There is a lot going on in both the library world and blogosphere and sometimes it can be too much to keep up! I’ll be doing a monthly update of news, and I hope this update will help you breathe a little by giving you just enough news to get caught-up.

Teen Read Week is less that two months away, meaning that all us TeenLIBS should have a game plan in mind for supporting this national literacy initiative. There are tons of program ideas on the YALSA wiki, and many can be used for last-minute program planning.

Although the ALA Annual 2007 conference is old news, it’s worth mentioning some of the librarians that have provided blog coverage from a teen librarian perspective. Lindsey and Trisha provide an excellent overview of the conference on their blogs about special events, programs, adventures in the stacks, and personal experiences. There is also some good mentions on the YALSA blog regarding the conference, including the Zine-A-Palooza program, the Music and Media Interest Group Meeting, and the to I-Pods and Beyond Presentation.

The Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium was held July 22-24 in Chicago. Beth Gallaway has provided coverage for the symposiom on the Game ON: Gaming in Libraries blog. Included in the coverage is Eli Neiburger’s guide to choosing videogames for tournament play and information about sharing your library’s videogame scores by joining a national library videogame ledger (to begin in January 2008).

Liz and Sophie over at Pop Goes the Library Blog need your help! They are writing a book and need input about using pop culture to connect with the community. If interested in helping, you can take the survey here. The book will be called Pop Goes the Library: Using Pop Culture to Connect with your Whole Community.

Lindsey Dunn recently hosted a teen Mystery theater program that received a positive response from the participating teens. The mystery kit used to conduct the program can be purchased online for around $30.00. Read more about the program and see photos on her blog, Zee Says=Film Addict + Teen Librarian.

Worthington Public Library hosted a fashion program for teens called Project Goodwill. Teens were instructed to put together a last-minute runway outfit using donated clothing from library staff. They were allowed to bring one accessory from home to complete the outfit. Visit the Worthing Public Library teen blog for more information.

Joyce Valenza shares a list of photo and image web tools on the SLJ Blog. Of special note is the graffiti text generator and the powerful online graphics editing program, Picnik. Share these web tools with your teens or use them to updgrade your Teen Library Myspace.

And now onto news from the local front, regarding our AWESOME web site! Carleen from Library Shrine will be coming back on board as an active blogger. You can look forward to her well-thought out posts in the immediate future.

The TeenLibWiki underwent a makeover so that it can operate more as an organic encyclopedia rather than a list of links to web sites. Extensive documentation has been included on how to participate, so please read up and help us build a totally awesome and free online resource for teen librarians.

And finally, I have recently received several e-mails from people wanting to contribute to the Alt. Teen Services blog. We definitely want the help, so thanks for offering it. I plan to catch-up on these e-mails sometime in mid-August, and I thank you for being so patient!