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Californian Bessie Condos Egan relates the fascinating story of children and youth services and family literacy in the libraries of the nation's most complex and multicultural state. By exploring the demographical breakup of California, Egan outlines the problems that come along with rapid growth along with the areas that need attention in regards to children's literacy services.

This chapter documents the evolution of the application of evaluation methods to public library services for children and teens in the United States. It describes the development of age-specific output measures and the subsequent requirement by funding agencies for outcome evaluations that measure changes in skills, attitudes, behavior, knowledge, or status as a result of an individual's participation in a service or program. Some early outcomes research studies are cited, and California initiative to implement statewide outcome evaluation of its Summer Reading Program is presented as a case study. Training and education are suggested as ways to counter the major challenges for wider implementation of outcome evaluation of youth services programs in public libraries.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 25.7% of individuals residing in the United States were under the age of 18 in the year 2003 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004a). Within that group 17.6%, about 12 million children, were living in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004b). Of the children classified as living in poverty, most lived in metropolitan areas. As defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), metropolitan areas are geographic entities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, or an urbanized area made up of a central place and adjacent territories where the general population density is at least 1000 people per square mile of land (U.S. Census Bureau 2004c). The largest city in a metropolitan area is called a “central city” or an urban center. These densely populated urban cities are home to most children living in poverty in metropolitan areas.

One measure of any nation's long‐term commitment to culture, reading and learning is surely its investment in the provision of library and information services to children. The aim of this article is to describe the approach to charting the UK's performance and to identify some issues of global relevance.

Separate questionnaires were circulated to all public library authorities and schools library services in the UK. The distribution of questionnaires is carried out electronically. Potential respondents are contacted by e‐mail and the questionnaire is included as an attachment. Up to 2000‐2001, questionnaires were distributed on paper by post.

A ten‐year review of data allows one to draw the conclusion that little is changing dramatically. The last ten years have seen a remarkable change in the nature and magnitude of information media. The computer has transformed the way in which children interact with one another and the wider world and books can be bought with the groceries at the supermarket. In this scenario, the children's library is necessarily evolving. The question is: is it doing it fast enough?

It is difficult to maintain complete comparability in a series of this kind because one is dealing with a range of dynamic factors. For example, in the case of new authorities and rearranged boundaries. As a result, in many cases questionnaires relating to the 1995‐1996 period were sent to the relevant new authorities for retrospective completion. This may have resulted in a higher level of missing and/or incomplete data for that period.

Provides useful information, not only to academic institutions and libraries, but also to parents.

Provides a general description of the movement for library services for children and children’s libraries, together with the modern public library movement in post‐war Japan. The Bunko as a home library, or a community‐based small library, is quite characteristic of Japan. The Bunko movement played an important role in improving the reading environment of children and the library service for children. The Chusho‐report (1963) and Shimin‐no‐Toshokan (1970) changed the concept of the public library in Japan. They contributed to an increase in reading facilities for children and the establishment of new public libraries. Children’s libraries at the national, public and private level are also described.

Summarizes the results of research by the Library Association into library services for children in the United Kingdom. Presents summary statistical findings on resourcing and operational aspects of school and public libraries, and outlines policy recommendations made by the Library Association on the basis of these findings. The picture of library services for children is worrying, as statistics gathered indicate. Describes activities during the Library Association’s “library power” programme and offers a rationale for the programme. Summarizes favourite reading of children and parents and highlights some events.

This paper investigates school library services in the digital age for students with dyslexia and explores the impact of current library services on students’ learning.

A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was designed according to the LAFE (Look and listen, Assistance and accessibility, Format and fit, and Environment) framework for learners with dyslexia and the 5E instructional model and conducted with 11 school librarians.

Results indicated that participants lacked knowledge of dyslexia for appropriate library services. Awareness, IT skills, school administration, funding and parental attitudes would influence the library’s tailored services to dyslexic children, despite the rich resources in these participants’ libraries, including paperbacks, digital resources and electronic devices. Adaptations are necessary to provide accessible services, especially by applying digital technologies, and school libraries can positively impact students’ reading interests, promote knowledge inquiry and strengthen information literacy skills.

While students with dyslexia spend significant time in schools, limited studies focus on school library services in the digital age, especially in Asia. This study fills the gap by systematically exploring the issue with the 5E instructional model.

This survey research aims to investigate the level of satisfaction among children (up to 14 years) with regard to facilities and services available at the children’s section of the Jaffna Public Library (JPL, Sri Lanka).

A structured questionnaire was distributed among randomly selected members of the children’s section, JPL. Data collected via the structured questionnaire were analysed using SPSS 22.0. In addition to the descriptive analysis, independent samples t-test and f-test were conducted to observe the influence of personal variables on different facets of user satisfaction.

The response rate was 67 per cent. Descriptive analysis showed that the prime purpose of visiting the children’s section (JPL) is reading books and other materials. With regard to frequency of visit, 86 per cent of the respondents visit the library three to four times in a week or at least once a week. Results of the f-test indicated that there is no significant difference among different age groups for overall satisfaction of children’s section facilities and services. Results of the t-test revealed that female children are more satisfied with the library environment compared to males. Further, the level of satisfaction with shelf arrangement, library environment and children’s programmes differed significantly between children studying in the bilingual and the Tamil mediums.

This study reports the empirical findings of the user survey carried out at the children’s section of the JPL.

Public libraries will continue to be challenged by the presence of unattended children in the library as long as parents struggle to provide adequate childcare arrangements. This article discusses some typical library responses to the presence of unattended children and identifies elements that are shared by the most successful programs. Many libraries have found that offering programs for children is an excellent way to strengthen the relationship between the library and its community. In addition, innovative programs that encourage young library users provide an opportunity to foster a new generation of library users, which is critical if libraries are to survive as an institution in the coming years.