Teen Read Week 2012...

TEEN READ WEEK 2012

About Teen Read Week From YALSA:
Teen Read Week is held each year during the third week of October. In 2012, it will be celebrated Oct. 14-20.

Teen Read Week is an national literacy initiative of the  Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. It's aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers and other concerned adults.

Teen Read Week's theme is Read For The Fun Of It. Each year, YALSA offers a new sub-theme to serve as a basis for developing programs in schools, public libraries, and bookstores. The 2012 sub-theme is It Came From the Library, which dares teens to read for the fun of it. The event offers librarians and educators a chance to encourage teens to read for pleasure and to visit their libraries for free reading materials. If you have a recommendation for a theme for 2013, please send it to yalsa@ala.org.

Teen Read Week 2012 will be celebrated at thousands of public and school libraries, classrooms, and bookstores across the country. Although teens realize the importance of reading, they have a huge menu of activities to choose from when deciding how to spend their free time, and reading gets lost in the shuffle. Reading skills get rusty when they are not used. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports that over the last 20 years there have been only modest gains in reading achievement. And although there are many active literacy campaigns, very few efforts focus on teenagers.

Teen Tech Week 2012...

About Teen Tech Week:
Teen Tech Week is a national initiative sponsored by YALSA and is aimed at teens, their parents, educators and other concerned adults. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that teens are competent and ethical users of technologies, especially those that are offered through libraries such as DVDs, databases, audiobooks, and videogames. Teen Tech Week encourages teens to use libraries' nonprint resources for education and recreation, and to recognize that librarians are qualified, trusted professionals in the field of information technology. Teen Tech Week began in 2007 and has a general theme of Get Connected @ your library.

365 Days Of Pictures: Day 253...

The content of the envelope I mentioned in my previous post.

Past Due...

I swear that we have some of the most incompetent people I've ever met in my life in this building. My Department Head just handed me an envelope that was post marked from September and it contained all of the bookmarks, pamphlets, stickers, etc from YASLA for Teen Read Week. Teen Read Week was last month!! Why didn't I get this envelope in September and/or early October?! I swear these people drive me crazy.

Teen Tech Week 2011...

About Teen Tech Week From The American Library Association:

Teen Tech Week is a national initiative sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and is aimed at teens, their parents, educators and other concerned adults. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that teens are competent and ethical users of technologies, especially those that are offered through libraries such as DVDs, databases, audiobooks, and videogames. Teen Tech Week encourages teens to use libraries' nonprint resources for education and recreation, and to recognize that librarians are qualified, trusted professionals in the field of information technology. Teen Tech Week began in 2007 and has a general theme of Get Connected @ your library.

Teens’ use of nonprint resources has increased dramatically in recent years, yet more teens are doing this from home instead of the library. According to a recent study by Harris Interactive, in 2005, 86% of youth aged 8-18 have a computer in their home, and 74% have Internet access in their home. On average, 8-18 year olds spend 6 hours and 21 minutes per day using media (including TV, video/DVDs/movies, video games, audio media, computers and print media). Furthermore, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 71% of teens report that the Internet is their primary source for completing school projects. Yet multiple studies have shown that the majority of teens lack the critical thinking skills and technical expertise to use the Internet and other electronic resources effectively. Teens need to know that the library is a trusted resource for accessing information and that librarians are the experts who can help them develop the skills they need to use electronic resources effectively and efficiently.

Teens, in order to gain the skills necessary to compete in today's job market, need access to digital and online information and trained professionals who can help them use these resources effectively, efficiently and ethically. Librarians and educators know this and work with teens on a regular basis to ensure they develop these skills. Teen Tech Week is a chance for libraries to throw open their physical & virtual doors and show their communities all the great things they're doing for teens with technology.

Teen Read Week...

Also because I didn't post in a few days I missed informing you all of Teen Read Week, which began on Sunday and ends this Saturday -- Better late than never I guess.

About Teen Read Week from the American Library Association:

Teen Read Week is an initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Teen Read Week started in 1998. This year's theme is "Books with Beat @ your library®," which encourages teens to read poetry, audiobooks, books about music, and more. Libraries across the world celebrate Teen Read Week with a variety of special events and programs aimed at encouraging teens to read for pleasure and to visit their libraries for free reading materials.

Why is it important to celebrate? For a lot of reasons! Teens have so many options for entertainment, so it's important to remind them to spend time reading for pleasure: it's free, fun, and can be done anywhere! Research shows that teens who read for fun have better test scores and are more likely to succeed in the workforce. Also, it’s a great chance to let your school or your public library communities know how important teen services are! Let teens know the possibilities that exist within your doors, and within the covers of books.

Libraries Got Game...

Instead of being trapped in the library today I got to go to a YASD (Young Adult Services Division) luncheon where one of the authors (Brian Mayer) of "Libraries Got Game" was speaking about how libraries could implement the usage of modern board games.

Brian actually was sitting at my table throughout the course of the lunch portion and he was super nice. Our table had wonderful conversations on various subjects and Brian let us try his iPad -- I totally want one now!

I won a Scrabble game during the portion of time between lunch and Brian's presentation. I donated it to my job seeing as I have a pimpin' $100.00 wooden Scrabble board that Justin bought me two Christmases ago -- I f'ing love Scrabble!

His presentation was very informative and really very interesting -- I have a nice set of notes on my iTouch, with a list of new games Justin & I need to buy.

After the luncheon I actually had to go the library because tonight was my night to work. We had a pretty lazy night. We ordered pizza, I made and colored twelve Flat Stanley's for my trip to Europe and did some stuff for the summer reading club.

Uncolored Flat Stanley army on my desk waiting for war paint!

Twelve colored in Flat Stanleys ready to be left around Europe!