Should Public Libraries Hire Young Adult Specialists?

Abstract

The first national survey of services and resources for young adults showed that the percentage of young adult specialists being hired by public libraries is much lower than the percentage of young adults patrons. The reasons that a trained specialist is not widely acknowledged include difficult economic times, lack of trained staff, and the smaller percentages of young adults in the general population due to a decline in the national birth rate. This study defined the measure of user satisfaction as a measure of effectiveness by distributing questionnaires to two large urban libraries. It made suggestions to public libraries about the importance of hiring young adult specialists.