YALSA's MySpace Foray

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Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 1/3/2007

YALSA wants to be your friend—your MySpace friend.

The Young Adult Library Service Association went live with its first MySpace page on Dec. 20. While not exactly trailblazers in the social networking world, YALSA did manage to accrue 192 friends—or other MySpace members—by the end of its first week, including other libraries such as Briarcliff Manor Public Library.

YALSA's decision to head to the popular site follows the trend that teens and young adults now spend a tremendous part of their waking hours on MySpace—more than 6 hours a day for 8- to 18-year-olds, according to a poll from Harris Interactive, a market research firm.

"In today's information age, people are going online to do more—especially teens," said YALSA President Judy Nelson in a release. "As an association that advocates for excellence in library services to teens, we felt an obligation to extend our reach beyond the library walls and provide a safe, informative Web space in an environment familiar to teens."

Public and school libraries, along with individual media specialists, have adopted new technologies and launched blogs, wikis, even virtual libraries in the online game Second Life in an effort to reach its younger patrons.

YALSA's MySpace page is traditional, featuring books and reminding visitors about its Midwinter Meeting later this month—but it also provides links to YALSA's blog, to its photo library on Flickr, and to podcasts that visitors can download and use.

"MySpace is the meeting place for teens as well as authors, libraries, and librarians," said Linda Braun, chair of YALSA's Website Advisory Committee in a release. "Now that YALSA has its own MySpace page, members and non-members have a place to meet and network online."