Urban Teens in the Library: Research and Practice

This groundbreaking book is relevant to all librarians working with urban teens and looking for ways to reach out to them.

Denise E. Agosto, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the College of Information Science & Technology at Drexel University. Her research interests include public libraries, diversity issues in youth library services, youth information behavior, and gender and information behavior. Dr. Agosto has published more than 60 articles and book chapters in these areas, and she frequently speaks about her research at state and national conferences. She has received numerous awards for her research and teaching, including the 2007 Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, the Drexel University 2007 Outstanding Contribution to Online Learning Award, and a number of funded research grants and fellowships. She is the Chair of the American Library Association's Library Research Round Table (LRRT), a member of the Lubuto Library Project's Lubuto Collections and Programs Advisory Council, and serves on the editorial boards of Library & Information Science Research, Children's Literature in Education, and The Journal of Information Technology Education (JITE).

Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Director of the School Library Media Program in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In her 25-year career she has been an elementary school teacher, a school library media specialist, and director of the Philadelphia Library Power Project. In her current research she focuses on social justice issues in youth library services and the role of school library media specialists in education reform.

Dr. Hughes-Hassell has experience as both an editor and author. Her most recent edited volume, School Reform and the School Library Media Specialist: Principles and Practices (with Violet H. Harada, Libraries Unlimited, 2007) was named the most important school library book of 2007 by Teacher Librarian. Recent journal publications include articles in Library & Information Science Research, School Library Media Research, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Knowledge Quest. She teaches courses related to materials and services to children and youth, and school library media programs.