Focus on Policy: Libraries as 21st-Century Learning Places

Caroline Ward, Coordinator of Youth Services at The Ferguson Library in Stamford Connecticut, comments on the policies and projects currently in place in public libraries around the country. She points out that the Association of Library Services to Children makes it clear that children’s librarians must do more than simply provide age-appropriate service. Children’s librarians must also be advocates for their clientele both within the library and the larger society. Several examples of this advocacy are cited.