Developing Library Collections for Today's Young Adults

In the five years since Developing Library Collections for Today’s Young Adults was published, a number of changes have taken place in the landscape of young adult literature and young adult library services. For example, in 2014, the “We Need Diverse Books” (#wndb) movement mobilized and alerted a growing population of teachers, librarians, authors, publishers, reviewers, and readers to the necessity of diverse representation in literature for young people. The 2017 revision of the Young Adult Library Services Association’s “Teen Services Competencies for Library Staff” underscored this need to attend to diversity in library collections, instructing young adult librarians to model cultural competence and responsiveness in their practice by incorporating “culturally diverse materials and resources [in their] collections, services, and programs to support the cultural identity, beliefs, and practices of all teens and families” (2017, p. 13). Such a focus on diversity has resulted in a professional expansion of the term to include racial, ethnic, and cultural identities; gender identity; sexual orientation; and identities related to ability and disability. With a dual focus on access and diversity, Developing Library Collections for Today’s Young Adults: Ensuring Access and Inclusion, Second Edition includes timely and necessary guidance for librarians seeking to diversify their collections and select material that reflects racial, ethnic, and gender diversity as well as the experiences of individuals with disabilities. The latest edition of this VOYA “Five-foot Bookshelf” title includes guidelines for developing young adult collection development policy, conducting a needs assessment, and evaluating and selecting print and non-print material for the library’s YA collection.