The 12 Blogs of Christmas: blogs 7 through 12

What, you ask, are the 12 Blogs of Christmas?  Go here to read all about it and find out what blogs 1 through 6.  And now, blogs 7 through 12 . . .

The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Blog #7 – Y Pulse
YPulse provides you with a wealth of information on everything teen; from marketing to research and even trending topics. There are several tabs you can look under at this site, but you’ll want to make sure and check out the marketing channel. After you have read what’s on this page, check out the exhaustive list of marketing sites linked on the right hand side. Marketing is an important part of what we do, and yet we often have inadequate training and resources in this aspect of our job. YPulse will help.

The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Blog #8 – Guys Read
Guys Read is the brainchild of Mr. Jon Scieszka. Yes, THAT Jon Scieszka. The site’s goal is to help connect guys with books. There is a news blog on the site also (which I how I am stretching to put this site on my “blog” roll); but the real gold is the way you can navigate the site to help match reader to books. Guys Read also produces short story collections for guys around themes, the most recent release being Thrillers. With the glut of paranormal romance that is currently dominating today’s teen book marketplace, it is really important to take a step back and put some emphasis on making sure we have balanced collections that will appeal to the guys as much as the gals. This site can help you do that. Also, it is really well designed.

The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Blog #9 – TeenReads.com
Once again I am stretching the definition of blog here, but they do technically have a blog on this site so I am going with it. Teen Reads is a great place to find book reviews and information about upcoming teen releases. Awesome added features include Coming Soon lists, On Sale this Week lists, Books on Screen, and Adult Books You Want to Read. And they usually have a lot of fun contests. In fact, right now you can enter to win their Holiday Cheer contest. If you aren’t visiting TeenReads.com regularly then you are really missing out.

The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Blog #10 – Rookie Magazine
Rookie magazine calls itself a magazine, but given the way it is formatted and updated I am going to go with blog. Rookie is a site for teenage girls by teenage girls. Many entertainment outlets have compared it to the old Sassy magazine (let’s have a moment of silence here to contemplate the awesomeness of Sassy magazine – okay, moving on)…. Rookie was started by a 15-year-old girl named Tavi but now there are a host of contributors and it is affiliated with the Walt Disney Corporations (don’t they own the world yet?). The content is arranged around monthly themes, with the month of December being ‘Home”. Again, it’s a good place to get idea, know what teenage girls like and think, and find things to share with your teens.

The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Blog #11 – Daily Infographic
I really recommend you check out Daily Infographic for a few reasons:
1) We deal in information and it is interesting to see what others are thinking and talking about;
2) They are often good for sharing on your teen social media pages;
3) They are good examples and inspirations for design ideas;
4) I strongly encourage you to create your annual reports to your co-workers, admin, and community in infographic form as opposed to traditional pages of text and numbers. They show professionalism, are easy to interpret, and they can really convey the message of what you are doing; and
5) If you check some of my previous blog posts, they can make some good programming idea (graduating teens can infographic their lives, all teens can do their year, etc.)

The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Blog #12 – The Hub
The Hub is the teen reads blog of YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association (a division of ALA). And today is a good day to include this blog as it was just announced that it was nominated for an Edublog Award. Go YALSA! YALSA is a good to source for teen services librarians. You’ll want to make sure you join the list-serves, visit the wikis, and more.

Filed under: Blogs, Tools