It makes me wonder if I'm reading it enough, promoting it enough, and if I'm purchasing the right books. I know that teens are gathering information online for reports and projects. They seem to come in to the library looking for something only if their teacher's required a book in the bibliography.
The one subject that generates interest is biographies. Every now and then, a school class needs to read a biography. More than a few people ask for one and that gets my attention. I've recently updated our selection. We had a number of educational biographies, but now we have some pop culture ones. These have gone out a few times, but nothing spectacular.
We have some fun books too - along the lines of drawing books, beauty and makeup tips, vampires, ghosts, monsters, and forensic books. I wonder if I'm purchasing the right materials.
Are there must have nonfiction titles for a teen collection?
Our non-fiction does not really circulate that well either. So much information is available online now, that I think you are correct and they really only go out when they are required for reports...
ReplyDeleteMy Guinness World Record Books are crazy popular- we have the last 10 or so, and they all still go out- it's more about the big shininess of it than the actual timeliness. The Birthday Book for Teens, our Doctor Who books (encyclopedias, the "Doctionary," etc), and our big comic characters encyclopedias move a lot too. Everything else seems mainly "I need at least one book for my project" -type stuff. Although, our puberty section, while not actually getting checked out, does regularly get a lot of, um, action. I find these books under cushions, behind benches, underneath papers, and my new favorite spot, on top of the signs at the end of the aisles. :) So, things like "Body Drama," "What's Happening to My Body," and the big current fave, "Living with a Willy" are pretty popular in-house.
ReplyDelete-Lucia Von Letkemann, Teen Librarian, Wiggin Memorial Library, Stratham NH