If the workload of the BBYA Committee was the problem, why didn YALSA just change the nomination process or make other adjustments to the committees policies and procedures?
The workload of the committee was one problem YALSA’s Board sought to address. The number of books that were eligible for BBYA more than doubled from 1966 to 2008. In 1966 when the list was re-invented into its current form as the Best Books for Young Adults list, there were 19,444 adult titles and 2,375 juvenile titles published in the US. “Juvenile” combined children’s and YA into one category. In 2008, there were 46,050 adult titles and 2,100 YA titles – excluding children’s books – published. Adjusting the nomination process or making other small changes to the way the committee did its work could not adequately address the fact that the number of eligible titles has grown exponentially since 1966. Compounding the problem is the fact that YA books have actually increased significantly in page length over the past several years, making the job YALSA was asking committee members to do even more of a challenge.
