Braun, L. B. (2011). The importance of a whole library approach
to public library young adult services: A YALSA issue paper. Young Adult Library Services (Issue
Paper). Chicago: IL.
Summary
In this article, Linda Braun advocates for the equitable
treatment of teens from all library staff personnel. Even though teens have
very specific developmental needs, Braun argues that teens deserve the same
level of high customer service from all library staff they come in contact
with. Braun cites different ways in which library staff can support young
adults with its library spaces and resources: staff training and professional
development, collaboration in collection development, information literacy
support, programming for parents regarding trends that affect teens, and
cross-generational mentoring opportunities. For the most part, Braun contends
that everyone should be an advocate for young adults, and that it is everyone’s
responsibility to be aware of the specific developmental needs of teens. In
regards to collection development, Braun discusses the importance of young
adult staff, reference staff, and children’s services staff to collaborate and
plan how they will build the library’s collection together. To do so, they need
to find out the personal interests of teens, along with knowing their
educational needs.
Evaluation
I thought that Braun’s article was important because she stresses the importance of every staff member being an advocate for teens. Too often, any issues or problems that have to do with teens are often relegated to the YA or teen specialist, and no one else is expected to think about the needs of teens. With the “whole library approach,” Braun has a refreshing outlook on how to strengthen services to teens. If the library staff views providing quality library service to teens as providing quality library service to future tax-payers, then I think that service to teens would be very different from what it looks like today.
No comments:
Post a Comment