ODLIS — Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science by Joan M. Reitz Now available in print! Order a copy of the hardcover or paperback from Libraries Unlimited.

Y

YA

An abbreviation of young adult, an adolescent aged 12-18, usually in the ninth to twelfth grade. See also: young adult book and young adult services.

YA book

See: young adult book.

Yahoo!

An acronym for yet another hierarchically officious oracle, a worldwide directory of Web sites developed in 1994 by two Stanford University engineering students to organize Web content in a hierarchical system of subject categories. Yahoo! also provides other Web-based services (news, weather, travel, e-mail, shopping, games, etc.). It uses a smaller database than most other Web search engines, but searches in Yahoo! usually have high precision because the Web sites it lists are selected by human beings rather than robot software. Jonathan Swift coined the term "yahoo" in Gulliver's Travels (1726) to refer to an imaginary race of coarse, brutish creatures in human form. Mark Twain later applied it to any boorish person. Click here to connect to Yahoo!

YALSA

See: Young Adult Library Services Association.

Yapp binding

A form of limp or semi-limp leather binding with rounded corners and bent-in edges that overlap the sections, sometimes by as much as half the thickness of the text block, named after William Yapp, the 19th-century bookseller who designed the style for pocket bibles sold in England. Geoffrey Glaister notes in Encyclopedia of the Book (Oak Knoll/British Library, 1996) that a similar style of binding with tooled edges was used in the mid-16th century. Synonymous wth yapped binding, yapped edges, and Yapp edges. Compare with circuit edges.

yawning boards

Covers that curve away from the text block of the book instead of lying flat against it, a condition usually caused by warping.

yearbook

An annual documentary, historical, or memorial compendium of facts, photographs, statistics, etc., about the events of the preceding year, often limited to a specific country, institution, discipline, or subject (example: Supreme Court Yearbook published by Congressional Quarterly). Optional yearbooks are offered by some publishers of general encyclopedias. Most libraries place yearbooks on continuation order and shelve them in the reference collection. Yearbooks of historical significance may be stored in archives or special collections. Also spelled year book. Compare with annual.

Also refers to an annual high school or college publication commemorating a particular school year or graduating class in photographs, usually sold in hardcover to seniors by advance special order at the end of the school year. Some libraries archive yearbooks for schools in their geographic area (see this example).

yellowback

An inexpensive popular novel bound in a shiny yellow paper or board cover with a picture printed on the front, usually a woodcut in three colors, a type of publication that originated in England in the 1850s and was used until the end of the century for inexpensive reprint editions. Click here to learn more about yellowbacks, courtesy of the British Library, and here to see them exhibited online (Monash University Library). Also spelled yellow back. Compare with dime novel.

yellowing

A color change that occurs in the condition of certain grades of paper with the passage of time, particularly those made from unbleached or groundwood pulp, one of the reasons most libraries convert newspaper back files to microfilm or microfiche. The problem can be averted in libraries by purchasing materials printed on acid-free permanent paper. Click here to see an example of yellowed paper. See also: brittle.

yellow pages

The portion of a telephone directory or trade directory following the white pages in which the names, phone numbers, and mailing addresses of commercial enterprises are listed, usually alphabetically by subject or in a classified arrangement, so named because the section is printed on yellow paper. Yellow pages are also available online (example: SuperPages.com from Verizon) and for specific professions (Librarian's Yellow Pages).

yellow press

A popular name for newspapers and periodicals of the early 20th century that published news stories of a vulgarly sensational nature, comparable to the modern tabloid. Synonymous with gutter press.

young adult book

A book intended to be read and enjoyed by adolescents 12 to 18 years of age. Also refers to a book intended for adults but considered suitable by reviewers and librarians for mature ninth- to twelfth-grade readers. Public libraries usually maintain a separate section for young adult literature managed by a librarian who specializes in YA services, including collection development. Compare with children's book. See also: KLIATT and Young Adult Library Services Association.

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

A division of the American Library Association (ALA) founded in 1930, YALSA has a membership of librarians responsible for evaluating and selecting books and nonprint materials for young adults (age 12 to 18) and for promoting and strengthening library services for young adult readers. YALSA publishes the journal Young Adult Library Services. Click here to connect to the YALSA homepage.

young adult services

Library services intended specifically for adolescent patrons (ninth through twelfth graders), including collection development, programming, and readers' advisory. Public libraries usually have a room or section devoted specifically to young adult materials, managed by a librarian who specializes in providing services for this age group. Compare with adult services and children's services. See also: Young Adult Library Services Association.

Young Reader's Choice Award (YRCA)

An annual literary award established in 1940 at the suggestion of the late Harry Hartman, a Seattle bookseller, to promote reading for enjoyment by children and young adults. Nominations are taken by the Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA) from the children, teachers, parents, and librarians of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alberta. To be nominated, a book must have been published in the preceding 3 years and printed in the United States or Canada. The award is given to one title in each of three divisions: junior, middle, and senior. Only children in grades 4-12 who live in the Pacific Northwest are eligible to vote. Voting takes place from March 15 to April 1. Click here to learn more about the Young Reader's Choice Award.

YRCA

See: Young Reader's Choice Award.