This study examined the juvenile marine science collections of ten public libraries on the Oregon coast to assess if they adequately provided children with good science books about their backyards. While most of the libraries demonstrate a strong commitment to children's services, none has evaluated their juvenile collections beyond monitoring general usage statistics and enlisting staff intuition. Describing adequacy proved difficult. Using a standard evaluation tool, a "best books" list, coupled with subject expertise, should have led to a clear assessment of the various colletions. When it did not, more work was done to discover how to use such a list and other review sources to evaluate and build adequate local collections.