As I looked at the readings for this week, I began to realize that my research topic could use some refining to reach what I think is the real question behind my subject of interest. I found both Stringer's and Hubbard/Power's instructions for focusing research questions to be very helpful, as I had just begun to start worrying about how viable my research idea would be. I think I have a firmer grasp upon what I'd like to investigate now, and my ideas have taken off from there.
Research Question:
What elements of popular literature are most appealing to teens and how can they be used to foster readership in my community?
Setting & Background:
I will do my research at the Spartanburg County Public Libraries' Headquarters Branch, where I am the teen services assistant. SCPL is a large library in a moderately-sized (and growing!) urban setting. According to the US Census Bureau, the city's population is around 37,000, though the urbanized area is much larger (the county's population is around 270,000). Spartanburg is 50.8% African-American, 45.8% White, and 2.5% Asian. While I do not live in Spartanburg and have only worked there for a few months, I'm getting a pretty good grasp of the community and our library's patrons. The city has a growing arts community, seven school districts, and several colleges. It is a progressive town, but is still largely traditional in many aspects.
The Spartanburg County Public Libraries have a large teen fiction collection and provide frequent programs and events for our teen patrons. The Headquarters Branch has a separate room for teen services with eight computers, cafe tables and other seating reserved for teens only. While many programs are well-attended and the computers are frequently occupied, I would like to see an increase in the teens' use of our collection. Those teens that do read do so voraciously, and have varied tastes. However, as with all libraries there is sometimes concern regarding the content of the books in our teen fiction section. Community members have occasionally expressed an interest in "cleaning up" the section or altering the materials selection policy to more closely examine the content of our titles.
Participants:
As we have a solid group of teens that attend programs and regularly come to the teen room, I hope to work with several of them to look at what books they read and why. As Stringer suggests that we consult both those people who are affected by the issue and those who affect the issue, I will also include my boss, the teen services librarian, in the participant group. Finally, I am good friends with a popular (though controversial) young adult author and may consult with him throughout the course of my research.
To gather my information, I plan to interview the teens and Susan, the librarian. I will also look at circulation records to see which titles are the most popular, and plan to analyze which themes and writing styles are common among them. I will compare popular titles with award-winning titles (Printz, NBA, Alex) to see if those titles that win awards also reflect the teens' preferences. While working with my group of participants, I hope to discuss some of these books (both award-winning and controversial/popular) with them, and might ask them to read one or two titles and give their opinions in an informal reading discussion. I will also observe the reading habits of the teen community as they request books and recommendations and check items out at my library.
-Tara Smith
Comments (13)
Hey Tara,
I really like your research topic. As an 8th grade teacher, your findings will be relevant to my students and my classroom. One suggestion I have is to define the term "popular" as it relates to teen literature. I was just thinking when I read your question what exactly that might mean: circulation stats, award-winning, year of publication, etc. How will you determine what's popular and what's not? I think your reseach plan sounds great and I can really see the potential for you to get involved interacting with the teens in your library. I will be very interested to see what you find out!
Amy Galloway
Posted by Amy Galloway | January 31, 2009 10:10 PM
Posted on January 31, 2009 22:10
I am very interested in your study. I love this age group after teaching them for the past 10 years. I would agree that you might need to re-think the term "popular." To me, that is subjective. Would it beneficial to contact another library to see what titles they include in their teen section? Perhaps contacting some of the middle and high school libraries in the area, too. Just a thought.
Posted by Heather Greene | January 31, 2009 11:20 PM
Posted on January 31, 2009 23:20
I really like this topic. I have been curious what makes a given book or series suddenly take off with our teens? Twilight seems to have come out of nowhere for me even though there are a number of books attached to the series and the storyline itself isn't terribly new and original, for example. It's a great idea to compare critically acclaimed books to populare ones in order to see why teens seem to hone in on a given set of books.
Posted by Kyle Wood | February 1, 2009 8:45 AM
Posted on February 1, 2009 08:45
Tara,
I am so glad that you are doing a project involving teens and the public library. I personally feel that students will go there to find books then the school library. This as we know is because of the differences in what school and public libraries have to offer to the teen population. Public libraries also have books that aren't found in the school library because of the various reasons. Teens like books because they can often relate to them you are on the right track in interviewing them. They are the experts in why they like what they like!! Great Job!
Posted by Elizabeth McMullan | February 1, 2009 10:52 AM
Posted on February 1, 2009 10:52
As an avid reader myself, I am always interested in what my students are reading. I frequently will ask about a book they are engaged in to find out what it is about, what they think of it, and what other books they may suggest by the same author. I have found that these brief conversations have led me to discover many wonderful gems that I may have missed had they not been suggested by my students. I think that your study has merit and I believe that you will find that when you build relationships with these students, they will want to frequent the library more and this will attract other students to the library to see what it can offer to them. I would suggest that you post some type of "my favorites" section either on the library webpage or in a prominent area in the library. This will not only give students an idea of what others are reading, but will allow them more of a voice in their public library. Good luck!
Posted by Tina Nicholson Mallén | February 1, 2009 12:02 PM
Posted on February 1, 2009 12:02
Hey Tara
You obviously have this project planned out and under control. I can't think of any specific suggestions for you at this moment. I just felt moved to respond. Those Spartanburg teens are lucky to have you and an awesome YA section. When I hear you describing your library and specifically your YA section, I immediately picture Pack's "teen" section. It is, well, really bad. First of all, it isn't even a real section. There is just a small YA collectio with two tables that have a "Teens Only" sign. Adults sit there all of the time. It is never addressed. I've only seen one YA event the entire 8 months I've been working there.
This is all to say. Good job. They are lucky to have you in S-burg.
Lyme
Posted by Lyme Kedic | February 1, 2009 2:24 PM
Posted on February 1, 2009 14:24
Tara-
Girl you are on it! I think this is a great project that can be transferred to so many different libraries and other groups. I agree with Amy that when I first read your question I was unsure of what you meant by popular literature and how you were going to judge the literature. You said how often a book is checked out and what seems to interest teen patrons. What would be you scope for this popularity? How far back are you going to look... in last month, two months, six months, year? I was just curious how long a book must be consistently checked out to be considered popular. Just somethings to think to about.
Nikki
Posted by Erin Jaynes (Nikki) | February 1, 2009 11:24 PM
Posted on February 1, 2009 23:24
Tara,
This sounds like an amazing project! I think the potential to transfer your findings to other settings is huge. I can't think of a better way to increase interest and circulation than by finding out what they like to read. I agree that you need to have some way of "defining" popular, but it seems like you have a good idea of where you're heading.
Posted by Amanda Ogle | February 2, 2009 9:41 PM
Posted on February 2, 2009 21:41
I echo your colleagues comments! Do define what you mean by "popular." The remainder of the question is excellent.
How many of the teens do you plan to interview? Remember that this is a four-week study, so limit participants to 5 or 6. If possible, try to achieve some diversity among the teens.
Posted by Alecia Jackson | February 4, 2009 11:52 AM
Posted on February 4, 2009 11:52
If anyone is still reading & wants an update on what I'm counting as "popular," here it goes:
I'm planning on looking mostly at circ records and keeping track of what titles are requested most often. Nikki brings up a good question about how far back I'm looking. I'll have to see how frequently our circ reports are run and get back to you about that, but I'm thinking I'll probably look at monthly reports from Jan 2008-present. I'm also going to research teen bestsellers (NY Times, Publisher's Weekly, etc) from the same time period. There are some juggernaut titles/series (Twilight, Harry Potter, etc) that will inevitably come up in discussions and be included in my research. Finally, I might try to get input from teens on their favorite books; I'll be sure to ask the ones I interview, but I might also try to do a broader informal/anonymous survey of the larger teen population (I'm thinking of online & paper forms that just say "What are some of your favorite books?"). Dr. Jackson, I'm particularly interested in your input about whether the broader survey would be useful/practical.
I've got a list of about 8 teens that I'm going to contact about being part of my participant group, but I'm sure that only a few will have the time/desire to participate. It's a fairly diverse group, divided pretty evenly between genders, races and economic status. I hope to have about four teen participants, ultimately.
Thank you all for the great & helpful comments!
Posted by Tara Smith | February 4, 2009 5:14 PM
Posted on February 4, 2009 17:14
Tara,
I think your strategies of looking at circulation reports and newspaper lists of topsellers will be enough to justify "popular fiction." No need to do the survey.
Posted by Alecia Jackson | February 4, 2009 7:33 PM
Posted on February 4, 2009 19:33
Hi there, I discovered your website via Google while searching for a related topic, your website came up, it looks wonderful. I've bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Posted by Amazon Kindle Fire | October 7, 2011 12:31 PM
Posted on October 7, 2011 12:31
Links
[... other sites that are, in some way, miraculous in ...]
Posted by Latisha Pitney | October 13, 2011 4:25 PM
Posted on October 13, 2011 16:25