Transforming Teen Services with YALSA: Connected Learning in the Library

The Montana State Library is excited to participate in the Young Adult Library Services Association's (YALSA) training program, "Transforming Teen Services: A Train the Trainer Approach." Funded by IMLS and in partnership with the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), this program is an effort to bring together state library agency youth consultants and front-line library staff for a robust training program that focuses on providing connected learning frameworks for teen services, and creating opportunities for computer science and computational thinking.

Montana Representatives for Transforming Teen Services

YALSA held a train-the-trainer conference in November 2019 for representatives from multiple states around the country. The Montana State Library sent two representatives from Montana:

• Heather Dickerson, Lewis and Clark Library
• Cody Allen, Billings Public Library

Heather and Cody will be leading trainings around Montana for interested libraries in the YALSA curriculum.

Update 7/1/21

Two new representatives for Montana have been chosen for the YALSA Transforming Teen Services project.

• Amelea Kim, Montana State Library
• Dustina Deans, Lincoln County Library

Scheduled Trainings

The following trainings have been confirmed for 2020:

• 2/8, Saturday, 11:15 - 12:30 pm: Offline in Helena, Carroll College
• 4/3, Friday, 4:15 - 5:15 pm: MLA in Missoula, Downtown Holiday Inn (canceled)

Trainings have not yet been scheduled for 2021. Please check back on this page for further information, or contact Amelea Kim at akim@mt.gov directly.

Requesting a Training

If your library is interested in receiving this training, Amelea and Dusty are able to travel and can come to your library directly. Trainings are available in a variety of lengths, and we encourage you to coordinate with libraries in your area to get multiple staff trained at once.

To request a training, please fill out the Training Request Form.

For More Information

Please visit the following links for more information about this project:

• Transforming Teen Services Project Description on YALSA website
• Transforming Teen Services Project Grant Application
• Transforming Teen Services Press Release

If you have any questions, please contact Amelea Kim at akim@mt.gov.