I believe that no matter the genre or format the patron has an interest in, I need to respect their preferences and help locate the materials they are seeking at the reference desk. Any genre or format encourages the reader to read so it is a "win" situation for both the patron and the library. I also believe that libraries should represent the various genres such as graphic novels, young adult books and street lit because the more patrons relate to the topics they are reading, the more they will want to read.
It helps to have a teen librarian or other librarian available to help promote young adult, street lit, and graphic books to readers. Some teen librarians will visit middle and high schools to inform students what genres and formats are available at their local library. The teen librarian at the library where I work mainly goes to middle and high schools to promote some young adult books and does not include graphic novels or street lit as part of the promotion. She also plans activities at the library which help promote reading and utilizing resources that the library offers. I believe it helps if the library director is open to promotion of the genres and formats, too. The library where I work also promotes genres by placing signs in the library, creating posts on the library's Facebook page, and writing for the library's weekly column.
I work at the reference desk at my library and have noticed adults in their 20's, 30's, 40's and even older going over to the teen section to look for books. They also come to the reference desk asking for specific titles such as the Hunger Games trilogy, the Divergent trilogy, and The Fault in Our Stars. I think it's great that some of our patrons don't pay attention to the "young adult" and read these books because they are great to read! I work with one librarian in his early 30's who loves to read graphic novels. I have noticed other men browsing through the graphic novel section. I haven't had many patrons requesting street lit. There is one patron I know of that has to be around 70 years old and requests books that are similar to New Adult books. Someone told me she used to read inspirational and Amish novels then started to switch genres!
It helps to have a teen librarian or other librarian available to help promote young adult, street lit, and graphic books to readers. Some teen librarians will visit middle and high schools to inform students what genres and formats are available at their local library. The teen librarian at the library where I work mainly goes to middle and high schools to promote some young adult books and does not include graphic novels or street lit as part of the promotion. She also plans activities at the library which help promote reading and utilizing resources that the library offers. I believe it helps if the library director is open to promotion of the genres and formats, too. The library where I work also promotes genres by placing signs in the library, creating posts on the library's Facebook page, and writing for the library's weekly column.
I work at the reference desk at my library and have noticed adults in their 20's, 30's, 40's and even older going over to the teen section to look for books. They also come to the reference desk asking for specific titles such as the Hunger Games trilogy, the Divergent trilogy, and The Fault in Our Stars. I think it's great that some of our patrons don't pay attention to the "young adult" and read these books because they are great to read! I work with one librarian in his early 30's who loves to read graphic novels. I have noticed other men browsing through the graphic novel section. I haven't had many patrons requesting street lit. There is one patron I know of that has to be around 70 years old and requests books that are similar to New Adult books. Someone told me she used to read inspirational and Amish novels then started to switch genres!
It drives my son crazy when there is only 1 copy of YA books @ our library & they don't have shortened "loan" periods when they are popular - or are coming at as movies ... etc. He can read a book in 1-2 days & then other people will check them out for 28 & keep them even longer - he gets so frustrated! Of course I used to be the director of a small library & he got books first - part of the problem probably ;)
ReplyDeleteI checked this morning to see how many holds there are for the books Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars at my library. A patron asked for the books. There are about 18-20 for each book but we do have multiple copies.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having the teen librarian help make sure the collections have these genres. I do wonder how much they would be able to help with adult patrons who are interested in reading them though-especially if adults feel embarrassed to talk to any librarians about the subjects.
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