Young adult author Lauren Mechling investigates the infusion of unbookish elements into youth library services, and wonders “If harridan librarians weren’t going to be shoving my books down the teens’ throats, would anybody read them?”
As it turns out, the answer seems to be yes. Melissa Jenvey, a young adult specialist at the Donnell Library in midtown Manhattan told me that after redoing the teen section four years ago, circulation of young adult titles rose 400 percent. “We just needed to have the merchandise that they wanted,” she says. “It’s like how they put the milk in the back of the supermarket to get you to buy all the other stuff.” More from Boston Globe.
Recent Comments