The successful examples displayed above constitute a small minority of well-spent professional skills. Frequently enough librarians forget that the library is a place where people come for every kind of information, as the growing mediating function of the library in the ICT environment attests.47
Therefore, the old image of the library as barely a stock of books should be dismissed, as Agnoli advises,48 and librarians should forget just tolerating young adults’ presence in libraries.49
The new image of libraries – as mediated by reputed opinions50 – should then reflect the needs of their younger stakeholders, to be accepted as:
- places where free and unconditioned reading be developed by means of reading clubs51
- observatory places for the reading preferences of young adults
- observatory places, documentation and training centres for educators and parents - places where resources on reading, young adults literature and editorial market are
As such, libraries should promote themselves as dynamic and ever changing places.52 Moreover, as Ferrieri believes, they should also accept (again, not just tolerate) improper use by young people, as much as the unordered toddling among the shelves, allowing that the library becomes a refuge against rain and the hostile world:
it is part of its hospitality.53
As a matter of fact, according to Poulain, librarians should never forget that a library is never just like the librarian would like it to be, because users force it to be a place of negotiation between personal needs and public materials, supports and fruition rules.54
The features envisioned would claim the identification of an appropriate library model, as some of those briefly examined in the previous pages. Nevertheless, Agnoli has been far from welcoming an importing flow of foreign models like they would be consume goods, because – as she observed – library history and development goes along with the history of mentalities, cultural traditions, institutions, legislation and regulations.55
As other specialists have underlined, any library model should be developed in a context bound to its entourage and its target groups. Any project as such could then be considered as a “work in progress”, since “only from constant self-evaluation and need analysis derives an attractive and effective library service.”56
A particular feature has been emphasised from various practitioners. Any users are customers, and as such they will continue to visit the library if they enjoy it as a friendly environment.57 As Jones reminds, librarians will then be remembered not only as “the book people”, but will finally give a more active image of themselves.58
A recent article by Virginia A. Walter59 focused on some research gaps, among which she took into account the following question:
“How and why do young people use public libraries?”
Walter urged to find answers on this topic, fostering the production of critical awareness on the contribution of M.K. Chelton, E. Meyers, P. Jones and D. Taylor.60 Despite American libraries can already count on the presence of an existing network of collaborating practitioners and many practical manuals, Walter noticed the quasi-absence of illuminating essays on public library reference services to children and young people. As a consequence, she expressed the need of creating a national research body to discuss about dedicated library services to these users’ groups.61
Anyway, it seems that the first and unavoidable co-operation must take place between librarians and young people themselves, as first-hand connoisseurs of their interests.62 The teamwork with other services to youth is also considered as a positive factor in connecting young people with libraries63 and, particularly in Germany, the collaboration with schools has been envisaged as particularly apt to avoid the risks that young adults would drop reading.64
To enhance teamwork, an action plan to investigate on the library’s real and potential target group is needed, which, at the same time, can provide evidence or dismount the theoretical background provided by the international literature.
References
1 See AGNOLI 2003.
2 See TASSONI 1999, p.10; PATTE 2001.
3 See JONES 1992; MARSHALL, 1975.
4 See AGNOLI 1999a.
5 See ANTONELLI 1996.
6 See GALLAND 1996.
7 See IFLA 2001.
8 Ibidem.
9 See TASSONI 1999, p.12.
10 See UNESCO 1994.
11 See AGNOLI 1999a.
12 Ibidem.
13 See AGNOLI 2001a, 2001b.
14 See IFLA 2001.
15 See GRENDELE 2000.
16 See SCHMITT 2000, p.32.
17 See WINSLADE 1981.
18 See CAVALLI 1999, p. 254-255.
19 See AGNOLI 1999a p. 35.
20 See BUZZI 1997, 1998; SARTORI & BUZZI 1998.
21 See GRENDELE 2000.
22 See AGNOLI 1999a, p. 34.
23 See GRINZANELETTURE 1995, p.111.
24 See VIVARELLI 2000, p. [3]; CARDARELLO 2000, p. [9-10]; MIARI 2000, p. [11-12].
25 See MACKEY 1996 and FABRI 2000, p. [15-16].
26 See AGNOLI 1999a, p.67.
27 See GRENDELE 2000, ARELLANO YANGUAS & GOMEZ SESMA 2001, SCHMITT 2000.
28 See REVELLI 1995.
29 See YALSA 1997.
30 See the homepage of ‘The Young Adult Librarian’s Help’ at the URL:
http://www.kcpl.lib.mo.us/ya and the web site ‘Connecting YA and Libraries’, at www.connectingya.com.
31 See JONES 1998.
32 Ibidem.
33 See JONES 1992, 1998. This opinion has been also supported by Revelli (REVELLI 1995).
34 See AGNOLI 1999a p.35.
35 See PISSARD 1994.
36 See AGNOLI 1999a, p.34.
37 See SCHMITT 2000.
38 See DBI 1997a, DBI 1997b.
39 The magazine is called “TEENidEE: Der Informationsblatt für JugendbibliothekarInnen”
(started 1997).
40 See the projects of the Deutscher Bibliotheksinstitut as illustrated at the URL:
http://deposit.ddb.de/ep/netpub/89/96/96/967969689/_data_stat/www.dbi-berlin.de/dbi_pub/
bd_art/kommbe97/komm08_1.htm
41 See the website at the URL: http://portal.unesco.org/
42 See UNESCOb.
43 See UNESCOb. The countries represented at the last access to the web site [2004-05-15] were as follows: Australia (16), Belgium (1), Brazil (1), Canada (4), Costa Rica (1), Denmark (5), Finland (22), France (10), Germany (1), Ireland (1), Italy (3), Mexico (1), New Zealand (7), Norway (7), Pakistan (1), Russian Federation (1), Sweden (26), Switzerland (1), Thailand (2), UK (1), USA (12). The Italian libraries linked to this web page were the ‘De Amicis’
International Youth Library of Genua, the Public Library ‘Casa Piani’ of Imola (Bologna) and the ‘Sala Borsa’ Library in Bologna.
44 See POLAR LIBRARY.
45 Ibidem.
46 See the web page of the ALLIANSSI ‘Youth Information Library’ at the URL:
http://www.alli.fi/kirjasto/engstrat.html.
47 See AGNOLI 1999a, p.64-65.
48 See AGNOLI 1999a, p.33.
49 See AGNOLI 1999a, p. 31.
50 See AGNOLI 1999a, p. 65; REVELLI 1995; JONES 1998.
51 See ARELLANO YANGUAS & GOMEZ SESMA 2001, p.23.
52 See SCHUMAN 2002, p.36.
53 See FERRIERI 2000, p.173.
54 See POULAIN 2002, p.191.
55 See AGNOLI 1999a.
56 See ARELLANO YANGUAS & GOMEZ SESMA 2001, p.23.
57 See AGNOLI 1999a, p.67.
Arizona, School of Information Resources and Library Science for the course ‘Teen Services in Public Libraries’ (see www.sir.arizona.edu/fl03/688/); Mary K. Chelton is Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at the Queens College, New York (see brief curriculum in the web page of the e-magazine Voya, at http://pdfs.voya.com/5f/tBo/5ftBookshelf.pdf ); Patrick Jones has developed his own web site at www.connectingya.com.
61 See WALTER 2003.
62 See SCHMITT 2000, p.34.
63 See GRENDELE 2000.
64 See DAUME 1999.