Our Youth Services emphasis is for students who are interested in working with children and teens in public libraries and also K-12 school libraries. The iSchool is top ranked in services for children and youth by US News and World Report. Our program consists of dedicated faculty and staff with expertise in children’s and young adult literature, emergent literacy, children and digital media, and school librarianship.
In our program, students are encouraged to participate in state-level professional organizations and service learning projects. Past activities have included:
- Helping to run Minecraft, MakeyMakey, and animation programs
- Providing literacy-related activities in after-school programs for diverse populations
- Providing storytime and collection development support in tribal communities
- Assisting with play-learning programs for toddlers
- Assisting with bilingual storytimes and book clubs
- Helping faculty to research games and apps for children and youth
- Helping to develop Spanish-language STEM resources for toddlers
- Assisting with community engagement projects through public libraries (e.g. court-involved teens, immigrant families, youth centers)
Suggested Courses For Youth Services Emphasis
For School Library Media licensing, see the iSchool School Library Media Program page.
- 772 Library Services to Children & YA
- 622 Children’s Literature
- 631 Young Adult Literature
- 629 Multicultural Literature for Children & YA
- 712 Public Libraries
- 655 Collection Management
- 644 Digital Tools, Trends & Debates
- 635 Reference & Information Service
- 639 Pedagogical theory and practice for informational professionals
- 640 Tribal Libraries, Archives and Museums
- 861 Information Architecture
- one credit short courses on a variety of topics (e.g. Apps and Games , Games and Libraries, Social Media)
Other Possible ISchool Courses Include
- 820 Community Engagement
- 642 Reading interests of adults
- 645 Intellectual Freedom
- 651 Cataloging and/or 853 Metadata Standards
- 654 Management of Info. Agencies
- 661 Information Ethics & Policy
Recommended Courses Outside ISchool (Can Be Taken With Approval Of Advisor)
- CURRIC 375 Youth community-based learning
- ELPA 844 Technology and School Leadership
- CURRIC 328 Artistic lives of children
- CURRIC 362 Drama in education
- ED PSYCH 920 Seminar in child development
- Language classes at 300 level or above