What Have I Learned?

In my original post,  I endeavored to answer two questions: 

1. What youth services means as a profession? -and-
2. What youth services means to me?

Returning back to Virginia Walters' "Six Tenets of Youth Services Librarianship", I feel that she was right on the mark, for the most part.  Throughout the course of publishing this blog, I have come to realize that while Reader's Advisory, Storytelling, and Booktalks are amazing tried and true tools for promoting reading, I do not think they are they only tools for doing so.  To this end, building diverse collections and establishing thorough collection development policies also invariably promote reading, not to mention collaboration efforts undertaken by librarians and the role of technology in learning.  

Here is a list of some other key takeaways I have uncovered with regard to the profession( in no particular order):

• A child's development is cumulative, with each stage building upon the previous one, effectively underscoring the importance of the library's place in a child's life. 

• We begin to read from the moment we touch a book, are spoken to, and are read to - it is beyond essential to take advantage of this concept and to communicate this notion to parents and caregivers.

• Free Voluntary Reading (FVR) represents the best method for establishing literacy skills, successfully leading to increased reading proficiency.

• Collaboration is crucial to achievement!!   Collaboration amongst public and school librarians, and school librarians and teachers results in increased learning for children/teens.

• When working with teens, it is important to remember that while everyone struggles with identity issues over the course of his or her life and  with finding his or her place in the world, keep in mind that teens are doing it for the very first time.  As such, it may be increasingly overwhelming for them.  Librarians can support teens in this regard.

• Young adults DO read!!  It might not be the traditional book format, but they do!

• Selection policies are essential in substantiating a link between the library and professional ethics and ideals such as Intellectual Freedom.

• Furthermore, professional ideals such as diversity must be specifically spelled out in such policies - it is dangerous to gloss over these fundamental values, assuming they are a "given."

• Librarians must build diverse collections, not only embodying a wide range of diverse perspectives, but also a wide range of formats.  Digital resources are simply a way of the new millennium and engender many unique benefits in their own right (space saving, cost efficiencies, remote access, etc.)

• Finally, librarians must impart valuable information literacy skills to their students/patrons (their survival in the 21st century depends upon it!), and teach them how become critical evaluators and ethical users of information.

 

When it comes to what youth services librarianship means to me, I still think that the focus upon the individual child remains Walters' strongest tenet.  Moreover, I have learned that librarians and educators can truly make a difference in the lives of their patrons, especially upon considering at-risk populations, for whom the library may be the only source of information and access.  I mean, I obviously already deeply believed in this idea, otherwise I would not be in this profession, but this course and blog helped me cement the why and more importantly the how.  

In closing, I am tempted to return to what I acknowledged in my first blog post.  That to me, youth services librarianship means establishing a genuine connection with each patron or student.  I truly think that is the foundation upon which everything rests.

Thank you for coming along this blog odyssey with me - I sincerely hope that this blog has inspired to stay connected to the existing community of Youth Services professionals, colleagues, and students!!

Courtney

Building Collections for Youth

When it comes to developing collections for youth, how should the librarian go about selecting materials?  For decades, the debate has raged between selecting what is popular versus what is considered quality literature; however, many other questions also come into play.  To clarify, these questions may include what type of formats should the library collect, should the library place more emphasis upon depth or breadth of collection, should outside input be considered in collecting materials, and how will the library justify the value of a particular resource in relation to its cost.  I have attempted to address some of these thorny issues directly below.

Upon pondering an  example detailed in Ch.6 of Michele Gorman's and Tricia Sullentrop's Connecting Young Adults and Libraries: A How-To-Do-It Manual, the authors speculated upon whether it would be more apt to purchase ten identical high caliber books on a popular research topic  or if  makes more sense to select ten different books on the same topic (with some being potentially better than others in terms of relevancy, ease of use, etc.).  Almost immediately, I determined that the ten different books made a lot more sense; I mean a quality collection must  present a wide swath of viewpoints right?  However, as the authors point out: with the ten different books scenario, a single user can swoop in and check out all ten.  Indeed, this practical assertion gave me pause.  In this case, would it make more sense to purchase five of the same, and five unique titles perhaps?

One of the major hot-button issues when it comes to building collections for youth pertains to including controversial materials in the collection.  As librarians, we all steadfastly uphold and defend the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statements, and who among us could decry the value that materials purporting a wide variety of viewpoints on contentious issues have in a democratic society?  However, all of this has a tendency to get thrown out the window when parents and community members find materials in the youth collection objectionable in terms of violence, sexuality, religion, political stance, or some facet.   Therefore, it is critical that Collection Development policies directly address controversial materials and how challenges will be handled.  Some collection development policies that I have encountered will even go so far as to include a statement akin to the fact that the library reserves the right to create and furnish displays of any material that may be of interest to their patrons, regardless of whether the materials are perceived as unorthodox or controversial.  In my opinion, I am not sure if I would directly broach the subject of controversial displays in a Collection Development Policy geared toward Youth Services.  You may just be inviting overzealous unwarranted attention in doing so.

To continue, it is also imperative for the Collection Development Policy to maintain that challenged materials will remain on the shelf and available to patrons during the reconsideration process.  As stressed in Chapter 4 of Henry Reichman's Censorship and Selection: Issues and Answers for Schools, "No materials should be removed without a formal hearing in accordance with the full reconsideration policy.  Moreover, no materials should be removed upon the authority of a single staff member or school official, up to and including the superintendent of schools...While the reconsideration process is proceeding, challenged materials should remain available to faculty and students as before" (p. 90).   In light of this notion, I am reminded of a  specific incident that a school librarian recently divulged to me. The librarian in question mentioned that the assistant principal of the school she worked at told her to move a book into the Teacher's Collection on account of the book being too sad (The book was Michael Rosen's Sad Book, go figure).  The librarian extolled the virtues of intellectual freedom and defended the content of the book, but in the end wound up listening to the administrator and placing the book in the Teacher's Collection, where it has since never been checked out.  I would argue that this relates to an example of  censorship, even though the book ultimately remained in the collection.

Lastly, in terms of  selection responsibilities, while some may think that the librarian should have sole responsibility in developing collections, as they are the resident experts, I think it is crucial to involve the kids/ teens/students in the process.  Upon forsaking user input, you will end up with a collection that may be highly regarded in terms of literary quality, but one that nevertheless ultimately fails to reflect the varied needs, interests, tastes, and backgrounds of your user population. Harkening back to Gorman and Sullentrop, I admired the way in which the authors remarked that when it comes down to it, what is going to speak forcefully on behalf of the library: circulation statistics or a stack of reviews on materials that no one is checking out?  In the end, an ideal  youth collection corresponds to a balanced collection that fosters a lifelong love of reading and is chocked full of materials that pique the interest and meet the information needs of the users.Through collection development, librarians are truly in an ideal position to reach and make an indelible mark on the lives of their users.

Selection vs. Censorship - Walking the Fine Line

In honor of Banned Books Week (September 30 - Oct 06), please check out my comment on the Teen Librarian Toolbox site by clicking upon the link below:

http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2012/10/dirty-little-library-secrets-ii-im-not.html?showComment=1349900732025#c3738830843735161294

“Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.”—Alfred Whitney Griswold, Essays on Education (Quote courtesy of ALA's Notable Quotes webpage)