Developing Library Collections for Today's Young Adults

Developing Library Collections for Today's Young Adults features policies that deal expressly with materials that respect the intellectual freedom of young library patrons. It emphasizes the importance of everything from needs assessment to collection development, encouraging librarians to consider informational, recreational, and curricular needs and interests as the library staff select material on behalf of young adults. With detailed guidelines for developing and evaluating collections of print and electronic material, Amy S. Pattee devotes chapters to materials selection, acquisition, and assessment, describing fiction and nonfiction genres, graphic forms, and multimedia and electronic materials, including networked resources, e-books, and computer games. Developing Library Collections for Today's Young Adults may be consulted by librarians charged with the development and maintenance of public library collections for young adults and may be employed in library science courses related to young adult literature and library services and collection development.

About the Author :
Amy S. Pattee is associate professor at Simmons College where she teaches youth librarianship as well as children's and young adult literature.

Review :
Any librarian with questions about managing a young adult collection need look no further than Pattee's expansive but precise book. In clear language, she breaks down collection management into eight chapters, covering the entire scope of the process from beginning to end. The book opens with defining today's young adults, instructing how to assess a library's young adult needs. The text continues with coverage of writing and re-writing collection development policies; selection, evaluation, and weeding of materials; and how to start the process over again to maintain a current and useful collection. Three types of collection management philosophies are described at the beginning (collection-centered, user-centered, and curriculum-centered collections), and those three philosophies guide how readers are instructed to approach managing their own materials, all while focusing these topics through the lens of young adult librarianship. The narrative assumes readers are working from the ground up, and therefore no stone is left unturned in each section. The book's greatest asset is that it manages to be extremely specific and thorough without becoming overwhelming. This is aided by the many examples Pattee provides to support her text, including sample paragraphs from various library collection policies (albeit fictional ones) and one of the many tables offering ways to delve deeply into the procedures of community or collection assessment and evaluation. Additionally, each chapter provides copious sources for more information when applicable. Pattee keeps the information current, offering instruction not only on print materials (though her section on print is expansive), but on ebooks and multimedia materials as well. The book is a veritable bible of collection development instruction--particularly impressive considering the book is relatively short compared to other instructional books on this subject. This book should be on every MLIS student's required reading list and is sure to be repeatedly returned to by those same students when they become established young adult librarians.-- "VOYA" Developing Library Collections for Today's Young Adults is a comprehensive and user-friendly guide for both novice and seasoned librarians. . . .The topics she covers and the access questions she raises are incredibly timely. . . .New and seasoned public and school librarians will find themselves returning to this comprehensive guide while selecting and weeding, and its detailed index will make it easy to find exactly what they are looking for.-- "Technical Services Quarterly" This handbook, written by an associate professor at Simmons College in Boston, provides advice on building a teen collection from the assessment phase through to the evaluation phase of the process. The author takes a close look at library policies to ensure that there is a respect for intellectual freedom for this population, recognizing that they have diverse needs and a need to be challenged by their selections. The book begins with an overview of the topic and then a discussion on the various perspectives shared by leaders in the field. It then goes into more focused chapters on the process of collection development for young adult collections. Topics covered include: collection development policies, needs assessment, selecting materials, acquiring materials, collection assessment and weeding, and maintaining a worthwhile collection. Not limited to the collection of print materials the work also looks at the selection and acquisition of e-books, databases, and computer games. This work provides a thorough overview of collection development for young adult collections and will be useful to both novice and veteran librarians.-- "American Reference Books Annual" The ever-changing young adult audience is deserving of all the services and resources available to better prepare them for becoming the adults who will hold the future. Complementary young adult collections in school and public libraries that rise up to the challenge to answer teens' questions, to inspire them to think and become involved, to supplement their studies, and to provide entertainment and relaxation should be in every community. Amy Pattee's Developing Library Collections for Today's Young Adults is a complete guide to build such a collection, from start to finish.--RoseMary Honnold, Editor-In-Chief, VOYA Magazine Amy Pattee stands firmly behind her advocacy for teen reading by offering help to library professionals vexed with forming young adult collections. Developing Library Collections for Today's Young Adults contains sound advice and clear-cut explanations outlining how to juggle a wide variety of young adult books from popular culture, classic literature to school curriculum materials. Marked by sections on selection, weeding, and e-books, Pattee's effort is a comprehensive go-to guide for both novice and veteran librarians. --Rollie Welch, Collection Manager, Cleveland Public Library As I read Pattee's book I would think to myself, "what about this?" Then I'd read a bit further and my question was always answered. In other words, Developing Library Collections for Today's Young Adults is an incredibly thorough look at what it takes to build and maintain a strong multi-format library collection for teens. --Linda W. Braun, professor of practice, Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and past president on the Young Adult Library Services Association