What is a Young Adult?
There are quite a few definitions of what exactly constitutes a young adult (YA). Some have said that it encompasses kids aged 8 to 18, others 12-18, still others 14-20. And this disagreement is only in the library world. In other fields or settings, college students are considered to be YAs, or other divisions are made as to when a child becomes a YA and when a YA becomes an adult. Some libraries, like the Internet Public Library, have bypassed the term YA and substituted “teen,” as in the IPL Teen Division. This alleviates some of the confusion as to the ages the collection is meant to serve, and allows the librarian to focus the collection to a specific user group with a more definable set of information needs. Of course, there are no age limits on any particular collection at the public library as this would be against the Library Bill of Rights. Teenagers should not feel restricted to the library’s YA collection, and adults should feel free to make use of the YA collection.
The Need for YA Collections and Services
Many libraries began to notice a gap in their collections and services in regards to YAs, and they began to hire YA librarians. Debra Lynn Adams writes of her experience starting out as a YA librarian in 1997, “When I arrived on March 24, there was no area in the library designated for young adults. Some hardcover young adult fiction purchased by the Children's Librarian was shelved with the children's fiction. The more ‘mature’ YA novels were purchased by the adult services librarian and shelved with adult novels two levels below. On that same level in a different section were YA paperbacks, mixing adult classics taught in high school with YA series books such as Sweet Valley High. Someone had attempted to sort some of these books into genres on a separate paperback rack, but there were books in duplicate and triplicate in various genres and locations. In addition, audio books, teen magazines, and young adult nonfiction were shelved in adult areas, and there were no CDs, CD-ROMs, or videos for teens. No young adult programs were held at the library.” This was the state that many libraries found their YA collection: scattered about the library and mixed in with other collections. Libraries found that teenagers were not using the library because there was a distinct gap in the collection. They were unable to find library materials that specifically applied to them.
