Theology Meets YA

In an effort to learn more about the library's collection I usually spend some time each day wandering through the shelves. Since the books are not in any particular order, it helps me see what's on the shelves. That way when people have questions I have an idea of where materials are to answer their questions. Some days I focus on the commentary section, trying to memorize the different commentary sets we have. Other days I focus on Reference mentally calculating which encyclopedias are so out of date we can weed them when we start cataloging. The other day I decided to focus on the 'General Literature' section, which is about half the collection. Basically this the a collection of general Christian 'self-help' books, fiction, popular literature (Christian and secular), and a variety of other materials. I was surprised to find these:

And these are only a few of the Young Adult (YA) books I found. On other shelves were: The Giver, The Trumpet of the Swan, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and other award winners. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or to cry. On the one hand, it made me sad because I was reminded again by the lack of good donations over the years to this theological college; I so desperately want them to have a library full of relevant materials. On the other hand, I was kind of excited. At least for now I can have some fun things to read...a walk down memory lane to the books of my youth. YA lit is awfully fun; I started with one of the Little House on the Prairie books.

But I have a feeling if any students checked some of these out they'd get a pretty interesting picture of life in the US...although for the students who are at RTC to learn English, I might just find some good things for them to read the next time they ask for a novel. :)

P.S. Sorry for the grainy picture...the lights had just gone out right before I took the picture. In case you can't read the spines, the books in the picture are: The Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Goosebumps, etc.