Youth Services Forum Executive Committee
Charlottesville, VA
January 30, 2004
Attending: Ginger Armstrong, Melanie Barker, Tim Carrier, Shelley Gravel, Maureen Harrill, Sue Llewellyn, Dena Martin, Julie Ramsay, Dora Rowe, Val Thomson, Demetria Tucker
Julie started the meeting by welcoming new members, Melanie Barker, Sue Llewellyn, and Dora Rowe.
The September 2003 minutes were approved.
The group agreed to change the meeting location to the Northside Library in Charlottesville. Ginger will check for availability of the meeting room at the new location for the next meeting.
Julie reported on VLA Council news. Morel Fry is looking for people to serve on the Nominating Committee. Julie has asked for the new list of Youth Services Forum members. The deadline for the VLA Scholarship is March 4th and Federal Legislative Day is May 3rd- 4th. The council is looking for someone from Region IV to serve and someone to chair the Volunteer Management Forum. VLA is accepting donations for the Foundation. Linda Hahne is looking for ideas for celebrating VLA’s 100th anniversary. Continuing education as part of library certification is being evaluated. The ALA accredited degree is still the standard. Julie volunteered to be on the Legislative Committee since there are several legislative issues involving children and teens, and we should have a voice on those issues.
Maureen reported on the Jefferson Cup Committee and stated that they are evaluating approximately 250 titles very seriously. In the next few weeks, members will choose their top 20 picks and then their top 10 before the final vote. A vote for the next year’s chair will happen shortly. The group really wants to keep the chairmanship of the Jefferson Cup Committee diverse so that school librarians and public librarians are each represented equitably. The group hopes to have a Jefferson Cup winner in March.
Shelley reported on the Virginia Young Readers. The group met in the fall and the reading list for next year will be revealed at the Virginia State Reading Association Conference in March. The next meeting is in May. The group is meeting later so that schools have a chance to finish up their voting.
Demetria reported on Region I events. Highlights in the region include: a performer’s showcase held for children’s and youth staff by SWING (that is also working on its own directory of performers); a January project entitled “Celebrate the Calendar” with an event planned for each day in January using the Chase Calendar of Events with such simple activities as staff saying “thank you, thank you very much” to patrons after checking out materials on Elvis’ birthday; the second Valley Book Festival offered author readings, “meet-the-author” opportunities, and panel discussions with authors such as Nancy Patterson, Jeri Hanel Watts, CeCe Bell, Mason Adams, and Vickie Holt; and a Young Writers Recognition Breakfast for writing contest winners.
Melanie and Dora reported on Region II events. Highlights in the region include: a Babies First Story Garden program for 0-24 month old children that focuses on building five skills including oral language; a “Best Cookie in Campbell County” cookie swap; a Black History Month program with teachers who taught during integration; a Lord of the Rings showing of the first two films before the release of Return of the King; and library storytimes taken to Headstart.
Neva sent in a report on Region III news. Highlights include: an Artist Adventure program using picture books to teach children about art; a Teen Book Sale organized and run by teens; a Hollywood Squares type program entitled Egyptian Squares; a Winter Reading Club in partnership with Ringling Brother’s Barnum and Bailey Circus and after reading for 100 minutes, children receive a free ticket to the circus; a year-long “Flashing Back to the 60’s” program; and “The Sweetest Sound,” a musical program designed to trace black music from the early African-American spirituals through the 20th century.
Dena reported on Region IV events. Highlights include: folklorist and musician Kala Jojo; the Janubeary programs featuring a Winnie the Pooh visit; the formation of teen advisory boards; Imani Hair Design visiting; author and storyteller Donna Washington presenting A Pride of African Tales; the Richmond Bookworm Club in which volunteers read aloud to younger children, school-age children work on literacy skills, parents participate in special workshops, and every child receives a new age-appropriate book for their personal home library; and the Richmond Public Library will also have a separate teen area when renovations are complete. Ginger reported on the Teen E-Poetry Café.
Sue and Julie reported on events in Region V. Highlights include: a screening of recent and “vintage” cool clips videos created by teens; the “Reel Book Club” for ages 8-16 in which students read the book and see the movie and then discuss; “School’s Out Movie” days; the “Many Faces of Cinderella” – artists from the Washington Opera present multicultural versions of the fairy tale; the new Bealeton Library opened; the Prince William Public Library received a Title IV funding grant from the county’s Department of Social Services to initiate a Healthy Kids Read program, train for the Motheread/Fatheread program, purchase materials for a parent resource collection, and to support the VivaVan.
Val and Tim reported on Region VI news. Highlights include: a High Tea for area teens; a visit with author Alice Leonhardt a.k.a. Alison Hart; an American Girl doll brunch and craft party; a Murder in the Library program; a teen swap meet; a Captain Underpants party; Northside Library’s (JMRL) 12th annual Art Contest for grades K-5 using Stan and Jan Berenstain, Garth Williams, or Brian Wildsmith for inspiration; teen poetry contest participants recorded their poetry to be broadcast on a local radio station and each participant received a CD containing all of the poems; and Jefferson Madison Regional Library’s 9th Annual Logo Contest.
Pat discussed Library of Virginia news. Dena, Julie, Shelley, and Sue volunteered to help Pat on the day of the VLA Pre-Conference. The keynote speaker is from the School of Social Work from the University of Washington and will discuss grass roots advocacy. A speaker from Voices of Virginia’s Children will discuss data advocacy. Pat is looking for someone to speak about media advocacy. Concurrent sessions will include emergent literacy, information literacy, advocacy, and (maybe) marketing. Pat hopes to hold two emergent literacy workshops in the spring. A Cat in the Hat costume was purchased for use on Dr. Seuss’ Birthday to hand out information to the General Assembly. Pat is hoping to cooperate more with VEMA as well and is meeting with the VEMA board to talk about collaborative ideas. The Summer Reading Consortium seems to be working well. A Family Literacy Conference is being planned for Spring 2005 as a one-day plus half day conference and Pat may invite one person from each library system. The family literacy brochures are still in the works and with the printer. Pat is also meeting with the Virginia Literacy Foundation and Verizon to discuss the literacy initiative.
Julie discussed the importance of being aware of the legislative issues that may affect children and teens in our libraries and the need to speak out on these issues. She recommended that library staff discover who their legislators are and write to them about these issues. Julie distributed information on pending legislation with the General Assembly, VLA’s views on the current legislation, Family Foundation of Virginia information, Focus on the Family information as well as articles about youth and internet filtering including David Sobel’s “Internet Filters and Public Libraries.” She proposed and the group approved drafting a letter from the group that can be read at the General Assembly hearing on February 2nd. Please send any comments or talking points for the letter to Julie. She will draft a letter and send it back to the group for comment before Monday’s session. Having students write to legislators on these issues as well as letters from others in the community were also recommended.
Julie asked regional representatives to create a contact list for all libraries in their area. She stated that she would like to increase communication between the entire forum and suggested posting helpful program ideas on the VLA web page.
The theme of the 2004 VLA Conference is “Defining Moments.” Since the “Patchwork of Teen Programs” has been so highly received, the group thought about offering this program again. For the next meeting, Julie recommended that the group think about colleagues for this program and also to think of ideas for other programs to offer. Programming on a shoestring was also suggested as a concurrent session topic.
The next meeting will be held on April 2nd at a location to be announced.
The meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Ginger Armstrong