❧ Felicia Brown Capstone Project

Young Adult Library Services Where is the YA in his development stage? “Que” is in his middle adolescent stage of development. He has unrealistic expectations when it comes to reading. But knows what he has to do or wants to do with his academic career. He is very interested in the opposite sex, my son and he focused more on girls than my interview. Morally he knows that he has to get a good educational foundation to go to college and his goal is to go to college on a football scholarship. What is the Library Setting? Nash Central High School Media Center. This media center has a very diverse collection of books. It does not have many books due to the technology advancement of the school system where the student all have devices and the option to use electronic resources and ebooks. What is Young Adult Services? Young Adult services are services catering to needs of the young adult population, ages Services include programs, YA book and magazine collection and resources.

❧ Professional Librarian Interview During this project I interviewed one of my co- workers at a different Media Center because I will be working in a High School Media Center next year and I wanted to have more information on how High School is different than elementary school in our district. The interviewee is a School Media Specialist that has work in NRMS as an educator for 41 years. She is retiring this year. Because she is upon retirement she is not as eager as I am about the changes in our job description, technology integration and collaboration with the teachers. She did however talk to me about the different programs she has set up in her media center. She has programs such as media assistants, book talks and help out with project graduation.

❧ Data Collection: Taped interview of the teen in his own environment at his house over a week. Created a script for the semi-structured interview, which led to a discussion. The teen is a 16 year old black male, who is a football player and a friend to my son. The teen “Que” has known me for 4 years and he is a rising Jr. at Hillside High School. His mother and I serves as the wrestling team moms. Teen Profile

❧ The teen is enrolled in the IB Programme at Hillside High School. The program is very rigorous and they give a summer reading assignment. The summer reading assignment for the 11 th grade was to read one book, which is Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston and complete an intensive assignment on the chapters. At first look the teen was excited that he only had to read one book. He did not know the complexity of the book until he started reading it. Reading List

❧ Reading preferences and history of teen: He likes to read some fiction books, sports magazines and clothes catalogs. What the teen likes to do in their spare time? During his spare time ( not including sports), he likes to hang out at the mall, talk to friends on social media such as Intagram and Twitter. If reading for pleasure, what would the teen read?For pleasure reading he likes to read magazines about football and wrestling. Mostly sports magazines. Teen Interview Responses

❧ Is there a favorite author/theme/genre? When I asked this question…he immediately knew the answer… which I was very surprised because I does not seem like he does a lot of reading. He favorite author is Christopher Paul Curtis. He started liking this author after he read " The Watsons Go to Birmingham". He stated that he has read most of his books. With that in mind, I assumed he liked African American Male authors. Although Christopher Paul Curtis is an excellent author and appeal to all races. Teen Interview Responses

❧ Progression of levels of appreciation for literature: This was difficult. He responded that he appreciates some literature in the classroom, but not all. When he asked “Do he think his comprehension increased because of reading certain literature and and completing his summer reading assignments?”, he answered “ I was better prepared for the type of reading for the upcoming grade level.” I believe he still does not understand the importance of reading and how it builds his comprehension skills along with preparing him for standardized testing. Teen Interview Responses

❧ Perception of teens and of this particular teen in relation to libraries and reading.: This teen does not use the library in his school often. The only time he visited the media center was when he needed a book for class and his teacher has the books on reserve. He stated that most of his peers do not use the media center because it is boring and the Media Specialist was boring. I asked if there was more programs in the library would he go and he responded “yes, especially something with food!” He relates the library to reading and really does not know that there is more than reading going on in the library. I then explain some of the different programs in the public libraries that he might enjoy (i.e. game night). Teen Interview Responses

❧ Taking everything in mind including age, gender, athleticism, types of books read, reluctance to read. I recommended to the teen to first visit his media center when he has time and introduce himself to the media and technology specialists. He should find out what the media center has to offer since he will be in the 11th grade. It is time to start researching for colleges and keen up on research skills, something the Media Specialist should be able to help him with. Secondly, he should go to at least one program a month at the public library to help instill the joy of reading in him. He can meet other teens and peers to encourage him to read. Third, I recommended Walter Dean Myers as an author he should try. He express that he enjoyed a particular author (AA Male), I believe it was best to recommend an author instead of a book. Recommendations

❧ Jones, P. (2002). New directions for library service to young adults. American Library Association. Resources