When I first did this assignment back in September I wrote:
“The tastes of teens are varied and ever changing in today’s media culture. As a librarian working with teens I could plan out which titles I want in my collection based on award winning title lists and SLJ and PW reviews and watch as my carefully chosen books gather dust on the shelves as teens peruse them and decide there is nothing there that they WANT to read, nothing that speaks to them or their experiences.”
Somehow the idea of building a collection using, what Agosto (2013) calls and adult-centered approach seemed wrong to me on a basic level. Putting more value on reviews and awards over the tastes of teen patrons would just be perpetuating the belief that adults, who write the majority of reviews based on their beliefs of what teens need, and awards (again chosen by adults) know better.
I still feel it’s wrong.
But I also mentioned being “fluid” and being ready to adjust my methods of building a collection based on changing tastes and trends, and I still believe that ability to be flexible is necessary. But that fluidity needs to apply to balancing my collection with books chosen based on awards and professional reviews hand in hand with taking teen patrons wants into account as well. Taking those teen wants and doing proper vetting of those titles so that not just the teens feel that the library is offering what they want but the library administrators who may, or may not, follow an adult-centered bias are equally content. So when/if that title is challenged I have the necessary backing of facts and institutional support to defend that choice of media to the best of my ability.
But I feel that a third layer must be added to this balance that would make sure the collection offers a wide array of views and interests that offer teens a view into lives, cultures, experiences they may not relate to on a personal level but would help them gain understanding into what others go through.
Diversity is an often debated topic these days. When you hear “diversity” your mind automatically goes to race. But diversity is more than that and can be seen in many parts of a collection such as:
- Authors from all walks of life telling their stories
- Small independent publishers who seek out different stories to deliver to their audiences.
- Genres within fiction (mystery, horror, fantasy, contemporary, etc.) as many as your teens consume
- Not just books, but movies, music, TV, graphic novels, and video games that will give teens something that speaks to them as an individual but also accurately represents them to others
- Subject such as crafts, history, poetry, science in order to appeal to those with an interest.
- Characters dealing with crisis across a wide range of experiences whether it be race, status, gender or sexuality, to name a few.
But at the same time we need to remember that “diversity”, used in the binary sense I mentioned above, is in the eye of the beholder. One person’s diversity is another’s reality. So you need to take a look at what your collection currently holds. Audit it. Hold it up to your community and see what it reflects and what teaches and then work to fill the holes in order to give teens a wide range of views of experiences. Ultimately I believe a collection should be a living breathing object that is constantly shifting to match your community’s needs and wants. In this way the library can truly say that the library is for everyone.
Agosto, D. (2013). “Envisaging young adult librarianship from a teen-centered perspective.” Transforming Young Adult Services, edited by Anthony Bernier, 33-52.
Shelf Life 