A librarian-researcher previews the first day of ALSC National Institute, focused on teen services—keynotes, sessions on tweens and middle grades, programming topics, exhibitors, and ways to follow the event remotely.
Program highlights include the Alex Awards session, tween and middle-grade-focused talks, teen spaces, manga, generative AI in library navigation, programming ideas (including comic cons), and youth leadership.
If you can’t attend in person, ALSC will have multiple bloggers posting daily so you can read coverage and follow selected sessions.
# Why this day matters The author, Kelley Taksier, is attending ALSC National Institute for the first time and is especially pleased that the conference opens with a full day dedicated to teen services. Formerly an elementary school teacher and now an early literacy researcher, Taksier explains that her work has expanded to support teachers of adolescent readers and family connections to teens. That shift revealed gaps in her knowledge of current youth literature and teen programming—so TSDD is a targeted opportunity to catch up.
# Program highlights to watch for TSDD begins with a keynote conversation featuring Delali Adjoa, author of The Free Verse Society, in conversation with Valerie Tagoe. The schedule includes a 30-minute book signing after the talk. The day closes with a keynote and signing by Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give.
Between those two bookend sessions are practical, program-oriented offerings:
# What the author brings to the conversation
# If you're not attending ALSC will have a team of bloggers posting daily coverage, modeled on how coverage works at ALA Annual. That means you can follow session summaries and reaction pieces without being on site. Taksier invites readers to comment on which sessions they plan to read about and offers an email contact (ktaksier@ufl.edu) for follow-up conversation.
# Where this fits in ALSC work Taksier notes that the blog post relates to ALSC Core Competency VII: Professionalism and Professional Development, framing participation in TSDD as a professional learning opportunity for library staff who serve children and teens.
# Quick practical takeaways
Do you have a great idea for serving children, teens, or families? Here’s your chance to share it with the greater library community in New Orleans next June! The Call for Program and Poster Proposals for the ALA 2027 Annual Conference is now open. Your stories, successes, lessons learned, research, and practical strat
A teen volunteer arrives for a scheduled shift, but the planned assignment cannot begin. Supplies may still be in another office, the work may already be finished, or the intended supervisor may be helping a patron or leading a program. Staff want to use the teen’s time well without inventing work under pressure. Stron
Autumn is my favorite time of year, and I always look forward to the “ber” months, but this year arrives with a touch of sadness. Starting September 1st, YALSA will no longer be its own standalone division, as it reunites with ALSC. On the eve of this reunification, I took advantage of a day off to go hiking—a perfect
The school year is upon us! As the seasons shift, so do our roles as literacy guides. In a previous post, Joannie Lauria beautifully outlined how librarians become the intermediaries between school learning and reading for pleasure. No one has a finer grasp on this balance than School Librarians! I am constantly inspir
How creator Kel Layne uses Later for authentic affiliate marketing.
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.