ERIC/WorldCat

By now everyone knows that I am interested in youth services and their programs, but I had to pause and think for a minute about something specific I wanted to know about the subject. (I wanted to go more specific because merely searching “youth service program” would be like dancing with an 800 lb gorilla!) In the end, I decided to look up information about self-esteem, reading and teenage girls to see what, if anything, was available.

I started in ERIC and searched starting just with the terms “reading” and “teens” in full-text and found 81 records.

When I added “self-esteem” a single article came up:
Parents Sharing Books: Self-Esteem and Reading. Access ERIC: FullText Author: Shermis, Michael, Ed. No. of Pages: 40
Document: Document (ED)
Accession No: ED329955 See more details for locating this item

This is actually a pretty good resource, because it is a handout for parents that stresses the importance of their children being able to read well.
Here is the abstract: This booklet focuses on self-esteem, especially as to how reading at home can affect reading and school performance and how poor reading attainment can affect self-esteem. Specific steps to help middle school children gain self-esteem are discussed. Practical questions from parents are answered and activities are described which can be used at home. Books for preteens, teens, and parents are also recommended in the booklet.

Because I received only one record, I think I may be limiting my search too much. I decided to try my search again via WorldCat.

Using the same three keywords and limitations I received 14 records, but most of them were about eating disorders and other items that were not applicable to my search. It seems that “eating disorders” involve parents to “read” and become more acquainted with the disease in order to be helpful to their children.
Among the selections I did find an article that could be helpful to a librarian that working with children.

Here is the listing:
How to reach & teach children & teens with dyslexia / Author: Stowe, Cynthia.
Publication: San Francisco : Jossey-Bass, 2000
Document: English : Book
Libraries Worldwide: 189
More Like This: Search for versions with same title and author Advanced options ...
See more details for locating this item

While it is a textbook, I think it would be a useful item to have at librarian’s disposal. I changed some of the search descriptors (some of them to subjects, etc) and did not receive any results at all.

My thoughts:
I think the databases are (and will be) a great way to gather information, even though this search didn’t really get any quality results. I have a feeling the reason for my lack for proper results is because I did not have a real subject (I wasn’t researching for an express purpose, like a paper or project). Should I have a particular item to look for I would definitely utilize these databases.