ArLA Youth Services Round Table

05/13/2016

Interested in some fun - yet at least *somewhat* educational - PC games for your kids and teens to play? Here are a couple of free, easy-to-install options!

First is "Universe Sandbox," a space-simulator that lets you manipulate planets, stars, and other celestial bodies while giving detailed information about them all. Want to see what would happen if our moon grew 3x as large, or if Jupiter and Mars switched places? This is your game! More information can be found here: http://goo.gl/vEnwSI , and they offer the software free for schools (and libraries!) by simply filling out this form: https://goo.gl/7IFth5 .

Next is "Contraption Maker." If you ever played the "Incredible Machine" games back in the day, this is essentially the not-at-all-gritty reboot. The game is a series of physics-and-logic puzzles wherein the player must complete Rube-Goldbergian devices where it takes two bowling balls, a desk fan, a hamster, and a handful of rubber bands just to feed a cat (or fire a rocket, or turn on a lightswitch, etc, etc). Go to http://contraptionmaker.com to check it out. This is another game that is free for educators - just visit http://goo.gl/Hvn5Sl and click "Get Copies for Education!" to get started. Players can even create and share their own puzzles, giving this game some great programming potential!

Our I.T. Department will be installing these soon, and I'm very excited to see how the game go over with the public. I'm also putting out some feelers with a few other game publishers to see if they would be willing to provide free or discounted copies of their games for libraries - big hits like Portal (Logic), Civilization (World History), and SimCity (Civic Engineering). I'll let you know how it goes!

02/17/2016

In other news - this round table needs officers! Namely, a Vice-Chair and a Secretary. If you are interested or would like to nominate somebody for either position, please contact me at [email protected].

Per the ArLA Manual, the officer duties are as follows:

Vice-Chair
1. Performs the Duties of the Chair in his/her absence.
2. Serves as program Chair for programs other than ArLA Annual Conference.
3. Serves in other capacities as needed.

Secretary
Attends all meetings of the Round Table, maintains all records, and is responsible for all official
communications of the Round Table.
1. Sends a copy of the minutes to the Executive Administrator of the Association for filing.
2. Serves in other capacities as needed.

02/17/2016

Well, things have changed up a bit - I'm now the Young Adult Librarian in Bryant, so I'm actually doing youth-related activities again! Just yesterday we had a program called "Treat Yo' Self 2016." Fans of Parks & Recreation may recognize that name... Anywho, it was a sort of after-school coffeeshop program, with coffee, hot chocolate, a chocolate fountain, and various snacks and add-ons, and the kids loved it! We usually get 10-15 teens in the library after school, but yesterday's program had 40 in attendance! If you can put on a similar program - even if it's just a coffee pot and some pastries - I'm sure it would go over well. I think a major draw for them was the "adult" feeling of getting coffee and making it themselves (plus, of course, the free food).

07/02/2015

Hello, all! I've updated our look a bit, as you can see, and I encourage everyone to add this page to their favorites so we can stay up-to-date. I'd love for this page to gain some more circulation and usage for youth librarians around the state, so please, invite the youth librarians you know of to like the page! This is an open forum to trade ideas, programs that worked (or didn't work), crafts, movies, games, or even just stories! Like that time I burned my arm hair off during last year's Summer Reading Program... ah, good times.

05/21/2014

Summer places for teens.

01/08/2014

As part of the year-long National Forum on Libraries and Teens effort, YALSA has released a report, “The Future of Library Services for and with Teens: A Call to Action” providing direction on how libraries need to adapt and change to meet the needs of 21st century teens. Visit www.ala.org/yaforum/project-report to download the report and executive summary today! Join the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag .

The report is a call to action for the library community. It provides recommendations on how libraries must address challenges and re-envision their teen services in order to meet the needs of their individual communities and to collectively ensure that the nation’s 40+ million teens develop the skills they need to be productive citizens. By acting on this call, the library community can work within their own local communities to create the kind of spaces, services, and opportunities that today’s teens need in order to succeed in school and in life.

Please share this information widely.

-Beth

01/02/2014

YA educational opportunities for 2014

YALSA's YA Literature Symposium is a social network

10/03/2013

Harding University’s Graduate Reading Program is proud to announce the 2013-2014 Young Adult Author Series:
If you have any questions please email Victoria Randolph at [email protected] or call her at 501-279-5322.

09/30/2013

It's not too late to register for the 2013 ArLA conference, scheduled to begin this Sat., Oct. 5! Please fax or email your registrations for prompt attention. www.arlib.org