LIBR 262-01
Resources for Young Adults
Spring 2003

Monique le Conge
mleconge@wahoo.sjsu.edu


 

 

GREENSHEET


Course Description

Materials for adolescents and pre-adolescents and methods for incorporating these materials into library programs. Collection development, needs assessment, and programming will be featured. Information services for young adults in a variety of settings will also be addressed.
Prerequisites: none

Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:

  • Demonstrate a familiarity with a variety of young adult literature and information books as well as various media for this age group.
  • Evaluate selection tools, and use appropriate resources to develop a young adult collection including all appropriate formats.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and appreciation of literature for young adults, including both the historical perspective and current trends in the field.
  • Use young adult books and other materials for library programming.
  • Apply information on adolescent psychology and development, sociology, and popular culture to plan appropriate services and collections for teens.
  • Develop a young adult collection policy for a school or public library.

The course supports the following SLIS objectives:

  • One or more specialized aspects of information management
  • Information management, including the selection, organization, storage, retrieval, dissemination and utilization of information resources
  • Evaluating and utilizing relevant research studies from a variety of disciplines

Course Format

This is primarily web-based course, with 2 in-person meetings and 2 chats.

  • The two in-person Saturday meetings will be February 22 and May 3, 10 am-5 pm, in San Jose.
  • The two chats will be March 16 and April 8, 6-8 pm. (One of these two chats will include a "guest" who has recently served on YALSA's Best Books committee.)

All of our online interaction will take place on the SLIS Blackboard site. The course schedule, communication part of this course, class assignments, course materials, and other documents will be available/conducted on the Blackboard site.

Textbooks

Required:

Aronson, Marc. Exploding the Myths: The Truth About Teenagers and Reading. (Scarecrow Press, 2001)
Carter, Betty. Best Books for Young Adults, 2nd. ed. (ALA, 2000)
Jones, Patrick. Connecting Young Adults and Libraries, 2nd. ed. (Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1998)

Recommended:

Cart, Michael. From Romance to Realism: 50 Years of Growth and Change in Young Adult Literature. (HarperCollins, 1996)
Donelson, Kenneth L. and Alleen Pace Nilsen. Literature for Today's Young Adults, 6th ed. (Longman, 2000)
Dresang, Eliza. Radical Change: Books for Youth in a Digital Age. (H.W. Wilson Co.,
1999)
Jones, Patrick. New Directions for Library Service to Young Adults. (ALA, 2002)

Not all of these titles are in print anymore, so you will have to check your libraries for a copy. We'll be using only a few chapters of the 1st Jones title (Connecting Young Adults and Libraries), so you'll probably be able to copy them if you don't want to buy the book, although it is a valuable purchase if you're working with teens.

Grading

Assignment 1: Personal Introduction 5%

  • Due February 7, 11:59 pm
  • Post to your "Homepage" on the Blackboard site under "Tools"

This information should be professional background information about current or past jobs, or plans for future library work. It's the kind of information you would share with colleagues in a new job. You may include as much additional information about your interests and hobbies as you wish. Everyone is strongly urged to post a picture, because that will facilitate interaction in this web-based course.

Assignment 2: Evaluation of review sources & selection guides 15%

  • Due February 26, 11:59 pm
  • Post to the Drop Box

Read, review, and examine at least 5 print and nonprint review sources or selection guides. Evaluate them on currency, scope, and reliability. Were the reviews helpful in selecting books? Did they give enough information? Did you agree with the reviewers' judgments? Does any one selection tool stand out as being more or less useful than others? Write an analysis and evaluation of each source. You must include the print editions of Voice of Youth Advocates, Booklist, and School Library Journal, and the online amazon.com (teens) site. The other 2 sources are your choice, and you may include more, if you choose.

Assignment 3: Library Program 15%

  • Due March 22, 11:59 pm
  • Post to the Drop Box

Using a Dewey classification (this means non-fiction), develop a library program, including ideas for a display or bookmark, booktalks or book discussions. Write a 2-3 page outline including specific ideas and examples of different activities the program could include, i.e. tie-dye, resume writing, swing dancing, environmental program, film showing. Give a clear description of how this program can be organized, publicized, and conducted. The programming idea should focus on a teen's developmental needs (we'll discuss in class), but not necessarily seem like homework. Suggest at least 5 other books that the program participants might also enjoy (include fiction titles, too!), giving full bibliographic information and a one or two-sentence description of each of the books.

Assignment 4: Collection Development Plan & Policy 20%

  • Due April 16, 11:59 pm
  • Post to the Drop Box

We'll discuss this more in class: Develop a plan for starting the collection in a YA section in a library. You will be given a budget and asked to develop the policies for the collection. You can work with an actual library and talk with librarians to help you decide how you'll plan, if you want. This paper is as long as it needs to be, although I'd expect it to be about 5 pages in length, at least.

Assignment 5: Database/media file of books read 25%

  • Due May 6, 5:00 pm
  • Post to the Drop Box

Read a minimum of 50 books, keeping a database or some other media file of them. You can use any format you like, but you must include the following information: complete bibliographic information, summary, evaluation, readers' 1-2 sentence annotation, usefulness, genre or subject, and why you chose it. You may also want to include booktalk ideas, similar titles, or other information to help you remember the book for class discussion and for the future.

Include one review of a young adult title that might be published in a journal. Put this at the "top" of your database and post it to amazon.com. This is an evaluative review, not just plot description. Read and analyze already-published reviews in the various selection journals to learn how to write your review, if you are unfamiliar with this.

Twenty titles (10 classic and 10 recent) from the list below are required. We will discuss them in class. Ten titles/items must be in a nonprint format, including but not limited to videos, DVDs, CDs, computer games, ebooks, audio tapes, etc.

For other titles, please check your texts, Teen Genreflecting by Diana Tixier Herald (Libraries Unlimited, 1997), the awards lists posted in the YALSA area of the ALA Web site (http://www.ala.org/yalsa/), and any of the lists we'll discuss in class. You may also want to include magazines aimed at teens, as well as series paperbacks. The selection is up to you, but I strongly suggest you do not waste time reading books that are not recommended somewhere.

You will be expected to discuss appropriate titles during the class sessions that focus on literature. It's smart to have available the notes you have made about these titles, so that you will be able to comment on their quality and usefulness in various situations.

If you begin reading before the semester starts, make sure you take lots of notes on each of the titles you read, so you can quickly and easily remember them in some detail when you actually start working on your database and discussing them in class. More is better, in this case.

Required Titles
Classic Titles:
The Chocolate War, I Am the Cheese, Robert Cormier
The Moves Make the Man, Bruce Brooks
The Giver, Lois Lowry
Annie on My Mind, Nancy Garden
The Outsiders, Tex, S.E. Hinton
Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers
Ace Hits the Big Time, Barbara Murphy
Deathwatch, Rob White
House of Stairs, William Sleator
Hatchet, Gary Paulsen
Make Lemonade, Virginia Euer Wolff
Chinese Handcuffs, Running Loose, Chris Crutcher
Weetzie Bat, Francesca Lia Block
The Pigman, Paul Zindel

Recent Titles:
Out of the Dust, Witness, Karen Hesse
Tangerine, Edward Bloor
Holes, Louis Sachar
Monster, Walter Dean Myers
Rats Saw God, Rob Thomas
Whale Talk, Chris Crutcher
Breathing Underwater, Breaking Point, Alex Flinn
Dreamland, This Lullaby, Sarah Dessen
The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman
Smack, Marvin Burgess
True Believer, Virginia Euer Wolff
Sabriel, Lirael, Garth Nix
Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, Louise Rennison

Assignment 6: Class Attendance/Internet discussion 20%

  • From January 22-May 9
  • Post to Discussion Board, attend class meetings, participate in chats

Read texts as assigned and discuss interesting points with the group via the Discussion Board. Questions and brief assignments will be posted periodically to address particular issues or materials. Journal articles and web links to items of interest will be posted for discussion as well. Contribute at least twice weekly, posting a comment of substance related to the thread, or posing a question to the class. You are welcome to begin new threads, so long as they are related to the class topic. Be specific: mention titles and examples to illustrate your opinions and general statements.

Note: Any student who has information or announcements related to our subject to share with the entire class should feel free to post it to the "FYI" forum of the Blackboard site Discussion Board.

Office Hours

Because the class is primarily taught online, it is expected that the majority of communication will be conducted virtually. Students may e-mail questions to mleconge@wahoo.sjsu.edu. Please do not expect an immediate answer! I may have to think, ponder, and even research the answer to your question. I will do my best to respond in a timely manner. Once the class has started, a time for virtual office hours will be established. In the event of an urgent matter, you may contact me by phone at my office, 707-746-4340 (Pacific Time Zone).

 

 

 


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It was last updated on January 9, 2003