Collection Development

General Collection Development for Tweens and Teens

One of the ways library staff can serve tweens and teens is by offering high quality, appealing materials in a comfortable, welcoming environment.  A library’s goal with young adult materials should be to meet their need for personal enrichment as well as their educational/curriculum support. Materials in a YA collection should be varied, carefully selected, highly promoted, diligently maintained, and vigorously defended. 

When reviewing and selecting materials, it is helpful to have a list of evaluation criteria to guide the selection process. Each library’s evaluation criteria will vary, but some basic ones include:

• Is the main character between the ages of twelve and eighteen?  (common preference is to read about characters that are slightly older than they are)
• Is the language natural?  (not too sophisticated or condescending)
• Is the book interesting and relevant to YA needs and interests?
• Is the theme suitable for a YA audience?
• Are there stereotypes?  Are characters portrayed in a biased or demeaning way?
• Does the book appeal to a wide variety of audiences including multicultural, military families, single parent homes?
• Are there a variety of material formats? Audiobooks, dvds, graphic novels, etc.

For more questions to consider with collection development, please see page 17 of the Workbook.

Collection Maintenance Tips

In addition to finding and selecting new materials, you will also need to spend time maintaining your YA collection. Your YA collection will require regular attention as you refresh displays, weed/add materials, and adjust according to the changing interest and trends of this age group.

Book and resource displays are a great way to draw attention to different parts of your collection, but it is important to make them interesting and timely, as well as change them often. Try to differentiate between YA displays and children’s displays, as an overly juvenile-looking display might immediately make your tweens and teens avoid it.  Your teen advisory board or teen volunteers can be especially helpful in this area.  Engage them in creating displays or choosing books to be featured to their peers. 

Developing relationships with local organizations or stores can provide you with interesting materials or items to enhance your displays.  For example, a framed collector’s edition comic book and superhero figures from the local comic store would be very appealing amidst a comic or graphic novel display, or a variety of sports gear on loan from the area sports store would compliment a sports novel or athletic biography display. 

If your library has a display case, local connections such as these can provide very attractive rotating collections on a monthly basis.  In a school setting, teachers can be a good source of display materials, and book displays can reflect and expand upon current areas of study.

Weeding is a very important task in tween and teen collection management as materials within this collection must remain current, popular, and vital. It’s a good idea to review and weed your collection on a regular basis, as dated materials can give teens and tweens the impression that the library’s collection has nothing that relates to their current interests.

Books and resources on physical development and puberty are very important resources for young adults and the titles should be current, accurate, and age appropriate.  They are used quite heavily in the library but more often than not young adults are too timid to be seen checking them out or too intimidated by parents to bring them home. In case your tweens and teens are too embarrassed to ask for your help in finding materials, you can always post a sign or flyer in the tween and teen collection area that has a list of all the call numbers/topics related to sensitive issues.

This age group also starts to explore topics of personal and cultural identity, and it is important for the library to have materials that show a wide variety of experiences that tweens and teens can directly relate to, and/or experiences that they can empathize with. In particular, for youth who may be underrepresented, seeing positive and nuanced depictions in media can be an empowering and influential experience. Consider looking for materials for the underrepresented youth in your community so that your collection truly has something for everyone.