Are Academic Libraries Ready For Kids Who Read?
Uh oh. Now that we’ve dumped all our books and installed wireless everywhere, it turns out that kids read! Call them the generation born with Harry Potter in their head. Is your library ready and do your librarians have the skills to deal with them?
“Kids are buying books in quantities we’ve never seen before,” said Booklist magazine critic Michael Cart, a leading authority on young adult literature. “And publishers are courting young adults in ways we haven’t seen since the 1940s.”
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All of which leads Cart to declare, “We are right smack-dab in the new golden age of young adult literature.”
Posted by Marc Meola on March 9th, 2007 under Books, Student Issues.
Comments: 2
Comments
Comment from Barbara Fister
Time: March 10, 2007, 12:42 am
Cheering news! thanks for pointing it out. Let’s hope they keep on reading.
I do think academic libraries need to celebrate the fact people really like books, even when their busy lives and upcoming assignments crowd out lots of reading for pleasure. The Perceptions report found people identify libraries with books in a positive way. Nothing wrong with that in my book!
Comment from Runa
Time: March 15, 2007, 8:40 pm
In my little town (ca. 30.000 inhabitants) library hasn’t installed any wireless and doesn’t have any internet connection at all.
I don’t know if the librarians have the skills to deal with children: though the library has a good amount of books (ca. 100.000) there are only some dozens books for children.
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