The Western Washington Univeristy Libraries' Children and Teen Poetry Collection includes materials written and published for children and teens, birth through age 20, from 1960 on. The primary scope of this collection is poetry published in the United States, with additional international items as warranted and desired. Collection subdivisions include: print, media, recordings (spoken word), online (web sites), and rare items. Primarily a circulating collection, valuable resources will be housed in the WWU Special Collections. The Children’s Poetry Collection is part of an overarching strategy within the Western Libraries to build and support our stragtegic collections and core resources.
While most publishing houses publish poetry as part of their children’s and teen divisions, and most libraries collect poetry, it is startling to note that there is no comprehensive, university-based collection in the United States with a focus on poetry for children and teens. Why not us? Why not here?
We imagine bringing poets to Bellingham, hosting inter-generational writing events, providing research grants for visiting scholars, and collaborating with existing poetry organizations, both locally and nationally. Western hosts an annual children’s literature conference that brings award winning authors and illustrators to campus. Now in its eleventh year, the conference has established Western Washington University and Bellingham as a locus for children’s and young adult literature. Educators, artists, students, librarians, writers, and scholars, attend the annual conference and it is in this spirit that we envision the Poetry Collection.
The Voice
by Shel Silverstein
There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
"I feel that this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong."
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What’s right for you – just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.
