The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced this week that Dungeons & Dragons, a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., is the 2008 Corporate Sponsor for Teen Tech Week, taking place March 2-8.  D&D!! How cool is that?

Registration information, resources, products and more can be found at the Teen Tech Week Web site, www.ala.org/teentechweek.

I just read about a new “face” for Singshot.com - the former karaoke/audio reading website - on the YALSA blog. Here’s what Beth Gallaway had to say:

“I’m not clear if the site was originally owned by Maxis’ EA Games, with intent to launch another Sims Expansion pack, but I don’t care if it was a bait & switch, because the tools are really cool, like Movie Mashups - you can make your own machinima music videos with clips and stills from the Sims. You can create an avatar of yourself that looks like a Sims character. Plus, they added 100 new songs at the beginning of month, and this may become a regular thing: over 80 new titles were added at the end of September, with hits from current pop artists like Teddy Gieger, Nickleback and Fallout Boy, plus a nice mix of country, R&B, and Christian artists as well …”

Wouldn’t that be a fun teen program? Hook up the PC to a projector, plug in a couple mikes, and you’re ready! Or have kids create recordings of poetry, comedy routines, or stories - lots of possibilities!

 Anastasia Goodstein, author of the book pictured here, and of the Ypulse.com blog, will be touring Massachusetts in early October as part of her national book tour. She will be appearing at the libraries listed below. If you get the chance to hear her speak, go! She’s one of the top experts on this topic and it’s awesome that she will be in our state!

Contact the host library to be sure of the time/date before you go. The program at Marlborough Public Library is through the Central Region - you can register at http://www.cmrls.org/. Hope you can make it to see her!

Tuesday, October 2, time tba Clapp Memorial Library, Belchertown, MA

Wednesday, October 3, 4 p.m. Manchester-By-The-Sea Public Library, Manchester, MA

Wednesday, October 3, 7:00 p.m. Peabody Institute Library

Thursday, October 4, 3 p.m. Wareham Free Library, Wareham, MA

Thursday, October 4, 8 p.m. Strugis Charter Public School, Hyannis, MA

Friday, October 5, 6:30 p.m. Westport Free Public Library, Westport, MA

Tuesday, October 9, 6:30 p.m. Faneuil Branch Library, Brighton, MA

Wednesday, October 10, 10 a.m. Metrowest MA Regional Library System, Waltham, MA

Wednesday, October 10, 7 p.m. Chickering Elementary School & Dover Schools, Dover, MA

Thursday, October 11, 10 a.m. Marlborough Public Library, Marlborough, MA

Thursday, October 11, 7 p.m. Sargent Memorial Library, Boxborough, MA

One of the most interesting sessions I attended at the MLA conference earlier this month was “Technoschism” with Stephen Abram. It was a fascinating discussion on what’s on the technology horizon, and gave me a lot to think about. One of the points he made was that very soon the technology will be in place for people to easily access the Internet via their cell phones. The implications for library service to teens are huge! A recent article by eMarketer states that over half of 12- to 14-year-olds own their own cell phones, and that companies are starting to market phones to kids in the 10 and under age group. Wow!

Another interesting study, this time from the federal government, shows that young adults, ages 18-24, are starting to go to cell phone only, instead of using regular land line phones at home. A Centers for Disease Control survey shows that the number of adults living in households with only wireless phones continues to increase. I suspect that as our current generation of teens gets older, those numbers will increase dramatically. What do you think? How will this trend influence library service?

Can you believe Teen Tech Week is almost here? What are your plans? Leave a comment and let us know what you’re doing in your library!

 YALSA has some great virtual events planned. Let your teens know about these!

Monday March 5, 1pm PST/4pm EST
Teens, Publishing, and Technology
Facilitator-Carlie Webber, Young Adult Services Coordinator, Bergen County Cooperative Library System, Hackensack, New Jersey
Panelists- Jason Wells Abrams, Publishing representative from Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Lauren Myracle, Author, Anastasia Goodstein Author and YPulse blogger.
They will be using OPAL and will be streamed into outdoor auditorium at Info Island I.
Organized by YALSA. To register for this free event, send an email to yalsa@ala.org and put “TTW virtual event” in the subject line.

Wednesday, March 7 at 6:00 pm PST/9:00 pm EST
Connecting Schools and Libraries with Teens and Technology
Audience: Librarians/Teachers
Facilitator-Lisa Perez, Area Library Coordinator, Co-Facilitator-Jennifer Ragan-Fore, General Membership Program Director, ISTE
Panelists-Christie Thomas, University of Chicago eCUIP Program, Angela Semifero, Marshall District Library, Kelly Czarnecki, Technology Education Librarian and co-leader of Eye4You Alliance Island, Peggy Sheehy, Suffern Middle School and leader of Rampo Islands on Teen Second Life.
Organized by Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries & Information Service
Possibly using OPAL but will be present in Cybrary City Open Air Arena

Thursday, March 8, 4pm PST/7pm EST
Game Design
Audience: Teens
Facilitator-Jami Schwarzwalder, MLS Graduate, Gamer, Second Life instructor and volunteer
Panelists-Craig Davis, Youth Digital Arts CyberSchool and Jake Theis, Assistant Brand Manager, Wizards of the Coast
Using OPAL and will be streamed in to outdoor auditorium at InfoIsland
Organized by YALSA. To register for this free event, send an email to yalsa@ala.org and put “TTW virtual event” in the subject line.

Will teens be heard from too? Yes! A program for TTW on the Teen grid of Second Life in partnership with Global Kids,which works to bring a model of leadership development of teens to Second Life, and Eye4You Alliance which is an Island and partnership with SirsiDynix, the Alliance Library System, and the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Stay tuned to the YALSA blog for more info!