And In This Corner, Feminism vs. Abstinence Porn!

Before our much-anticipated discussion of Twilight next week, I urge you to read "Bite Me! (Or Don't)," a feminist reading of the series done by Bitch Magazine (WARNING: the article covers all four books in the series, as well as Midnight Sun, so there are spoilers). It's an interesting article, but please do not take my agreement with certain criticisms of Twilight as any sort of call to arms to take the book out of our libraries. Instead, I suggest that Twilight can be used to open up a dialogue with teens to find out how they read the series. Young adults are capable of being critical readers, a fact that adults often forget, so it is unfair to assume that they read the books and suddenly their brain becomes semi-comatose while they wait for a vampire or other mythical (possibly less attractive) being to save them (I'm looking at you, Jacob). Whether you or I think the books are good or bad (or very bad) should not be the discussion. The point is that a lot of young adults connect with them and libraries have to use them to connect with teens.

(For the record, when I read Twilight, which was before I read the article, all I could think was, "We get it. She'll literally die if they have sex. Sex=death. That seems like a good alternative to reading this book.")

That's So Meta: Blogging About Blogging

This is going to be a little patchwork, but here are some notes on the YALSA blog. I apologize to anyone who dislikes the scattered format of the entry, but to me it makes the most sense to write it this way.

1) My initial thought is that the site looks cluttered and unappealing. In my limited experience doing blogging/web journalism, I was taught that every entry should have a photograph or image. People pick up books because of their covers and this same principle can be applied to blog entries. It can also break up the web page to make it seem less text-heavy.

2) Another blogging tip: be sure to give the reader enough information before your “(Read More)” cut. Make sure you’ve actually laid out what the article is going to cover so that readers will actually want to read more. I noticed a number of instances on the YALSA blog where they put the cut only a couple of sentences into an article and I wasn’t sure if I actually wanted to read more.

3) As someone who was part of a large writing team on a website, I recommend that you always check out the mission statement, policies and other related information on a blog or website being run by an organization and fueled by many different writers. On the YALSA blog, make sure to read the About section, as well as the Blogger Guidelines. While blogs are often thought of as bastions of free speech, these are not personal blogs and writers can be limited, to varying extents.

4) I like the vague mission of the YALSA blog, leaving it fairly open for contributors to write about a multitude of topics, as long as they relate it back to young adults. As the role of libraries broadens to encompass the broad scope of serving the community, it is important for librarians to know more than the hottest books. Whether it is new technological fads or social trends, librarians must be able to speak the language of young adults. By allowing a wide range of content, the YALSA blog is aiding the ability for this to happen. As a lot of this information can be time-sensitive, a blog seems like the perfect place for it.

5) Finally, I really think there is a strong need for a Canadian equivalent of the YALSA blog. While a lot of information on the YALSA blog is relevant to Canadian librarians, there needs to be a space for Canadian content that deals with news and culture within our borders. Let’s get on that.