Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners
Policies and Procedures
Charge
To prepare a revised and updated edition of the Outstanding Books for the College Bound booklists every five years.
Purpose
To provide reading recommendations to students of all ages who plan to continue their education beyond high school.
Audience
The lists are primarily intended for students in grades 9–12 who wish to enrich and strengthen their knowledge of various subject areas in both classic and contemporary literature.
The lists can be used both by students wishing to round out their reading before entering college and by those taking college entrance examinations such as the ACT and SAT.
The lists can also be used by young adults and adults who are lifelong learners wishing to increase or update their knowledge of literature in areas covered by the lists.
Committee Members
The committee will consist of 15 members who are appointed by the YALSA Vice President/President-Elect for a two-year term beginning immediately after the conclusion of one Midwinter Meeting and ending at the conclusion of Midwinter two years later.
Ten members are required to attend both the Annual Conferences and the Midwinter Meetings during their term on this committee. As many as five members may be “virtual” members. The virtual members will be encouraged to attend the Annual Conferences and the Midwinter Meetings during their term of office, but are not required to do so. However, they must participate, along with the other committee members, electronically throughout their two-year term on a special electronic list. Therefore, access to the Internet is a requirement for all committee members.
Chair
The Chair will be appointed for a two-year term by the Vice President/President-Elect. While the primary role of the Chair is to facilitate the work of the committee, the Chair will have the right to participate in all committee activities. Access to the Internet and a willingness to communicate continuously and electronically with committee members are requirements for chairing the committee.
Liaison
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) will appoint a liaison to serve as a consultant to work with this committee. The liaison will advise the committee on the reading of college students today, and will be available to comment on and react to selections of categories and titles.
Committee Organization
The Chair will organize the committee in a way that will get the work done in the most efficient manner. The committee may operate as a committee of the whole or in subcommittees according to categories.
Selection Criteria
• Standard selection criteria consonant with the ALA Library Bill of Rights shall be applied.
• Although copyright is not a consideration, all titles should be widely available.
• Each category may have a special set of criteria.
• Books can be in print or out of print, in hardcover or paperback.
• Books that have appeared on earlier Outstanding Books lists or are available in revised editions are eligible.
Categories
The committee may select up to five (5) categories. The traditional categories for Outstanding Books are: The Arts, Biography, Fiction, and Nonfiction. Poetry has sometimes been a separate category, sometimes not. A Now/Current category was used for a time. Plays have been a subcategory of The Arts. There may be some variance in selected categories depending on the trends in society and in publishing. There may be subcategories, as well.
Suggested Selection Procedures
• Determine categories.
• Determine criteria, if needed, for selection in each category.
• Review titles in Outstanding Books for the College Bound: Choices for a Generation, ALA, 1996 to determine which titles should be reconsidered.
• Survey other lists of recommended books and look for titles that are recommended in several sources. The following sources may be helpful:
Good Reading: A Guide for Serious Readers, Bowker, 1990.
Books for You, latest ed., NCTE.
Senior High School Library Catalog, latest ed., H. W. Wilson.
Best Books for Young Adults: The Selection, the History, the Romance, ALA, 1994.
Best Books for Young Adults, second edition, ALA, 2000.
Fifty Years of Notable Books, Booklist Publications, 1996.
Reading Lists for College Bound Students, third edition, Prentice-Hall, 2000.
Recommended Reading: 5000 Classics Reviewed, Salem Press, 1995.
New Lifetime Reading Plan, by Clifton Fadiman, HarperCollins, 1999.
Bibliographies from specific subject areas.
Current reviews and retrospective reviews.
Annual lists of outstanding and notable books.
• Construct a working list of possible titles for study and reading.
• Select up to twenty-five (25) titles for each category.
Voting Procedures
The committee will determine its own voting procedure, however, most committees use a simple or a two-thirds majority for their final vote.
Annotations
• Using “Procedures for Writing and Publishing Annotations” (YALSA Handbook, VII-4), determine bibliographic information needed and style required for annotations.
• Locate essential bibliographic information according to the “Procedures for Writing and Publishing Annotations” and verify author, title, and publisher’s name.
• Write annotations that will appeal to young adults.
• The Chair must turn in to the YALSA staff by the end of the Midwinter Meeting a completed list of “Outstanding Books” by category, arranged alphabetically by author within each category in an electronic format.