Publication analysis
About the publication
Title: Young Adult Library Services (YALS)
ISSN: 2374-7706 1
Website: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/young-adult-library-services
Purpose, objective, or mission: It is the official journal of Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), whose mission is “to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives.”2 In support of these efforts, YALS “features articles that showcase best and emerging practices, provides news from related fields, spotlight significant YALSA events and opportunities, and offer in-depth reviews of professional literature.”3
Target audience: Librarians and library staff who serve youths, ages 12 through 18.4
Publisher: American Library Association.5
Peer reviewed? No.6
Type: LIS professional news.7
Medium: Online.8
Content: Showcases best practices, news from related professions, reviews of professional literature, and spotlights YALSA events.9 Each issue may contain articles on important topics such as: intellectual freedom, intersectionality, cultural competence, adolescent literacy, youth development, and leadership. There may also be interviews, speeches, or bibliographic essays.10
Frequency of publication: Four times a year.11
About the publication’s submission guidelines
Location of submission guidelines: http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/yals/author-guidelines/
Types of contributions accepted: Feature articles ranging from 1,800 to 4,000 words in length. News of current interest to the profession, articles on best practices, news from related professions, and reviews of professional literature. Manuscripts submitted should not be under consideration or accepted elsewhere.12
Submission and review process: Manuscripts should be submitted as Microsoft Word documents via email to the editor. Contact the editor for specifics concerning submission and style guidelines. Submissions may be edited for clarity accuracy, and readability.13
Editorial tone: There is no stated tone for article submissions, and articles can range from academic to reports on field practice. A wide variety of styles is acceptable as long as the submission conforms to the themes and types of articles YALSA is interested in for their readers.14
Style guide used: Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition.15
Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors
This publication is eminently suitable to anyone who has an interest in writing articles geared towards librarians serving young adults (aka “teenagers,” adolescents,” “youth”). It would be an excellent resume builder to have been published in the YALSA journal. The guidelines are direct and exact. Getting published in this journal might be difficult for a novice, but the attempt would be worth it.
Audience analysis
About the publication’s readers
Publication circulation: YALS reaches YALSA membership, over 5,000 librarians and educators.16
Audience location and language or cultural considerations: YALSA is centered in Chicago, IL, and the main geographic location served is the United States. However, they do outreach programs in other countries and some members are international, so the journal has a limited international scope as well. Cultural considerations do not generally enter into the journal’s authorship. Most authors appear to be writing solely for American librarians who serve young adults. These articles can be applicable to most any other developed country’s librarians serving youth (ages 12-18), however, even more than with young adult services in the U.S., there is a dearth of research and scholarship on developing nation’s youth services.17
Reader characteristics: Readers range in location, age, and gender. They are spread all over the U.S. in both public and school libraries. The vast majority of readers have MLIS degrees and work as Young Adult Specialists or youth generalists in public library librarians or School Library Media Technicians. Some readers are para-professionals or library assistants at these locations and do not have a MLIS degree. All the librarians who read YALS, however, are highly interested in services to young adults (ages 12-18) as that is the target issue for this particular journal. Some interests they all share are collection development for YA literature, community development, inclusivity, methods of incorporating library use into school curricula, intellectual freedom, and hot topic issues having to do with youth services. Since the librarians targeted by this journal work with young adults (ages 12-18), their needs tend to be a trifle more progressive than some fields. The world of youth services is constantly expanding and evolving due to YA reliance on the internet and technology. In order to keep up with the clientele they serve, the readers are going to be looking for innovative articles which will offer the ideas, experiences, and opinions of their colleagues.18
Knowledge of LIS subject matter: Considering that most of the readers have MLIS degrees, contributors can assume that readers will be familiar with the profession’s vocabulary, particularly that pertaining to young adult services.19
Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors
The most important thing to keep in mind when writing for YALS is that the readership is going to be interested primarily in topics having to do with youth librarianship. They are not going to be interested in esoteric topics on archives, law libraries, etc. Some articles on cataloging or subscription databases would be acceptable, but primarily articles should be geared toward advancing, managing and delivering excellent library and information services to young people.
Last updated: June 29, 2019
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