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CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has announced its new , which aims to annually recognize a member who has demonstrated a commitment to creating innovative library services for and with the teens in their community.

“The jury members and I spent a lot of time discussing how to interpret innovation for the purposes of this award. We decided that the best approach would be to define innovation as ‘try something new’,” said Melissa West, chair of the Innovation Award Proposal Taskforce. “The jury decided to take this approach because innovation is going to look different to each community, and we wanted to encourage all YALSA members to try something new regardless of community size or teen services budget.”

All personal members of YALSA, (regardless of job title) who work with teens in any type of library setting are eligible to or nominate a colleague annually by December 1. Nominators will need to list specific accomplishments made by the nominee.

All ideas, regardless how big or small are welcome and must illustrate:

• innovation (as defined by the award, includes some or all of the following characteristics: leveraging creative thinking, problem solving, identifying novel solutions to challenges, and/or risk-taking)
• a positive impact on the community and teens
• YALSA’s vision for teen services as outlined in the reports: “” and “”

Submitted will be reviewed by a member award jury. One recipient will be chosen to receive a $500 monetary prize for themselves and a recognition plaque. more and or nominate a colleague now through December 1.

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to , or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.