The 2022 OYAN Review is now available to download.
Thank you to all the library staff in Oregon who shared how they are rebuilding this year!
OYAN Review
The 2022 OYAN Review is starting now… on facebook
For the 2022 OYAN Review, library staff in Oregon were invited to share how we are rebuilding as we enter year three of the pandemic. Reading your survey responses, I got inspired, laughed, cried, thought deeply, and got great ideas. Most importantly, reading all the thoughts my colleagues bravely shared made me feel proud to be part of this library community.
I hope you enjoy the upcoming #OYANReview2022 series of posts on OYAN’s facebook page over the next few weeks and months. At the end, they will be published in a PDF on this blog.
2021 OYAN Review is now available!
What will you find inside?
- Learn from a teen patron how they used Discord to start a multigenerational book club
- Get book recommendations from teen patrons
- Learn pro tips for playing Jackbox Games virtually with your teens
- Get ideas for using YALSA’s Outstanding Books for the College Bound
- Learn how to do a live virtual escape room
- Get ideas for doing teen book boxes
- Learn how one library is gamifying the library experience online
- Learn why more teens than adults participated in the Mock Printz this year
Call for articles about teen library services and YA reviews
OLA’s Oregon Young Adult Network (OYAN) is seeking submissions for the OYAN Review 2021. The Review showcases writing about teen library services by staff at all levels who work in all types of libraries. Writing by teens about books, games, music, shows, and library services is also welcome!
Please email Katie Anderson (katiea at wccls dot org) with your ideas and questions by January 30 if you would like to submit an article, young adult media review, or writing by teens with whom you work. Finalized articles will be due March 2.
We are open to your ideas and are especially seeking the following types of submissions:
- reviews by your teens about books, games, music, and/or shows that can be checked out at the library
- using Discord in teen library services
- teen programming
- engaging teens while we can’t get together in-person
- reviews of young adult Advanced Readers’ Copies coming out this year (2021)
Reviews should be no more than 200 words. Articles should be at least 300 words. Exceptions may be made. Images to accompany your article are strongly encouraged. If you don’t have your own photo or original artwork, consider including a free stock photo that represents your article. You might find a free photo at Pexels, nappy, or The Gender Spectrum Collection. Please include the appropriate credit (e.g. Photo by Fillipe Gomes from Pexels).
Thank you for considering submitting your writing and/or your teens’ writing to the OYAN Review 2021.
2019 Summer OYAN Review
The Summer 2019 OYAN Review is now available!
In this issue:
- Roseburg Public Library Unveils New Teen Room
- Graphic Rave Nominations Sought
- OYAN Seeks Nominations for Board Members
- Upcoming Meetings
We’re always looking for content for our next issue, so if you have something you’d like to have included in the fall Review, send it to oyanpublications@gmail.com.
OYAN Review: 2019 Spring
In this issues, learn about…
- Goblins in the Library! (Salem Public Library)
- Congratulations to OYEA Winner Danielle Jones
- Deschutes Public Library’s Youth Lit Fest
- 2019 Book Rave Titles Announced
- Why Alex Gino Is Just the Best (Multnomah County Library’s Rockwood Branch)
- And more!
Thank you so much to everyone who contributed an article — it’s really fun to get to share your accomplishments and experiences!
Winter 2019 OYAN Review and More SEL!
The Winter 2019 OYAN Review is now available! It includes great program ideas, the 2019 Mock Printz results, professional learning about leadership, behavior management, and more. Two articles offer good examples of social emotional learning (SEL).
SEL includes establishing and maintaining positive relationships, and feeling empathy for others. Putting devices away, looking into the faces of other people, and trying to read their feelings are important for this aspect of social emotional learning. Read “Teen Poker Games” by Marian Rose, Seaside Public Library, to learn about a program that provides teens this SEL opportunity.
SEL also includes understanding and managing one’s own emotions and making responsible decisions. Providing teens and staff a forum to share their feelings about past conflicts, think about the needs of other kinds of patrons, and brainstorm ideas of what behavior looks like in the library if everyone’s needs are met helps teens develop these SEL skills. Read “Restorative Practices at Hillsboro Public Library” by Emily Smith to learn more about how to turn behavior management into an SEL opportunity—that effectively improves behavior too!
Call for fall newsletter articles
Do you work with teens or have an interest in teen services in Oregon libraries? Please consider writing an article for the fall newsletter. There are so many options that I know you have something to share with your colleagues around the state. Have you gone to an interesting training or webinar? Did you have a really innovate program that was a huge success? Did you try something new that was a huge failure? Do you have any thoughts or opinions on issues being discussed in the library world? Have you learned any new lessons in the course of your work? Do you have a book review or book talk to share with your colleagues? Write a short article about it so that we can learn from each other.
Submissions should be 1/2 – 1 page long. Pictures with captions are nice, but not required.
Send your submissions to OYAN Publications.
OYAN Review: OASL Conference
This post is an article from the Summer 2018 issue of the OYAN Review and has been edited slightly for publication on the blog. It was written by Kristy Kemper Hodge at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library.
October 2017 was my first foray into OASL. It. Was. Incredible. There were amazing and inspiring authors, as well as passionate and inspiring librarians, sharing their expertise, secrets, and awesomeness.
Jason Reynolds Author Talk
We published a post about this earlier!
Stranger Things: Middle School Programming
Presented by Lori Lieberman, Library Media Specialist, West Sylvan Middle School and Da Vinci Arts Middle School (Portland)
I always appreciate a conference session that is both inspiring and actionable; where I can take away concrete ideas to implement as soon as I return to my library. Lori Lieberman’s Stranger Things presentation was just that! She presented all sorts of low-cost and awesome displays, programs, and games that she’s successfully used with her middle school students. Here’s a list (and some photos) of those ideas!
OYAN Review: Libraries in Profile: Athena Public Library
This post is an article from the Summer 2018 issue of the OYAN Review and has been edited slightly for publication on the blog. It was written by Kristen Williams at the Athena Public Library.
Athena is a town of 1,300 people nestled in the wheat fields near the Blue Mountains by the Washington border. There has been a public library in Athena for more than 100 years, and almost 15 years ago the town came
together to build a beautiful new library.
Our new building has some of the only public meeting space in town, and it has a cozy reading room with soft chairs in front of a welcoming fireplace. And, unlike the old building, it has dedicated spaces for children and young adults. Athena is understandably proud of the new library building. In fact, even though it’s been nearly a decade and a half since the building was completed, when someone new comes to town, you’re likely to hear people asking them if they’ve “seen the new library.”
Life in a rural library presents some challenges, such as a limited budget. We are an autonomous city library, but we are also a member of Umatilla County Special Library District. Through this county-wide taxing district, we receive half of our annual funding and also some programming and cataloging support. In addition, we are a part of the Sage Library consortium. Sage has 77 member libraries in 15 counties in Eastern and Central Oregon. Being a part of Sage offers very tangible benefits to our customers in terms of access to resources we couldn’t provide on our own.
I started as Library Director in November of 2017 and was able to work side by side with the previous Director until her retirement. That time of transition was so good, both for me and for the town. There was a lot concern about the previous librarian’s retirement. Change is difficult for library users of all ages and can be especially difficult in a library with only one full-time librarian. The time of overlap was useful in reassuring customers that the library would remain open and that, for the most part, the things they loved about it would stay the same.
There has been a thriving program for children for a long time. We have a long-standing toddler storytime on Monday mornings that is well attended. We have an excellent collaborative relationship with the local preschool that helps us reach the younger kids in our community, and we have a great relationship with our local elementary school. There is no librarian in our school district, so last school year I provided library instruction at the elementary school library, and I’m hoping to do something similar this year.
A main part of my goal planning for this year is our lack of teen programming. We have a core group of teens who use the library on a regular basis, but I’d really like to build on that. I started working toward this goal by including teens more intentionally in our Summer Reading Program. We have offered some library activities and have also created some volunteer opportunities for teens within our elementary and preschool programs. The hope is that these opportunities will help build a feeling of ownership in the library. At the beginning of this upcoming school year, we will launch a teen advisory board to give teens a voice in programming, collections, and leadership in our community. We’re also planning to letting them redecorate the teen space. We hope to use this core group of teens to help us better serve the other kids in our community.
I feel like a big part of this first year as Library Director has been about getting to know the community in my new role. I have lived here in town for ten years and have fairly deep connections, but telling someone you’ve lived in a small town like this one for ten years is the same as telling them you moved to town yesterday. I’m still introducing myself to people and trying to ease in to new ideas. I do regularly remind myself to slow down and not to force things. Athena Public Library is in a season of growth and change, and it’s really exciting to plan for the future.
OYAN - Oregon Young Adult Network 