"When we took our project to the joint OLA/WLA conference in
Portland in April 2002, we were somewhat surprised to find that what we had
previously considered a good demonstration of interdepartmental collaboration
in an academic setting actually drew more interest from the public librarians
than academic ones. We were pleased that librarians were interested in our
project, especially because libraries serve as such a great source of reading
material for teachers, mental health workers and parents who are trying to help
children and young adults with issues. Not surprisingly, librarians were the
first partners with healthcare professionals in using books therapeutically in
the early 1900’s; it’s only in the last few decades that the dominant
discussion of bibliotherapy has shifted from the library and medical literature
to that of mental health and education."
Draft article for OLA
Quarterly, Paula McMillen, PhD, Oregon State University Libraries, June 2006
In 2016 this still continues to be the case, though there is a marked increase in the acceptance of Reader Response Theory in the way that literature is being taught today suggesting that bibliotherapy might become a more popular method in the field of Expressive Arts Therapy.
"Although we began with a focus on children’s
books, our future plans include greater coverage of resources for young adults,
adults and multicultural materials."
From review of the resource in 2016, the database still seems to be primarily focused on children and young adults with inclusion of multicultural materials. LitMed still seems to be the best go-to resource that I have found to date for adult reading level fiction title recommendations.
