91´«Ã½

CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) will host its monthly discussion forum next week on outreach to LGBTQ teens. Throughout the week, YALSA members are encouraged to check in to the discussion forum and ask questions and contribute to the ongoing discussion. The forum will open at 10 a.m. EDT June 6 and will close at 3 p.m. June 10 EDT.

June is Pride Month, and what better way to celebrate this month than by discussing outreach to LGBTQ youth? The teen years are an especially challenging time for teens who are questioning or who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The recent "" ™ has helped bring greater attention to this issue, but how do we as librarians help our teens who may be struggling? Join YALSA for a week-long discussion on outreach to LGBTQ teens. The discussion will focus on collection development of LGTBQ books and how to provide reader’s advisory to teens who may or may not be out or who are afraid to approach the reference, as well as how to support LGBTQ teens within our libraries and communities. It will be moderated by Franklin Escobedo, a Young Adult Services Librarian at Oceanside Public Library who is active with 91´«Ã½’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table.

YA Forum is a monthly discussion just for YALSA members. Each discussion will focus on a specific topic and will be moderated by an expert in the field. YA Forum is hosted in YALSA’s space in 91´«Ã½ Connect at . To access the discussion, you must be a YALSA member.

Starting at 10 a.m. EDT, members can join the conversation by logging into and choosing “YALSA” under “My 91´«Ã½ Groups,” then selecting “Discussions” on the upper right.

For more information about YA Forum, please contact Eve Gaus, YALSA’s program officer for continuing education, at egaus@ala.org or 1 (800) 545-2433, ext. 2128.

For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos and audio books for teens. For more information about YALSA or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to , or contact the YALSA office by phone, (800) 545-2433, ext. 4390, or e-mail, yalsa@ala.org.