Full Description
Street lit, also known as urban fiction, addresses with unflinching grit the concerns and problems of city living and survival in the United States. As a leisure reading genre, street lit encompasses some of the most in-demand titles in American public libraries' collections. In this new, thoroughly revised edition of her popular guide, Irvin's coverage of street lit is fortified by professional narratives from her experiences as a public librarian in Philadelphia, an updated treatment of canonical and contemporary book titles, and scholarly references that reflect her research background in library and information science. Attuned to the needs of novices and devotees alike, Irvin
sketches out the rich history of the urban fiction, showing why it appeals so strongly to readers and providing a quick way for street lit novices to get up to speed on understanding the genre;
demonstrates why promoting street lit means promoting literacy;
explores how authors, readers, and librarians read and respond to the genre and one another;
covers a variety of subgenres in terms of scope, popularity, style, major authors, and works;
shares approaches to readers' advisory (RA) founded on creating trust between the patron and the librarian; and
offers pointers on collection development and library programming.
Contents
Series Introduction by Joyce Saricks and Neal Wyatt
Foreword by Kafi D. Kumasi
Introduction: The Canonical Agency of Street Lit
Chapter 1: History of Street Literature in American Culture
Chapter 2: Characteristics of Street Lit
Chapter 3: Understanding, Classifying, and Defining Street Lit
Chapter 4: Readers' Advisory Approaches to Street Lit
Chapter 5: Collection Management Considerations for Street Lit
Chapter 6: Library Programming for Street Lit
Chapter 7: Reading Street Lit as a Literacy Practice
Epilogue: Street Lit's Enduring Legacy
Appendix: Street/Urban Literature: A Foundational Collection
References
Index
