Week 13 Prompt: YA, NA, GN, or None?

 

How can we as librarians, work to ensure that we are able to serve adults who enjoy YA literature or graphic novels? Or should we?

 

Firstly, we should absolutely ensure that we are able to serve adults who enjoy any genre they want to read, whether that be academic textbooks or children’s cookbooks. Nowhere in my library education thus far have I learned that we are to limit anyone’s interest in harmless topics in any way; quite the opposite – we are to ensure equal access to information.

 

I am personally a fan of all three of these genres, and I’m twenty-five (so “new adult” is a fitting genre for me at the moment I suppose). I only recently discovered the existence of new adult books and I really enjoy them. I like reading about people my own age and experiences they go through that I can relate to. I honestly was not able to enjoy books about much older people until recently, because I found them boring—another reason why I didn’t enjoy all of the classics we were made to read in high school. I think genres for different age groups are so good to read at those points in life, because they are so much more relatable in that moment. However, that does not mean those are the only times a person is allowed to read those books! I still love diving into a new YA series that is hitting the bestseller lists, and I do not think I’ll ever be “too old” to enjoy manga.

 

On the topic of manga and graphic novels, they are in no way only appropriate for children, and sometimes are even inappropriate! Visual storytelling has a whole spectrum of genres within them, and it would be unfair and close-minded to suggest that they can all fit within a box that is only appropriate for kids and young people.

 

That being said, there are so many ways to serve adults wanting to read genres geared toward younger or other demographics. Hosting adult book clubs that read any of these genres, making display shelves in the adult section featuring popular choices in other genres, and not being afraid to guide an adult to a YA book during a reader’s advisory interview are a few ways I can think of off the top of my head. It is also unnecessary to shelve graphic novels and manga in the “young adult” section of the library; they could have their own place, maybe somewhere nearer to films or magazines.

 

As librarians, we must keep our minds wide open to things we might not be experts in. If an adult reader comes to us wanting help finding a YA book to read, we should not bat an eye. I think it is silly to even suggest that YA is money not well spent, because so many people of all ages especially young people love the genre so much. Young readers are our future.