Correspondence (1974-2000) written from authors and publishers in response to honors received from the Young Adult Library Services Association, particularly for the inclusion of books in the Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers lists.
Correspondents include Douglas Adams, Richard Adams, James Aldridge, Lloyd Alexander, Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Jean M. Auel, Avi, Clive Barker, Nevada Barr, Thomas Barron, Lynda Barry, Janet Bode, Pierre Boulle, W. E. Butterworth, Roger Caras, Dale Carlson, Aidan Chambers, J. L. Chestnut Jr., Alice Childress, Beverly Cleary, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Barbara Cohen, Alex and Jane T. Comfort, Caroline B. Cooney, Susan Cooper Cronyn, John Craig, Margaret Craven, Michael Crichton, Patricia Curtis, Daniel S. Davis, Lindsey Davis, Patty Dann, Vida Demas, Carl Deuker, David Lee Drotar, Lois Duncan, Beryl and Sam Epstein, Lynne Ewing, Elizabeth Fenwick, Jeff Fields, Susan Clemens Fletcher, Brian Freemantle, Margaret Gann, Nancy Garden, Pauline Gedge, Barbara Girion, Fran Grace, Matt Groening, John Gordon, Cynthia Grant, Joanne Greenberg, Sue Harrison, Torey Hayden, Le Ly Hayslip, Nat Hentoff, Jamake Highwater, Margaret Hodges, Diane Hoh, Alice Hoffman, Felice Holman, Elaine Ipswitch, M. E. Kerr, Patrice Kindl, David Klass, Irina Korschunow, Jill Krementz, Francess Lantz, Nancy Larrick, Mildred Lee, Tanith Lee, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ella Leffland, Ted Lewin, Robert Lipsyte, Morgan Llywelyn, Barry Lopez, David Lubar, Michelle Magorian, John Marsden, Ann Martin, Sharon Bell Mathis, Joann Mazzio, Anne McCaffrey, William McCants, Linda McCartney, Lorraine Monk, Liza Murrow, Anna Myers, Beverley Naidoo, Jean Davies Okimoto, Zibby Oneal, Ruth Park, Katherine Paterson, Robert Newton Peck, Kathleen Peyton, Philip Pullman, Spider Robinson, Hendle Rumbaut, Gertrude Samuels, Scott Russell Sanders, Danny Santiago, Georgia Savage, Mary Sheldon, Robert Kimmel Smith, Sonya Sones, Ed Spielman, Jerry Spinelli, Mary Stewart, Charles Sullivan, Walter Swanson, Estelle Thompson, John Talbot, Ernest Tidyman, Sue Townsend, Jean Ure, Vivian Vande Velde, Cynthia Voigt, David Wagoner, Barbara Wersba, Walter Wick, Connie Willis, Claudine Wirths, Tom Wolfe, Hiltgunt Zassenhaus, George Zebrowski, and Charlotte Zolotow.
Also includes letters written on behalf of Maya Angelou, Allen Appel, Judy Blume, Susan Cooper, Laura Esquivel, James Herriot, Sky Lee, Gary Paulsen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Scott, Elleston Trevor, and William Wharton.
The Young Adult Library Services Organization (YALSA) as of 1991-1992, is interested in the improvement and extension of service to young people in all types of libraries.
The Young Adult Library Services Association is responsible for the evaluation and selection of books and non-book materials and the interpretation and use of materials for young adults.
YALSA has the reponsibility for:
1. Continuous study and review of the activities assigned to the division
2. Planning of special services and programs for this group
3. Synthesis of the activities of all units within the ALA that have a bearing on the type of activity represented
4. Representation, interpretation and promotion of mutual cooperation with youth-serving agencies in furthering activities for the welfare of the young people, and furtherance of the interests of young adults with publishers
5. Stimulation of the development of librarians engaged in its type of activity and the stimulation of participation in appropriate type-of-library divisions
6. Planning and development of programs of study and research for the total profession
The young Adult Library Services Association became a division on January 1, 1957. It was called the Association of Young People's Librarians from that date until June 25, 1957, when the new name was adopted (1). In 1991-92 the name was changed to Young Adult Library Services Association.