. Just have them go to the Teens' Top Ten homepage at www.ala.org/teenstopten! (If you still want to use a separate link,that's available too at www.surveymonkey.com/s/teenstopten2010.)



Voting is open now through September 17. We'll announce the winners at www.ala.org/teenstopten during Teen Read Week, Oct. 17-23.



Calling all Middle Grade Teachers and Librarians! Little, Brown Books for Young Readers is looking for galley groups to read and review our middle grade titles. Do you serve Middle Grade readers? Do your readers like to share what's on their minds? Would they like to tell US what they think? Then send an email to LBYRGalleys@hbgusa.com and we'll send you more information. You’ll be glad you did!

Victoria Stapleton
Associate Director, School & Library Marketing
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Hachette Book Group USA
212.364.1542 P
212.364.0925 F