The Youth Literature Online Certificate Program is a 15 credit post-master's degree online course of study for librarians, teachers, and others concerned with preserving and passing on the rich literary heritage to children and young people in a technological age. Courses in this certificate program emphasize print literature while recognizing and evaluating newer media as a part of the canon. You must complete the five courses for the certificate within three years.

Technology, especially electronic media, is implicit in the teaching and learning design of this distance education program. Both the delivery of the courses (which is totally online via the Internet) and the class assignments ensure that participants develop mastery of the technology and an ability to use it to connect young people and literature. The online format of our courses also allows professionals from a wide geographical area to enroll in this post-degree certificate program.

Who Should Enroll?

The certificate program is designed to develop increased expertise among people who already have some education and experience in youth literature, rather than to introduce new professionals to the field. Basic coursework in youth literature is a prerequisite for entering the program. Admission requires a master's degree in librarianship, education, or a related field, including coursework in youth literature, as well as some work experience. If you have a bachelor's degree but significant work experience and have taken coursework in youth literature, you may request an exception to the admissions requirements. You may apply to join the certificate program during any semester.

Program of Study

We recognize that people who want to pursue this certificate will come to the program with a wide variety of education and experience in the area of youth literature and in the area of technology. Therefore we do not have required core courses as part of this program. Instead, we have created a set of competencies which students will demonstrate through coursework. Course requirements will be designed to address and measure the competencies identified. You may acquire all of these skills and knowledge through the coursework itself, but it is possible that you may already possess some of these abilities before you enter the program.

There are fourteen courses in the certificate program which are offered on a three year rotation:

-The Art of the Picture Book
-Children's Literature Goes to the Movies
-Does the Shoe Fit? Fairy Tales as Literature for Children
-The Fact of the Matter: Informational Literature for Middle and High School
-Fantasy and Speculative Fiction
-Female Voices in Historical Narratives
-Gender and Culture in Children's Picture Books
-Information Seeking and Using: Understanding How Young People Use Electronic Information
-Man of Advantage: Books and Boys in the Middle and High School Years
-Poetry for Children and Young Adults
-In Search of Cupid and Psyche: Myth and Legend in Children's Literature
-From Seuss to Sendak to Sis
-The Voice of the Author (several authors will be online with us during the semester)
-Writing a Life: Biographies and Personal Narratives

You may choose any five of these courses for the certificate. You must complete your coursework within three years. For details about academic policies that apply to students in this program, click here.

People who are not enrolled in the certificate program may take these classes on an individual basis, but if classes fill up we will give priority seating to certificate program students. Note that whether or not you are in the certificate program, all courses have a prerequisite of prior coursework in youth literature. We do not allow students to audit these classes.

For information about Program Director Kay E. Vandergrift, Associate Director Michael Joseph, and course instructors, click here.

People often ask us if they can use these courses toward a master's or a doctoral degree. The answer is that if you are enrolled in a degree program at any university, including Rutgers, the approval for transferring credits from another program lies with your program office and/or your advisor. You will probably have to show the catalog description and the course syllabus for each course you want to use towards your degree to the appropriate authority within your degree program. So we cannot guarantee that your degree program will accept these credits. On the other hand, the courses in this program carry graduate credits from Rutgers University, considered one of the top 75 research universities in the country, and students often transfer our credits elsewhere, especially to programs in librarianship or education.

Please note that the Youth Literature Online Certificate Program does not meet any state's requirement for school library media certification. It may be possible that you can use some of these courses as electives in a library media certification program. If you are interested in media certification, our MLIS program, offered both in New Brunswick and online, offers a New Jersey-approved plan of study for School Library Media Specialist, and our Professional Development Studies program offers online courses that can be applied towards some state certifications including Associate School Library Media Specialist certification in New Jersey.

About Taking Online Courses

If you're wondering whether taking courses online is a good option for you, please read our page about online learning.

Tuition and Fees

Details about tuition and fees can be found on our Admission and Enrollment webpage.

How to Apply and Register for Courses

Please return to our main website and follow the link for the upcoming semester to see how to apply to become a nondegree graduate student and then register for classes.