LIS 5193: Information Resources and Services for Young Adults

Description, Analysis, & Reflection

Description 

The course description and goals for LIS 5193: Information Resources and Services for Young Adults state 

Developmental characteristics and information needs of young adults; young adults’ information behavior, learning, and reading; contemporary young adult literature; digital media and technology; information literacy and 21 st -century skills; selection/evaluation of information resources; and information services for young adults; and 21 st -century trends in youth services. 

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This course is designed to provide an overview of information resources in various formats and services that might meet the developmental characteristics and information needs of young adults (ages 12-18 or grades 6-12 or middle and high school students). The class discusses how to locate, analyze, and evaluate materials for YA and the ways information professionals can facilitate YA learning, reading, and information-related activities (Edwards, 2023). 

My artifact for LIS 5193: Information Resources and Services for Young Adults comes from the Booktalk assignment.  For this assignment we were to select three books, record a video where we gave booktalks on each, and write an essay explaining our rationale for our selection.  I chose Maybe We're Electric by Val Emmich, Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu, and Baby & Solo by Lisabeth Posthuma.  My rationale was twofold: 1) I love all three and 2) they fit the theme of my project.  The idea was to create a channel on YouTube that highlights books that speak to the kids who feel left out, marginalized, alienated, and ignored, hence the name Booktalk for Misfits.  Unfortunately, the video production was not of the same quality as my Knuffle Bunny video because I made this one while my son filmed and edited the other.  As I laid out in the essay below, I have a bit of a tumultuous history with booktalks.  I'll spare you all of the gore details but what I originally did not know is that the term "booktalk" has a very specific meaning.  By covering booktalks in this course, students are exposed to an important piece of library jargon that will help them later in their career.  I know that this project certainly helped me understand the concept and since taking it, I have put together and presented multiple successful booktalks.    

Analysis 

Since I had so much fun in LIS 5183: Information Resources and Services for Children, taking its sequel was a given.  And like with that class, I referred to this as my “YA (young adult) literature class.”  Because these courses were both taught by the one and only Dr. Edwards, the structure and goals were more or less the same if you switched out “children” for “young adult.”  Coming into this class I was already fairly familiar with modern YA literature.  Not only do I read YA for fun, but I am also responsible for maintaining Noble Public Library's Teen Collection.  Now, I am able to connect how/why some books might resonate with teenagers more than others.  At least as much as any adult can understand and resonate with teenagers. 

Reflection 

As I mentioned above, before taking this course, I was already a fan and reader of YA literature.  One look at my Goodreads profile shows you that I read a lot of comics, YA, fantasy, and chick lit.  The exposure to books that I would not have read on my own was an excellent experience that broadened my horizons.  Like Information Resources and Services for Children, Information Resources and Services for Young Adults covered the developmental stages of pre-teens and teenagers (ages 12-18).  This information immediately improved my ability to communicate with teenagers at the library because I have a better understanding of where they are in mental development and use that insight to better interpret their behavior and reactions. 

Personal Learning Goals 

This course also helped me towards Goal 3: Increase reference and user services skills through its focus on pre-teen and teenage development and young adult literature. 

MLIS Program-level Student Learning Outcomes 

Information Resources and Services for Children helped towards SLO 1 Core Knowledge by covering pre-teen and teenage development and young adult literature; SLO 3 Professional and Scholarly Communication from the discussion posts and course assignments; and SLO 6 Diversity by examining the importance of literature with diverse characters and from diverse perspectives. 

ALA Competencies 

This course advanced me towards 2. Information Resources by explaining teenage development thus aiding in understanding age-appropriate material and 5. Reference and User Services through the examination of the various young adult literature titles. 

Edwards, B. (2023). LIS 5193: Information resources and services for young adults [Syllabus]. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma. 

Artifact: 
Booktalks for Misfits: Maybe We're Electric, Baby & Solo, and Moxie