Teen Collections

The teen collections support recreational reading for ages 13 through 18. High interest, popular materials are collected from the entire Dewey range. For curricular and academic research, teen patrons may rely on the adult and children's collections. Materials are selected from professional review sources, reviews by San Francisco Public Library teen librarians and suggestions by teen patrons. Fiction and nonfiction are collected in audio, video, and print formats.

Materials are collected to reflect the major demographics of the city. The collections are maintained on a continual basis. This is of particular importance because of the ephemeral nature of teen popular interests.

Teen Fiction

This area of the collection emphasizes popular fiction, recreational reading, and school-assigned classics.

The browsing appeal of fiction materials varies greatly. Popular recreational titles have great appeal to teen patrons and their high visibility in the teen section is a major attraction to the target population. Materials found in the teen fiction collection may include titles found in both the adult and juvenile fiction collections, along with titles that are unique to the teen fiction collection.

Teen Graphic Novels

Graphic novels are fictional works unique in their pictorial presentation of a story line. Graphic novels are selected for the quality of their illustrations and writing, as well as for their popularity. This collection is constantly changing because of demand.

Teen Magazines

The teen periodicals collection offers a wide range of subjects to encourage teens to become recreational readers. This circulating collection reflects the current popular interests of teens.

Magazines are selected to represent a variety of teen interests and to complement the book collection. Special attention is paid to magazines dealing with teen music and popular culture. The collection reflects San Francisco's cultural diversity, with care given to acquiring teen magazines in several languages. Magazine titles are reevaluated every year. Back issues are retained for up to one year, depending on condition.

Teen International Language Fiction and Nonfiction

This area of the collection emphasizes popular fiction in Spanish and Chinese. These are the two most common languages spoken by teens in the City.

Materials in this area will range from those appropriate for reluctant readers and those with low reading ability to those appropriate for the advanced high school senior. Collection size varies at each location, depending on the language needs of the surrounding population.

Teen Nonfiction

• Teen 001-099: This area contains standard non-circulating bibliographies and reference books about library services for teens. This collection's primary use is to provide reference materials for librarians working with teens and teen materials.
• Teen 100-199: This area contains materials on thoughts and feelings, philosophy, the occult, death and grieving, and ethics. Materials in this area require constant refreshment because of the popularity of these subjects.
• Teen 200-299: This area contains materials on mythology, world religions and the origins of religion.
  
  Because much of this subject area is curricular, not popular, in nature, most of the teen patrons’ needs and interests in this area are provided for in the adult and children’s collections.
• Teen 300-399: This area contains materials on teen rights, ethnic groups in America, family structures in society, civil rights history, education, money, holidays and weapons. It also includes materials on social issues which affect teens such as racism, prejudice, drugs and addictions, abortion and sexual orientation. Also included are books on career guidance, the SAT and standardized tests, and college and university guides, although most of these materials are purchased and shelved in the adult collections.
• Teen 400-499: This area contains titles on language and includes titles for teens learning English and other languages. Grammar and writing guides useful for homework assignments are also collected. Dictionaries and thesauri are included both for circulating and reference.
  
  Because much of this subject area is curricular, not popular, in nature, most of the teen patrons’ needs and interests in this area are provided for in the adult and children’s collections.
• Teen 500-599: This area contains the natural and pure sciences including mathematics, chemistry, science experiments biology, botany and zoology, and it is one of the most-used sections of the nonfiction collection. This section does not include textbooks, but does focus on homework and study skills in the listed subject areas.
  
  Because much of this subject area is curricular, not popular, in nature, most of the teen patrons’ needs and interests in this area are provided for in the adult and children’s collections.
• Teen 600-699: This area includes materials on reproduction, human development and maturation, teen pregnancy and childbirth, birth control, substance abuse and sexually transmitted diseases.
  
  An effort is made to acquire current materials about reproductive health and education, as well as teen parenting. Regular weeding is imperative to keep the collection accurate.
• Teen 700-799: This area contains materials on such popular culture subjects as radio, television, movies, music, and sports.
  
  It is especially important to update this collection continually, since many of the subjects lose currency anywhere from one to five years after ordering.
• Teen 800-899: This area contains literature and poetry collections.
• Teen 900-999: This area includes history from ancient times to the present and geography.
  
  Because much of this subject area is curricular, not popular, in nature, most of the teen patrons’ needs and interests in this area are provided for in the adult and children’s collections.

Teen Biographies

Materials include individual biographies of people who are of specific interest to teens. These might include biographies in the sports and entertainment fields, biographies of writers significant to teens, or biographies of young adults themselves.

This is a prime area for the inclusion of high-interest, low reading level materials to entice reluctant readers to the collection.

Teen Media

The media collection consists of DVDs and CDs with teen appeal. The teen DVD collection includes television programs (educational subjects as well as popular series titles), teen movies (educational subjects and popular box office titles) and anime films. The teen CD collection includes audio versions of literary works, both classic and contemporary, as well as music. The collection is very popular and must be constantly refreshed to compensate for loss and damage.

Music is the heartbeat of teen culture. Having currently popular CDs available for circulation greatly enhances the teen collection. Damage and theft are major issues in this collection, with significant funds allotted for replacing copies of popular materials. The music collection reflects teen interests in the past one to five years. As with other areas of the collection, the CD collection is kept fresh and current, with an awareness of the teen music world.