The 2017 YALS Conference was held on Thursday, September 28 at the Local Government Center in Concord, NH.

• Mental Health Discussion – Rebecca DeHass (Change Direction NH/Dover Psychologist) – A conversation about how librarians can provide families with information about teen mental health and where libraries can find those resources.
• Isinglass and Flume Update
• Featured Speaker – Lisa Bunker, Author of Feliz YZ, spoke about her new book and how to make libraries a safer place for LGBTQ teens.
• Safe Spaces Panel
• Social Media Discussion – Laura Horwood-Benton, Mollie Mulligan and Andrew Greenlaw-Houldsworth of the Portsmouth Public library discuss the social media they use and how libraries can effectively reach teens with social media.

The 2016 YALS Conference was held on Thursday, September 22 at the Local Government Center in Concord, NH.

Highlights Included:

• Three Teen Programming Panels  Passive/Active Ideas, Gaming Programs for Everyone and Engaging Volunteers and Advisory Groups
• Lunchtime Keynote Presentation – Once Upon a Time presented by Ellen Oh, CEO & President of We Need Diverse Books and author of the YA Fantasy trilogy “The Prophecy Series”, and the upcoming MG novel “The Spirit Hunters”, to be published in fall 2017.
• Booktalks of the 2016-2017 Nominated Isinglass titles

Highlights Included:

• “Cool Technology for Readers” presented by Nancy Keane, Library Media Specialist at Rundlett Middle School. Click here for a link to Nancy’s handout.
• Flume Booktalks presented by Kirsten Corbett, Director of Sandown Public Library and Lisa Houde, Youth Services Director at Rye Public Library
• “Grant Funding Tips” presented by Ellen Koenig of Full Circle Consulting
• Luncheon speaker Nancy Werlin, author of nine YA novels including New York Times-bestselling fantasy (Impossible), Edgar-Award winning suspense (The Killer’s Cousin), and National Book Award-honored realistic fiction (The Rules of Survival). Her newest book is Unthinkable, a companion novel to the fantasies Impossible and Extraordinary.