Children and young adult literature

Statement of program and library needs

Children and young adult literature is a strong component of the teacher preparation programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Two courses are offered, Literature for Children, in the Department of English and Literature for Adolescents, in the School of Education's Curriculum and Instruction Division. Literature for Children focuses on the critical analysis and historical development of children's literature; Literature for Adolescents focuses on the analysis and selection of young adult literature for use in the classroom.

In addition to supporting the curricula needs of these two specific courses, the collection also supports the needs of students in various courses offered in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences related to child development and the teaching of various subject content courses at the elementary and secondary levels. Students taking courses related to the teaching of reading, math, science, and social studies may need to draw on the juvenile collection and bibliographic/reference research tools. Students involved in field studies such as student teaching often require the need of the collection beyond what the local public school system can offer.

The juvenile collections does not purport to be comprehensive but rather a representative collection of children's and young adult books including both fiction and non-fiction. The collection reflects a sampling of published children's and young adult books that include the best examples of both award winning books as well as books that represent trends within the field. The juvenile collection is not intended to support the needs of children and young adults in the local university community.

I. Collection areas

A. Area: Children's Literature

 

B. Classes and Levels

PN1009                 Children's/young adult literature    Basic
Z1037                  Bibliographies                       Basic
Juvenile Collection    Across all LC classes                Basic
                      (All bibliographers may select materials
                      for the juvenile collection, which spans
                      all disciplines.)

C. Chronology

Selection focuses on current materials both for the juvenile collection as well as the bibliographic tools.

D. Geographic Guidelines

Primary emphasis is on materials published in the United States although some attention is given to children's and young adult literature in Australia and Great Britain.

E. Languages

Primarily English language materials are purchased for bibliographic materials. Some non-English language materials are purchased for the juvenile collection as representative of foreign publishing in the field as well as to illustrate multilingual publications for children.

F. Treatment

Bibliographic tools are emphasized, with the secondary objective of purchasing representative materials for the ??? primarily scholarly, and book review publications, are maintained.

G. Formats

Primarily print for monographs and most journals, though electronic full-text is also of growing importance for journals. Bibliographic databases are available through the Internet.

H. Multiple copies

No multiple copies are purchased unless specifically requested by a faculty member.

II. Acquisition Strategy

The majority of the materials in the collection are selected by the bibliographer responsible for the children's and young adult collection. Selection is based on current needs, specifically faculty requests; availability of the items; price; overall quality of the work being considered. Emphasis is placed on balancing fiction and non-fiction works for the juvenile collection. Bibliographic tools are evaluated on their usefulness for both critical analysis and support in the curriculum within the two colleges that are the primary users of the materials.

III. Collection Notes

Identification of new bibliographic tools has become easier within the last ten years given the respectability that scholarship and publication endeavors have now received in the field. The distinction between children's and young adult literature has become more apparent and well defined by publishers in the last five years. Bibliographical tools devoted only to young adult literature have increased.

Revised 10/1995