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?
In my librarian career, I've managed three different collections: YA, graphic novels, and video games; all of which are very nontraditional library materials and very much fit the thought among particular patrons that we shouldn't spend money on them. Yet, in my observations of patron usage, mostly from my last library position, adults frequent browsing these materials more than any other demographic, and now that I am working in a new library with little room for adults to browse through YA, I've been making the push to open these boundaries.
At my current library of employment, the Eckhart Public Library, we have the amazing opportunity of a whole separate building just for teens--it is a two story building, with YA on the main level and graphic novels, manga, video games, and YA nonfiction in the basement. Adult has it's own collection of manga and graphic novels, but these really is just mature rated items--anything without gratuitous sex or violence goes to teen.
The library experienced a fire back in 2017, but before the teen library was just for teens, adults were only allowed inside the building for 15 minutes max. We've since ignored the rule post-fire. Yet, we still have adult patrons as well as the true young adult/new adult patron (ages 19 to early 20s) who prefer YA and graphic novels but are slightly barred from the collection. We need to find balance between access to these materials and a space for only teens.
We know adults wants these items and so as a compromise, I've pushed for moving the video games into the main building/temporary locaiton (which was done 3 weeks ago and it raised the circ rate up by 20%) and incorporating a rotating "taste of YA" section/display for the main library when it opens later this year.
In my librarian career, I've managed three different collections: YA, graphic novels, and video games; all of which are very nontraditional library materials and very much fit the thought among particular patrons that we shouldn't spend money on them. Yet, in my observations of patron usage, mostly from my last library position, adults frequent browsing these materials more than any other demographic, and now that I am working in a new library with little room for adults to browse through YA, I've been making the push to open these boundaries.
At my current library of employment, the Eckhart Public Library, we have the amazing opportunity of a whole separate building just for teens--it is a two story building, with YA on the main level and graphic novels, manga, video games, and YA nonfiction in the basement. Adult has it's own collection of manga and graphic novels, but these really is just mature rated items--anything without gratuitous sex or violence goes to teen.
The library experienced a fire back in 2017, but before the teen library was just for teens, adults were only allowed inside the building for 15 minutes max. We've since ignored the rule post-fire. Yet, we still have adult patrons as well as the true young adult/new adult patron (ages 19 to early 20s) who prefer YA and graphic novels but are slightly barred from the collection. We need to find balance between access to these materials and a space for only teens.
We know adults wants these items and so as a compromise, I've pushed for moving the video games into the main building/temporary locaiton (which was done 3 weeks ago and it raised the circ rate up by 20%) and incorporating a rotating "taste of YA" section/display for the main library when it opens later this year.
I've heard of that collection being separated, it's rare that any library has separate buildings, let alone allowing teens to have a two story building for themselves! You make a good point about the adult graphic novels and games only containing sex and other violent themes, a lot of adults don't want that. I think your compromise of moving the video games and having a rotating display will DEFINITELY help. Great job and full points!
ReplyDeleteMy library does a similar thing with adult and YA graphic novels, YA are shelved downstairs with the teen books and adult ones are shelved upstairs with the other adult material. It does make sense to separate them, for the reasons you mentioned, we just have to go the extra mile to make sure that our patrons are finding what they want.
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