YAACS (Young Adults and Children’s Services) is a section of the British Columbia Library Association. Our purpose is to support library staff in the provision of high-quality library services to children, youth, and families in BC.
Are you interested in or involved in library services to youth in British Columbia? Consider joining our listserv and following us on social media to hear about professional development opportunities—from ukulele workshops, maker programming, rhyme time sharing, puppets and felt-story making, to working with at-risk youth and Reader’s Advisory for LGBTQIA+ youth. Many of the professional development opportunities we organize are FREE and they happen from Vancouver Island to the Lower Mainland!
For the last three years we have organized a pre-conference event for the BC Library Conference, called the Youth Services Institute (YSI). We love creating this opportunity for you to network, and discuss current research and best practices to bring back to your libraries. Our recent YSI 2019 was held at the Surrey Public Library and focused on youth mental health. Previous Institutes covered programming for the middle years, and inclusive library programs and services for children. Our continuing education coordinator for the Kootenays, Avi Silberstein, is involved in organizing a Children and Teen Services Conference in Kelowna, BC on October 7th.
Want to get involved?
We are opening a call for expressions of interest for two continuing education liaisons for the lower mainland. A Continuing Education Coordinator is local to the area and organizes one or more free or low-cost professional development opportunities in the region for library staff who work with youth.These appointments would serve through May 2020.
We’re also looking for a social media and website administrator. This position can be taken on from anywhere in the province. If you would like to step into a fun and exciting role for the coming year, please email Julia McKnight at [email protected].
You are welcome to join in on our quarterly meetings to see what we are all about. These meetings will always have a phone-in option for connecting with you from around the province.
Joining our listserv will also give you regular updates to our quarterly online newsletter, YAACING. This newsletter contains book reviews, story time ideas, early literacy tips… you name it! We welcome your submissions, please email [email protected]. Past issues can be viewed on our website here: https://bclaconnect.ca/yaacs/yaacing/
Credit: The YAACING staff. Issue: Fall 2018
Official name: Young Adult and Children’s Section (YAACS).
Chair 2019-2020: Julia McKnight [email protected]
Ongoing email [email protected]
Our website: https://bclaconnect.ca/yaacs/young-adults-and-childrens-section/
Listserv subscription info: https://bclaconnect.ca/listservs/bcla/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bcyaacs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yaacsbc/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/YAACSBC
Kate Longley is the YAACS Past Chair for 2019-2020 and Teen Services Librarian at the North Vancouver City Library.
Julia McKnight is the YAACS Chair 2019-2020 and Assistant Manager of Teen Services (Acting) at Vancouver Public Library.
