iSchool Capstone

Children Choose: Children's Advisory Boards in Libraries

Project tags:

digital youth & youth services

equity & inclusion

information behavior & user research

Project poster

Children’s collection development and programming is implemented by adults based on librarians’ knowledge of what children might need. Libraries are missing direct input from elementary-aged children regarding books and programming. Our Capstone team created a research-based framework to implement Children’s Advisory Boards (CABs) in libraries. In a CAB, a group of children advises the library on collection development and programming. Using best practices that emerged during our eight test CABs, we created a toolkit for our sponsor, the Collaborative Summer Library Program. Librarians nationwide can use this toolkit to invite children’s voices into their libraries.

Project participants:

Stacey Akahoshi

MLIS Online

Mandi Harris

MLIS Online

Kourtni McHugh

MLIS Online