After all this discussion on magazines, especially those for young
girls, I feel I need a little more guidance here.
We are a 6-8 middle school and have received Seventeen ever since I
have been here (33 yrs/23 as librarian). We did start out as a 7-9
junior high and have been middle since 1996 or so.
Seventeen did seem somewhat advanced, so one year we went to Teen and
Teen People. Neither seemed a whole lot better, and the Teen People had
some really questionable photos, so we stopped those and went back to
Seventeen.
We have been buying single copies of YM(Your Magazine) and GL(Girls
Life) just to see how they would go and to sort of scope them out for
content, etc. ever since the discussion here on the list some time ago.
We were feeling pretty good about YM until the note just today about it
being "slutty", so now we aren't sure again.
We have not had questions or problems ever about our selections, and
that really does not concern me. As a provider of quality information
for students, however, we do feel responsible. There are some who argue
that school libraries should provide only the material that advances the
curriculum. Others would argue that we need to keep the students
reading, and so they are willing to pander more to their interests.
My concern is that some students may get ideas for inappropriate
activities from some of these articles. While the wiser, more mature
students will see this for what it is, the weaker students may not. I do
not feel that library materials can be selected with only these weaker
students in mind, but that is a concern. These same students probably
have a weak parent(s) to go with their situation, so that makes it even
more challenging.
Quite frankly, I really don't know what kind of responses I expect to
get back on this, but if any of you would care to share some thoughts, I
would love having them. If anything comes along, I will share, unless it
has already been posted to the list.
Thanks for being there...
Chester
Chester A. Koza, Librarian
Fremont Middle School
540 Johnson Rd
Fremont, NE 68025-6439
USA
Phone: 402 727-3112
Fax: 402 727-6535
Email: chester.koza@fpsmail.org
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