Reference Service to Children and Young Adults 81thing that should be done with all library patrons, it has an added importance
when those patrons are young people learning about the world around them.
Up to now the discussion has revolved mainly around young patrons
of elementary and middle-school age. What about young people in high
school? Just as we would not look at chil-
dren as “little adults,” we should not look at
adolescents as “big children.” Adolescence
is a turbulent time of navigating between
childhood and adulthood and finding your
place in the world. Reference service to this
age group can be a challenge, even though
most teens have developed intellectually
far beyond their younger counterparts. The
raging hormonal storms of this stage of life
can even affect behavior in the library.
Recently a joint task force of ALA’s
Young Adult Library Services Association
and Reference and User Services Association created “Guidelines for Library
Services to Teens, Ages 12–18” (see the appendix). The section on reference
service to teens includes this observation:
Online information and electronic communication is a way of life
for most teens. They have come of age with the Internet, iPods,
cable and satellite television, cell phones, etc., and these tools
form a seamless part of their everyday life... Librarians need to
understand how these “digital natives” perceive the world. We need
to provide direction, structure, and effective assistance, both when
we are asked directly to help as when we are not. Sound and savvy
instruction in information literacy and thoughtful design of intuitive
and welcoming portals to our virtual libraries are essential allies in
serving the needs of teens. (3.0)Whether you are helping the third-grader in front of you gather informa-
tion for a science fair project or replying to a teen’s text message asking for
help with the research for a term paper, keep the fundamentals of reference
service and these variables in mind and you will succeed in providing effective
reference to patrons of all ages.
Carol Collier Kuhlthau, “Meeting
the Information Needs of
Children and Young Adults:
Basing Library Media Programs
on Developmental States,”
Journal of Youth Services in
Libraries 2, no. 1 (Fall 1988):
51–57. This article summarizes
the developmental states of
young people and relates them to
library service.