adolescents, and of books for adults working with children and books, appear
sporadically at first but grow in volume as the years pass. A classic example of the
process is provided by Library Journal, sometimes called American Library Journal,
which was founded in 1876 as the official organ of the American Library Association.
The first discussion of fiction for young people in libraries is in the April 1877 issue (Kite
1877), followed by a long article on reading matter in the public library and the public
schools by Charles Francis Adams (Adams 1877). In 1882 the Journal began printing a
‘Yearly report on boys and girls reading’ by Carolyn Hewins. As time went on, articles
and commentary appeared with increasing frequency until in 1942, Library Journal
introduced a monthly review column, ‘Junior books appraised’. In 1954 the column and
other features were combined into a bi-monthly magazine, issued with the Library
Journal, called Junior Libraries, which changed in 1961 to School Library Journal. The
journal became so large that since January 1975 it has been issued as a totally separate
publication.
By 1929 the American Libraries Association had formed a separate Children’s Services
Division and Young Adult Services Division which began the American Association of
School Libraries (AASL) Newsletter, Top of the News. In January 1947 there was a
change in editorial policy and the newsletter began to accept advertising and to publish
more than short notices, moving by the end of the year to a magazine of sixty-four or
more pages with a table of contents and longer articles. The first of these included an
article about children’s books for African-Americans. Succeeding volumes expanded in
size and sophistication until in the fall of 1987 the name was changed to Journal of
Youth Services in Libraries. JOYS now publishes substantial, well-argued articles about
children’s literature and librarianship and has particularly useful reviews of books for
adults working with children. AASL began a separate newsletter, School Libraries, in
1951, which also became a journal. Its last issue was in 1973.
The Catholic Library World was also founded in 1929 and includes articles about
children’s literature in almost every issue. Although the Wilson Library Bulletin (1939–
1995) put out monthly by H.W.Wilson and Co. dealt with libraries in general, it
contained some reviews in each issue, occasionally ran an article about children’s
literature, and sometimes devoted an entire issue to children’s literature or school
libraries. Other journals useful to librarians in the USA are Booklist, Books for Children,
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Children’s Book Review Service, and
Children’s Literature Review, Excerpts from Reviews, Criticism, and Commentary on
Books for Children and Young People (Gale Research). (For descriptions of these journals
see Meacham 1978; Reetz 1994; and Hearne 1991).
In England, the children’s library movement really began in 1919, when a new Public
Libraries Act lifted prior tax limitations and local authorities could spend as they saw fit
for book purchases and library service (Pellowski 1968:353). The School Library Review,
the official organ of the School Libraries Section of the Library Association, was founded
in 1936, when it was issued once a term ‘for private circulation among members of
school staffs or these directly in touch with school libraries’. It managed to put out one
volume (3, March 1941-December 1943) during the war years. Early issues have reviews
and book lists, but not in the regular pattern in which they occur in later issues. By the
1950s, the journal had united with The School Librarian, put out by the School Library
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