The document summarizes several presentations from the CSLA 2011 conference, including discussions on: 1) Michael Cart's annual list of the best YA literature from the past year, which often includes future award winners. 2) Perspectives from community college, CSU, and UC librarians on skills high school students lack when entering college. 3) A research unit taught to library aides that directs them to various internet resources to find facts on a topic and incorporate them into stories. 4) The "flipped classroom" approach of putting lectures online and increasing in-class time for discussion and thinking.