Developing a Juvenile Literature Collection in an Academic Library

Introduction

In the field of education, both K-12 educators and school librarians are expected to be well acquainted with juvenile literature, including its interpretation and effective use in teaching and reading for personal enjoyment. While juvenile literature and materials are usually associated with public and school libraries, professional programs in the university often include courses that require students to evaluate and incorporate juvenile literature into their projects and assignments. In professional programs for school librarianship where entire courses are built around juvenile literature and media, the need for the university to provide a comprehensive juvenile collection is even greater. Librarians charged with developing juvenile collections must consider not only the professional programs, which may require use of the materials, but also the tools and vendors needed to successfully maintain a relevant juvenile collection. The charge of managing a juvenile collection can appear to be a daunting task for academic librarians who may not have taken children’s literature courses in expectation of collecting juvenile materials for their college or university. However, given the right tools and a good amount of determination, academic librarians may develop their knowledge and skills to become quite successful as juvenile literature librarians (Hirsch, 2006).

This chapter provides a brief review of: the need for juvenile literature collections in academic libraries, the nature of juvenile collections and their role in the academy, the establishment of collection development policies to meet the needs of educators and librarians, workable collection evaluation measures, selection tools and resources available to juvenile collection managers, and current issues in juvenile materials. After reading this chapter, academic librarians charged with developing and maintaining juvenile collections will be able to advocate for these collections and effectively manage them.