Week 13 Prompt

Though this week's group of "genres" all seem very different, they all have in common the fact that many people don't feel that they are legitimate literary choices and libraries shouldn't be spending money on them or promoting them to adults. The common belief is that adults still don't or shouldn't read that stuff. How can we as librarians, work to ensure that we are able to serve adults who enjoy YA literature or graphic novels? Or should we? I can't wait to read your thoughts on this. Thanks!

This prompt brought me back to the first thing on our syllabus:

Ranganthan’s 5 Laws
1. Books are for use.
2. Every reader his [or her] book.
3. Every book its reader.
4. Save the time of the user.
5. The library is a growing organism.

With the growing collection of New Adult material, it really fits into these 5 laws.  As a Reader's Advisory service for patrons, it is our responsibility to provide titles and authors they want to read.  It is about what THEY want to read not about what we *think* they need to read! 

One of the weaknesses at my library was really reinforced by the "RA for YA" article by Booth.   Youth are not always welcomed in the retail environment so as a result, help and attention may not be welcomed by the youth in the library.  At my library, we work so hard to get the young children in the library.  We have lapsit, storytime, summer reading programs.... all targeted at the young with the knowledge that if you get the children then you also get the parents.  But in my library, when we raise up these children into teens, we give off the vibe that they are not really welcome in the library.   Then when they reach high school age, they are no longer interested in coming to the library because they do not feel welcome.  We forget that these teens who become Young Adults will be having families soon and we want them back in the library. 

So, one improvement that my library needs to make is to create an actual space for the teens as well as the young adults.  We do have a Youth Mature book section that is geared towards the New Adult genre.  If the protagonist is in high school, college, young adult not married, or somewhere in between, this is the section that houses those books.  The Young Adult books are downstairs in the Youth Room and are for grade 8 on down.  So, we do have the beginnings of a New Adult section in our Youth Mature section. 

I read the "Betwixt and Between" article by Cataldi and I really took a hard look at the books she listed as being essential to a New Adult collection.  I did a search of our catalog and we have NONE of the authors and NONE of the book titles!  I talked to our lady who places the book orders and asked her about the New Adult genre.  She informed me that our Youth Librarian does the ordering and a large portion of the books she orders for this age group are more about LGBTQ topics; which it is important to have those topics on hand.  But, she seems to forget that there is also a need for books that also address the struggles of the straight young adults transitioning into adulthood.  I sent her the titles of the starred books included in the article as well as the important authors that were included in the narrative of the article.  I hope this helps our Youth Services person develop our collection even further. 

We do have a Youth Mature section for graphic novels as well.  These novels tend to be the type that include boobies and sexual themes.  There is also a collection of graphic novels in the Young Adult section in the Youth Room that are more age and visually appropriate.

To address the issues my library has with not everyone having space of their own, we are actually breaking ground on a 5 million dollar expansion beginning in early May.  The teens will have a room of their own with their age group of books housed there.  The teens currently have to share space with all of the kids from birth to grade 8.  That is why the staff sometimes treats teens as unwanted as their behavior and topics of discussion are not appropriate for preschool age children.  We will also have a lounge set up to appeal to the young adults and we also will have a section of the collection that will be expanded for the New Adult/Youth Mature category.  This collection will reside on the wall that will be between the adult section and the youth section.  It seems like a great place to house the transitional books.

For me, it is imperative to have the New Adult books in a collection.  We have to keep servicing ALL readers no matter the age or materials they want to read.  To keep the library as a growing organism, we have to remember that everything we do is ALL about the patrons and their wants and needs.


Booth, H. (2005). RA for YA: Tailoring the Readers Advisory Interview to the Needs of Young Adult Patrons. Public Libraries, 44(1), 33-36. Retrieved from Library Lit & Inf Full Text database.

Cataldi, Erin. (2015). Betwixt and Between: New Adult Fiction. The Library Journal. Retrieved from https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=betwixt-and-betweennew-adult-fiction-collection-development-september-1-2015.