I recently visited a Melbourne public library and, as usual, my first port of call was for the Young Adult section. Upon entering the library, I looked around. Yes, there was the Children's section, with Picture Books, Early Readers, and Junior Fiction, to my left. Adult Fiction to my right. Public access computer terminals straight ahead.
But no Young Adult Fiction section in sight. Nothing to indicate "teenagers". Not even a "Twilight" poster to guide the way.
I wandered upstairs to the non-fiction collection, on the off-chance that there was a designated YA area, that had been put in a special, out-of-the-way place to give "young people these days" a slightly noisier place to hang out. I did find a "games room" - a tiny dark room, with a games console and TV inside, and a big sign on the door that said "This room is under video surveillance". But no books.
Finally, like most people who use libraries, I opted for my last resort. I asked the librarian.
"Oh, we interfile them with Adult Fiction," she informed me, somewhat sympathetically, "You might want to know the name of the author that you're looking for."
I revisited the Adult Fiction aisles, and sure enough, there they were - John Green next to Kate Grenville, Suzanne Collins next to Wilkie Collins, Maureen McCarthy next to Cormac McCarthy. It certainly struck me as being unconventional, and I wondered why a library would bury its young adult literature amongst the adult literature.
And sure, I can see the arguments for it. There is a lot of crossover between YA fiction and Adult fiction, both in its content and their readers. It creates a distinct divide between "safe" books, (ie. primary and middle school-aged) which would be shelved in the Junior section, and books containing ideas that might be considered "unsafe" by some, due to themes of sexuality, substance abuse, politics, etc. This also acts as a defence against parents who might object to such literature being held by the library, with a reply of "oh, but we shelve them amongst the adult books." And some might say that it also prevents have a so-called "young adult ghetto" in the library.
But at the same time, what is the library saying to young adults who visit the library, when there isn't a designated area for them, highlighting the best in young adult fiction that they can borrow? Whilst there is a substantial crossover between YA and Adult fiction, it cannot be denied that there is also a strong crossover between YA and Junior fiction. This is something that makes YA fiction so unique - a literal embodiment of adolescence and all that it evokes. And what of teenagers who are reluctant readers? What hope do they have to finding that elusive book, when they need to sift through shelves of adult fiction in the hope of finding a YA book that engages them? What hope is there of luring them into reading when there's such a barrier in their way?
But maybe I'm overreacting a little here. I'm curious to know what you think - do you think mixing YA and adult literature together makes sense, or should they be kept to their own collections?
