Indispensable app: YALSA Teen Book Finder

My assignment this week for Technology in the Workplace, LIBT 15, is to comment on an app that I think would be indispensable in a library. My pick: the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)'s Teen Book Finder.

YALSA's Teen Book Finder is a free app allowing access to the past three years of YALSA awards and lists on the user's smartphone. YALSA recommends the app for teens, parents, library staff, educators and anyone who loves YA literature.

Scan this QR code
to get the YALSA
Teen Book Finder app

According to YALSA, the app is compatible with iPod Touch, an iPhone or iPad. An Android version of the app is planned for later in 2013.

A homepage featuring three titles from the database is refreshed each day. App users have the ability to search for books by author, title, award/list year, genre, by award and by booklist.

A Find It! button, powered by the OCLC WorldCat Search API, shows users where to find the book in a nearby library. Users can create an individualized booklist and share books on Twitter and Facebook.

For more information about the YALSA Teen Book Finder app, visit http://www.ala.org/yalsa/products/teenbookfinder or contact yalsa@ala.org.

Lorimer associate publisher shares ‘Best Books to Beat Bullying’

In an email, Carrie Gleason, associate publisher of Lorimer Children & Teens, recapped titles from a recent webinar about Addressing Bullying Through Books.

I share her recommendations to advance library collection development that addresses bullying.

For children (ages 9-12), Gleason recommends Deal With It, “graphic-novel-style” non-fiction books with advice and activities to cope with bullying and other issues. A Bullying & Conflict Resource Guide can be downloaded for free, according to Gleason.

Here's what C.J. Bott for Voice of Youth Advocates has to say about Bullying:

“[Elaine] Slavens presents everything needed to start great discussions about bullying in class, in counseling groups, with individuals, and with youth at home... [We] applaud not only the accessible, basic information and reader-friendly text, but also the illustrations and overall presentation that make this brief book a valuable tool for everyone. All adults should read it and thank the author for this excellent resource.”

For young adults, Gleason recommended SideStreets, describing them as “edgy and contemporary fiction novels based on real teen issues.” Titles listed by Gleason in the SideStreets series include Gone Bad, Girl Fight, Homo, Scab and New Blood.

QR codes at the library

The artist’s self-appointed objective: to commemorate the Charter for Compassion and the Lake County Summer of Peace while drawing attention to resources available at her public library.

Her solution: Laminated tags displaying quick-response (QR) barcodes corresponding to books in the library’s online catalog were affixed to a mesh foundation. Also featuring crocheted flowers and a cloth peace symbol applique, the yarnbombing tag was attached to a peace pole at the Lake County Library in March 2012.

To be continued ...

For my Technology in the Workplace class, LIBT 115, I am researching possible uses for QR codes at libraries. What are your favorite uses for QR codes? Share them here.

Libraries: Not really ‘free’

It is at best a mistake and at worse self-destructive
to under-represent a community’s investment in libraries
according to D.J. Hoek. Image credit: Idyllwild Library

In the March/April 2013 issue of American Libraries, D.J. Hoek offers timely commentary about an image that showed up in my Facebook timeline: a library checkout receipt detailing “free” items -- DVDs, books, an eBook and CDs.

Just how timely? The image appeared within days of my reading Hoek’s essay, thanks to social sharing by an account I follow on Facebook.

Hoek makes an important argument, that libraries are not really “free” -- rather, communities derive tremendous returns upon their great investment.

“ [I]t is at best a mistake and at worst self-destructive to under-represent the considerable ongoing investment that members of a community make to have library collections, technology, personnel, and facilities available to them.” A far better take-home message, according to Hoek, is that libraries are worth “every cent” of their ongoing cost.

Friday cat blogging: Starfire wears a harness

All Jonathan and I have to do is pack for our move (well, actually, we have to do a lot more than that). The really tough job is Starfire’s: she has to become accustomed to car rides and wearing a harness.

Update: Caturday was Starfire’s birthday. She was born April 6, 2009 and is now 4 years old. We are so thankful for our precious Starfire!