Printz Award Titles in Mississippi Public Libraries: A Collection Analysis

The Michael L. Printz Award is presented annually by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) to recognize one book as the Printz Award winner and up to four books as Honor books. In areas of rapid growth like young adult (YA) publishing, librarians may add books recognized by an award as part of their collection development practice. The number of Printz Award winner and Honor books in a Mississippi library’s holdings can be viewed as a standard to see if Mississippi is falling behind or keeping up with trends in young adult publishing. Building on research completed for an unpublished 2011 master’s project exploring the same topic, this online library catalog study examines which public libraries in Mississippi have copies of Printz Award winner and Honor books from 2000-2025. This collection analysis explores the connection between Printz titles held and young adult collection building in Mississippi public libraries.