Youth Collection

The Youth Collection, designed for the adult study of children's and young adult literature, contains more than 28,000 trade books, related reference sources, and a growing number of materials in electronic formats. Although a small historical collection is maintained, the focus of the Youth Collection is on recently published materials for people from birth through age 18.

Staff are responsible for selecting new materials, providing reference services, providing bibliographic instruction, maintaining and evaluating the collection, and serving as a professional resource for Iowa educators.

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Additional Resources

Reserve Youth Spaces

About the Youth Collection

Children's books in a University Library? You bet! This excellent collection of children's and young adult literature includes the newest and best in the field.

Although the Youth Collection has been developed primarily for use by UNI students, faculty, and staff, everyone is welcome. Children must be directly supervised by an adult.

Textbooks, curriculum guides, and other instructional materials for school programs are available in the College of Education's Curriculum Laboratory, a division of Instructional Resources and Technology Services, Schindler Education Center.

Purpose

To serve as a resource for UNI faculty and students in teacher education programs as they develop literature-based units, lesson plans, and instructional materials for children, preschool through secondary school.
To serve as a resource to UNI staff and students interested in studying and researching topics related to children's literature, such as book illustration.
To provide reference assistance based on the collection to Iowa educators.

Location & Hours

The Youth Collection Library is located on the third floor of the Rod Library. It is open during Rod Library hours. Staff members are typically available to assist you Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. We are happy to schedule appointments in advance if you want to be sure that someone will be present when you visit.

Circulation Policy

With a UNI identification card or community borrower card, you can check out Youth Collection materials at the Rod Library Services desk or a self-check machine. The loan period for circulating materials in the Youth Collection is fourteen days, weekend days included. Items may be renewed for additional 2-week periods by logging your OneSearch! account or by calling Library Services at (319) 273-2838.
Report other matters related to circulation of Youth Collection materials to the Library Services desk, (319) 273-2838, including questions about fines and lost materials. Replacement fees for lost materials are $15 per item with a $40 replacement charge for items in Youth's Historical Collection.
Distance Education students may borrow Youth Collection materials for a ten-day loan period that includes mailing time to and from the library.

History of the Collection

Description of the Collection

The arrangement of materials in the Youth Collection is similar to that found in school libraries so that UNI education students can become familiar with this system as part of their teacher training.

The call number, location, appropriate interest level for each item, content summary, and additional information are indicated in the item record in OneSearch!, Rod Library's online public access catalog. Patrons can search the Youth Collection directly using the "Rod Library Youth Collection" option in Advanced Search.

Reference Section

The reference section contains professional materials, such as retrospective or specialized bibliographies, critical writings, and teaching resources. They are classified YRP (Youth Reference Professional).

Reference materials may be checked out by obtaining a special permission form from the Youth Collection staff; they are typically only checked out to members of the faculty.

Reference materials written for children and young adults (children's almanacs, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and similar items) are now shelved in Youth Nonfiction and are available to check out. We also subscribe to a number of online reference materials for children and young adults.

Picture Books

The picture books have call numbers that begin with YE and are arranged alphabetically by author in the section of shelving near the windows. The collection represents the work of major authors and illustrators, covering many artistic styles and mediums, with an emphasis on current titles.

Fiction

All full-length fiction, including fantasy, historical fiction, and contemporary realism, are classified Y (fiction) . Titles in this section are selected primarily for students in grades 3 through 12. Titles are arranged alphabetically by author’s last name. Novels written in verse are part of the fiction collection. Full-length novels written as poetry can be identified by using the subject heading "Novels in Verse."

Most graphic novels, however, are classified in Y 741 because of their illustrative format.

Biography

Both full-length biographies and biographies in picture book format are part of this section. The call number has three lines: Y (Youth), B (Biography), and the first three letters of the subject's last name. The section is arranged alphabetically according to the last name of the person being featured.

Non-Fiction

All non-fiction materials are arranged according to the Dewey Classification System. Subjects are assigned numbers ranging from Y 001 to Y 999. Folklore is classified as Y 398, poetry as Y 821, and graphic novels as Y 741. (The Wikipedia "List of Dewey Decimal classes" is currently a good quick overview of what's where.)

Notable Books

Complete collections of the Caldecott Award, the Coretta Scott King Book Award, and the Newbery Award medalists are displayed in glass cases near the Youth Collection offices. Iowa book awards for children and young adults--the Goldfinch, the Iowa Children's Choice Award, the Iowa Teen Award, and the Iowa High School Award--are also on display. They do not typically circulate. Additional circulating copies of these books are shelved within the various sections of the Youth Collection.

Unusual Formats

Books with pop-ups, extended pages, pull-the-tabs, and other unusual features are shelved behind the Youth Collection Service desk. Any patron may check these out by obtaining a special permission form from the Youth Collection staff.

Historical Collection

A collection of children's and young adult literature published prior to 1960 is on display on the northeast side of the Youth Collection, near picture books. The titles included in this section are no longer considered popular among young readers today, but they are retained here for those conducting historical research. There is an extensive collection of boys' series books from the first half of the twentieth century. Included in these series are the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, among others. There is also a collection of autographed books by well-known authors and illustrators.

Children's and Young Adult Magazines

Current issues of many children's magazines, are available in a shelving unit on the West side of the Youth Collection. The most current issues are displayed on the shelves. Back issues are also available and are stored within the same shelving unit. They can be accessed simply by lifting up the shelves. These resources may be checked out with special permission from the Youth Collection staff.

Other Sections

The Youth Collection also includes small collections of books in Braille and children's books in languages other than English, located on the west side of the Youth Collection.

Brailled books have call numbers that start with BRAILLE and are arranged similarly to the Youth Collection (picture books together, etc.).

Books in languages other than English, including some bilingual and trilingual books, have call numbers that start with Y 800 and are organized alphabetically by language, and then by author. Languages currently represented in the Youth Collection include Arabic, Aramaic, Burmese, Chinese, Cree, Czech, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lakota, Navajo, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Sinhalese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

Finding Materials in the Youth Collection

OneSearch makes finding materials in the Youth Collection fast and efficient. In addition to the topic or other keyword you're interested in searching for, you may find these keywords helpful to add to your search:

fiction
"juvenile literature" (in quotes, to get mostly nonfiction results)
poetry
"stories without words" (for wordless books)
"picture books" (will include some nonfiction and some fiction results
"stories in rhyme"
biography
"graphic novels" (you can also try "comic books" if you're not seeing what you want)

You can also use Advanced Search to search by Title, Author/Creator, or Subject.

The record for each item indicates location, call number, and availability.

Electronic Resources

UNI subscribes to several databases that will assist you in identifying and reviewing materials related to children’s and young adult literature. Databases you are likely to use include such useful resources as the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database, Children’s Core Collection, Education Full Text, and ERIC. Access these databases by going to the Rod Library Home Page and finding Databases A-Z. All available databases are organized alphabetically.

UNI also subscribes to research databases specifically geared toward PreK-12 students and educators. Access these databases through Databases A-Z. In the Subjects dropdown, choose "Education: PreK-12 Information Sources" and then select the resource that best suits your purposes.

UNI students have access to additional PreK-12 databases through Iowa AEA Online. If you're in a teacher preparation program and don't know how to log in to these resources, the Youth Collection staff can help you out.