Anne Frame submitted these companion articles.
Two young women, Gillian Larson and Krysta Mapes have been busy updating the Young Adult Section of Odell Public Library, 307 S. Madison Street, Morrison, IL, during COVID-19. They utilized the $1000 from the GoFundMe initiative and donations from the Friends of Odell Public Library drive in September 2020. They totally rearranged the Young Adult Section shelving and furniture.
Mapes stated, “This section of the library had been somewhat neglected, so this fund drive allowed us to update the Young Adult Section with 79 new books!”
“We also wanted to give the teens more room, so we moved shelving, tables, and chairs to give the young adults a space of their own,” added Larson.
Both agreed quite enthusiastically they have more plans for this area. Larson is shown at left with co-worker Mapes.
Mapes has worked at Odell for seven years, and Gillian has been employed for five. They both agree that they love the work environment and their co-workers.
“It has been a great way to meet the community and to make new friends,” said Larson.
When I asked them what they wanted to see happen next, they stated emphatically
- new carpet
- new furniture for the Young Adults
- new flooring in the Children’s Section
- a place for coffee for moms who bring their children to play in the Kids’ Kitchen
- updated technology.
Krysta’s and Gillian’s youth, vitality, and creativity are wonderful assets to Odell Public Library! Their thoughts follow.
Odell Public Library has a wonderful Young Adult reading section. However, in early 2020, we noticed something about the books we had on our shelves. There was a lack of current, Realistic Fiction stories, ones that could enlighten young patrons on racial, political, and identity issues. We took the liberty of researching recent publications and compiled a long list of diverse books our youth could explore.
The 79 new books at Odell deal with themes such as racial identity and inequality; various marginalized religions; individuals with disabilities; LGBTQ representation. We feel that in order to properly educate our youth on what is happening in our world, Odell as a library needed to provide fictional stories with representative characters and inclusive concepts. It is extraordinarily important for these groups of individuals to have voices; not just in the news and visual media outlets, but in our story books. Literary characters can be just as powerful and impactful to children as living role models, and they can provide a friend to those who need one. We want to provide a well-rounded section with books every young adult can relate to and learn from.
With the money that the Friends of Odell generously raised, Odell has purchased 246 items so far; 79 are for our Young Adult Section. For the past few years, we slowly have been making improvements throughout Odell, to make the space more friendly for all age groups. We started with the youngest group of children coming into the library and have been working our way up. We finally reached our Young Adult Section. With new titles and a new location, we created a space where our young adults can come and hang out (after things open back up, of course.) Though there are more improvements that we hope to see in our library in the future, this is a good start to improve the variety of reading material and space for our young adult readers.
We received input from the young adults within our community and from our very own young adults at Odell. We have a variety of new titles coming. They cover themes that are relevant to the experiences that teens face in today’s society. There are graphic novels, written similar to “comic books;” some will be in the popular, Japanese design style, manga. [See photo at left.]
Graphic novels include classic adaptations such as, The Odyssey, Wuthering Heights, and The Diary of Anne Frank. We are so excited to see all of these new editions to our library collection and know that there will be something for any young adult reader within these new titles
We would also like to announce that beginning in January 2021, Odell Public Library will release an original podcast, entitled “Between the Stacks.” This podcast is hosted by Librarians Gillian Larson, Emily Lenore, and Krysta Mapes. We will discuss new releases, spotlight library sections, talk with your favorite Odell Librarians, and share with listeners everything going on at the library. We also will cover events in Morrison and talk with leaders in the community.
You can find our podcast at Anchor https://anchor.fm/betweenthestacks. You can also find it podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
If you would like to ask a question or be featured in an episode, please email us at ask.odell.library@gmail.com.