Libraries and their collections - initial thoughts from the introduction

‘The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board said last month that declining enrollment is forcing them to lay off 39 school librarians and close the libraries. The board is facing a $10-million budget cut next year. It lost 800 students last year and is projecting a similar loss next year.’ (CBC News, 2011).

The biggest issue facing the role of the school library within schools is a lack of understanding about the role of the teacher librarian and the library itself. For many people, a library is a place stacked with books; a place that has diminished relevance in an increasingly digital world. It is worrying, that when faced with budgetary cuts, one school board effectively wiped out what should be considered THE two most relevant and important resources within the school: the library and the qualified teacher librarian who works in it. How or why can this happen?

I have to admit, there are days when I wonder if I can fully embrace the digital change that is occurring in libraries. And when I read about schools such as the Windsor Catholic schools, who removed all of their libraries from their schools, there are days when I sit back and wonder if many of the changes that are happening are a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. This is troubling, when as discussed in the introduction to module 1, that there is no systemic research available yet, that provides guidance around whether these sweeping changes are actually of benefit to the school community.

This article ‘What to watch for in 2013’ (Shatzkin, 2013) points out an important fact regarding the transition of print resources to digital.  ‘Immersive Books’, those books that are read from the first page, through the last, have been easily produced in ebook format. “Other than immersive’ books – reference books, picture books, illustrated books are still lagging behind in transitioning to digital format, and could do so for the foreseeable future. In resourcing the school library, and advocating for the types of resources that are acquired for the collection, this is an important understanding to have.

There is much about this process that will ultimately benefit from hindsight. It is an undeniable fact that yes, we now live in the ‘information age’. And yes, most of what people want to find out, they look for on google. And yes, one can download ebooks from the comfort of their own living rooms. Does being digital really mean the death of libraries? I don’t believe so. But I also don’t believe that libraries can only survive by going completely digital. It will be interesting to see research into the book-less, all-digital library in San Antonio, Texas compared with other more hybrid library designs, particularly concerning the reading matter that CAN’T be accessed through this approach.

I cannot agree with a decision to remove all printed books from the school library at this point in time, when many resources have not yet made the successful transition to digital dominance. To do so, right now, restricts students from accessing literature that has not yet been moved into digital format. It restricts student access to a multitude of well-researched and accurate reference material that they can trust and use in conjunction with online research. At this point in time, if the entire library catalogue is digital, it restricts the students from accessing reference books, picture books, illustrated books. These are not just books that students choose to research from, but are books that provide the teacher librarian with the opportunity to foster a love of reading across all genres and areas of information. 

What is reassuring from reading this article and the follow up article, Libraries to return to Windsor Catholic schools (Jeflyn, 2011) are two things. One, the strong reaction from both the parents and students regarding the closing of what they considered an important area of their school. Secondly, was the subsequent back down from the board, to reintroduce libraries back into the schools through a partnership with the local public library system. It is reassuring to see the emphasis put back into book collections and exciting children about reading. It is wonderful so see how collaboration between the school library and local community in creating a resource space valued and used beyond the four walls of the school.  

I believe there is a definite and important place for both digital and print resources in our school libraries at the present time. The challenge for teacher librarians is balancing these two important aspects of the collection, ensuring a professionally managed and well-resourced library that creates and nurtures an information rich learning environment. With this challenge, comes a need for the teacher librarian to be an advocate for the place of the school library, educating and working with the school leadership team and key committees in developing a common understanding for the place of the library with the schools learning environment.  It is too early yet, to be throwing that baby out with the bath water.

References:

Australian School Library Association (ASLA) & Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA),  (2004). Standards of Professional Excellence for teacher librarians.  In Australian School Library Association::ASLA. Retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.aspx

CBC News (May 12, 2011). Parents don’t want book shut on school libraries. In CBC News Windsor. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/parents-don-t-want-book-shut-on-school-libraries-1.1061505

Idea Logical Blog. (

Jeflyn, P. (Nov 15, 2011). Libraries to return to Windsor Catholic Schools. In CBC News Windsor. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/libraries-to-return-to-windsor-catholic-schools-1.1021028

Shatzkin, M. (Jan 2, 2013). The Shatzkin Files – What to look for in 2013. In The Idea Logical Company.  Retrieved from http://www.idealog.com/blog/what-to-watch-for-in-2013/

Unsworth and Cool Tools for schools

There are richly inspiring online resources for extending children’s literary experience... (Unsworth 2005, p.12)

With the burgeoning of such sites, educators are able to access expertise provided by authors, publishers, commercial providers, professional organisations, their peers and students worldwide, to provide easy to implement and inexpensive resources for developing broad and diverse understandings about literature and literacy (Unsworth, 2005).

Unsworth’s statement from 2005, regarding the burgeoning of rich, online reosurces, is more relevant in 2014, than ever before. And the challenges facing educators in accessing and integrating them into successful classroom practice are just as relevant.

There are many resources listed by cooltoolsforschools and also on the sites by Bertland, Castek Coiro and McMullan, that could be useful in providing links for teachers to use in the development of their literacy programs, especially when programming for the Literature strand of the Australian Curriculum. There are links on each of these sites that could be readily used for exploring literature and context, responding to literature, examining literature and creating literature. There also links which could fit well into the other English strands: language and literacy. 

I think it could be said, that on the whole the majority of classroom teachers have now willingly taken on board the use of online resources, particularly as a tool for planning curriuculum units, for use with interactive whiteboards and group work activities. For the majority of these classroom teachers, the current challenges with using these online resources within their teaching are to do with time and accessibility.

Having sites like these available, provide a portal through which teachers can access a list of sites already gathered by other people. While this cuts down, the time invested by teachers, there is still a need for teachers to spend time investigating each site for relevance, content, interactivity, possibility for differentiation, usefulness for whole class or small group teaching.

There then is the issue of accessibility to online resources. Many schools have invested significant funds to provide banks of laptops, ipads and desktop computers. Yet, having the hardware is only halfway to providing access. Issues surrounding  storage, security, equitable access for uses, internet access, internet speed, wifi capabilities, backup systems, data storage, school intranets and firewalls have all contributed to accessibility issues.

So where then does the teacher librarian figure into this? This is not easy to answer. In many schools, there is still a need to shift the focus of the role of the teacher librarian as simply a holder of a repository of books and RFF babysitter, to that of a ‘teacher, leader, advocate for reading, inquiry and learning; partner with classroom teachers,  who can design and implement curriculum and instruct learners in thinking, inquiry, problem solving and ethical behavior.’ (Lamb, 2011)

In many schools that I have worked in, the teacher Librarian and the ICT coordinator, are not usually the same person, nor has there usually been a visible working relationship between the two parties in regards to the issue of resourcing. It is becoming clear, that as we move further in the information age, with digital literacy, e-books, hyperlink texts etc, there is a need for a working relationship between these two roles. For the schools resources to be available, update and accessible, Teacher librarians need to not only be a part of the conversation, they need to be leading the conversation. School staff ideally, should view the library as the hub through which of the resources of the school flow – both offline AND online resources.

In order to change the mindset of classroom teachers and school executive, teacher librarians need to be:

proactive in developing collaborative relationships with classroom teachers,  through collaborative planning and resources of their programs,

develop online databases of online resource links that can accessed through the school intranet both at school and at home,

be proactive in sharing and communicating these resources and the other resources available in the library and online

demonstrate knowledge of the curriculum and how these resources can support and enhance the teaching and learning experiences.

Actively research, observe and evaluate the student learning, programs and resources

Actively involved in professional networking and professional development

Willing to lead, teach and nuture the learning journeys of the school staff to bring them along this amazing journey into 21^st century literacy, well resourced and confident.

Then websites like cooltoolsforschools will not be just another website highlighted in a staff meeting, or a random link on a school website page. They will be accessible, available, talked about and shared, utilised and earmarked for the wide variety of learning experiences that are found within our classrooms.

Lamb, A. (2011). Bursting with potential: Mixing a media specialist’s palette. Techtrends 55(4) 27-36

Leonardo - Beautiful Dreamer

Browsing a number of non-fiction picture books borrowed from my local library, I came across an interesting book 'Leonardo - Beautiful Dreamer' by Robert Byrd.

This non-fiction picture book details the life and works of Leonardo Da Vinci.

The front cover of the book is rich in detail. It has an illustrated portrait of Leonardo at the top of the cover, with an elegant 'Leonardo' beneath it. In a different font beneath the name are the words beautiful dreamer. Around the edges of the cover are a variety of thumbnail illustrations.

The end papers of the book, written in a different font again, are the quotes or statements attributed to Leonardo throughout his life, although this is never made clear to the reader at anytime in the book.

Byrd begins the text with an introduction, drawing in readers by asking them to consider their own personal experience in regards to understanding and learning about how complicated things work. He then uses this personal experience, to lay the foundation for the kind of person Leonardo was - a curious man who conducted numerous investigations to understand the laws of nature and use those understanding to design unimagined marvels. Facing the introduction is another illustration portrait of Leonardo, sitting within a picture frame, surrounded by more thumbnail illustrations.

Byrd lays out each consecutive double page spread page using a combination of elements. Each double page spread has it's own title located at the top of the left hand page (apart from the introduction and first double page spread where it is located on the top right hand page. The most prominently sized text on each page contains a recount of the stages of Leonardo's life, beginning with his birth, through his career and life until his death. Each page continues a main illustration that is reflective of what is recounted of Leonardo's life on that page. Additional facts that elaborate further on the recount are located around the page in a different font much smaller in size. These facts are accompanied by smaller illustrations, that either reflect the additional information, or provide further information themselves such as maps or diagrams. The illustrations are very detailed, yet reliant on the text for meaning to be made from them.

At the end of the book, Byrd has included an Author's Note that attempts to explain how we come to have information regarding Leonardo  and acknowledges personages who have had something to do with the research into his life. Following the Author's note is a very detailed time line beginning from Leonardo's birth through the 1880's and the publications of Leonardo's notebooks.

The final page contains an extensive bibliography that includes helpful references for the illustrations, World Wide Web resources and resources specifically for children and young adults.

This books requires time to read, as it is quite in depth. The author  does not treat his audience with condescension and does not make the illustrations cutesy or inconsistent with the text. Rather this text is geared towards upper primary and high school students, containing more complicated vocabulary and text explanations. This books is very visually appealing and goes to great length to portray an in depth and accurate recount of the life and works of Leonardo for children and young teens. It would be a great book to use to introduce a science unit on design and innovation.

Byrd, R. (2003). Leonardo - Beautiful Dreamer. New York: Penguin Putnam

The Golden age of the Graphic Novel

I think one of the greatest pieces of learning that I will take away from this unit, will be my exploration into Graphic literature.

I have been blown away by this medium. I started with reading Tetzner's novel 'The Black Brothers', with it's striking scratchwork black and white drawings. This story based on the boy chimneysweeps of Italy, is a graphic adaption of Tetzner's 1940 novel. I then moved to a graphic adaption of 'The City of Embers' (DuPrau, 2012) which I loved and am looking forward to reading the original version, and seeing the movie. Deutsch's Hereville: How Mirka got her sword (2010), was an enjoyable read, based around a Jewish heroine, set in a Jewish village. Remarkably, (to me at least) was the Author's note at the end of the book, explaining that he drew Hereville on his computer using Photoshop and a Cintiq tablet. How fabulous to know how the author created the work and how possible it is for any of us to do the same (my ICT knowledge is growing - and who knows - maybe I'll be photoshopping soon too!).

I have an amazing book in my hands right now. 'The Graphic Canon: Volume 1'  edited by Russ Kick.

It is a graphic anthology of the world's greatest literature as comics and visuals. Kick begins his introduction stating 'We're living in a golden age of the graphic novel' where talented artists, using every tool at their disposal are 'creating amazing, gorgeous, entertaining and groundbreaking material'. This volume, contains 55 graphic literature works from early literature works through to the 1700'. Graphic adaptions of The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Book of Revalation, Beowulf, The Divine Comedy, The Canterbury Tales, King Lear, Gulliver's Travels, Dangerous Liaisons. Kick asked the artists to stay true to the source material - no setting in the future, no creating new adventures. Excerpts or abridgements for longer materials were allowed. And within that framework, Kick describes the results as a


 'vast, rich, kaleidoscope of art and literature. A rainbow of visual approaches applied to the world's trasure trove of great writings, and something wondrously new has taken shape.'


While I found a number of the renditions a bit too graphic for my liking (especially the sexually graphic aspect of some them), I absolutely love the idea that is behind this, and can think of a number of students that I have taught over the years, with a phenomenal amount of artistic talent, who could have benefited from using their talent in such a way.

 Kick hopes that the Canon is an educational tool, that it leads people to read the original works. It could be an amazing resource to use with students in both upper, middle and high school although, with the very graphic elements in some of the stories, it is definitely NOT an appropriate book for shelving in the collection. It is a book though that I would I would say it is definitely worth a look at, even if just to broaden your knowledge of the variety of graphic artistry being produced and challenge you as to how you could use this concept in the classroom/ library. There are some really lovely, and suitable renditions, one such for primary students would be the absolutely gorgeous version of 'Coyote and the Pebbles' (story be Dayton Edmonds, Art by Micah Farritor).

Looking forward to reading Volumes 2 and 3.
_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kick, R (ed.). (2012). The Graphic Canon. New York: Seven Stories Press.

The ABC of it: Why Children's Books Matter

Last week, I was fortunate enough to go on holidays with my husband and children to New York City. Amongst various other activities that we crammed into our 2 days and 3 nights, was my desire to visit the New York City Public Library. Having lined up to see Santa at Macy's, gone up the Empire State Building, and with two tired children in tow, I was happy enough for us to walk past, and I get my photo and stand and look at a wonderful building that I see as a monument to the importance that libraries should hold in our society. On our last trip to New York, I had wandered the inside of the building, so I was content this time, just to stand in it's presence and soak it in for a minute or two.

Hubby was the one who spotted the banner advertising a current exhibition "The ABC of it: Why Children's Books Matter".

"Oh" I sighed.

And wonderful man that he is, who knows my love of libraries, of children and children's books, said he would take our girls back to the hotel to rest, while I stayed and looked at the exhibition.

Love that man.

And so in I went. And it was wonderful. The first book on display - a rare copy of the New England Primer (and although I was not supposed to take photos here is one anyway!)

and a copy of 'The Pictured World"

There was a copy of beautifully illustrated copy of Aesop's Fables from 1666. It is the only known copy in existence, as all the others burned in the great fires of London that year.

The exhibition examined very early texts such as William Blake's beautifully illustrated 'Songs of Innocence', Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Wonder Book for Boys and Girls" (as well as a copy of The Scarlet Letter), accompanied by quotes from Rousseau and John Locke  through to early picture books from the 19th and 20th centuries including the Madeleine, The Snowy Day, Goodnight Moon and Harold and his purple crayon by Crockett Johnson. There was a wonderful display of the Dick and Jane earl readers and Dr Seuss.

and our family favourite 'Ferdinand'.

A tribute was payed to Lewis Carroll and 'Alice in Wonderland' with a letter from Charles Dodgson (Carroll) to Alice Lidell on display. Also prominent was a display on Where the Wild Things Are and the contributions authors such as Sendak and Carle made to both the written word and illustrations.

There was a focus area on multicultural literacy and picture books written throughout the world. Beautifully illustrated Japanese pocket books (I can't remember the author!), a copy of a children's book from early last century on Lenin from Russia, written in Islamic and other texts from across Asia, India, and Europe.

Hans Christian Anderson and the Brother's Grimm were displayed as were The Poky Little Puppy from The Golden Books. There was a wonderful area devoted to controversial / banned  picture books such as 'Pippi Longstockings', Judy Blume's 'Are you there God, it's me Margaret', Anne Frank 'A Diary of a Young Girl', 'The Rabbit's Wedding' by Garth Williams and Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn'.

Not to mention seeing the actual Winne the PooH stuffed toys that the story was written around. Awesome!

I was fortunate enough to join a docent led tour and this was wonderful, to have a librarian share additional and interesting information about the books, although I did enjoy the opportunity to also browse at my leisure.  I wish I had had a pen and paper to record more of what I had seen, or been more willing to 'break the rules' and photograph the exhibit.

Still, it was an amazing opportunity to see and explore this wonderful exhibition and walk through that glorious building.

My next goal is now to visit Toronto before the 14th of March to see the 'And then what happened? Series and Popular Fiction in Children's Literature''at the Toronto Public Library.

Palazzo Inverso

"Palazzo Inverso" D.B. Johnson. 2010. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. New York.

In perusing the postmodern picture book section of my local library here in Ottawa, I came across this wonderful book “Palazzo Inverso” by D.B. Johnson (2010).

This book is a wonderful example of the post modern picture book. This innovative story begins with a capitalized sentence that then continues with the text running along the bottom of the page in bold text. At the top of the page there is more text that is muted in colour. This continues on each page.

Initially the reader is confused. The cues for constructing meaning on this page are ambiguous and contradictory. The text at the top of the page is upside down – so where does one start reading? Why is the text at the top upside down and muted in colour? Cleverly, D.B. Johnson has ensured that the final word on the bottom line enables the top line to match up seamlessly and on reading the first page. This non-linear approach, where the text is not following a logical, sequential pattern, has the reader wondering ‘How I am supposed to read this text?’

Then, at the end of the first line of text, the reader notices a hand directing the reader to the next page, indicating the text at the top of the page is not relevant – yet. As the reader moves through each page, the flow of the text at the bottom, captures attention, with bold striking illustrations to match. D.B. Johnson has cleverly used his artistic talent to use perspective, 3 dimensional drawing and illusion in each illustration.  The illustrations in this text are inspired by the works of the artist M. C. Escher, and based on one of his works 'Ascending and Descending. Escher was known for his skill at playing with perspective and tricking people into seeing his version of 3 dimensional space. D. B. Johnson has modelled his illustrations on this, and therefore there is a need for a certain level of sophistication in interpreting the visual literacy elements of this story. Readers must be as alert to the illustrations as they are to the text.

On reaching the end of the book, the reader is directed to read text around the side of the page and up towards to the text at the top of the page. At this point, the reader is required to turn the book upside down in order to continue reading the story. The reader then finds themselves reading back towards to the front cover. Once again, the cues for constructing meaning are blurred as the reader, in moving back towards the front of the text, is required to use the exact same illustrations they have just encountered. Cleverly, D.B. Johnson’s illustrations match the text at the top of the page as brilliantly as they did the bottom of the page, demonstrating the continued need for sophistication in interpreting the illustrations in this text.

Finally, once the young reader has reached the conclusion of the story, it turns out that the story does not, in fact, have any closure. It cleverly finishes the text with the final sentence of the story being also the initial sentence, forcing the reader to start the cycle of the story again. This is also a reference back to Escher and his artworks of endless loops that went nowhere. 

From the moment the reader starts this book, the engagement with text and illustration is obvious. Young readers would enjoy the alternative reading style of this text and the unique, playful aspect of needing to turn the book upside down to complete the narrative.  Also enjoyable is seeing the pictures take on a different meaning throughout the story.  There is a lot of visual literacy skill used in this story. It is unusual to come across a text where the exact same illustrations are used for two different parts of the narrative, and young readers would enjoy exploring each and every page, comparing and contrasting the story lines and what meaning can be drawn from the illustrations. 

D.B. Johnson. 2010. Palazzo Inverso. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. New York.

Zipes

(Critics) are not recognising or do not want to recognise that the former traditional approaches to alphabetic literacy through reading print are not meeting the needs of young people who read texts much differently than the generations of teachers and educators who are teaching them.(p. 42)

Zipes, J. (2009). Misreading children and the fate of the book in Relentless progress the reconfiguration of children's literature, fairy tales, and storytelling. London: Routledge. (Chapter 2, p. 27-44)

I disagree with this comment from Zipes. Much of what has been commented on in the research on reading decline in this module, comments on the shift of reading for pleasure by the time students enter high school or college.

So it seems to be incongruous to say that traditional approaches to alphabetic literacy are not meeting the needs of young people.

In order for a person to choose to read for pleasure, they must possess the necessary skills for reading. A significant part of developing those skills is the variety of kills and instructions surrounding the ability to decode ie alphabetic literacy.

I would suggest that it is the skills that build upon decoding – critical literacy, inferential literacy are the ones that are often under taught in classrooms (particularly over the past decade where significant portions of the literacy curriculum has been devoted to the teaching of ‘text types’). If our curriculum does not encourage, nay demand of us to teach beyond the decoding stage, then we are not meeting the needs of young people.

In todays information age, where people are bombarded daily with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of information, it is imperative that we teach our students to be critically literate, to develop skills for interpreting what they read, justify their interpretations, make their own meaning of texts they read, compare themselves and their own experiences with what they read, to read broadly, to develop their own point of view, to respond to what they read

Then we will be teaching young people to be

• avid, self motivated, confident readers
• who feel strongly about what they choose to read
• who justify their reading choices
• who are engaged in the process of reading because they choose to be

Regardless of whether they read in print or digitally.

For the teacher librarian, this means a greater collaboration with classroom teachers to use literature across the curriculum that encourages and explicitly teaches these skills to our students.