From the State Library:

Hi there. I'm Jim Rosinia, the new State Library Youth Services Consultant (a.k.a. Ron Jones' successor) and, as such, I've got a really tough act to follow. Fortunately, Ron has been available for [a seemingly endless barrage of] questions from me as I work my way up this learning curve and I can't thank him enough for his input, advice, and support.

I've been meeting people across the state so, if you've already heard me introduce myself, please feel free to skip the next paragraph.

I was a career changer. After about ten years as co-owner of an audiovisual production studio in Chicago (a curious career diversion for an English major – ask me to tell you that story some day. . . ), I decided that I wanted to become a public librarian and work with kids. So I returned to graduate school and received my Master's from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Following graduation in 1986, I worked as the Young Adult Specialist at the Waukegan (IL) Public Library. I had a ball there but an opportunity presented itself that I couldn't pass up and, after a few years at Waukegan, I was hired as the Director of the Information Services Division for the Center for Early Adolescence at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Since 1986, I've been active in ALA, PLA, and YALSA and I've had a number of opportunities to speak and conduct staff development workshops on the importance of developmentally-appropriate library services for young adolescents. A few years back, I co-authored (with Mary K. Chelton) the first edition of Bare Bones: Young Adult Services Tips for Public Library Generalists.

Which brings me up to date – beginning on March 1 of this year, I've been fortunate enough to be the State Library's Youth Services Consultant where I'm learning about the great youth services work being done in public libraries and school library media centers across the state. That's my story and I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing yours.

(Continued on the next page….)

So, what's going on at the State Library?

Well, the committee for the 2002 Summer Reading Program has been busy for the past few months. We've been working with award-winning artist and resident of Wilmington Virginia Wright-Frierson who is creating the artwork for the materials for next summer's program – "Exercise Your Mind . . . Read!". (And remember: orders for materials are due to me by June 30, 2001.)

Order forms are available on the Web as a Word document: <http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/ld/youth/2002form.doc> and as a PDF document <http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/ld/youth/2002form.pdf>.) The committee is currently developing the manual for the program and discussing plans for the workshops which will be held on November 26 in Hickory and November 27 in Raleigh. Watch this space (as they say) for more info on the workshops.

Another project that you'll be hearing more about in the months to come is the Kids' Portal. This web-based resource will feature links to quality sites for young people (as well as for the adults in their lives). The sites will be selected for inclusion by a committee of N.C. librarians. You'll even be able to customize the Portal by including information about your library and by adding local links. Again, stay tuned for more info.

Speaking of web-based resources, if you haven't already done so, be sure to explore the databases that have been added to NCLIVE <http://www.nclive.org>. These include DISCovering Most-Studied Authors; InfoTrac's Kid's Edition, Junior Edition, Student Edition, and General Reference Center Gold; Grolier's New Book of Knowledge and Multimedia Encyclopedia; and, just added on May 1, Ebsco's Middle Search Plus, designed to assist middle and junior high school students. These databases were added to NCLIVE as a result of requests by NC youth services librarians, so be sure to let me know how we can help you help children and teens.

In fact, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or complaints, don't hesitate to get in touch with me – jrosinia@library.dcr.state.nc.us or (919) 733-2570.

Jim Rosinia, Youth Services Consultant