160 likes | 296 Views
How Does the Shelf Display of More Popular Young Adult Fiction Affect Circulation?. Kara Fried Mustang Public Library Mustang, Oklahoma. Introduction.
E N D
How Does the Shelf Display of More Popular Young Adult Fiction Affect Circulation? Kara FriedMustang Public Library Mustang, Oklahoma
Introduction • The Mustang Public Library serves all of Canadian County and frequently those outside of the county that do not have access to public libraries, such as Tuttle and Minco (Webber, Desiree). • Young adult fiction is becoming increasingly popular, no longer having an audience of only teens, but now ranging in age from 10-35 (Cart, 2004).
Though young adult audiences have broadened in age, the Mustang Public Library Young Adult Fiction section still caters to a younger crowd by design. • There are no displays for any young adult novels, leaving readers to choose based on popular media or word-of-mouth, which severely limits the selection considered. • The addition of a new display, appealing to all ages, that advertises older, less popular books is needed to increase circulation of these books and the overall Young Adult Fiction section.
Fiction now exceeds non-fiction in the average library budget (Hoffert, 2005). • “Fiction generates higher circulation and returns a better turnover rate of 5.6 compared to 3.0 for nonfiction” (Maker, 2008). • Young adult fiction has actually been keeping many publishing companies in business (Gallaway, 2010).
Most teenagers rarely chose reading, when asked what they would like to do in their free time (Snowball, 2008). • Flowers (2008) stresses the importance that young adult fiction be completely separate from the children’s section. • This research supports a need for greater emphasis, consideration, and advertisement of the Young Adult Fiction section, which must be catered to all ages.
Research Topic • A new display of older, less popular, young adult fiction. • If popular young adult fiction display is deemphasized, what affect will this have on the overall circulation of young adult fiction, the circulation of popular young adult fiction, and the displayed sample of older books?
Research Questions • Does reorganization of the collection affect circulation of young adult fiction? • How does the shelf display of more popular young adult fiction affect circulation?
Variables • Dependent Variable: Circulation • Independent Variable: Current layout of library and display • Conceptual Variable: Display will increase interest • Operational Variable: Circulation measurement
Data Collection Methods • Data will be collected from circulation records within the library, before and after the experiment. • The data will be based solely on circulation records, not the people contributing to them. These people could be anyone of any population. • No consent will be needed to review the circulation records.
Data Analysis Methods • Inferential Statistics • Any increase in circulation is assumed to be a result of the new display • The test of significance: these books had zero circulation before the display was made. This did not happen by chance.
Data Analysis Continued • I will review the circulation records and note any quantitative change in circulation over the course of the experiment. I am looking at the overall circulation, the circulation of the popular young adult fiction samples, and the circulation of the less popular young adult fiction sample. I am looking for any increase or decrease at all. • This will be calculated based on the average number of times a book is checked out from each category.
A sample chart of the average circulation of each category measured
Expected Outcomes • The benefits of this experiment will be an increase in the overall circulation of the Young Adult Fiction section and in the sample of less popular young adult books. • The experiment will be relatively simple and its usefulness will dwarf the effort involved, as any increase in circulation is good for the library and the community.
Future evaluation could be done over any piece of the collection that could be better circulated. • If the findings prove a substantial increase in the Young Adult Fiction section circulation, I expect the display to continue, so as to encourage all readers to enjoy every part of the collection.
References • Cart, Michael. "Carte Blanche: What Is Young-Adult Literature?." Booklist (2004): 734. • Flowers, Sarah. "Guidelines for Library Services to Teens." Young Adult Library Services (2008): 4-7. • Gallaway, Beth. "Make It Count Advocacy and Teen Read Week." Young Adult Library Services (2010): 24-28 • Hoffert, Barbara. "The Turnaround." Library Journal (2005): 36-38. • Maker, Richard. "Reader Centered Classification of Adult Fiction in Public Libraries." Aplis 21, no. 4 (2008): 168-171. • Snowball, Clare. "Teenagers Talking About Reading and Libraries." Australian Academic and Research Libraries 39, no. 2 (2008): 106-118. • Webber, Desireee. Personal Interview. February 4, 2011.